Privacy Policy
Effective: June 2026. Global Debt Clock (global-debt-clock.com) is an independently produced data resource. This page explains what data we collect, how cookies and local storage are used on this site, and your rights.
1. What we collect
We collect very little. There are no user accounts, no newsletter, and no forms that collect personal information anywhere on this site.
- Standard server logs. Our host, Cloudflare, automatically logs requests (IP address, user-agent, requested URL, timestamp) for security and operational purposes, in line with Cloudflare's own privacy policy.
- Approximate country. To show you debt figures in a sensible default (e.g. your own country first), we read a coarse, IP-derived country code that Cloudflare attaches to each request (
request.cf.country). This value is used to render the page and is not stored in a database or file — it exists only for the duration of that request. As a fallback, if that signal is unavailable, the page makes a client-side request to a third-party IP-geolocation service (see the Third-Party Services table below).
2. Cookies & local storage
Here is the complete inventory of what this site stores in your browser:
pwa_dismissed(localStorage) — remembers that you closed the "install app" prompt, so it doesn't reappear. No personal data.gdc-consent(localStorage) — remembers an analytics choice you made before 11 September 2026, when this site ran its own consent banner. It is still honoured so returning visitors are not silently re-enabled. Advertising consent is now held by ConsentManager, not here._gaand_ga_<property>(cookies, set by Google Analytics) — distinguish one browser from another so repeat visits are not counted as new people. Set only where analytics storage is permitted; see the regional rules immediately below.- Advertising and session-replay cookies — set by Journey by Mediavine's advertising partners and by Microsoft (Clarity), described in the next section. Where opt-in consent law applies, these are never set until you agree through the ConsentManager prompt.
How consent defaults are set, by region
This site uses Google Consent Mode v2, and the default depends on where you are, because the law does:
- EEA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Quebec. Prior consent is required before non-essential storage, so everything is denied until you accept. Until then Google Analytics runs cookieless: aggregate, non-identifying pings only, no cookies, no cross-site identifiers. Declining leaves it that way.
- Everywhere else (including the rest of the United States and Canada). The applicable rules are notice-and-opt-out rather than opt-in, so basic first-party analytics starts enabled, and this page plus the banner are your notice. Choosing Decline on the banner switches analytics off and reloads the page without it.
Advertising storage is denied by default in every region, including regions where analytics is not. In regions with opt-in consent law, that default is lifted only by your answer to the ConsentManager prompt described in Section 3. Microsoft Clarity loads only where you have accepted, and applies its own consent mode.
We honour Global Privacy Control. If your browser or extension sends a GPC signal, all storage — analytics and advertising alike — is denied regardless of your region, and you are not prompted on top of it, because you have already answered.
Your choice is stored in the gdc-consent localStorage key described above. You can change it at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page — withdrawing is exactly as easy as granting, and takes effect immediately.
3. Advertising
Display advertising on this site is delivered by Journey by Mediavine, which went live on 11 September 2026 and replaced Google AdSense. Journey works with third-party advertising partners; those partners may set cookies or similar identifiers to select, measure and personalise the ads you see. The full list of partners authorised to sell this site's inventory is published at /ads.txt and is maintained by Mediavine, not by us.
Mediavine's own description of what it collects is in its privacy policy, and the advertising partners it works with are listed in its ad partners list.
Your choices. In the EU, UK and other regions with opt-in consent laws, a consent prompt from ConsentManager — the consent platform Mediavine provides with Journey — appears before any personalised advertising identifier is set, and your answer there governs what the advertising partners may do. You can reopen it at any time from the cookie settings link in the footer. Elsewhere you can opt out of personalised advertising industry-wide at aboutads.info/choices or optout.networkadvertising.org, and of Google's personalised ads specifically at Google Ads Settings. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal we treat it as an opt-out of sale or sharing and do not prompt you on top of it.
Advertising is not shown inside the embeddable counter. The widget carries no advertising script and sets no advertising cookie on the sites that embed it.
4. Third-party services
The table below lists every third-party service this site currently uses (or is configured to use) and what each one receives.
| Service | Purpose | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosting, CDN, security | Standard request logs (IP, user-agent, URL) for every page load. See Cloudflare's privacy policy. |
| Journey by Mediavine | Display advertising, and the ConsentManager consent prompt shown in regions with opt-in consent laws | The pages you view, your approximate location, device and browser, and advertising identifiers, shared with the partners listed at /ads.txt. See Mediavine's privacy policy. |
| Google Analytics | Aggregate site-usage analytics (page views and in-page interaction events such as calculator use) | Analytics cookie identifiers and usage events, subject to Google's privacy policy. |
| Microsoft Clarity | Session-behavior analytics (anonymized click/scroll heatmaps and session recordings), loaded only where consent permits | Session-replay cookie identifiers and in-page interaction events, subject to Microsoft's privacy statement. |
| Google Fonts | Loads the site's typefaces | Your browser requests font files directly from fonts.googleapis.com/fonts.gstatic.com, which receives standard request data (IP, user-agent). |
| geojs.io | Client-side fallback country detection | Your IP address, to return an approximate country code, used only when the server-side signal is unavailable. |
5. Your rights (GDPR / UK GDPR & CCPA)
GDPR / UK GDPR. If you are in the UK or EEA, our legal basis for the limited processing described above is legitimate interest (operating and securing the site, showing a sensible default country) and, for advertising and analytics cookies, your consent given via the cookie banner. You may withdraw or change your consent at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page, which reopens the banner. Declining after having accepted also revokes consent for advertising and session-analytics cookies and reloads the page without them. You have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of any personal data we hold about you (in practice, this is limited to what's in server logs), and the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
CCPA/CPRA and other US state privacy laws. If you are a resident of California — or of another state with comparable rights, such as Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Oregon or Montana: we do not sell your personal information for money. We do, however, share the pages you view, your approximate location, and your device and browser with the advertising and analytics partners listed in Section 4, and several of these laws treat that sharing for cross-context behavioural advertising as a "sale" or "share" whether or not money changes hands. You have the right to opt out. Basic first-party analytics is enabled by default in these states, which the notice-and-opt-out model these laws use permits, and this page is that notice.
To opt out, use the Cookie settings link in the footer, or the industry opt-outs in Section 3. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal we treat it as an opt-out of sale and sharing automatically — you do not need to do anything else.
We also honour Global Privacy Control as a valid opt-out signal, as required in California, Colorado and Connecticut and applied by us everywhere. If your browser sends GPC, analytics and advertising storage are both denied automatically and you do not need to do anything else. You have the right to know what personal information is collected and to request its deletion by contacting us at the email below.
6. Embedded widget
Global Debt Clock provides a free, embeddable iframe widget that other websites can include on their pages (see the widget builder). When a page embedding our widget loads, the visitor's browser fetches a small data file from our servers directly. We receive only standard server request logs for that fetch (IP, user-agent, referring page) — no data about the embedding site's visitors is retained beyond typical, short-lived Cloudflare request logs.
7. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the site changes — for example when an advertising or analytics partner changes, or if we add new data sources. Material changes will be reflected by updating the effective date at the top of this page.
Questions about this policy or a privacy request? Contact us at [email protected].