Privacy
Privacy notice
Effective 28 October 2026
This notice explains what chrcl.app collects, why, and who else handles it. HexaOrigin LLC is responsible for your information. The short version: we collect as little as we can, we don't run ad trackers or analytics scripts, we never sell your information, and sponsors never get reader data.
What we collect
If you just read
- Your reading view. If you pick a view, a cookie called
viewremembers it for a year. It holds only the view's name. - Request logs. Like any website, our host receives your IP address, browser type and the pages you request, to serve the site and protect it from abuse.
If you create an account
- Your email address, to send sign-in links and to identify your account.
- Sign-in cookies, which keep you signed in. They're needed for the site to work, so there's no switch for them.
- Your saved reading view and when you joined.
If you become a member
- Stripe collects your card and billing details on its own payment page. We never see or store your full card number.
- We keep the Stripe references for your customer record and subscription, your plan, its status, the renewal date and whether you've cancelled, so we know what you have access to.
If you bid for a sponsorship
- Your sponsor name, website and contact email.
- The copy, landing page and images you submit. We rebuild each image from its pixels and keep only that copy, in private storage. We don't keep the original files.
- The results of our file checks and of the AI review, and our editor's decision.
- Your bids, their amounts and outcomes, and Stripe's reference for each card authorisation.
How we use it
To run the site: to sign you in, give members their access, take payments, run the sponsorship auction, check sponsor material for safety, keep the site secure and meet our legal duties. We don't use your information for advertising or profiling, and we don't sell or share it for advertising.
Bids are sealed: other bidders never see your identity or your bid. If you win, your sponsor name and approved material appear in that edition for everyone to see.
The AI models that write and check the report work only from published news. They never see reader or sponsor information.
Who else handles it
We use these services to run chrcl. Each handles your information only to provide its service to us.
| Service | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Hosts the site (United States) | Request logs |
| Supabase | Database, sign-in and private file storage (United States, East) | Account, membership and sponsor records. It sends the sign-in emails. Readers' browsers load sponsor images from it |
| Stripe | Payments and billing | Your email, card and billing details, and payment history |
| Anthropic | The AI safety review of sponsor material | The submitted copy and images only, never reader information |
| Google Fonts | Serves the site's typefaces | Your IP address and browser type when the fonts load |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect people or the site from harm.
How long we keep it
- Accounts: while your account exists. When you ask us to delete it, we do so within 30 days.
- Payment records: Stripe and we keep these for as long as tax and accounting law requires, even after an account is deleted.
- Sponsor submissions, including declined ones: for up to 3 years after your last bid, as a record of what we reviewed and why.
- Request logs: for the short period our host keeps them.
Your choices and rights
You can change your reading view at any time, cancel a membership under Account → Manage billing, and update your billing details there. To see, correct, download or delete your information, email privacy@chrcl.app. We'll reply within 30 days. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to object to or restrict how we use your information, and to complain to your data protection authority.
If you're in the UK or the EU: we use your information to provide what you've signed up for (contract), to keep the site secure and check sponsor material (legitimate interests), and to keep payment records (legal obligation). Your information is stored in the United States; where the law requires it, our providers use approved safeguards for these transfers.
Children
chrcl isn't meant for anyone under 16, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you think a child has signed up, contact us and we'll delete the account.
Security
Everything travels over encrypted connections. The database only lets each person see their own records, sponsor images are kept in private storage, and only the owner can see the review queue. No system is perfectly secure, but we'll tell you promptly if a breach affects your information.
Changes
If we change this notice, we'll post the new version here with its date, and email members about any change that matters. See also our terms of use.
Contact
privacy@chrcl.app