Privacy policy
Last updated
Who we are
StandFacts (www.standfacts.com and the StandFacts app) is a reference tool for US policy claims. You can read everything without an account; an account is optional. This policy explains the little data we handle.
What we collect
- Your email, if you join the waitlist. We keep the address and the date you joined, and use it only to email you when we start following a new story.
- What you tell us when you ask “How does this affect me?” See Personal answers below.
- Your account, if you create one. You sign in with your email and a password, or a one-time link. We keep your email address, sign-in times, whether you want our weekly email, instant alerts or phone notifications, the days you open StandFacts while signed in, and the emails we send you and whether you clicked a link in them (to count active readers; never shared). Your password is kept only by our sign-in provider (Supabase), stored securely (hashed), and we never see it. A sign-in cookie keeps you signed in; it’s needed for the account to work and is never used for tracking.
- Emails and phone notifications, if you turn them on. We email you only if you turn it on in your account. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link. For phone or browser notifications, we store your browser’s push address; each notification (a program’s name and a story’s title, nothing about you) is sent through your browser’s push service (Google, Apple or Mozilla) only to deliver it. Turn them off any time in your account.
- Your profile answers, if you give them. Each one helps us show what changes for you, and every one except your state can be skipped:
- State: rules and deadlines differ by state
- First name: to greet you in our emails
- Programs you receive: to show changes to those programs
- Age range: some rules depend on age
- Children under 18 at home: some rules differ for families with children
- Household size: amounts and limits depend on it
- Work situation: work rules apply to some programs
- Veteran: some changes apply only to veterans
- Editor sign-in emails. Our editors sign in to a private admin area with a one-time email link. We keep their email address and sign-in times, and a sign-in cookie is set while they’re signed in.
- Basic server logs. Like most websites, our hosting provider records technical details of each request (IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time) to keep the service running and secure. These logs are kept for a limited time.
What we don’t do
- No ads.
- No third-party analytics, no tracking scripts, no tracking pixels and no tracking cookies.
- We never sell your data or share it for advertising or marketing.
- Pages, fonts and photos all load from standfacts.com: your browser doesn’t contact ad networks, analytics services or social media sites.
Personal answers (“How does this affect me?”)
If you ask us how a story affects you, we collect your state (required), and what else you choose to tell us: your name, email, age range, city, gender, occupation, housing, whether children live with you, government programs you use, and your question.
- Why: only to write your personal answer. We don’t use it for ads, we don’t sell it, and we share it with no one except the AI service that writes the answer, as described below.
- How it’s written: an AI model (Google Gemini) writes your answer automatically from our verified reporting. It receives the story and only your state, age range, occupation, housing, whether children live with you, government programs and question, never your name, email or city. If its answer doesn’t pass our checks, you get a general answer built from our reporting instead.
- Who reads it: the StandFacts team, and the AI model, which receives only the parts listed above.
- Email: optional. Your answer is shown on your private page; we don’t email it to you.
- How long we keep it: we delete every request, and its answer, 90 days after you send it.
- Your choices: every field except your state is optional. To have your request deleted sooner, email us at the address below with the date you sent it.
- Spam protection: to prevent abuse, we keep a scrambled code derived from your network address (not the address itself) for 90 days, and limit each person to 3 requests a day.
- With an account: your state, programs and email from your profile fill in the form for you (you can change them before sending), and your requests are linked to your account so you can find them under My questions on any device. They’re still deleted 90 days after you send them.
- Your private link: your answer is on a private page that opens as soon as you send the form; only you get its link, saved in your browser, and under My questions if you’re signed in. Anyone you share that link with can read it. It isn’t listed in search engines.
- Children: the form is only for people 18 and older: you confirm your age when you send it.
Stored on your device
Your theme choice (light or dark), whether you dismissed the install tip, and the private links to any personal answers you asked for are saved in your browser, and, if you’re signed in, a sign-in cookie, the last day your visit was counted and whether you said “Not now” to notifications. When you install the app or read offline, copies of pages you opened are saved on your device so they open without a connection. All of this stays on your device; we can’t see it. You can clear it in your browser settings.
Who processes data for us
- Railway hosts the site and keeps its server logs.
- Supabase stores our database (including waitlist emails, accounts and personal-answer requests), sign-ins and story photos.
- Resend (sends sign-in links, account emails such as confirmations and password resets, and our emails from contact@standfacts.com).
- Your browser’s push service (Google, Apple or Mozilla) delivers phone notifications you turned on.
- Google (the Gemini API, which writes personal answers; it never receives your name, email or city).
- Porkbun (email forwarding for contact@standfacts.com).
- Google (Gmail, where our team reads and sends replies).
They process this data only to provide these services to us.
How long we keep it
- Waitlist emails: until you ask us to remove yours, or until we close the waitlist.
- Personal-answer requests and answers: 90 days after you send the request, then deleted.
- Sign-in activity and email records: 180 days, then deleted.
- Push addresses: until you turn phone notifications off or delete your account.
- Accounts: until you delete yours. Deleting your account removes your data from our database right away; we don’t keep separate backup copies.
- Editor accounts: for as long as the person is an editor.
- Server logs: for the limited period set by our hosting provider, then deleted.
Your choices
To see, correct or delete your data, change it on your account page, or write to us at the address below and we’ll do it. You don’t need a reason.
You can delete your account at any time from your account page. Deleting your account removes your data from our database right away; we don’t keep separate backup copies.
Security
All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS). Readers sign in with a password (kept only by our sign-in provider, stored securely and hashed) or a one-time email link. Each reader can see only their own account, profile and questions. Only our editors can open the admin area.
Children
StandFacts isn’t directed to children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect their data. Accounts and the personal-answer form are only for readers 18 and older.
Changes
If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top.
Contact
Contact: contact@standfacts.com