Cookie Policy

Cookie Policy

This is an old version of "Cookie Policy". View the latest version here.

This Cookie Policy explains the different types of cookies and other technologies that we use in our and , why we use them, and your choices for managing data collected through our cookies.

Visit our Privacy Policy to learn more about how we collect and use your data, how we share it, your choices about how your data is used and shared, and your rights under the privacy laws that apply to you.

For the setting of cookies and associated purposes for which we use cookies, we will ask for your consent. Please note that some of the cookies we use are “multi-purpose cookies”, which are cookies that we use for multiple purposes. In those cases, while you can withhold consent or opt-out of some of the purposes for which we use multi-purpose cookies, others are strictly necessary to deliver our Products and Services (like security and anti-fraud). In these cases, we will not use those cookies for the purposes where you have withheld your consent or opted out. However, we will still set the multi-purpose cookies and will not offer you controls over the purposes that are strictly necessary.

See “How can you control how we use your data?” below to learn more about how to manage your cookies and the purposes for which we use your data.. 

We use cookies, Software Developments Kits (‘SDK’s), advertising identifiers, web storage, pixels and tags in our and , either through website or app formats. We collectively refer to these as ‘cookies and other technologies’. Check out this section to learn what cookies and other technologies Yahoo uses, and how they work.

Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your browser when you visit a website or a mobile app. The website sets the name of the cookie, what information is stored in the cookie and how long the cookie is kept by your browser.

How do cookies work?

Typically, when you visit a website, the website creates a unique identifier and stores it in a cookie on your browser.

Once a website sets a cookie on your browser, your browser will automatically transmit the information contained in the cookie to that website or domain, every time you visit it for as long as the cookie exists.

There are two types of cookies that can be set in your browser:

  • session cookies: these cookies are stored when you visit the website or app and will expire once you close the browser or app.
  • persistent cookies: these cookies are stored when you visit the website or app but do not expire once you close the website or app.  Instead, these cookies expire after a period of time determined by the website or app. In this way, the website or app may recognise you when you visit the website again in the future.

SDKs are software libraries that developers incorporate into their apps to provide app features for users and other services to the app developer. SDKs are typically used in mobile and connected TV devices. 

How do SDKs work?

When you download an app onto your device, any SDK included in that app by the app developer will be installed onto your device as well. 

Once installed, the SDK provides app features such as advertising, and analytics services to app developers, like information about your app usage and device characteristics. 

 

Advertising identifiers are unique identifiers that companies use to identify your device. These are typically used within operating systems on mobile devices and connected TVs.

How do advertising identifiers work?

Operating systems create a unique advertising identifier on your mobile device, tablet, or your connected TV. When you use an app on your mobile device or your connected TV, the app will recognise your unique advertising identifier and use it for different purposes. These purposes include to provide you with personalised ads and to understand the performance of the ads that the app shows you.

 

Web storage is a technology that enables website and app developers to store information in your browser.  Web storage is used similarly to cookies. 

How does web storage work?

There are two types of web storage:

  • Session storage: the website will store the information while you are using the browser, and the information will expire once you close the browser.
  • Local storage: the website will store the information and it will not be deleted once you close your browser. Instead, local storage expires as determined by the website. In this way, the website is able to recognise you when you reopen it during another browsing session.

Though controls vary by browser type, web storage is generally subject to your browser privacy settings.

 

Pixels and tags are invisible images or scripts that are included on the websites and apps that you use.

How do pixels and tags work?

When you interact with features on a website or app, pixels and tags make calls to web servers that transfer information about your browser, unique identifiers, and information regarding your interactions with the website or app.

Pixels and tags are often used in combination with cookies and other technologies.

Yahoo uses cookies and other technologies to uniquely identify the browsers and devices that interact with our and . Once we are able to uniquely identify the browsers or devices, we collect information from them and use that information for a range of purposes. Check out this section to learn more about these purposes.

