A cookie is a small text file that’s stored on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. We use them to:

• Remember your preferences
• Tailor our sites to your interests.

First party cookies

These are set by the website you’re visiting. And only that website can read them.  In addition, a website might use a separate company to analyse how people are using their site. And this separate company will set their own cookie to do this.

Third party cookies

These are set by someone other than the owner of the website you’re visiting. 

Some BBC web pages may also contain content from other sites like YouTube or Flickr, which may set their own cookies. Also, if you Share a link to a BBC page, the service you share it on (e.g. Facebook) may set a cookie on your browser.

The BBC has no control over third party cookies.

Advertising cookies

Some websites use advertising networks to show you specially targeted adverts when you visit. These networks may also be able to track your browsing across different sites.

We don’t set advertising cookies for people in the UK. BBC Worldwide sites like bbc.com do use advertising cookies but they won’t track your browsing outside the BBC.

Session cookies

These are stored while you’re browsing. They get deleted from your device when you close your browser e.g. Internet Explorer or Safari.

Persistent cookies

These are saved on your computer. So they don’t get deleted when you close your browser.

We use persistent cookies when we need to know who you are for more than one browsing session. For example, we use them to remember your preferences for the next time you visit.

Adobe Flash cookies

We use Adobe Flash Player to let you watch videos and play games on the BBC.

Adobe use their own cookies to remember your preferences and track your browsing. You can manage these Adobe Flash cookies on the Adobe website.

You can change your BBC cookie settings here. And you can find out how to stop your browser tracking your info here.

Some sites use things like web beacons, clear GIFs, page tags and web bugs to understand how people are using them and target advertising at people.

They usually take the form of a small, transparent image, which is embedded in a web page or email. They work with cookies and capture data like your IP address, when you viewed the page or email, what device you were using and where you were. There's info about how to avoid them here.