Privacy

The short version

We don't sell your data. We don't run third-party advertising or tracking scripts. We don't build a profile of you across other websites. The house ads you see are links to other sites we own, they're labelled, and they carry no tracking pixel.

What we collect

If you just read the site: nothing that identifies you. Our own analytics record an event name, a page URL and a timestamp — no IP address, no cookie, no identifier. We can't tell which events came from the same person.

If you subscribe to the newsletter: your email address, when you subscribed, and whether you confirmed it. We send a confirmation link and nothing else until you click it. Every email has a one-tap unsubscribe.

If you create an account: your email address, a display name, optionally a city, whether you told us you're under 18, and a scrypt hash of your password. We never store your password itself and can't recover it.

If you contact us: whatever you put in the form, plus a spam score so we can filter sales outreach.

If you vote in a poll or on a nomination: a one-way hash of your IP address, salted with a server secret, so we can tell whether that browser has already voted. It can't be reversed to an IP address, and rotating the secret destroys the link permanently.

If you post on the community blog: what you wrote, your name and email address, and the results of the anti-spam checks. Links are removed from posts automatically.

ID and age verification, and AI monitoring of messages

BRO uses AI to vet members and to monitor every member-to-member message for scams, predatory behaviour and requests for personal details. Anyone who does this is blocked immediately, and flagged messages are reviewed by our staff.

Verification. Every paid area, and all talking between members, needs an ID check. You upload a photo of a government photo ID and take a live selfie. AI reads the ID (name, date of birth, expiry) and checks it hasn't been edited; a member of our staff compares the selfie with the ID photo. We do not use face recognition. The photos are stored encrypted, seen only by our review team, and deleted as soon as a decision is made, and in any case after 30 days. Afterwards we keep only: that you are verified, your year of birth, the type of ID and its expiry month, the name on it, and when and by whom it was checked. To talk with other members, your legal name, your ID and the name on the card you pay with must match; we read the billing name on your card from our payment processor to check this.

Messages between members. Every message is checked by automated rules and by AI before it is delivered. A message that asks anyone for personal or contact details, asks to meet or move to another app, or looks predatory is not delivered; the sender is blocked immediately; the message is kept encrypted for our staff to review and deleted within 30 days; and the members it was aimed at are warned.

Optional background check. If you choose to upload one, we keep only the issuing agency, the issue date and the result, and delete the document once it is reviewed.

Cookies

One, and only if you sign in: a session cookie that keeps you signed in. It's HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax, and contains no personal data. Signing out deletes it.

Your browser may also store things locally — saved articles, which polls you have answered — on your own device. That never reaches us.

Cloudflare

The site runs behind Cloudflare, which acts as a security layer and cache. Cloudflare processes request data (including your IP address) to block attacks and to serve the site, under their own terms.

We use Cloudflare Turnstile on forms to tell people from bots. Turnstile is designed not to track users across sites and doesn't use cookies for advertising.

Ask BRO

When you ask BRO a question, the question is sent to a third-party provider that produces an answer. We don't attach your identity to it. Don't put confidential information, passwords, or anyone's medical or financial details into it.

Children

BRO Teens is written for readers aged 13 to 17. Those sections have no messaging, no dating features and no way for anyone to contact a reader through this site. Accounts marked as under 18 can't access BRO Circle, BRO Singles or messaging.

We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, email vip@bro.com and we will delete it.

Your choices

• Unsubscribe from any email, one tap, no sign-in required.
• Delete your account from your account page. That removes your account, your

sessions and your posts permanently.

• Ask what we hold, or ask us to delete it, at vip@bro.com.

Retention

Newsletter subscriptions until you unsubscribe. Accounts until you delete them. Analytics events for 24 months. Quarantined spam for 90 days, then deleted.

Changes

If this changes materially we will say so on the site rather than quietly updating the date at the bottom.

Contact

vip@bro.com