Cookie Policy — How Riyadh Web3 Uses Cookies and Tracking Technologies

What Are Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, tablet, smartphone, or other internet-connected device) when you visit a website. They are widely used across the internet to make websites work more efficiently, to provide information to website operators, and to enable certain features and functionality that would not be possible without them. Cookies are stored by your web browser and can be read by the website that placed them during subsequent visits.

This Cookie Policy explains how The Vanderbilt Portfolio (“Publisher,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), the operator of Riyadh Web3 located at riyadhweb3.com (the “Platform”), uses cookies, web beacons, pixels, local storage, and similar tracking technologies (collectively referred to as “cookies” in this Policy unless a distinction is necessary) when you visit or interact with the Platform. This Policy should be read in conjunction with our Privacy Policy, which provides additional information about how we collect, use, and protect your personal information.

We are committed to using cookies responsibly and transparently. This Policy provides detailed information about the types of cookies we use, the purposes they serve, the third parties that may set cookies through our Platform, and the choices you have regarding cookie usage.

Why We Use Cookies

Cookies serve several essential functions on the Platform. Some cookies are strictly necessary for the Platform to function properly — without them, core features such as page navigation, secure access to subscriber areas, and session management would not work. Other cookies help us understand how visitors use the Platform, which pages are most popular, how visitors navigate between pages, and whether visitors encounter errors. This information helps us improve the Platform’s performance, content, and user experience.

We also use cookies to support our advertising-funded content model. Riyadh Web3 provides substantial amounts of free, high-quality intelligence content, and the revenue generated through advertising helps sustain this commitment. Advertising cookies enable our advertising partners — most notably Google AdSense — to serve relevant advertisements to our visitors and to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Without advertising revenue, much of the intelligence currently available for free on the Platform would need to be placed behind a paywall.

Types of Cookies We Use

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential for the Platform to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions you take that amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in to subscriber accounts, or completing forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the Platform will not function if you do so.

Strictly necessary cookies used on the Platform include session management cookies that maintain your browsing session as you navigate between pages, authentication cookies that keep you logged in to your subscriber account during your visit, security cookies that help protect against cross-site request forgery and other security threats, and cookie consent cookies that remember your cookie preferences so that we can honor your choices on subsequent visits.

These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. They are typically set as session cookies that expire when you close your browser, though some security and preference cookies may persist for longer periods.

Analytics Cookies

Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors interact with the Platform by collecting and reporting information about visitor behavior. The data collected is aggregated and anonymized, meaning it does not identify individual visitors. We use this information to improve the Platform’s content, navigation, performance, and overall user experience.

The primary analytics service we use is Google Analytics, which sets several cookies to track visitor sessions, page views, traffic sources, geographic distribution (at the country or city level), device and browser characteristics, and content engagement patterns. Google Analytics processes this data on our behalf under the terms of our data processing agreement with Google, and the data is used exclusively for analytical purposes.

Specific analytics cookies include those that distinguish unique users, track session duration and page views, identify the traffic source or campaign that directed a visitor to the Platform, and measure the time between page interactions. These cookies typically have varying expiration periods ranging from the duration of a single session to up to two years, depending on their specific function.

We have implemented IP anonymization in our Google Analytics configuration, which means that your IP address is truncated before it is stored, preventing the identification of individual visitors through their IP address. We do not combine analytics data with personally identifiable information from other sources.

Advertising Cookies

Advertising cookies are used to serve relevant advertisements to visitors and to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information that is used to deliver advertisements that are relevant to the visitor’s interests.

Google AdSense Cookies. The Platform uses Google AdSense to display advertisements. Google AdSense sets cookies that enable it to serve ads based on your prior visits to the Platform and other websites. Google uses the DoubleClick cookie and other advertising cookies to select and serve ads that are relevant to your interests, to limit the number of times you see a particular ad, to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, and to detect and prevent fraudulent advertising activity.

The DoubleClick cookie, identified as “IDE,” is set by Google’s advertising services and is used to register and report the website user’s actions after viewing or clicking one of the advertiser’s ads. This cookie helps measure the effectiveness of ads and serves personalized advertising. It typically expires after 13 months in the European Economic Area and United Kingdom, and up to two years in other regions.

Google also sets a number of additional advertising-related cookies, including cookies that store consent preferences for ad personalization, cookies that measure ad performance and conversion, and cookies that support frequency capping and ad rotation. For a complete list of cookies set by Google advertising services and their purposes, we recommend visiting Google’s Advertising Cookies page at policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

Personalized vs. Non-Personalized Ads. Depending on your consent preferences and geographic location, you may be served personalized advertisements (based on your browsing history and interests) or non-personalized advertisements (based on the content of the page you are viewing rather than your personal browsing history). Even when non-personalized ads are served, some cookies are still used for essential advertising functions such as frequency capping and aggregate ad reporting.

Functional Cookies

Functional cookies enable enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, some or all of these enhanced functionalities may not work properly.

Functional cookies on the Platform include cookies that remember your content preferences (such as preferred content sections or display settings), cookies set by embedded third-party content (such as video players or social media widgets when these are present on our pages), and cookies that support interactive features such as search functionality and comment systems.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies collect information about how visitors use the Platform, including which pages are visited most often, how quickly pages load, whether visitors encounter error messages, and how visitors navigate between pages. All information collected by performance cookies is aggregated and used solely to improve the Platform’s performance.

