This policy explains what data reelgorithm ("we", "us") collects, how we use it, and the choices you have. It covers our website (reelgorithm.net), our email newsletter, and our Instagram automation. By using our services you agree to this policy.
1. Information we collect
Email address — when you sign up for our newsletter / data kit, we collect the email address you provide, plus a UTM source tag noting where you signed up.
Instagram interaction data — when you comment on one of our Instagram posts, Instagram sends us the comment text, the comment ID, and your Instagram user/comment identifier via Instagram's webhooks. We use this solely to respond to that comment (see below). We do not receive your Instagram password or private profile data.
Basic analytics — privacy-friendly, cookieless page analytics (Vercel Web Analytics) — aggregate page views, no personal profiling.
Our own site analytics — on the Anatomy of a Data Reel pages, and on our articles, archive and kit pages, we record which page you opened and which links to our product you clicked; on the product pages we additionally record which sections were reached and which buttons were pressed (for example: the free chapter was opened, the price was seen, checkout was started), how far down the page you scrolled and roughly how long the page was open and visible (recorded in coarse steps — for example "at least 15 seconds", "at least half way down" — never a continuous recording of what you did), the page path, the domain you arrived from, and the country your request came from. This is stored on our own servers rather than sent to an analytics company.
We set no cookies. The only thing we ever store on your device is an opt-out flag, and only if you ask for one: visiting any page with ?noev=1 saves a single value in your browser's local storage that switches all of the analytics on this page off for that browser, and ?noev=0 removes it again. It holds no identifier, it is never sent to us, and it exists only so that a browser can stop being counted. We do not store your IP address, your browser's user-agent string, or the full address of the page you arrived from. To tell two people apart on a given day we store a one-way cryptographic hash of your IP address and browser combined with that day's date and a secret key; because the date is part of the hash it changes every day and cannot be used to follow you between days, and it cannot be reversed to recover your IP address. It is not linked to your email address or to any purchase.
2. How we use it
To send you the free data kit and newsletter — we email you the guide and datasets you requested, and (about once a week) a data story. Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe.
To reply to your Instagram comment — if you comment a keyword (e.g. "mbappe") on one of our posts asking for a resource, we send you a one-time private reply (direct message) containing a link to that free resource. This uses Instagram's instagram_manage_messages permission and only ever happens in direct response to a comment you left. We do not send unsolicited messages, and we do not add commenters to any list without them separately entering their email.
3. Who we share it with
We do not sell your data. We share it only with the service providers that run these features on our behalf:
Beehiiv — our email newsletter platform (stores your email, sends the emails).
Meta Platforms (Instagram) — the messaging/comment data flows through Instagram's own APIs, governed by Instagram's Privacy Policy.
Vercel — website hosting and cookieless analytics.
Neon — the database (hosted in the United States) that stores our newsletter list and our own product-page analytics described in section 1. Privacy policy
4. If you buy the Book
This section applies only if you purchase Anatomy of a Data Reel.
What we collect
Your email address — so we can send you the product (both the written work and the software download) and your receipt, and so we can honour a refund request.
Your country, and whatever else the tax calculation needs — collected by Lemon Squeezy at checkout, because digital goods are taxed where the buyer is. Lemon Squeezy is the merchant of record and calculates and remits that tax itself; your billing address is not passed on to us.
A record that you consented to immediate access, with a timestamp, stored on the payment record.
A server log entry each time either of your access links is used — the time and which purchase it belongs to, for the written work and for the software download alike. This is written to our host's ordinary runtime logs, which are discarded automatically on their normal schedule. We do not keep a separate database of access events, and it is not used to profile you.
We never see, receive or store your card details. Card data goes directly from your browser to Lemon Squeezy and its payment processor. We hold no payment credentials of any kind.
Legal basis (UK/EU GDPR)
Performance of a contract — your email and the delivery record. We cannot sell you a thing and get it to you without them.
Legal obligation — the transaction and tax records we are required to keep.
Legitimate interests — the access log, to prevent abuse of a paid product. You can object to this at any time.
Who processes it
Lemon Squeezy — merchant of record: takes the payment, calculates and remits tax, and issues your receipt. Privacy policy
Resend — sends your product and receipt emails. Privacy policy
Vercel — hosts the site and the checkout endpoints. Privacy policy
These providers may process data outside your country, including in the United States, under Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent transfer mechanism. We do not sell your data, and we do not share it with advertisers.
How long we keep it
Transaction records — retained for as long as tax law requires us to keep them (generally six to seven years). We cannot delete these on request; the obligation to keep them overrides erasure.
Your email address, for product delivery — kept while your access is live, so we can re-send a lost link. Ask us and we will remove it, but note that doing so means we can no longer identify you as a buyer if you later lose your link.
Access log entries — held only in our host's ordinary runtime logs and discarded automatically on their schedule. We do not maintain a long-term access log.
Buying does not sign you up to anything
Purchasing does not add you to the newsletter. If you want that, subscribe separately.
5. Data retention
We keep your email for as long as you are subscribed. Instagram comment data is used transiently to send the one-time reply and is not stored in a long-term database by us. You can remove your data at any time (see below).
6. Your choices & data deletion
Unsubscribe anytime via the link at the bottom of any email — this removes you from our newsletter.
Delete your data — email hello@reelgorithm.net with the subject "DELETE MY DATA" and we will delete your email and any associated records within 30 days.
Instagram data — because we don't retain your Instagram interaction data beyond the moment we reply, there is nothing stored to delete; you can also delete your comment on Instagram at any time.
7. Children
Our services are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data.
8. Changes
We may update this policy; the "last updated" date above will change. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised policy.