Privacy and Cookies

Web browser cookies

If you don’t want to receive cookies, you can modify your browser so that it notifies you when cookies are sent to it or you can refuse cookies altogether. You can also delete cookies that have already been set.

If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies which are set on your device then you can do this through your browser settings; the Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.

For the bbc.co.uk and bbc.com websites, you can instead choose whether to accept cookies that are set by the BBC and BBC Worldwide Ltd, and their suppliers, on the cookie settings page. 

Most BBC websites do work without cookies, but you will lose some features and functionality if you choose to disable cookies. For example, you won’t be able to set the weather to your chosen city. You can find more examples of the BBC functionality and services which require cookies to be set in BBC & Cookies.

Adobe Flash Player Cookies

The Adobe Flash Player, used to provide services such as iPlayer through web browsers or web-based games, is also capable of storing information on your device. However, these cookies cannot be controlled through your web browser. Some web browser manufacturers are developing solutions to allow you to control these through your browser, but at the present time, if you wish to restrict or block Flash Cookies, then you must do this on the Adobe website.

Please be aware that restricting the use of Flash Cookies may affect the features available to you, for example, the auto resume feature in BBC iPlayer.

Do Not Track (DNT) browser setting

DNT is a feature offered by some browsers which, when enabled, sends a signal to websites to request that your browsing is not tracked, such as by third party ad networks, social networks and analytic companies. BBC websites do not currently respond to DNT requests, however, you may opt-out of tracking on bbc.co.uk and bbc.com, including analytics (and tailored advertising if you are visiting from outside the UK), by changing your cookie settings here.

A uniform standard has not yet been adopted to determine how DNT requests should be interpreted and what actions should be taken by websites and third parties. The BBC will continue to review DNT and other new technologies and may adopt a DNT standard once available.

Third party cookies 

We sometimes embed photos and video content from websites such as flickr and YouTube. Pages with this embedded content may present cookies from these websites. Similarly, when you use one of the share buttons on a BBC website, a cookie may be set by the service you have chosen to share content through. The BBC does not control the dissemination of these cookies and this tool will not block cookies from those websites. You should check the relevant third party website for more information about these.

Mobile device and TV apps

On devices such as mobile phones, tablets and smart TVs, instead of cookies, information collected from or stored to your device may be used to ‘remember’ you or provide you with the content you have requested. For details on this, please see Mobile devices and TVs.

Similar technologies to cookies

When you view websites or emails, technologies that are similar to cookies may be set to analyse and understand how the website is used and whether the email has been read. For more details on this, please see Similar technologies to cookies