Be the Judge — Privacy Policy

Applies to the Be the Judge web app and the Be the Judge browser extension. Last updated 2026-07-01.

Be the Judge is built to protect your judgment — and your privacy. The short version: we don't have accounts, we don't track you, and we don't store what you analyze on our servers.

Your AI key stays on your device

You choose your own AI provider (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, or DeepSeek) and paste your own API key. That key is stored only on your device (in your browser's local storage, or the extension's chrome.storage.local). It is never sent to us or to any third party — it is sent only to the AI provider you selected, to run your analysis. Anyone with access to your device or browser could read it, so treat it like a password.

What we send where, when you analyze something

• To your chosen AI provider (with your key): the article text, transcript, or text you asked us to analyze. This is governed by that provider's privacy policy.
• To read a link you paste: the URL is fetched by our server function purely to extract the page's readable text; the page content is returned to you and not stored.
• To our free helper services: to show already-published fact-checks and related official hearing records, we send only short topic keywords (never your identity or personal data) to Google's Fact Check Tools API and to the U.S. government's GovInfo / Congress.gov APIs. Their responses are shown to you as pointers; we do not log or retain them.

Image & video checks

When you check a photo or video, it is read on your device to show its metadata and Content Credentials. The file itself is not uploaded to us. Reverse-image-search buttons simply open a search on a third-party site (TinEye, Google Lens, Yandex) that you choose to click.

What we don't do

• No accounts, sign-ups, or logins.
• No analytics, advertising, tracking pixels, or cookies for tracking.
• No selling or sharing of personal data — we don't collect it in the first place.
• No storing of the content you analyze on our servers.

Permissions the browser extension asks for

The extension requests permission to read the page you're on when you choose to analyze it, so it can extract the article or video you want checked. It reads only the page you actively analyze — never your other tabs, your desktop, your notifications, or other apps.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact the developer at the email listed on the app's store page or website.

Because Be the Judge stores your key and settings locally and keeps no server-side record of your activity, most privacy control is literally in your hands: clearing your browser data or removing the extension removes everything.