  • to authenticate our users
  • to ensure the security of our users’ accounts
  • to prevent malicious activity and protect our Products and Services from abuse

For example, we set the OTH cookie to indicate the presence of a signed-in user to our systems. 

  • to identify appropriate legal jurisdiction
  • to store data permissions and objections

For example, the GUC and CFC cookies carry information about a user’s consent and privacy controls, like whether you’ve provided or withheld consent from Yahoo for certain purposes. We can then recall your consent choices as you use our Products and Services.

  • to remember you when you log into our Products
  • to honour your settings and preferences across visits

For example, the lkl cookie assigns a user’s last known location based on a browser’s location detection. Our newsletter_toaster_ cookie is used to remember if a user closed out a newsletter sign-up prompt. Our PH cookie stores a user’s language preferences.

  • to build an interest profile by linking information about your device and online activity with the unique identifier associated with your device
  • to retrieve the information associated with your unique identifier 
  • to select personalised content and advertising that we think match your interests according to your interest profile
  • to show you the relevant personalised content and advertising on our Products and Services
  • to measure your engagement with the content and advertising that we show to you

To learn more about how we use your data to provide digital ads, visit How advertising works.

For example, our A1, B and APID cookies assign unique identifiers to individual browsers on devices that we use to personalise advertising. See <‘Step 1: Assigning a unique identifier to your device’ on our ‘How Digital Advertising Works’ page for more information.

 

  • to perform analytics on our and to understand how our users interact with them
  • to create aggregate reports and provide data analysis tools for external parties, including publishers, advertisers, and the public, about industry trends, audience insights, ad performance and effectiveness

For example, we set A1 and B cookies to accurately count the number of unique browsers that access our Products, and understand how users interact with our Products.

  • to provide personalised advertising
  • to enhance personalised advertising profiles

For example, our migrated2y cookie denotes a user’s migration to a yahoo.com website.  Our adaptv_unique_user_cookie  is used to report the number of unique visitors for an advertising campaign so that we can report to our advertising clients. Our adsrcvw1 limits the number of times that a given user will see an advertisement.

The cookies and other technologies that we use and their names will change over time. You may also see cookie names below more than once because some of our cookies are “multi-purpose cookies”. A “multi-purpose cookie” is a cookie that is used for multiple purposes. While you can withhold consent or opt-out of some of the purposes for which we use multi-purpose cookies, others are strictly necessary to deliver our Products and Services (like security and anti-fraud). In these cases, we will not use those cookies for the purposes where you have withheld your consent or opted out. However, we will still set the multi-purpose cookies and will not offer you controls over the purposes that are strictly necessary.

You can view and manage cookies in your browser (see here for more information). You can also view and manage the purposes for which we use the information that we collect from cookies in Your Privacy Controls. 

Below you can find more detail about the different cookies and other technologies that we use, including the expiration of each cookie from the last time we saw you.

Yes. Our partners, such as our and content providers, use their own cookies and other technologies in connection with our . This means that when you use our Products, third parties will also collect information from your browser and your devices.

How do third parties use cookies and other technologies in our Products?

When you visit our Products, third parties use cookies and other technologies to collect associated information from your browser and/or devices  for different purposes, including:

  • to show you personalised content and ads
  • to understand how you interact with the content and ads that they show you

To find out more about the third parties that we work with and how they process information from your browser and your devices, visit our Our Partners  page.

We provide you with controls over how your data is used by us and our partners. Check out this section to learn how you can manage your data.

In Your Privacy Controls

Visit Your Privacy Controls and see the controls available to manage how we and our use cookies for different purposes. For example, we provide these controls to you that govern how we and our partners use your data: 

This control enables you to choose whether you want to  see personalised ads from us or not.  If you do not wish to see personalised ads from us, you will still see  generic ads that may not be relevant to you. To manage whether o ur partners  serve personalised ads to you on our visit the Partners control.

