Privacy policy

Updated on August 7th, 2024.

The policies below are applicable to all the websites, apps, interactive features and services developed and operated by the China Daily Multimedia Co., Ltd. (中报国际文化传媒（北京）有限公司 in Chinese), including the China Daily website - www.chinadaily.com.cn (including any versions optimized for viewing on a wireless or tablet device); all email newsletters published or distributed by China Daily website; the China Daily app (com.theotino.chinadaily) and all the other apps (中国日报客户端 in Chinese) published by China Daily website; and all other interactive features, services, and communications provided by China Daily website. The China Daily Multimedia Co., Ltd. (中报国际文化传媒（北京）有限公司 in Chinese) is the sole subsidiary of Beijing Yingxinlian Multimedia Co., Ltd (北京英信联信息咨询公司 in Chinese).

Please read the terms of service carefully and only register after you fully agree to the terms. By visiting our Sites, you are accepting the practices described in our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Sites. Please be advised that the practices described in this Privacy Policy apply only to information gathered online at our Sites. It does not apply to information that you may submit to us offline, or to Sites maintained by other companies or organizations to which we may link or who may link to us.

By visiting our Sites, you are accepting the practices described in our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Sites. We reserve the right to modify or amend the terms of our Privacy Policy from time to time without notice. Your continued use of our Sites following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes. If we intend to apply the modifications or amendments to this Privacy Policy retroactively or to personal information already in our possession, we will provide you with notice of the modifications or amendments.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or don't see your concerns addressed here, you should contact us by email at cdoffice@chinadaily.com.cn.

1.Controllers of personal information

Any personal information provided to or to be gathered by China Daily website is controlled primarily by China Daily website.

2.What information about me is collected and stored?

We collect two basic types of information from you in conjunction with your use of the Sites, personal information and non-personal information. Personal information is information that you may supply to us, as described more fully below, i.e., when you register for a site or any part thereof, upload content, participate in a community, or provide your e-mail address. Personal information is any information that can individually identify you and includes, among other things, your name, e-mail address, telephone number, postal address, and contact information. Non-personal information includes information that does not personally identify you, but it may include tracking and usage information about your location, demographics, use of the Sites and the Internet.

You need to submit the following information if you want to use some of China Daily app's services.

We collect the unique Android ID of each device to determine our app's installation number. To prevent cheating acts in obtaining the app's reading awards through some simulators, light and distance sensors are used within the app.

When you register as a new user and sign in, you can opt to register with your mobile phone number. In this case we will send a verification code to your phone. After that you can add your profile picture, nickname, gender, education background and occupation, all optional, if you want.

You can also sign in with your account on third-party social media sites, namely Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and Weibo. By doing so you will allow us to access your information related to these social media sites, such as profile picture, nickname, location and gender. We will ask for your permission and keep you informed of all the information collected in this process before you sign in. Your information can be in storage permanently. However, you can also unbind Facebook, Twitter, WeChat or Weibo or even delete your China Daily app account from Personal Center.

We collect your in-app user behaviors when you like, comment, ask questions, submit answers, post comments and submit feedback. When you ask questions, submit answers, post comments and submit feedback, we may also ask for access to your phone's album if you want to post pictures or videos, if you allow our access to your phone's album or camera, the content including text, picture or video you choose to upload or post will be collected and also published somewhere in the app together with your nickname, profile picture and post time.

We may also ask for access to your phone's recording if you want to use our news robot, iSmart, and Speaking Test (Google Play Store users will be exempt as news robot and Speaking Test are not available on the Google Play Store-adapted version). If you would shut our access to album or recording, you can also change your phone's setting. If you would like to know how to change the setting, please contact your mobile device's manufacturer.

China Daily app allows users to have an algorithm-based and personalized newsfeed. In order to make the newsfeed more customized for you, we will also collect your device information, for example, Android ID, and your in-app user behaviors, such as bookmark, like, comment, share, search, sign-in, page view, story view, and push click.

When you search in the app, we will collect your search key words so that we can optimize search results for you by combining your search history and trending news in the app.

When you use the app's Speaking Test function, we will collect your scores and ranks. Google App Store users will be exempt as Speaking Test is not available on the Google Play Store-adapted version.

When you talk to the app's news robot, iSmart, we will collect your voice messages so that our news robot can respond to you. Google App Store users will be exempt as news robot, or iSmart, is not available on the Google Play Store-adapted version.

