Newsroom

Privacy policy

Last updated: November 13, 2026. All Virginia News publishes free local news. This policy describes the data this website handles.

Publisher: ALL VIRGINIA NEWS, LLC. Questions go to the contact page.

What you give us

An account stores the name, email, and password you submit so you can comment, rate, and save stories. Passwords are stored hashed. Reading a story does not require an account.

The newsletter stores the email you subscribe with, up to three localities, topic follows, and a referral code if you arrived from an invite link. Unsubscribe and preference links in each message use a token tied to that subscription.

Obituaries, classifieds, jobs, events, tips, and advertising forms may include names, emails, listing text, photos, and resumes. Payments for those listings and for reader gifts are processed by Stripe or PayPal, named on the form. This site does not store full card numbers.

What the site records on its own

The server logs IP address, user agent, and the page requested. Each public page sends one pageview. Article, video, event, and job counts are taken from that same event. Search queries and referral or campaign parameters (including UTM values) are used to count readership. Search queries are not sold as a marketing list.

A random first-party id (avn_vid) is stored in a cookie and in this browser for about 13 months so a later visit can be counted as a return. It is not your name or email, and it is not sent to other companies. The same browser may already have an A/B id (avn_ab); that id is reused and is not shared. A session id lasts until 30 minutes of quiet. On HTTPS the visitor cookie is marked Secure.

First-party cookies also remember a signed-in session and a dismissed notice. A newsletter preference cookie may be set from an email link.

Analytics, ads, and embeds

Pageviews are counted in aggregate even if you opt out of a remembered id. Use Do not remember me, or send Global Privacy Control, and this browser is counted with a session id only. It will not show up later as a returning reader. A European Union network, when the site can tell that from the connection, is treated the same way.

A city is estimated on this server from the network address, and that address is discarded. The stored place is the country, state, county, and city, with a center rounded to about a kilometer. A place with fewer than five readers in a period is shown only as a county. The Show my local news control is what asks this browser for a location, and that point is rounded the same way. Global Privacy Control and Do not remember me still count in those city totals without a remembered reader. Raw place fields on a pageview are cleared after 90 days. Daily place totals are kept.

Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager load on public pages only after a measurement ID is saved in the newsroom settings. Until that field is filled in, those scripts are not on the page. Google AdSense loads only when the AdSense switch is on, and only in an ad slot that has no paid flight. When either is on, Google may receive your IP address and the pages you view. All Virginia News does not sell that information and does not use it to advertise on your behalf.

YouTube and X embeds load with the page. Those companies receive your IP address and browser details. Fonts are files on this site. The pages do not load Google Fonts.

TikTok

If an editor connects a TikTok account to the All Virginia News publishing desk, we receive and store that account's TikTok open ID, display name, avatar, granted scopes, and the access and refresh tokens TikTok issues, including their expiry times, so the editor can send videos to that account through the TikTok API for Business or the earlier Content Posting API. We use this only to post the videos the editor chooses. We do not sell this information or use it for advertising. The editor can disconnect the account at any time on the Social page, which deletes the stored tokens, and can revoke access from TikTok's own app settings. To ask us to delete anything we hold, use the contact page. TikTok's own privacy policy governs data TikTok holds.

Threads

If an editor connects a Threads account to the All Virginia News publishing desk, we receive and store that account's Threads user id, username, and the access token Threads issues, so the editor can send articles to that account. We use this only to post the articles the editor publishes after the account is connected. We do not sell this information or use it for advertising. The editor can disconnect the account on the Social page, which deletes the stored token. To ask us to delete anything we hold, use the contact page. Threads' own privacy policy governs data Threads holds.

Sharing, sale, and retention

We do not sell personal information. Processors that receive it are the payment company on a checkout form, the email provider that delivers a message you asked for, and the analytics and ad companies above. A connected social account is used to publish the newsroom’s own posts, not reader accounts.

Retention: we keep accounts, listings, resumes, and server logs for as long as needed to provide the service or as required by law. Account and listing records stay while that account or listing is active unless you ask us to delete them.

Children and your requests

This is a general news site. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe we have, use the contact page.

You may ask what we hold for your email, ask for a correction, or ask for deletion. Send that request from the contact page and include the email you used. We respond promptly and within any deadline the law sets.