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Last updated: April 27, 2026
ESLBuzz is a free English learning resource. We respect your privacy and aim to collect only the minimum data needed to keep the Site running, useful, and improving over time. This Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why, and what choices you have.
This policy is written in plain English (we are an English learning site, so it would be ironic to bury it in legalese). If anything is unclear, email privacy@eslbuzz.com.
The Short Version
- No accounts, no logins. We don’t require you to register, so we don’t collect names, emails, or passwords from learners.
- We use cookies for analytics and ads. You can decline non-essential cookies via the consent banner.
- We don’t sell your data. Period.
- Third-party services run on the Site (Google Analytics, ad networks, hosting). They have their own privacy policies, linked below.
- You have rights (access, deletion, opt-out) under GDPR, CCPA, and similar laws — email us to exercise them.
1. Who Operates ESLBuzz
ESLBuzz is operated from Hanoi, Vietnam. The data controller for this Site is the ESLBuzz editorial team. For privacy-related correspondence:
- Email: privacy@eslbuzz.com
- Postal address available on request for verified data subject requests
2. Information We Collect
ESLBuzz collects very little information from visitors. Here’s the complete list:
2.1 Information You Provide Voluntarily
You only share personal information if you actively choose to:
- Email: when you contact us at any of our published addresses (hello@, editors@, partnerships@, privacy@, legal@)
- Contact form data: if we add a contact form, we collect the name, email, and message you type into it
- Newsletter subscription: if you subscribe to our newsletter (when launched), we collect your email and language-learning preferences
We use this information solely to respond to your message or send the newsletter you requested.
2.2 Information Collected Automatically
Like most websites, ESLBuzz automatically receives standard data when your browser visits a page:
- IP address (used for analytics aggregation and security)
- Browser type and version
- Operating system
- Pages viewed and time spent
- Referring URL (the site you came from)
- Approximate geographic region (country/city level, not exact location)
- Device type (mobile, tablet, desktop)
This data is processed primarily through Google Analytics (see Section 5) and aggregated for site improvement.
2.3 Cookies
ESLBuzz uses cookies — small text files stored in your browser. Categories:
| Type | Purpose | Examples | Required? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | Make the site work (page caching, language preference) | WordPress session, cache markers | Yes — site can’t function without these |
| Analytics | Understand which articles are useful and how readers navigate | Google Analytics (_ga, _gid) | No — you may decline |
| Advertising | Show ads relevant to your interests, measure ad performance | Google AdSense, Mediavine cookies | No — you may decline |
| Tools/Practice State | Remember your tool settings (e.g., last verb conjugated, gallery filter preference) | Local storage for word finder, conjugator, pronunciation | Optional — clearing them just resets the tool |
You may control cookies via:
- Our cookie consent banner (which appears on your first visit and lets you accept/decline non-essential categories)
- Your browser settings — most browsers allow you to block all cookies, accept selected categories, or clear cookies
- Specific opt-out links for analytics and advertising (see Sections 5 and 6)
3. How We Use Your Information
We process the data described above to:
- Deliver pages, tools, and images that you requested
- Understand which articles and tools are popular, so we can prioritize improvements
- Detect and prevent abuse, scraping, or security incidents
- Respond to your emails when you contact us
- Send newsletter content if you subscribed
- Display relevant advertising on the Site
- Comply with legal obligations
We do not use your information to:
- Build personal profiles for marketing
- Sell to data brokers
- Train AI models (we explicitly prohibit AI scraping)
- Target you across the internet beyond standard ad-network behavior
4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)
If you’re in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or a region with similar privacy law, our legal bases are:
- Consent — for non-essential cookies, newsletter subscription
- Legitimate interest — for analytics aggregation, security, fraud prevention
- Contractual necessity — for delivering the page you requested
- Legal obligation — for retention of records required by law
5. Third-Party Services
ESLBuzz uses several third-party services. Each has its own privacy policy and may collect data independently. Listed below for transparency:
5.1 Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to measure aggregate Site usage. Google Analytics may set cookies and collect IP-based location data, browser info, and page-flow data.
- Privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy
- Opt-out: install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on or decline analytics cookies in our consent banner
5.2 Google AdSense / Display Ads
We display ads served by Google AdSense and other ad networks (e.g., Mediavine partners). These networks may set cookies to personalize ads and measure performance.
- Google AdSense privacy: policies.google.com/technologies/ads
- Opt-out personalized ads: google.com/settings/ads or via the EU/UK consent banner
Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)
The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.
First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.
Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.
The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:
- IP Address
- Operating System type
- Operating System version
- Device Type
- Language of the website
- Web browser type
- Email (in hashed form)
Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.
If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.
For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.
5.3 Hosting & CDN
The Site is hosted on Cloudways managed cloud hosting (which uses Vultr or DigitalOcean infrastructure depending on region). A content delivery network (CDN) may cache static assets near you for faster loading. These providers receive standard server-log data (IP, request timestamps) for security and performance.
5.4 Search Indexing
Search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) crawl ESLBuzz to index our public articles. They follow our robots.txt file and standard crawl conventions. We do not directly share user data with search engines beyond what they crawl from public pages.
5.5 Embedded Content
Some articles may embed external resources (YouTube videos, images, etc.). When you view an embed, the third-party may set cookies and collect viewing data. We use embeds only when essential to the article topic (e.g., pronunciation videos in our Speaking guides).
6. Advertising & Personalized Ads
ESLBuzz displays ads to support free content. These ads may be personalized based on your interests, browsing history, or location, depending on the ad network and your consent settings.