You can also choose to join the in-app campaigns or challenges. You may need to provide your real name, mobile phone number, post address and zip code if necessary. If you refuse to submit the above-mentioned information, you will not be able to receive gifts or prizes. The information can only be collected and used when you are a registered user, and will be suspended from usage and deleted from our database when you delete your account. The information will be stored in People's Republic of China. We will ask for your permission if the information is used for purposes that are not disclosed in this version of privacy policy.

3.Personal information

As a general matter, you can browse the Sites without submitting your personal information to us. However, there are a number of circumstances in which you may supply us with your personal information. The following lists the most common ways in which we may collect your personal information.

Registration for an account on the Sites;

Sign up to receive e-mail newsletters or e-mail alerts from us;

Request for customer service or other assistance;

Completing the contact form to contact China Daily website;

Participation on social media accounts involving China Daily website, our Sites and our brands;

Participation in communities, comment threads, other fora, and other interactive services;

Submission of user generated content on any part of the Sites that permit it;

Any other place on the Sites where you knowingly volunteer personal information.

4.Collection of personal information from or through social media sites

When you interact with any China Daily website property page or account on a social media platform, such as Facebook, Weibo, WeChat, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, YouTube, or Pinterest, we may collect the personal information that you make available to us on that page or account including your account ID or "handle." However, we will comply with the privacy policies of the corresponding social media platform and we will only collect and store such personal information that we are permitted to collect by these social media platforms. If you choose to link or login to your China Daily website account with or through a social networking service, China Daily website and that service may share certain information about you and your activities. With your consent, we also may share information about your activities, including what you view on the Sites, with that social network's users.

5.Non-personal information

In addition, when you interact with the Sites, we may collect certain information that does not identify you individually and our servers may automatically keep an activity log of your use of our Sites ("Non-Personal Information"). Generally, we collect and store the following categories of Non-Personal Information:

Demographic data such as age, gender;

Neighborhood information;

Device information about your computer, mobile device, or other device that you use to access the Sites, which may include IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language, and other transactional information;

Usage information about your use of the Sites which includes a reading history of the pages you view. We use this information to provide you a more customized experience on the Sites;

Additional "traffic data" such as time of access, date of access, software crash reports, session identification number, access times, and referring website addresses your search terms and search results;

Other information regarding your use of the Sites.

6.Collection of your source IP address/location information

We collect and store your device's source IP address which may disclose the location of your device at the time you access the Sites. In addition, in some cases the Sites can deliver content based on your current location if you choose to enable that feature. If you enable that feature, your current location will be stored locally on your device which will be used by the Sites to serve you certain content tied to your location. If you elect to have your location-based searches saved to your history, we will store such information on our servers.

7.Collection of personal and non-personal information from other sources

We also may collect and store information about you that we receive from other sources (including by us from our offline interactions with you) to, among other things, enable us to update and correct the information contained in our database and to better customize your experience on the Sites.

8.Use of cookies

Like many we use "cookies", which are small text files that are stored on your computer or equipment when you visit certain online pages that record your preferences and actions. We use cookies to track use of our Sites and online services. We may also use cookies to monitor traffic, improve the Sites and make it easier and/or relevant for your use. You may occasionally get cookies from third parties with content or links on our Sites. We do not control these cookies, and these cookies are not subject to this cookie policy.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but, if you prefer, you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you delete your cookies or if you set your web browser to decline cookies, some features of the Sites may not work or may not work as designed. For more information on cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information provided by the Interactive Advertising Bureau at www.allaboutcookies.org.

The Sites use Terren, a web analytics service provided by Beijing Terren Jiye Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. ("Terren"). Terren may also use cookies or other tracking technology to help us analyze how users interact with and use the Sites, compile reports on Site activity, and provide other services related to Site activity and usage. The cookies and other technology may collect information such as your IP address, time of visit, whether you are a return visitor, and any referring website. The Sites do not use Terren to gather any Personal Information.

9.How do we use your information?

