Privacy Policy – MediaGauge

Effective Date: August 6, 2025
Last Updated: August 6, 2025

MediaGauge is a browser extension and web platform that analyzes news articles to assess political bias, emotional tone, and factuality scores. We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your data.

1. What Information We Collect

We collect only the minimum data necessary to provide our services.

Article Data

  • • Full article text (sent for analysis)
  • • URL and domain
  • • Article title, publication date
  • • A hashed version of the article for version tracking

User Data

  • • A randomly generated anonymous User ID (mediagauge_user_XXXX)
  • • Optional user input when submitting reports:
  • – Email (if provided)
  • – Notes and comments

We do not collect:

  • • Your name, IP address, browser history
  • • Any personally identifiable information unless voluntarily submitted in a report

2. How We Use Your Information

  • • To analyze the content of news articles using AI
  • • To store and display article analysis results
  • • To track which domains and articles have been reported by users
  • • To improve support for new news sources

We do not use your data for advertising, marketing, or profiling.

3. Third-Party Services

We securely use the following services:

  • • OpenAI GPT-4o – for analyzing article content (bias, tone, factuality)
  • • MongoDB Atlas – for securely storing processed article data
  • • Google Fonts – for typography on our website

We do not use trackers, analytics tools, or ads.

4. Cookies & Storage

We do not use cookies.

We use localStorage in your browser to:

  • • Generate and store your anonymous User ID
  • • Track previously reported domains and articles

This data stays on your device and is never shared.

5. Data Retention

  • • Analysis results and user reports are stored indefinitely for research and transparency.
  • • Article content is processed in real time and not stored in raw form.
  • • We do not currently offer automatic deletion, but this is planned for future releases.

6. Your Rights

You may:

  • • Contact us to request data deletion or ask questions
  • • Choose not to provide optional information (like email)
  • • Uninstall the extension at any time to stop all data processing

7. Security Practices

We implement reasonable technical safeguards, including:

  • • Anonymous user tracking
  • • Secure backend databases
  • • Restricted API access

Coming soon:

  • • HTTPS enforcement in production
  • • Input validation
  • • API rate limiting
  • • Secure credential storage

8. Children's Privacy

MediaGauge is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from minors.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, feel free to contact us:

📧 privacy@media.help

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available at https://media.help/privacy.