Privacy Policy
Last updated: 15 October 2026
1. About Cosmos & Confessions
Cosmos & Confessions is an independent online magazine exploring love, relationships, sexuality, heartbreak, identity, grief, shame, personal growth, poetry, interviews, and the stories we don't always know how to tell.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect personal information when you visit our website, read our articles, contact us, submit content, or interact with our commercial partners and affiliate links.
Data controller: Sofia Pantazi
Publication: Cosmos & Confessions
Country of establishment: France
Website: https://cosmosandconfessions.com
Privacy contact: coandcomagazine@gmail.com
Cosmos & Confessions is operated by an individual and is not represented as a separate legal entity unless otherwise stated.
2. Information We Collect
We collect information that you provide directly and certain technical information generated when you use our website.
Information you provide
This may include:
Your name, pseudonym, or preferred author credit.
Your email address and contact details.
Stories, confessions, poems, photographs, interviews, and other submissions.
Messages, feedback, and correspondence.
Your publication preferences and records of relevant permissions or consent.
You may contact us by email or submit content through forms on our Squarespace website.
Technical information
Depending on your settings and the services enabled, we may collect:
IP address and technical identifiers.
Browser, device, and operating-system information.
Pages viewed, referring websites, and interactions with content.
Website performance and readership statistics.
Cookie identifiers and information relating to affiliate links or advertising campaigns, where applicable.
Sensitive information
Our editorial subject matter may involve intimate relationships, sexuality, grief, health, family circumstances, or other sensitive subjects.
Please only include information you are comfortable sharing. Avoid unnecessary identifying information about yourself or other people.
Where personal data falls within a special category under the GDPR, we will assess the applicable legal requirements and ensure that an appropriate legal basis and, where necessary, an additional condition for processing are in place.
3. Why We Use Your Information
We may use personal information to:
Operate and maintain the website.
Receive, review, edit, and manage submissions.
Communicate with writers and contributors.
Publish articles under agreed names, pseudonyms, or anonymously.
Respond to enquiries and privacy requests.
Protect the website and prevent misuse.
Understand readership and improve our editorial content.
Manage affiliate relationships, sponsorships, and commercial partnerships.
Measure commercial performance where legally permitted.
Comply with legal obligations and protect our rights.
We do not automatically use information provided in a confession for advertising, marketing, or unrelated commercial purposes.
4. Anonymous Submissions and Confidentiality
Cosmos & Confessions welcomes stories from contributors who wish to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym.
Where requested and agreed, we will take reasonable steps to publish your contribution without your real name.
However, anonymous publication does not necessarily mean that your submission is anonymous to us.
For example, email submissions normally reveal the sender's email address, while website forms may collect contact details or technical information depending on their configuration.
To help protect your identity:
Tell us if you wish to publish anonymously.
Use a pseudonym if you prefer.
Remove identifying details where possible.
Avoid sharing another person's private information unnecessarily.
Access to unpublished submissions will be restricted to those who need the information for editorial or administrative purposes.
We will not intentionally publish private contact details as part of an anonymous contribution. We cannot promise absolute confidentiality in every circumstance, including where disclosure is legally required.
5. Editorial Submissions and Publication
Submitting a contribution does not guarantee publication.
We may edit, shorten, or anonymise material for editorial reasons, subject to any specific agreement with you and applicable law.
Before publishing a submission, we will obtain any necessary permissions and establish the appropriate legal basis for the intended processing.
Once an article is published, it may be accessible to the public, indexed by search engines, shared on social media, quoted, or archived by third parties.
You may contact us to withdraw an unpublished submission or request the removal or correction of published content. We will assess each request individually.
Removal from our website cannot guarantee the deletion of copies already held by other websites, archives, or search engines.
6. Legal Bases for Processing
Where the GDPR applies, our processing relies on the legal basis appropriate to the activity, which may include:
Consent: for specific processing activities where consent is required.
Legitimate interests: for appropriate editorial administration, website security, and other legitimate purposes, subject to your rights.
Contractual necessity: where processing is necessary to fulfil an agreement or take requested steps before entering into one.
Legal obligations: where processing is necessary to comply with the law.
For sensitive personal data, an additional condition under Article 9 of the GDPR may be necessary. We will not assume that submitting a personal story automatically authorises every possible use of its sensitive contents.
You may withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. This does not affect processing carried out lawfully before withdrawal.
7. Cookies and Website Technologies
Our website is hosted on Squarespace. Depending on our configuration, Squarespace and third-party services may use cookies or similar technologies.