We use the information we learn from you to help us personalize and continually improve your experience on the Sites. We may use your Personal and Non-Personal Information in the following ways:

General Uses

Provide you with the content, products and services you request;

Post your user generated content to our Sites as you request;

Communicate with you about your account;

Communicate with you about information, features and enhancements on or to our Sites, content on our Sites that may be of interest to you, and breaking news;

Communicate with you about changes to our policies;

Communicate with you about your comment to a story or topic;

Personalize content and experiences on our Sites, including providing you recommendations based on your preferences;

Optimize or improve our Sites, products, services and operations;

Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal;

Perform statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the Sites and their usage patterns.

China Daily website respects the users' privacy and will not disclose their personal information or change their registered information without authorization unless it:

(i) Has obtained the user's explicit authorization beforehand;

(ii)Is required by relevant laws and regulations;

(iii)Is requested by competent government authorities;

(iv)Has to protect public interests.

10.Combination of your personal information

We use the information from one portion of the Sites on other portions of Sites in our network of Sites, all of which are owned and operated by China daily website, and we may combine information gathered from multiple portions of the Sites into a single customer record. We also use and/or combine information that we collect off-line or we collect or receive from third party sources to enhance, expand, and check the accuracy of your user records.

11.Use of your location information

Specifically, we use your location information to:

Provide you with the content and services you request;

Personalize content and experiences on our Sites, including providing you recommendations based on your preferences;

Personalize your newsletters and other communications for our services or special events;

Optimize or improve our products, services and operations;

Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal;

Perform statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the Sites and their usage patterns.

12.Who do we provide your information to?

Except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we do not disclose information about your Personal Information collected online to any companies not part of China Daily website or its subsidiaries or related entities. Although, as disclosed below, we may provide your information to our partners, in no event will we sell or rent your Personal Information as part of a customer list or similar transaction.

13.Third-party agents

We have third party agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and partners that perform functions on our behalf, such as hosting, content syndication, content management tools, social media integration, marketing, analytics, customer service, fraud protection, etc. These entities have access to the Personal Information needed to perform their functions and are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of that Personal Information. They are restricted from using, selling, distributing or altering this data in any way other than to provide the requested services to the Sites.

14.Business partners and third parties

We may share your personal information with our business partners from time to time. We may also share your Personal information with third parties that provide products and services that we think you may be interested in. In order to provide statistical analysis service and push notifications to you, our app has integrated the following software development kits (SDK) – WeChat SDK, Weibo, Facebook, Twitter, UMeng , Appsflyer and IFLYTECK SDK. These SDKs will collect your personal and device information as follows.

WeChat SDK will collect WiFi status, web connection, open ID, your WeChat nickname, gender, language, city, province, country, profile photo, union ID and clip board information.

Weibo SDK will collect your nickname on Weibo, gender, language, location, profile photo, clip board and IDFA. It can also ask for access to your album if necessary.

Twitter SDK will collect WiFi status, IMEI, internet connection, open ID, nickname on Twitter and profile photo.

Facebook SDK will collect nickname on Facebook, profile photo, clip board information, location and IDFA. It can also ask for access to your album if necessary.

UMeng SDK will collect IMEI, MAC, Android ID, IDFA, Open UDID, GUID, ICCID, SIM card IMSI and location. Umeng SDK integrates Xiaomi, Huawei, Vivo, Oppo push systems.

Appsflyer SDK will collect IP, WiFi status, operator, carrier, language, Appsflyer ID, advertising ID (if you click our ad), IDFA (only for iPhones), Android ID (only for Android phones), customer user ID, IMEI, IDFV, platform, device type, OS version, app version, Appsflyer SDK version, app name, bundle ID, user agent, install app store, Google Play referrer, Google Play click time, and Google Play install begin time. Non Google Play Store users will be exempted as our versions in other app stores don't contain this SDK.

IFLYTECK SDK will collect location and device ID from Android phones and device ID from iPhones. Such information will not be collected from Google Play Store users as the app's Google Play Store-adapted version doesn't contain IFLYTECK SDK.

Tencent X5 Browser SDK will collect your mobile device's type. Such information will not be collected from Google Play Store users as the app's Google Play Store-adapted version doesn't contain this SDK.

Athena SDK will collect the following information: IP address (Internet Protocol), system account ID, base station location/WiFi location/geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude), device MAC address, software list, and unique device identifiers (IMEI, Android ID, SIM card IMSI, SN (serial number), motherboard SN, hard drive ID, and Google Services ID). Athena SDK will also obtain permission from com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID to collect GAID (Google advertising ID).

