Privacy and cookies
Updated October 27, 2026. This notice covers TruthWatch, Lobbex, SpendWatch and GrantWatch. TruthWatch is an independent public-data research project maintained in the TruthWatch repository.
Advertising is awaiting activation. This release keeps optional Google advertising off. A verified private privacy-contact channel, published consent messages and production tests are required before advertising is enabled.
Your choices
You can read the public data without enabling analytics or advertising. Use Privacy & cookies on any dashboard to choose or reject optional services. Choices are separate for analytics and advertising, start off, expire after 180 days and apply to that website address and browser. A Global Privacy Control signal keeps both optional services off, including when an older saved choice allowed them.
Saving a withdrawal reloads the dashboard to stop optional scripts that have already loaded. We also try to remove accessible first-party Google Analytics cookies. A website cannot delete another provider's cookies or recall information already sent. You can remove remaining cookies and local storage using your browser settings.
Browser storage
| Storage | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
truthwatch_privacy_v1 in local storage | Your optional-service choices, a policy version and the date saved. No cross-site visitor identifier. | Choices are used for at most 180 days, or until you clear them. An expired record may remain on your device until overwritten or cleared. |
truthwatch_access, truthwatch_pkce, truthwatch_state in session storage | Requested sign-in and verification of the authorization response. AWS Cognito handles the sign-in service and its own necessary cookies. | Browser tab/session; sign-out removes the local access token. Tokens also have a server-enforced expiry. |
| Watchlist and saved-interface preferences in local storage | Remember organizations or interface options you explicitly choose. | Until cleared in the interface or browser. Clearing site data removes these local choices. |
Optional Google Analytics cookies, such as _ga | Only when analytics is configured and you opt in: measure use of public pages. | Controlled by the analytics property and your browser. Disabled in the current production configuration. |
| Google advertising and consent storage | Only after activation and your permission to load the advertising consent service. Google's certified consent message manages advertising decisions. | Shown in Google's provider disclosures and consent controls when enabled. Disabled in the current production configuration. |
Hosting, accounts and operational data
AWS hosts the data dashboards, data pipeline and account API. During the migration, the custom domain is also served by Vercel. Hosting providers receive connection information such as IP addresses and requested paths to deliver and secure the service. CloudFront access logs are configured to expire after 30 days; API application logs after seven days. These are operational records, separate from optional Google audience analytics.
If you sign in, AWS Cognito processes your email address and credentials. The account database stores the account identifier, email, membership plan, hashed API-key information and API-usage counters. An API key is shown when created or rotated. Do not put API keys, authentication tokens or other private information in public links.
Paid subscriptions are awaiting activation. When enabled, Stripe will process checkout and billing-portal information. TruthWatch does not receive complete card numbers. This release does not provide a verified self-service account-deletion process. Do not treat a sign-out as deletion of server-held account records.
Optional analytics and advertising
Google Tag Manager is not installed. A tag manager alone does not obtain consent. Google Analytics is optional and is not configured for this production release. If enabled later, the site loads its tag only after analytics permission, disables advertising signals, and sends reduced public-route labels instead of searches, record identifiers or account URLs. Enhanced measurement and retention must also be configured and tested in the Google Analytics account before activation.
Google AdSense is the intended advertising provider, using publisher pub-3973061516354436. Ownership verification metadata and ads.txt do not load the ad script. When advertising is activated, choosing the advertising consent service allows a paused AdSense tag to contact Google and load its certified consent message. Google documents that existing Google-domain cookies may be read by the paused tag. Ad requests stay paused until the required certified consent and regional checks pass. Paid or uncertain signed-in memberships suppress advertising.
We will not describe advertising data sharing as “never sharing data.” Advertising can involve Google and its ad-technology providers processing information. Their purposes, vendors and choices must be available in the published consent message. See how Google uses information from partner sites and Google's privacy policy. The site will retain a local reject/withdrawal option alongside Google's applicable regional controls.
Public records and automated analysis
The dashboards contain public-source lobbying, spending and nonprofit records. Public records can contain personal data, including names, roles and contact details. Public availability does not remove privacy interests or guarantee accuracy. Coverage is incomplete and publication dates can differ from reporting periods. Source citations support verification and corrections; a match or anomaly is not proof of wrongdoing.
The AWS refresh can generate optional AI notes from published aggregate statistics. These notes can be wrong and should be checked against their source. User account credentials and API keys are not inputs to that aggregate-summary workflow.
Requests, retention and launch status
A private privacy-request channel and an account-retention/deletion procedure are still being verified. Advertising remains disabled while those launch items are open. Do not post personal information, account credentials or private deletion requests in public GitHub issues. Public issues may be used for non-sensitive data-quality or software reports.
Rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing depend on your location and the processing involved. Browser choices do not delete server-held accounts, public-source records or retained backups. We have not established a verified automatic 30-day account-deletion promise and do not make one here. This notice will be updated as verified contacts, retention procedures or providers change.