Cookie Policy

Last updated: November 2025

1. What Are Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, tablet, or mobile phone) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently, provide a better user experience, and give website operators information about how their sites are being used.

Similar technologies include web beacons, pixels, and local storage. For the purposes of this policy, we refer to all such technologies as "cookies."

2. How AnimeList.moe Uses Cookies

We use cookies to enhance your experience on our platform, provide essential functionality, remember your preferences, analyze how our service is used, and display relevant advertisements.

Consent Required: We require your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device. Essential cookies that are strictly necessary for the website to function are placed without consent as permitted by law.

3. Types of Cookies We Use

Essential Cookies (Strictly Necessary)

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They are usually set in response to actions you take, such as logging in or filling out forms.

Authentication: Keep you logged in during your session (Supabase auth cookies)
Security: Protect against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks
Session Management: Maintain your session state across pages
Cookie Consent: Remember your cookie consent preferences
Load Balancing: Ensure optimal server performance (Vercel)

Legal basis: These cookies are strictly necessary for the operation of our website.

Functional Cookies (Preferences)

These cookies enable enhanced functionality and personalization:

User Preferences: Language settings, theme choices, and display options
Content Filtering: Adult content preferences and visibility settings
Layout Settings: Customized interface configurations
Notification Preferences: Your notification and communication settings

Legal basis: Consent. You can manage these through our cookie banner or browser settings.

Performance Cookies (Analytics)

These cookies help us understand how visitors use our website:

Analytics: Anonymous usage statistics and page performance metrics
Caching: Improve loading times for frequently accessed content (Redis, Cloudflare)
Error Tracking: Identify and resolve technical issues
Feature Usage: Understand which features are most popular

Legal basis: Consent. You can opt out of performance cookies at any time.

4. Third-Party Cookies

Authentication Providers

Google OAuth: Secure login with your Google account (accounts.google.com)
Discord OAuth: Secure login with your Discord account (discord.com)

Infrastructure Services

Vercel: Hosting and performance optimization cookies (_vercel)
Cloudflare: Security and content delivery network cookies (__cf_bm, cf_clearance)
Supabase: Database session and authentication cookies

Content Delivery

TMDB: Image delivery and caching for anime/manga cover images
YouTube: Video embed functionality when viewing trailers (may set cookies)

5. Advertising Cookies (Google AdSense)

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our platform. Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your visits to AnimeList.moe and other websites on the internet.

How Google AdSense Cookies Work

Personalized Ads: If you consent to advertising cookies, Google may use information about your browsing activity across sites to show you more relevant ads.
Non-Personalized Ads: If you do not consent, Google will show contextual ads based only on the content of the current page, without tracking your activity.
Frequency Capping: Limit how often you see the same advertisement
Ad Performance: Measure and report on the effectiveness of ads

Google AdSense Cookies

Google may set the following types of cookies:

_ga, _gid: Google Analytics cookies for traffic analysis
__gads: Advertising cookie to track ad interactions
NID, SID, HSID: Google advertising and personalization cookies
DSID, IDE: DoubleClick cookies for ad serving and targeting
CONSENT: Records your cookie consent preferences for Google services

Opting Out of Personalized Ads

You have several options to control advertising cookies:

Our Cookie Banner: Decline advertising cookies when you first visit our site
Google Ad Settings: Visit Google Ad Settings to manage your ad personalization preferences
Network Advertising Initiative: Opt out at NAI Consumer Opt Out
Your Online Choices (EU): Manage preferences at Your Online Choices

For more information about how Google uses your data, visit Google's Privacy & Terms.

7. Managing Your Cookie Preferences

Browser Settings

You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. Here's how to do it in popular browsers:

Chrome: Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data
Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
Safari: Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data
Edge: Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Cookies and site data
Opera: Settings → Advanced → Privacy & Security → Cookies

Do Not Track

Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) feature that signals to websites that you do not want to be tracked. Currently, there is no universal standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, but we respect your privacy choices.

Account Settings

When logged in, you can manage some preferences through your account settings:

Privacy settings for your profile and lists
Notification preferences
Content filtering options
Language and display preferences

Important: Disabling essential cookies may impact the functionality of AnimeList.moe. Some features may not work properly if these cookies are blocked.

9. Changes to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the cookies we use, or applicable laws. When we make significant changes, we will notify you through our cookie consent banner or via email if you have an account. The "Last updated" date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last revised. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact us:

Privacy inquiries: privacy@animelist.moe
General inquiries: contact@animelist.moe

For questions specifically about how Google uses data from our site, please refer to Google's Privacy Policy.