Cookie Policy

1. A quick note on how we use cookies

ScoutSocial uses cookies and similar technologies (like local storage) to keep the platform reliable, secure, and useful.

In practice, this means cookies help us:

• Keep you logged in and your workspace secure
• Ensure scheduled posts are published correctly
• Maintain progress and quality in ongoing AI content workflows
• Maintain correctness and quality of features like analytics and insights
• Improve performance, recommendations, and system stability

You can control or disable non-essential cookies at any time.

2. What are cookies?

Cookies are small data files stored on your device when you use ScoutSocial. They allow us to recognise your browser, remember your preferences, and support core platform functionality.

We also use similar browser technologies — specifically localStorage and sessionStorage (key-value stores that the browser persists for ScoutSocial’s domain) and IndexedDB (a structured client-side store used to maintain in-progress work in the app). These technologies behave similarly to cookies for our purposes and are subject to the same consent rules where they store non-essential information.

3. How we use cookies

We group cookies based on their purpose within ScoutSocial.

Examples of cookies in each category — non-exhaustive: Strictly Necessary: __session (Clerk auth), scoutsocial_session, scoutsocial_csrf. Functional: scoutsocial_consent (your cookie preferences, retained up to 1 year), scoutsocial_ws (last selected workspace). Analytics: _ga, _ga_* (Google Analytics, where enabled). The full live list is available in Settings → Workspace & Preferences → Privacy & Cookies → Cookie Inventory.

4. Cookie duration and ownership

Cookies used by ScoutSocial may vary in duration and origin:

Duration

• Session cookies: expire when you close your browser
• Persistent cookies: remain for a defined period or until deleted

Cookie preferences are stored in a persistent cookie named scoutsocial_consent for up to 1 year, so you can control Functional and Analytics usage without re-selecting on every visit.

Ownership

• First-party cookies: set directly by ScoutSocial
• Third-party cookies: set by trusted partners (see below)

5. Where cookies are used in the product

Cookies and similar technologies support key parts of ScoutSocial, including:

• Authentication and security: maintaining secure sessions and protecting accounts
• Scheduling and publishing: ensuring queued and scheduled posts execute reliably
• AI processing: maintaining the state of multi-step content generation so progress is not lost during navigation
• Analytics and insights: understanding usage patterns across dashboards, performance views, and experiments
• Preferences and workflows: remembering configuration across content pipelines, templates, and workspaces

6. Third-party cookies and service providers

We work with a limited number of trusted providers to operate ScoutSocial effectively. These providers may set cookies or process data as part of their services.

Key providers include:

• Clerk — authentication and session management.
• Paddle — billing, subscription management and checkout (Paddle is our merchant of record).
• Google Analytics — product analytics, with your consent.
• Google reCAPTCHA — bot and abuse protection on public forms (beta signup, contact).
• Amazon Web Services and similar infrastructure providers — hosting, storage and background processing (these providers generally do not set tracking cookies on your browser; technical session identifiers may be set during interactive flows).
• OpenAI, Anthropic — large-language-model inference for AI content generation and AI Insights features. These AI providers do not normally set cookies on the user’s browser; calls are made server-to-server from ScoutSocial.

Some third-party cookies may be set on your browser during social-account connection flows (LinkedIn, X, Meta — Facebook/Instagram, TikTok, YouTube/Google) as part of secure OAuth; those cookies are governed by the respective platform’s policies.

Each third party operates under its own privacy and cookie policies.

7. Managing your cookie preferences

You have control over how non-essential cookies are used. You can:

• Accept or reject cookies via our cookie banner
• Update your preferences within your account settings
• Configure your browser to block or delete cookies

Please note: disabling certain cookies may impact functionality, particularly features related to scheduling, analytics, and saved preferences.

7.1 How we record and respect your choice

On your first visit you will see a cookie banner offering three choices: Accept all, Reject non-essential, and Customise. Your decision is recorded in a first-party cookie named scoutsocial_consent together with a timestamped consent receipt stored server-side. The receipt logs: the choice you made, the categories enabled, the policy version in force at the time, and the IP address used to make the choice. You can re-open the choice at any time via the Cookie Settings link in the footer or in Settings → Workspace & Preferences → Privacy & Cookies, and we will treat your updated choice as immediately effective. We do not use a “consent or pay” mechanism.

7.2 Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track

ScoutSocial honours the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as an opt-out of non-essential cookies and as a CCPA opt-out of sale/share where applicable. Browsers transmitting GPC will be treated as having selected Reject non-essential. We do not currently process the legacy Do-Not-Track (DNT) header.

8. Updates to this policy

We may update this Cookie Policy as ScoutSocial evolves, including when new features, integrations, or technologies are introduced.

When changes are made, we will update the date above and, where appropriate, notify you.

9. Contact

If you have questions about this Cookie Policy or how we use cookies:

Email: info@scoutsocial.ai