If you’re in the EU, UK, California, or another region with cookie-consent law, our consent banner gives you granular control over which ad cookies are set. You may also:
- Visit youronlinechoices.com (EU)
- Visit aboutads.info/choices (US)
- Adjust ad personalization in your Google account at adssettings.google.com
Even if you opt out of personalization, you’ll still see ads — they just won’t be tailored to your interests.
7. Data Sharing
We do not sell your personal data. We share information only in these limited cases:
- Service providers who help us operate the Site (hosting, analytics, ad networks). Each is bound by their own privacy policy and used only for the function described
- Legal requests — if required by valid legal process (court order, government request) we comply, but we will notify the affected individual unless prohibited
- Aggregated/anonymized data — we may publish high-level statistics (e.g., “ESLBuzz reached 1M monthly readers in 2025”) but never identifiable individual data
- Business transfer — in the unlikely event ESLBuzz is acquired by another organization, your data would transfer subject to this Privacy Policy
8. Data Retention
- Email correspondence: kept for up to 3 years from last reply, for record-keeping and to maintain context if you write again
- Analytics data: aggregated indefinitely; raw event data retained for up to 26 months in Google Analytics
- Newsletter subscriptions: retained until you unsubscribe (each newsletter includes a one-click unsubscribe link)
- Server logs: retained for 30-90 days for security and performance monitoring, then deleted
9. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights:
| Right | What it means | How to exercise |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Get a copy of personal data we hold about you | Email privacy@eslbuzz.com from the address you’ve contacted us with |
| Correction | Fix inaccurate data | Same — explain what’s wrong |
| Deletion | Have your data erased | Same — we’ll delete unless retention is legally required |
| Restriction | Pause processing in certain cases | Same |
| Portability | Receive your data in a portable format | Same |
| Objection | Object to processing based on legitimate interest | Same |
| Withdraw consent | For consent-based processing (newsletter, non-essential cookies) | Click “unsubscribe” or update consent banner |
We respond to verified requests within 30 days (extending up to 60 days for complex requests). To verify your identity we may ask follow-up questions confirming the request comes from you.
If you’re in California, the CCPA also gives you the right to know what categories of data we collect, the right to opt out of “sale” of personal data (we don’t sell, but the formal opt-out right exists), and the right to non-discrimination for exercising these rights.
10. Children’s Privacy
ESLBuzz is suitable for English learners of all ages, including children studying English in school. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in certain jurisdictions) without verifiable parental consent.
The Site does not require accounts, comments, or any feature that would require children to share personal data. Reading articles and using interactive tools (word finder, conjugator, pronunciation) is anonymous.
If you believe a child has provided us with personal information (e.g., by emailing us), please contact privacy@eslbuzz.com and we will delete it.
11. Data Security
We take reasonable steps to protect data: HTTPS encryption, secure hosting, access controls on admin accounts, and two-factor authentication for editorial staff. However, no online service can guarantee absolute security. If a data breach affecting personal information occurs, we will notify affected users within 72 hours and report to relevant authorities as required.
12. International Transfers
ESLBuzz is operated from Vietnam, but our hosting infrastructure and third-party services may process data in other countries (United States, European Union, Singapore). When data is transferred outside your jurisdiction, we rely on appropriate safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses, third-party providers’ privacy frameworks) to protect your rights.
13. Do Not Track
Some browsers send a “Do Not Track” (DNT) signal. ESLBuzz does not respond to DNT signals automatically because there’s no industry consensus on how to interpret them. However, you can decline analytics and advertising cookies through our consent banner, which achieves a similar outcome.
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as our practices, services, or legal requirements evolve. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be highlighted on the Site for at least 30 days. For changes that meaningfully affect your rights, we will request renewed consent if appropriate.
15. Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to create an account to use ESLBuzz?
No. ESLBuzz has no user accounts. You can read every article, use every tool, and browse every word list anonymously. We don’t track your reading history or progress.
Do you sell my email address or other data?
No. We never sell, rent, or trade personal data. Email addresses you share with us (e.g., for newsletter or correspondence) are used only for the purpose you provided them.
How do I unsubscribe from the newsletter?
Every newsletter email contains a one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom. We process unsubscribe requests immediately. You can also email privacy@eslbuzz.com to be removed.
Why do I see ads on ESLBuzz?
Ads are how we keep ESLBuzz free. We display ads served by reputable networks (Google AdSense, Mediavine partners) and try to keep them unobtrusive. You can decline personalized ads via our consent banner — you’ll still see ads, but they won’t be tailored.
Can I download all data ESLBuzz has about me?
Yes. Email privacy@eslbuzz.com from your registered address and request a data export. We’ll respond within 30 days with a portable file containing any personal data we hold (typically just your email correspondence and newsletter status, since we don’t have user accounts).
What happens if you go out of business?
If ESLBuzz ceases operations, we will delete personal data within 90 days unless legally required to retain it. If the Site is acquired by another organization, user data will transfer subject to this Privacy Policy and we will notify users of the change.
Where can I file a complaint about your privacy practices?
Please contact us first at privacy@eslbuzz.com — we genuinely want to resolve concerns. If you remain unsatisfied, you may lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (e.g., the ICO in the UK, your national DPA in the EU, the California Attorney General’s office for CCPA matters).
16. Contact
For privacy-related inquiries, requests, or complaints:
- Email: privacy@eslbuzz.com
- Subject line: “Privacy request — [Access / Deletion / Correction / Other]”
- Postal address: available on request for verified data subject requests
We aim to respond within 5 working days for general questions and within 30 days for formal data subject requests.