Who We Are
HerClout is a women's sports media platform covering the WNBA, NWSL, WTA, and LPGA — operated from Gainesville, Florida, USA. We're an independent media company, not affiliated with any league or team. This policy explains what information we collect about you, how we use it, and the rights you have over your own data.
When this policy says "we," "us," or "HerClout," we mean HerClout. When it says "you," we mean anyone who visits herclout.com, signs up for our email list, or uses any HerClout product.
What Information We Collect
Information you give us directly:
- Email address — when you sign up for our newsletter or waitlist.
- First name — if you complete a chat with Nova (our AI sports writer) during signup.
- Sport preference — which leagues you follow (WNBA, NWSL, WTA, LPGA, NCAA, or "all of it"), if you tell us in the Nova chat.
- Favorite player — if you tell us in the Nova chat.
- How you found us — social media, a friend, search, or "I've been waiting," if you tell us.
- Social platform — if you said you found us on social media, which one (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, Threads, YouTube, or Facebook).
- Messages you send Nova — when you use the Ask Nova chat feature, your question text is processed by an AI provider (see Section 04).
Information collected automatically when you visit:
- IP address — used briefly for rate-limiting and security. We don't link it to your email address.
- Approximate location — derived from your IP address by our email provider. Country and region only, not your specific address.
- Browser type and device — standard server logs, used for debugging and security.
- Timestamps — when you signed up, when you opened an email, when you visited.
Information stored in your browser (local storage):
- Founding member status flag
- Players you follow
- Articles you've saved
- Which notifications you've read
- Whether you've dismissed the "Catch Me Up" widget today
This local storage data stays in your browser. It's not transmitted to us unless you sign up.
How We Use Your Information
We use the information you give us to:
- Send you HerClout newsletters, launch announcements, and updates you've opted into
- Personalize the content you see — show you more of the leagues and players you actually care about
- Recognize you as a founding member (anyone who signs up before July 25, 2026)
- Understand how people are finding HerClout so we know where to focus our marketing
- Improve the site, fix bugs, and design new features based on aggregate usage patterns
- Respond to your questions or requests when you email us
The only parties who receive your information are the service providers listed in Section 06 — and they only receive what they need to do their specific job for us (sending our emails, hosting our website, processing your Nova chat).
AI Processing (Nova)
Nova is HerClout's AI sports writer. When you use the "Ask Nova" chat feature, the text of your question is sent to Anthropic, the company that makes the Claude AI model that powers Nova. Anthropic processes your question and generates Nova's response. The response is sent back to your browser through our server.
What Anthropic does with your question: Per Anthropic's published policies, prompts sent through their API are not used to train their models by default. Anthropic retains API request data for a limited period for safety and abuse-detection purposes. You can read Anthropic's privacy practices at anthropic.com/legal/privacy.
If you're not comfortable with this processing, you can use HerClout without using the Ask Nova feature. All other site features work without sending anything to the AI provider.
Email Communications
When you sign up, you're agreeing to receive emails from HerClout. That includes:
- A welcome / confirmation email immediately after signup
- Launch announcements as we approach July 25, 2026
- Our regular newsletter once we launch
- Occasional product updates and feature announcements
You can unsubscribe at any time. Every email we send includes a one-click unsubscribe link in the footer. If you unsubscribe, you'll stop receiving marketing emails. We may still send transactional emails (like confirmation of a request you made) if you're still using the site.
Emails are sent through our email service provider, Beehiiv. See Section 06 for details.
Service Providers
To run HerClout we use a small number of third-party services. Each one receives only the data it needs to do its job. We don't authorize any of them to use your information for their own marketing.
Links to publishers (not service providers): HerClout shows headlines from external news outlets (CBS Sports, ESPN, WNBA.com, Front Office Sports, Just Women's Sports, Tennis365, Sky Sports, and others). When you click "Read full article on [Source]," you leave HerClout and go to that publisher's site. We don't share your information with them — clicking the link is just a standard browser navigation, exactly like clicking any link to any other website. Each publisher has its own privacy policy that governs your visit to their site.
Cookies and Local Storage
HerClout uses a small amount of browser storage to make the site work:
- Local storage remembers your preferences (followed players, saved articles, founding-member badge, notification read state) so you don't have to set them up every visit. This data stays in your browser and is not sent to us.
- Session storage tracks short-lived UI state (like whether you've dismissed the "Catch Me Up" widget today). It clears when you close your browser tab.
- Authentication cookies — once we add full user accounts (post-launch), we'll set a secure session cookie when you sign in. This is required to keep you logged in.
