Privacy Policy

SERIOUS

FIRST SEEN 2026-09-17 · VERSION 20260917_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20260820_rev01

What changed, in plain language

W3Schools significantly expanded its disclosure about advertising tracking for free (non-paying) users. It now admits that ad-partner device identifiers are not actually anonymous, and reveals a new practice: for signed-in users who consent to personalized ads, a partner called LiveRamp creates an identifier from your hashed email address that can recognize you as the same person across different websites and devices, not just in one browser. That identifier is then passed to other ad companies (including ID5 and Criteo) who are free to use it for their own purposes. On the positive side, paying subscribers and classroom accounts are now explicitly excluded from all of this, and consent can be withdrawn at any time.

Changes that may affect you

Ad-tracking identifiers confirmed to be non-anonymousMATERIAL

DATA COLLECTION

W3Schools previously described the data its ad partners collect as 'anonymous.' The new text admits these are persistent identifiers designed to recognize your specific device across time and across other websites — which is not truly anonymous tracking.

“They are not anonymous, though, because they are designed to recognize the same device over time and across other websites”

What you can do — If you're a free user, you can withdraw consent to personalized ads via the 'Manage Consent' control to stop these identifiers, or opt out through the Digital Advertising Alliance or Your Online Choices links.

New identity-linked tracking based on your email addressSERIOUS

DATA COLLECTION

For signed-in free users who consent to personalized ads, a new identifier built from your email address lets advertising partners recognize you as the same person across different websites and devices — a more powerful form of tracking than the previous browser-only identifiers.

“If you are signed in to a W3Schools account and have consented to personalized advertising, one of our partners also uses an identifier derived from your email address.”

What you can do — Withdraw consent for personalized advertising using the 'Manage Consent' control to stop this identifier from being created, or avoid staying signed in while browsing.

Data passed to third-party ad companies who use it independentlySERIOUS

DATA SHARING

Your advertising identifier is now disclosed as being shared with additional ad-market companies (including ID5 and Criteo) that are not bound by W3Schools' instructions — they can decide on their own how to use the data, and you'd need to contact them directly to exercise your rights over it.

“The identifier and the advertising request are then passed on to a wider advertising market, including supply-side and demand-side platforms and identity providers such as ID5 and Criteo.”

What you can do — Opt out of targeted advertising via the Digital Advertising Alliance (http://optout.aboutads.info/) or Your Online Choices, or withdraw consent using the 'Manage Consent' control.

Changelog

± CHANGEDAd-tracking identifiers admitted to be non-anonymous
The policy used to say advertising partners collect 'anonymous data' about sites you visit. It now says these persistent identifiers are not anonymous — they're designed to recognize your specific device over time and across other websites.
They collect anonymous data about the websites you visit to personalize ads for you, ensure you don't see the same ads too frequently, and report to advertisers on which ads are effective.
They are not anonymous, though, because they are designed to recognize the same device over time and across other websites, so that ads can be personalized for you, so that you do not see the same ads too often, and so that advertisers can be told which ads were effective.
+ ADDEDNew email-based tracking identifier for signed-in users
If you're signed in and have consented to personalized ads, a partner (LiveRamp) now creates a coded ID from your email address that can identify you as the same person across multiple websites and devices, not just within your browser.
If you are signed in to a W3Schools account and have consented to personalized advertising, one of our partners also uses an identifier derived from your email address.
+ ADDEDConsent-withdrawal control referenced
The policy now points to a 'Manage Consent' control that lets you withdraw consent to stop these identifiers from being created or read.
You can withdraw your consent at any time using the Manage Consent control below, and doing so stops these identifiers from being created or read.
± CHANGEDAd partners split into 'sub-processors' vs. 'independent controllers'
The policy now distinguishes companies that only follow W3Schools' instructions (Actirise, Viously, LiveRamp) from companies that decide for themselves how to use your data, including new named entities ID5 and Criteo, plus Google.
We share your information with partners who specialize in advertising across multiple websites. This sharing allows us to personalize your experience and provide you with targeted advertisements. We use sub-processors for this purpose; you can review their Privacy Policy here:
The identifier and the advertising request are then passed on to a wider advertising market, including supply-side and demand-side platforms and identity providers such as ID5 and Criteo.
+ ADDEDLiveRamp added as a sub-processor
LiveRamp is now listed in the sub-processor appendix as the company that builds the email-derived advertising identifier.
LiveRamp | EU / UK | Advertising identifier derived from the email address of signed-in users who have consented to personalized advertising
+ ADDEDPaid and classroom accounts excluded from advertising
The policy now explicitly states that paid plans and W3Schools Academy classroom accounts never get advertising partners loaded, and no advertising identifiers are created for them.
Accounts that do not receive advertising, including paid plans and classroom accounts created through W3Schools Academy, are excluded from advertising entirely.
± CHANGEDLast updated date changed
The date at the bottom of the policy was updated to reflect this revision.
Last updated: 2026.08.07
Last updated: 2026.09.16