Although our treatment of your Personal Information is governed by this Privacy Policy, the business partner or third party's treatment of your Personal Information will be governed by the business partner or third party's privacy policy. You may withdraw your consent to our sharing of your Personal Information with business partners and third parties at any time.

This term doesn't apply to China Daily app's Harmony OS version which will not collect the above-mentioned information.

15.Widget system broadcasts

Once a China Daily widget is installed on your phone, system broadcasts will be automatically sent to update its content data.

16.Emergency situations

We may also use or disclose Personal Information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to applicable law or comply with legal process served on us or the Sites; (b) protect and defend our rights or property, the Sites or our users, and (c) act under emergency circumstances to protect the personal safety of us, our affiliates, agents, or the users of the Sites or the public.

17.Use of non-personal information

We may disclose or share Non-Personal Information (or other information, other than Personal Information) in any other manner that we deem appropriate or necessary. Among other things, we will disclose Non-Personal Information to third parties to help us determine how people use parts of the Sites and who our users are so we can improve our Sites. We will also disclose Non-Personal Information to our partners and other third parties about how our users collectively use the Sites.

18.What steps are taken to keep personal information secure?

We are concerned about ensuring the security of your Personal Information. Personal Information collected by our Sites are stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public. Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we disclose your Personal Information to you. Please understand, however, that while we try our best to safeguard your Personal Information once we receive it, no transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

19.What happens when I link to or from another website?

These Sites may contain links to other websites operated by affiliates of China Daily website or third parties. Please be advised that the practices described in this Privacy Policy do not apply to information gathered through these other websites. We are not responsible for the actions and privacy policies of third parties and other websites.

20.Public areas, comments, and community areas

Please remember that any information you share in public areas, such as comments to stories, becomes public and anyone may take and use that information. Please be careful about what you disclose and do not post any Personal Information that you expect to keep private.

21.Contributing offensive or inappropriate content to China Daily website

If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content or otherwise engage in any disruptive behavior at China Daily website, we may use your personal information to stop such behavior. China Daily website reserves the right of interpretation and judgment regarding the above mentioned content.

22.Governing law

These Sites are published in the People's Republic of China. We attempt to protect the Personal Information of all users of our Sites and we attempt to comply with local data protection and consumer rights laws to the extent they may apply to our services, but our family of Sites are located and targeted to citizens of the People's Republic of China and our policies are directed at compliance with those laws. If you are uncertain whether this Privacy Policy conflicts with the applicable local privacy laws where you are located, you should not submit your Personal Information to us.

23.Notice to Non-Chinese Users

If you are located outside the People's Republic of China, you should be aware that your personally identifiable information will be transferred to the People's Republic of China, the laws of which may be deemed by your country to have inadequate data protection. If you are located in a country outside the People's Republic of China and voluntarily submit personal information to us, you thereby consent to the general use of such information as provided in this Privacy Policy and to the transfer of that information to, and/or storage of that information in, the People's Republic of China.

24.Assignment

We may change our ownership or corporate organization while providing the Sites and services. We may also sell certain assets associated with the Sites. As a result, please be aware that in such event we may transfer some or all of your information to a company acquiring all or part of our assets or to another company with which we have merged. Under such circumstances we would, to the extent possible, require the acquiring party to follow the practices described in this Privacy Policy, as it may be amended from time to time. Nevertheless, we cannot promise that an acquiring company or the merged company will have the same privacy practices or treat your information the same as described in this Privacy Policy.

25.Changes to this policy

As our Sites continue to develop, we may add new services and features to our Sites. In the event that these additions affect our Privacy Policy, this document will be updated appropriately. We will post those changes prominently so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information and whether we will disclose it to anyone. We do, however, recommend that you read this Privacy Policy each time you use our Sites in case you missed our notice of changes to the Privacy Policy. We will not, however, materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of Personal Information we have previously collected from you without your express consent.

26.How do I delete all information about me?

If you want to clear user information that you have given us, you can use the "Delete account" service in your personal center or please email us at app@chinadaily.com.cn. You can follow this step-by-step guide by visiting the following link: https://enapp-comment.chinadaily.com.cn/comment/api/static/appaccountdeletes/index.html

27.Your privacy rights

Chinese laws permit customers of China Daily website to request certain information regarding its disclosure of their personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an e-mail to cdoffice@chinadaily.com.cn.