Privacy Policy

Last updated 27 October 2026

This page explains what personal information The Leeds Brief collects, why we collect it, who helps us handle it, and what you can do about it. We've kept it in plain English.

Who we are

The Leeds Brief (the-leeds-brief-1.ghost.io) is published by The Herb Pantry Ltd, trading as The Briefs. We are the "controller" of your personal information under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

You can contact us about anything in this policy by emailing yorkbrief@protonmail.com. This inbox is shared with our sister publication, The York Brief, so please mention The Leeds Brief when you write.

What we collect

  • Your email address, and your name if you give it, when you subscribe on our website or through one of our Facebook or Instagram lead forms.
  • How you use our emails. Ghost, the platform we use to send the Brief, records whether our emails are opened and which links are clicked. We use this to see what readers find useful and to stop emailing addresses that never open.
  • How you found us. When you sign up, Ghost records the page or source you came from, for example one of our Facebook or Instagram adverts.
  • Payment details, if we offer paid memberships and you take one. The Leeds Brief is free at the moment. If and when paid memberships are offered, payments will be processed by Stripe. We will never see or store your full card number, only limited details such as your plan, your payment status, your card type and the last four digits of your card.
  • How you use our website, including through cookies. See "Cookies and website analytics" below.
  • Anything you send us, such as replies, story tips, corrections or comments.

Facebook and Instagram lead forms

Some of our Facebook and Instagram adverts include a sign-up form (Meta calls these "lead ads"). The form asks for your name and email address, and Facebook or Instagram may fill these in for you from your account. You can check and change them before you submit.

The form is provided by Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, which processes the details you enter as part of running the form and then passes them to us. Meta's own use of information on its platforms is covered by Meta's Privacy Policy.

If you sign up through one of our Facebook or Instagram lead forms, we add you to The Leeds Brief email list. We import you directly, so you won't get a separate confirmation email, and you can unsubscribe any time using the link at the bottom of every email.

Our legal basis for this is your consent, which you give by submitting the form. You can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing.

Cookies and website analytics

  • Essential cookies. Ghost uses a cookie to keep you signed in as a member. If paid memberships are offered in future, Stripe will use cookies during checkout for security and to prevent fraud. The site needs these to work, so we don't ask for consent for them.
  • Visitor statistics. We count visits using Ghost's built-in analytics, which is designed to work without advertising cookies and doesn't tell us who you are.

Facebook and Instagram advertising (Custom Audiences)

We may upload a list of our subscribers' email addresses to Meta, using its Custom Audiences tool. The addresses are hashed (turned into scrambled codes) before Meta matches them against Facebook and Instagram accounts, and Meta deletes the hashed list once matching is done. Meta doesn't tell us which people matched, and we don't share anything else about you, such as what you read or click.

We do this to:

  • avoid showing our adverts to people who already subscribe;
  • find people in and around Leeds who are likely to enjoy the Brief (Meta calls these "lookalike audiences").

To opt out, email yorkbrief@protonmail.com with "Leeds ads opt-out" in the subject line. We'll leave you out of every future upload. You can also manage the adverts you see in your Facebook or Instagram ad preferences.

Why we're allowed to use your information (lawful bases)

  • Consent: sending you the free Brief, which you asked for either by confirming your sign-up on our website or by submitting one of our Facebook or Instagram lead forms. You can withdraw consent at any time by unsubscribing.
  • Contract: running a paid membership and taking payment, if and when we offer paid memberships and you take one.
  • Legal obligation: keeping payment and tax records, if we take payments.
  • Legitimate interests: measuring opens and clicks, recording how you found us, essential cookies, and using Custom Audiences. Our interest is running and growing a small, independent local news service for Leeds. We've balanced this against your rights, kept it to the minimum, and you can object at any time (see "Your rights").

Who helps us handle your information

We use these companies ("processors") to run the Brief. They only use your information to provide their service to us:

  • Ghost(Pro), run by the Ghost Foundation: hosts our website and member list, and sends our emails.
  • Meta (Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd): our Facebook and Instagram lead forms and Custom Audiences, as described above.
  • Stripe: will process membership payments, if and when paid memberships are offered.

We never sell your personal information. Some of these companies handle information outside the UK, for example in the EU or the USA. Where they do, the transfer is covered by safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the UK–US data bridge.

How long we keep it

  • Your subscriber details and email activity: for as long as you're subscribed. If you unsubscribe, we keep only what we need to make sure you aren't emailed again. If you'd like your record deleted completely, just ask.
  • Lead form details: once we've added you to our email list, we treat them the same as any other subscriber's details.
  • Payment records, if we take payments: six years, because UK tax law requires it.
  • Custom Audience lists: we delete our copy of the file once it has been uploaded, and Meta deletes the hashed list after matching.
  • Emails you send us: for as long as we need them to deal with what you asked, then we delete them.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • access the personal information we hold about you and get a copy of it;
  • correct anything that's wrong;
  • delete your information;
  • object to us using your information, including for Custom Audiences and other marketing (if you object to marketing, we'll stop);
  • restrict how we use it, or ask for it in a format you can take elsewhere;
  • withdraw consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing.

To use any of these rights, email yorkbrief@protonmail.com. It's free, and we'll reply within one month.

Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and the date at the top.