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Advertising & Sponsored Content Policy

Last updated: 15 November 2026.

The short version

The Daily Short is free to read and is supported by advertising. Advertising never influences which stories we carry, how we summarise them, or what our Originals say. Every advertisement is clearly labelled "Ad". We currently publish no sponsored content, carry no affiliate links, and run no third-party advertising network such as Google AdSense. This page explains what that means in practice, and what would change — and how it would be labelled — if any of that changes in future.

What advertising we run today

At present, the only advertising on the site is direct advertising that we sell ourselves — clearly labelled placements such as a top banner and in-feed cards. For those placements we count impressions and clicks in aggregate to report performance to the advertiser; no reader identity is attached to those counts. See our Privacy Policy for how advertising and cookies work here.

We do not currently run any third-party advertising network, so no advertising cookies are set by such a network, and no advertiser other than a direct advertiser places ads on the site. If we join an advertising programme such as Google AdSense in future, this page and our Privacy Policy will be updated before any such ads go live.

Sponsored content: none at present

We publish no sponsored articles, no paid editorials, no "brand content" and no paid product reviews. No company has paid us to write a story, a summary or an Original, and no story on the site has been published in exchange for payment.

If we ever introduce sponsored content, it will be:

Sponsored content, if introduced, would never be presented as an independent news summary or Original, and would never carry a source attribution that implies independent reporting.

Affiliate links: none at present

We currently include no affiliate links anywhere on the site. That means we do not earn a commission when a reader clicks a link or buys something after reading us. If we ever add affiliate links, this page will be updated first, and any article containing such a link will carry a clear disclosure at the top of the article stating that the site may earn a commission from purchases made through the link — before the reader clicks it, not after.

Separation of advertising and editorial

Editorial decisions are made on news value alone, by the editorial desk. Advertisers and sponsors:

An advertiser's product or service will never be recommended in a news story or an Original because they advertise with us. Any recommendation in an Original, if we ever publish one, will be on its merits and will say so.

What ads we will not accept

We may refuse any advertisement. In particular, we do not accept advertising that is misleading, that makes claims we cannot verify, that imitates editorial content to deceive readers, that promotes illegal activity, or that targets children. We do not show targeted advertising to under-18s. Acceptance of an advertisement is not an endorsement of the advertiser, its products or its claims — an ad is the advertiser's message, not ours.

If an advertisement is found to be misleading or to breach this policy after it has run, we will remove it and, where appropriate, tell affected readers.

Reporting a problem with an ad

If you see an advertisement on the site that you believe is misleading, wrongly labelled, inappropriate, or broken, please tell us at help@thedailyshort.com with "Advertising" in the subject line, describing the ad and where you saw it. We will look into it and reply. You can also report a misleading ad to the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) through its own complaints channel.

Advertising enquiries

For rates and availability for direct ad placements, write to help@thedailyshort.com with "Advertising" in the subject line. An advertising enquiry does not buy any editorial influence, and we will say so plainly to any advertiser who asks.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page before introducing sponsored content, affiliate links, or a third-party advertising network — not after. The current version will always be posted on this page, with the "Last updated" date above. See also our Editorial Policy and Privacy Policy.