Privacy Policy

Last updated July 2026

What we collect

When you sign in with Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo from that provider. We store these to create your account and display your identity on comments and essays you publish.

We also store the essays you submit, the comments you write, and any profile information you choose to add (bio, location, website).

We do not collect payment information, and we do not track you across other websites.

How we use it

Your name and avatar are displayed publicly alongside anything you publish or comment on. Your email address is used only for account identification — it is not displayed publicly unless you choose to show it on your profile.

Comments you submit are sent to Anthropic's Claude AI for review before they are posted publicly. This means the text of your comment is processed by a third-party AI service. Reviewed comments and their AI verdicts are stored in our database. Authors and other readers can see the AI verdict via the "How was this reviewed?" link on each comment.

Essays you submit are also reviewed by Claude AI before publication.

Third-party services

We use the following services to operate Cogent:

• Supabase — database and authentication
• Vercel — hosting and infrastructure
• Anthropic — AI review of essays and comments

Each of these services has its own privacy policy. We share only what is necessary for each service to function.

Data retention and deletion

Your account and content remain on Cogent until you delete them. To delete your account and all associated content, contact us at the email below and we will process your request within 30 days.

Cookies

We use cookies to keep you signed in and to remember your display preferences (theme, font, text size). We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email us at Periscopeapps@proton.me.