Performance cookies may include those set by our content delivery network (CDN) to optimize page load times, cookies used to monitor server response times and detect performance issues, and cookies that support A/B testing of different page layouts or content presentations.

Third-Party Cookies

In addition to the cookies we set directly (“first-party cookies”), certain cookies are set by third parties whose services are integrated into the Platform. These “third-party cookies” are subject to the respective third party’s own cookie and privacy policies, which we encourage you to review.

Third parties that may set cookies through the Platform include Google (through Google Analytics, Google AdSense, and related Google advertising services), social media platforms (when social sharing buttons or embedded content are present on our pages), content delivery networks that support the Platform’s performance, and other advertising networks that may participate in ad auctions conducted through Google’s advertising ecosystem.

We do not control the cookies set by these third parties and are not responsible for their cookie practices. However, we select our third-party partners carefully and require that they handle data in accordance with applicable law.

Cookie Duration

Cookies can be classified by their duration as either “session cookies” or “persistent cookies.”

Session Cookies. Session cookies are temporary and are deleted from your device when you close your browser. They are used to maintain your browsing session and to support essential Platform functionality during your visit.

Persistent Cookies. Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period after you close your browser. They are used for purposes that require data to be retained between sessions, such as remembering your cookie preferences, maintaining login sessions for returning visitors, and supporting analytics and advertising functions. Persistent cookies set through the Platform have varying expiration periods, typically ranging from 30 days to two years depending on their purpose.

Managing Your Cookie Preferences

You have several options for managing cookies on your device.

Browser Settings. Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can typically configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is being set so that you can decide whether to accept it on a case-by-case basis. The method for changing cookie settings varies by browser — consult your browser’s help documentation for specific instructions. Please note that if you choose to block all cookies, some features of the Platform may not function properly.

Google Ad Settings. You can manage your Google advertising preferences, including opting out of personalized advertising, by visiting Google’s Ad Settings page at adssettings.google.com. You can also opt out of personalized advertising from Google and other participating companies by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page at optout.aboutads.info or the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page at optout.networkadvertising.org.

Google Analytics Opt-Out. If you wish to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on, available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. This add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript from sharing information about your visit with Google Analytics.

Do Not Track. Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) feature that sends a signal to websites requesting that they not track the user’s browsing activity. The Platform currently does not respond to DNT signals, as there is no industry-standard interpretation of how websites should respond to these signals. However, you can use the other cookie management methods described above to control tracking on the Platform.

Cookies and the Saudi Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL)

The Saudi Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), which became fully enforceable in September 2024, establishes requirements for the collection and processing of personal data, including data collected through cookies. We process cookie data in compliance with the PDPL’s requirements for lawful processing, purpose limitation, data minimization, and transparency.

Where cookies constitute processing of personal data under the PDPL, we rely on the following legal bases: legitimate interest for strictly necessary cookies that are essential for the Platform’s operation, consent for analytics, advertising, and functional cookies that are not strictly necessary, and compliance with legal obligations where applicable.

Cookies and the GDPR

For visitors located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, our use of cookies complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive. We obtain consent for non-essential cookies before they are set, provide clear information about the cookies we use and their purposes, and ensure that you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Updates to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, changes in applicable law, or changes in our practices. When we make material changes, we will update the “lastmod” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically to stay informed about our use of cookies.

Complete Cookie Inventory

The following table provides a comprehensive inventory of all cookies that may be set when you visit the Platform, organized by category and purpose.

This inventory represents the cookies active on the Platform as of March 2026. As we integrate new services or modify existing ones, the cookie inventory may change. We update this table whenever material changes occur and maintain a versioned record of all cookie inventory changes.

Cookie Technologies and Emerging Standards

As web technology evolves, the cookie landscape is undergoing significant changes that affect how the Platform operates and how user data is managed. Major browser vendors — including Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox — have implemented or announced changes to third-party cookie handling that reflect growing privacy expectations from both regulators and users. Safari and Firefox have already blocked third-party cookies by default, and Chrome has introduced Privacy Sandbox APIs designed to replace third-party cookies with privacy-preserving alternatives for advertising and measurement use cases.

These industry changes affect the Platform’s advertising and analytics operations. Google AdSense is transitioning to Privacy Sandbox technologies, including the Topics API (which categorizes user interests based on browsing history without sharing individual browsing data with advertisers), the Attribution Reporting API (which measures ad effectiveness without cross-site tracking), and the Protected Audiences API (which enables interest-based advertising without exposing user identity to advertisers). As these technologies mature and are deployed, the Platform’s cookie inventory will evolve accordingly, potentially reducing the number of third-party advertising cookies while maintaining the advertising functionality that supports our free content model.

For visitors in Saudi Arabia specifically, the evolving interaction between the PDPL’s consent requirements and browser-level cookie controls creates a layered privacy framework. The PDPL requires informed consent for non-essential data processing, while browser-level controls provide technical enforcement of cookie preferences. We recommend that visitors use both our cookie consent mechanisms and their browser’s built-in privacy controls to achieve their preferred level of data sharing. The Platform’s cookie consent system is designed to interoperate with browser-level privacy features, ensuring that privacy preferences are respected regardless of which mechanism the visitor uses to express them.

Contact Information

If you have questions about this Cookie Policy or our use of cookies, please contact us at:

Email: info@riyadhweb3.com (subject line: “COOKIE INQUIRY”) Publisher: The Vanderbilt Portfolio Editor-in-Chief: Donovan Vanderbilt Platform: https://riyadhweb3.com Effective Date: March 23, 2026