New Cookie Policy Goes Live
UK Tech News, a leading technology news outlet, has released a comprehensive update to its Cookie Policy, effective 4 June 2025. The policy, which applies to citizens and legal permanent residents of the United Kingdom, outlines in detail how the website uses cookies, scripts, and web beacons to enhance user experience and serve relevant advertising.
The revised document is a response to evolving UK data protection regulations and aims to give readers greater control over their personal data. It breaks down the various types of cookies used on the site, including functional, statistical, advertising, and marketing/tracking cookies, and explains the specific purposes for each category.
Understanding the Cookie Categories
Functional cookies are essential for the website to operate correctly. They remember user preferences, keep shopping cart items, and ensure smooth navigation. These cookies are placed without requiring explicit user consent.
Statistics cookies, such as those from Google Analytics and Hotjar, help the editorial team understand how readers interact with the site. They track pageviews, visitor counts, and session duration. With these insights, UK Tech News can optimise content layout and performance. Users must grant permission before these cookies are activated.
Advertising and marketing/tracking cookies are used to personalise advertisements and measure campaign effectiveness. These cookies, often provided by third parties like Criteo, Google Ads, and Facebook, create user profiles based on browsing behaviour. The policy notes that these cookies link a visitor to a unique ID to prevent ad repetition and to track across websites.
Third-Party Services and Data Sharing
The policy lists over 30 third-party services that place cookies on the website. Notable providers include Google (through various services like Analytics, Fonts, and reCAPTCHA), Cloudflare, Criteo, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Twitter, and One Signal. Each service is categorised by its purpose—ranging from content distribution and push notifications to social media integration and heatmap recording.
For example, Cloudflare's cookies are purely functional, used for content delivery and bot filtering. In contrast, Criteo's cookies are marketing-focused, storing data for remarketing campaigns with a 13-month expiration. HubSpot combines marketing, statistics, and functional purposes, storing visitor identity and session data.
Social media buttons from Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter) embed code that may store and process information for personalised advertising. These platforms are based in the United States, and their privacy statements are linked in the policy.
Granular Consent and TCF Compliance
One of the key updates is the integration of the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF). The policy explains that when JavaScript is enabled, users can manage consent on a per-vendor and per-purpose basis. They can select or deselect entire categories (statistics, marketing) or drill down into individual partners.
The consent settings allow users to give and withdraw consent for statistics and marketing purposes separately. Additionally, the policy addresses legitimate interest claims, giving users the right to object to data processing under specific purposes. Special features, special purposes, and standard features are also listed in the TCF interface.
UK Tech News uses Complianz as its cookie consent management platform. Complianz stores consent preferences in cookies with a 365-day duration, ensuring that returning visitors see the banner only when necessary.
User Rights and Data Protection
The policy reinforces user rights under the UK GDPR. Readers have the right to know why their data is collected, what will happen to it, and how long it will be retained. They can request access to their data, correct or delete it, revoke consent, and transfer data to another controller. A right to object to processing is also granted, although the company may override this if legitimate grounds exist.
For complaints, users can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The policy provides contact details for UK Tech News, including a physical address in London, an email address, and a phone number.
What This Means for Readers
The updated Cookie Policy represents a move towards greater transparency and user empowerment. By listing every cookie, its expiration time, and its function, UK Tech News allows readers to make informed decisions about their privacy. The policy also clarifies that disabling all cookies may impair some website functionality.
With digital privacy becoming a top concern for online readers, this policy sets a benchmark for how technology news outlets can balance personalisation with protection. The detailed breakdown of vendors, purposes, and legal bases helps demystify the complex world of web tracking and consent management.
UK Tech News has also synchronised its policy with CookieDatabase.org, ensuring that the cookie descriptions are accurate and up to date as of July 2026. The policy will continue to evolve as new services are added or as regulations change.
For those wishing to learn more about how individual cookies operate, the policy includes specific tables for each service. For instance, Google Analytics uses cookies like _ga (2 years) and _gid (1 day) to store and count pageviews. Facebook places _fbp (3 months) to track visits across websites, while LinkedIn’s bcookie (1 year) stores browser details for login persistence.
The editorial team encourages readers to review the full Cookie Policy on the website and adjust their consent settings accordingly. By doing so, readers can enjoy a personalised experience while maintaining control over their personal data.
Source: UKTN News