These may include:
Essential technologies: those required for website security, core functionality, or a service you have requested, where an applicable exemption is satisfied.
Analytics technologies: those used to measure readership or understand website performance.
Commercial and affiliate technologies: those used to attribute purchases, measure referrals, or support commercial partnerships, where applicable.
Where prior consent is required, non-essential cookies and trackers will not be activated before consent is obtained.
Visitors should be able to accept or refuse non-essential technologies and change their preferences later through the available cookie settings.
We will maintain cookie information that reflects the technologies actually used on our website, rather than assuming that every possible Squarespace or third-party cookie is active.
8. Affiliate Links and Sponsored Content
Cosmos & Confessions may include affiliate links, sponsored articles, paid collaborations, or other commercial partnerships.
An affiliate link may allow a commercial partner to recognise that a visitor came from our website. Depending on the partner's technology, the partner may process information such as a referral identifier, click information, or purchase attribution.
If you click an affiliate link, you may be redirected to a third-party website governed by that provider's own privacy policy and terms.
Where required, we will obtain consent before enabling non-essential tracking technologies associated with affiliate or advertising activity.
Sponsored content and affiliate relationships will be disclosed clearly and in accordance with applicable advertising and consumer-protection requirements.
For example:
“This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, Cosmos & Confessions may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.”
We will not sell unpublished confessions, private submissions, or contributors' contact details to sponsors or affiliate partners.
Submitting content does not automatically authorise its use in a sponsored campaign or promotional collaboration. Any additional use will require an appropriate legal basis and the necessary permissions.
9. Sharing Personal Information
We may share information with service providers where necessary to operate the magazine, including:
Squarespace, for website hosting and forms.
Email providers, for correspondence.
Website analytics and cookie-management providers, where enabled.
Affiliate networks and commercial partners, to the extent necessary for the relevant commercial activity and lawful processing.
Professional advisers or public authorities, where required by law.
We will not disclose private submissions or contact details to commercial partners simply because they sponsor the publication.
Where applicable, we will use appropriate contractual arrangements and safeguards when service providers process personal data on our behalf.
10. International Data Transfers
Some service providers may process personal data outside France or the European Economic Area.
Where required, we will ensure that international transfers comply with applicable data protection law and are supported by an appropriate transfer mechanism or safeguard.
11. Data Retention
We will retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, taking account of applicable legal requirements.
Different retention periods may apply to:
Unpublished and rejected submissions.
Contributor correspondence.
Publication permissions and consent records.
Published editorial archives.
Website security logs.
Analytics and affiliate reporting information.
We will establish and document specific retention periods based on our actual editorial practices and the services used. We will not retain personal information indefinitely without a legitimate reason.
12. Security
We take reasonable measures to protect personal information from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure.
These measures may include access restrictions, secure account credentials, appropriate account authentication, and limiting the information collected through submission forms.
No internet-based service can guarantee absolute security. Please take care when sharing intimate or identifying information.
13. Your Rights
Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:
Access your personal information.
Correct inaccurate information.
Request deletion of personal information.
Request restriction of processing.
Object to certain processing activities.
Request data portability where applicable.
Withdraw consent where processing relies on consent.
Lodge a complaint with a competent data protection authority.
These rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions. Certain editorial activities may benefit from applicable freedom-of-expression or journalistic protections, but these do not automatically exempt all of our activities from data protection law.
To exercise your rights, contact coandcomagazine@gmail.com. We may request reasonable identity verification where necessary.
In France, you may also contact the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL): https://www.cnil.fr/.
14. Third-Party Websites
Our articles may link to external websites, social media services, affiliate partners, or embedded content.
These third parties may collect information under their own privacy policies. We do not control their independent data-processing practices.
Please review the relevant third-party privacy notices before providing information or completing a purchase.
15. Children's Privacy
Our magazine may discuss mature themes, including sexuality, relationships, grief, and other sensitive topics.
We will not knowingly collect personal information from children where doing so would be unlawful. If we become aware that information has been collected unlawfully, we will take appropriate steps to address it.
16. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when our website, editorial practices, commercial relationships, or legal obligations change.
The latest version will be published on this page with an updated date. Where required, we will provide additional information or seek consent for new processing activities.
17. Contact
For privacy enquiries, data protection requests, or concerns about a submission, contact:
Cosmos & Confessions
Data controller: Sofia Pantazi
Email: coandcomagazine@gmail.com
Website: https://cosmosandconfessions.com
Country of establishment: France
We will handle requests in accordance with applicable data protection law.