Full text changes — 20260820_rev01 to 20260917_rev01

COLOUR MARKS THE SEVERITY OF A FLAGGED CLAUSE · + AND − MARK ADDED AND REMOVED

 - **Marketing and Promotional Activities:** We use your information to personalize and enhance our marketing efforts. This includes developing and improving our marketing activities, analyzing trends and usage to provide content or features that match your interests and preferences and informing you about promotions, offers, updates, and new products or services that might interest you. We may send you newsletters, promotional emails, and other marketing communications tailored to your interactions with the Services.
 - **Security:** We use your information to protect you and the Services by seeking to detect and to investigate, prevent and or respond to potential threats, fraudulent transactions, unauthorized access and other malicious or illegal activities.
 - **Legal, Safety, and Compliance:** We use your information to comply with applicable laws and regulations. This involves meeting legal obligations, responding to court orders, and ensuring compliance with our terms and policies.
 ### For Free Users Only:
+We use your personal information to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications that we believe may interest you. These ads are managed by partners who specialize in advertising across multiple websites. They collect anonymous data about the websites you visit to personalize ads for you, ensure you don't see the same ads too frequently, and report to advertisers on which ads are effective. For more information about targeted advertising, visit the Network Advertising Initiative's ("NAI") educational page at [http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work](http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work)
+We use your personal information to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications that we believe may interest you. These ads are managed by partners who specialize in advertising across multiple websites. If you consent to personalized advertising, these partners create and read persistent identifiers stored on your device. Most of these identifiers are not built from anything you told us: they identify your browser rather than you by name. They are not anonymous, though, because they are designed to recognize the same device over time and across other websites, so that ads can be personalized for you, so that you do not see the same ads too often, and so that advertisers can be told which ads were effective.
+If you are signed in to a W3Schools account and have consented to personalized advertising, one of our partners also uses an identifier derived from your email address. Your email address is converted into a coded value inside your browser before anything is shared, so the partner does not receive the address itself. That coded value is still personal data: it is stable, and it can be used to recognize the same person across different websites and devices, rather than only within one browser. We do not do this for accounts that do not receive advertising, including paid plans and classroom accounts created through W3Schools Academy.
+You can withdraw your consent at any time using the Manage Consent control below, and doing so stops these identifiers from being created or read. For more information about targeted advertising, visit the Network Advertising Initiative's ("NAI") educational page at [http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work](http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work)
 - * *
 - * *
 We share your information to provide the Website and or the Services, comply with legal obligations, and as part of our regular business activities. We only share your information with those who need it to ensure that proper protections and agreements are in place.
 - Protect the rights, property or safety of W3Schools, our Users, or the public
 - **Business transfers.** Suppose W3Schools is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. In that case, we will continue to ensure the confidentiality of your information.
 ### For Free Users Only:
+We share your information with partners who specialize in advertising across multiple websites. This sharing allows us to personalize your experience and provide you with targeted advertisements. We use sub-processors for this purpose; you can review their Privacy Policy here:
+We share your information with partners who specialize in advertising across multiple websites. This sharing allows us to personalize your experience and provide you with targeted advertisements. These partners do not all have the same role, and the difference affects how you exercise your rights.
+**Companies that act on our instructions.** Some partners handle data only as we direct them to, under contracts that limit them to that purpose. They are sub-processors, in the same sense as the companies listed in the appendix to this policy:
+- Actirise: [Privacy Policy](https://corporate.sparteo.com/privacy-policy) - sells and serves advertising space on our behalf
+- Viously: [Privacy Policy](https://corporate.sparteo.com/privacy-policy) - delivers video advertising on our behalf
+- LiveRamp: [Privacy Policy](https://liveramp.com/privacy) - creates the identifier derived from your email address described above. For users in Norway, the rest of the EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, LiveRamp acts as our data processor. Your email address is deleted as soon as the identifier has been created, the identifier itself expires after 30 days, and this processing takes place within the EU and the UK. It applies only if you are signed in, have consented to personalized advertising, and are on an account that receives advertising.
+**Companies that decide for themselves.** The identifier and the advertising request are then passed on to a wider advertising market, including supply-side and demand-side platforms and identity providers such as ID5 and Criteo. These companies are not acting on our instructions. They decide independently how the data they receive is used, which makes them separate controllers of it. You have rights in relation to that data against them directly, as well as against us, and each of them publishes its own privacy policy. Google takes part in more than one role depending on the service involved, and describes its practices in its own policy:
 - Google: [Privacy Policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy)
+- Actirise: [Privacy Policy](https://corporate.sparteo.com/privacy-policy)
+- Viously: [Privacy Policy](https://corporate.sparteo.com/privacy-policy)
+The complete and current list of advertising companies, together with controls to allow or refuse each of them individually, is available in our consent tool below.
 Opting Out of Targeted Advertising:
 - W3Schools:
 - Digital Advertising Alliance: [http://optout.aboutads.info/](http://optout.aboutads.info/)
 - Your Online Choice: [https://www.youronlinechoices.com.](https://www.youronlinechoices.com/)
 - * *
 ## Minimum Age For Use Of Our Site
 Our Service is generally not intended for users under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13 in ways not allowed by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe that your child has shared personal information in a way that is not allowed by law, please contact us at help@w3schools.com. We will look into it and delete the information as required by law.
+Accounts that do not receive advertising, including paid plans and classroom accounts created through W3Schools Academy, are excluded from advertising entirely. For these accounts we do not load our advertising partners, no advertising identifiers are created, and their activity is not used for ad personalization. We still collect basic analytics for these accounts, as described under How We Use Information.
 - * *
 ## Changes To This Privacy Policy
 We periodically review and update this Privacy Policy to reflect new Services or changes to our practices. You can see when this policy was last updated by referring to the "Last Update" date at the bottom of the policy. We encourage you to review the policy whenever you interact with us to stay informed about our privacy practices and how you can help protect your privacy.
 | --- | --- | --- |
 | Actirise | EU | Ad-Service |
 | Airwallex | EU | Payment processing |
 | Amazon | USA | Cloud Infrastructure for the Website and the Services |
 | Brevo | EU | Market activities |
 | Google, Inc | USA | Site analytics (web) and customer interactions (email) |
+| LiveRamp | EU / UK | Advertising identifier derived from the email address of signed-in users who have consented to personalized advertising |
 | Paypal | USA | Payment processing |
 | Pipedrive | EU | CRM System |
 | RevenueCat | USA | In-app subscription management (mobile apps) |
 | Revinova | USA | LMS platform - (Specific for AWS courses) |
 | Shopify | USA | E-commerce store |
 | Stripe | USA | Payment processing |
 | Viously | EU | Ad-Service |
 | Zendesk | EU | Customer support |
+Last updated: 2026.08.07
+Last updated: 2026.09.16