 

This control enables you to choose whether you want to see  personalised  ads based on your search history. If you do not wish to see personalised ads based on your search history, we will continue to retain your search history to provide necessary support for internal operations such as security.

 

This control enables you to choose whether you want to see personalised ads based on your data . When you disable this control, we  still use your precise location data when you are using app or website features where location is necessary to provide the service. This control will not impact previous precise location data that we have converted to general location information.

 

This control enables us to use your activity and interest data collected on other devices that we associate with you or your household  to personalise ads on your current device. When you disable this control  the activity on your current device will not be linked to other devices that we associate with you or your household for personalised advertising.  Some linking between devices is necessary for critical functions such as security and fraud detection and prevention.

 

Personalised advertising on Yahoo Ad Network

This control enables you to choose whether you wish to see personalised  ads  on partner sites and apps in the . When you disable this control, we will continue to collect and use information from partner sites and apps for minimal operational needs such as billing, ad measurement and reporting.

 

When  this control is disabled, Yahoo will not  use your personal data such as email or phone number for audience match purposes.  Audience matching is a process that identifies where we and our partners share the same users so we can provide more relevant ads to those users.  

 

This control will enable you to choose whether you wish to see personalised ads based on  the content and  of your communications (such as your emails) . When you disable this control, we will continue to analyse your communications to provide product features and other functions such as spam filtering and security.

 

You can manage which have the right to collect and use your data, including their use of cookies and other technologies when you use our .

Yahoo and many of our also participate in self-regulatory organisations that allow you to opt-out from receiving personalised advertising from us. Visit the NAI, DAA and EDAA for more information.

On mobile devices and tablets

If you are using a mobile device, you can manage your choices on your operating system to limit the use of advertising identifiers. To manage your choices, visit the settings and additional information provided by your mobile device’s operating system.

On your web browser or desktop

If you are using a web browser on a mobile or desktop device, you can configure your browser preferences and manage how the browser handles cookies and other technologies. Please note that some features on our , including being able to sign into your email, may not work if you disable cookies and other technologies in your browser.  Learn more below.

The following tables  list some of the cookies that we place on our Products and Services.  We have listed our persistent cookies and technologies that we set in connection with these purposes. We have not included session cookies.

Authentication, security and fraud, and abuse prevention

Cookie Name Maximum expiration from last time we saw you

A1

13 months

A3

13 months

B

13 months

BX

13 months

cmp

13 months

GUC

13 months

GUCS

30 minutes

OTH

13 months

T

1 year

Y

1 year

Legal compliance

Cookie Name Maximum expiration from last time we saw you
A1 13 months
A3 13 months
APID 13 months

CFC

13 months

cmp

13 months

EuConsent

24 hours

GUC

13 months

GUCS

30 minutes

Product features and user preferences

Cookie Name Maximum expiration from last time we saw you

RRC

1 minute

dlExpire

30 minutes

dlTimestamp

30 minutes

dlIsOn

30 minutes

firstview

1 day

lkl

13 months

newsletter_toaster_

30 days

PH

1 year

thamba

1 hour

Content and advertising personalisation

Cookie Name Maximum expiration from last time we saw you

A1

13 months

A3

13 months

adaptv_unique_user_cookie

25 months

apeaf

1 year

APID

13 months

APIDTS

24 hours

B

13 months

BX

13 months

IDSYNC

13 months

T

1 year

ymuid

13 months

Y

1 year
yvapF 1 day

Analytics

Cookie Name Maximum expiration from last time we saw you

A1

13 months
A3 13 months

B

13 months

OTH

13 months
rxx 13 months

Cookies that we set in third party websites and apps

Cookie Name Maximum expiration from last time we saw you

A3

13 months

adaptv_unique_user_cookie

25 months

adsrcvw1

 25 months

B

13 months

migrated

 25 months

migrated2y

 25 months

OTH

13 months

optout

 25 months

rtbData0

 25 months

rxx

 13 months

tearsheet

 25 months

unique_ad_source_impression

 25 months

userData

 25 months