We don't use third-party advertising cookies. We don't use cross-site tracking pixels. We don't share cookie data with ad networks.
You can clear local storage at any time through your browser settings. Doing this will remove your saved preferences but won't affect your account or our records of your signup.
Your Privacy Rights
You have the following rights regarding your personal information, regardless of where you live:
- Access — request a copy of what we have on you
- Deletion — ask us to delete your information
- Correction — ask us to fix anything that's wrong
- Portability — get your data in a portable format
- Unsubscribe — stop receiving marketing emails (click the link in any email)
- Object — ask us to stop processing your data in certain ways
To exercise any of these rights, email us at privacy@herclout.com. We'll respond within 30 days (faster in most cases). We may need to verify your identity by confirming you have access to the email address associated with your HerClout account.
You won't be penalized for using these rights. We won't charge you, deny you service, or treat you any differently.
Universal Opt-Out Signals (GPC)
If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, we treat it as a valid opt-out request for the sale or sharing of your personal information — even though, as stated throughout this policy, we don't sell or share your personal information to begin with. You don't have to send a separate request; the signal is enough.
You can learn about Global Privacy Control at globalprivacycontrol.org. Most modern privacy-focused browsers (and some browser extensions) support it.
Children's Privacy
HerClout is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you're under 13, please don't sign up.
If we learn that we've collected information from a child under 13, we'll delete it as soon as we can. If you're a parent or guardian and you believe your child has provided us with personal information, please email privacy@herclout.com and we'll handle it right away.
If you're 13 to 17, you can use HerClout, but we recommend asking a parent or guardian before signing up to an email list.
Data Security
We take reasonable steps to protect the information you give us, including:
- Encryption in transit — all traffic to and from herclout.com uses HTTPS
- Rate limiting — we limit how many requests can hit our APIs from a single source to prevent abuse
- API key security — sensitive credentials (like API keys for our service providers) are never exposed in our front-end code; they live in secure server environments
- Access controls — only authorized HerClout team members can access subscriber data, and access is logged
- Two-factor authentication — required for all administrative access to our systems
That said, no system is perfectly secure. If we ever discover a breach that affects your personal information, we'll notify you as required by law.
Data Retention
We keep your information for as long as you're an active HerClout subscriber, plus a reasonable period afterward for legal, accounting, or operational reasons. Specifically:
- Email subscribers — kept until you unsubscribe. After unsubscribe, we keep a record that you unsubscribed (without your email content) so we don't accidentally re-add you.
- Server logs (IP address, browser data) — typically retained for 30 to 90 days for security and debugging, then automatically deleted.
- Ask Nova chat content — processed in the moment to generate a response; not stored linked to your identity on our servers. Anthropic may retain prompts briefly per their policy (see Section 04).
- Email correspondence — kept for as long as needed to maintain the conversation history, then archived.
If you ask us to delete your data, we'll remove it within 30 days, except where law requires us to keep it.
State Privacy Rights
California (CCPA / CPRA). If you live in California, you have additional rights:
- Right to know what categories of personal information we collect about you, the sources, the purposes, and who we share it with
- Right to delete personal information we hold
- Right to correct inaccurate personal information
- Right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (which, again, we don't do)
- Right to limit the use of sensitive personal information (we don't collect any — no SSN, financial info, precise geolocation, racial/ethnic origin, religious beliefs, biometric data, or health data)
- Right to non-discrimination for using any of these rights
In the past 12 months we have not sold or shared (as those terms are defined under California law) any personal information.
Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Virginia, Texas, and other state laws. If you live in one of these states (or any other state with a comprehensive privacy law), you generally have the same core rights as California residents — access, deletion, correction, and the right to opt out of targeted advertising or profiling. We don't conduct targeted advertising or automated profiling that produces legal effects, so most of these provisions don't actively apply to us — but the rights remain yours and you can always exercise them.
To exercise any state privacy right, email privacy@herclout.com with the subject line "Privacy Request — [Your State]".
Changes to This Policy
If we change this policy, we'll update the "Last Updated" date at the top of the page. If the changes are significant — like adding a new way we use your data, or working with a new service provider — we'll notify subscribers by email at least 30 days before the changes take effect.
Continued use of HerClout after the effective date means you accept the updated policy. If you don't agree with the changes, you can unsubscribe and request deletion of your data.
Contact Us
Questions, requests, complaints, or anything else related to your privacy:
- Email: privacy@herclout.com
- General inquiries: hello@herclout.com
- Website: herclout.com