Last updated: 19 April, 2024

This Cookie Policy explains how the World Economic Forum and its offices worldwide (the «Forum», «we», «us» and «our») use cookies and similar technologies in connection with your use of and interaction with our website http://www.weforum.org, our other websites, apps and online presences (collectively the «website»), and your choice options in this regard.

This Cookie Policy shall be read in conjunction with our World Economic Forum Privacy Policy, available at https://www.weforum.org/about/privacy-and-terms-of-use, which provides you with more information about the personal data that we collect, including via cookies, how we process this data and the rights you have.

This Cookie Policy is applicable regardless of how you access and make use of our website, including access via mobile devices and apps.

The World Economic Forum, 91-93 Route de la Capite, CH-1223 Cologny/Genève, is the controller for the Forum's processing under this Cookie Policy.

For any questions or to exercise your data protection rights, you can contact us as follows:

World Economic Forum
91-93 Route de la Capite
CH-1223 Cologny/Genève
E-mail: dataprotection@weforum.org

A cookie is a small text file with an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This allows us and third party providers engaged by or cooperating with us to recognize visitors to our website and to track them over multiple visits and across different sites. There are different reasons why we work with third parties. Often this happens because we use their tools or services to improve the functionality or content of our website (e.g. if we want to give you access to a particular YouTube video, we integrate the YouTube viewer in our website, so you can watch the video on our website).

Cookies allow for a recognition of a specific device or browser and does not necessarily contain information that personally identifies a user. However, personal data that we or third party providers engaged by us store about you (e.g. if you have a user account with us or them) may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies, and potentially to your person.

In addition to cookies, there are other similar technologies, such as pixel tags, fingerprints and social media plug-ins, that allows us and authorized third party providers to offer you a more personalized and engaged web experience, for example by offering you advertisements on your social media channels that are more relevant to you or by allowing you to share your experiences on our website via social media. Pixel tags are small, normally invisible images or a program code loaded by a server that provide the server operator with specific information, such as whether and when a website was visited. Fingerprints consist of information collected during your visit to the website about the configuration of your end device or your browser that enables your end device to be distinguished from other devices. Social media plug-ins are small pieces of software which create a link between your visit to our website and the social media platform of a third party provider. The social plug-in will let the third party provider know that you have visited our website and may let the third party provider receive cookies they have placed on your web browser beforehand. For more information on how these third party providers use your personal data collected via their social plug-ins, you are kindly referred to their respective privacy policies.

We use different types of cookies and similar technologies on our website:

Below, we also explain the different purposes for which we use cookies.

Some of the third party providers we use may be located outside Switzerland and the European Economic Area (EEA) or may process your personal data outside this area, in principle in any country in the world. These countries may not have laws that protect your personal data to the same extent as in Switzerland or the EEA. If we transfer your personal data to such a country, we will ensure the protection of your personal data in an appropriate manner. For more information on safeguards we implement in this regard, please see our World Economic Forum Privacy Policy, available at https://www.weforum.org/about/privacy-and-terms-of-use.

When you consent to the use of cookies, you accept that your data may be transferred to a country does not have adequate level of data protection and accept the risks that your data may potentially be subject to government lawful access in the recipient's country, despite the safeguards we put in place. You can withdraw your consent to cookies at any time, as explained in Section 5.

The specific types of first and third party cookies served through our website and the purposes they serve, as well as their expiry dates, are described in the table at the end of this Cookie Policy.

You can manage your preferences relating to the use of cookies and similar technologies on our website by visiting the Cookie Preference Center available here:

Change your consent | Withdraw your consent

Browsers may accept or reject cookies automatically but allow you to change these settings. You can also disable or delete cookies you have previously accepted if you wish to. Be aware that any preference set will be lost if you delete all cookies, including your preference to opt-out from cookies as this itself requires an opt-out cookie to have been set. The settings must be made separately for each browser you use. To find out how to manage cookies on your browser, you can visit your browser's help menu for more information (see e.g. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari).

You can change your cookie choice at any time, including by withdrawing consent to cookies through our Cookie Preference Center or by changing your browser settings as described above. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website through your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted.

We may operate pages and other online presences («fan pages», «channels», «profiles», etc.) on social networks and other platforms operated by third parties and collect data about you and process it in accordance with our World Economic Forum Privacy Policy, available at https://www.weforum.org/about/privacy-and-terms-of-use. We receive this data from you and from the provider of the platform when you interact with us through our online presences (e.g. when you communicate with us via our online presences, view, comment or share our content we post or visit our online presences). At the same time, the providers of the platforms may analyze your use of our online presences (e.g. the way you interact with us, how you use our online presences, what you view, comment or «like») and process this data together with other data they have about you (e.g. information about your age and your gender and other demographic information). In that way, they create profiles about you and statistics on the use of our online presences. They use this data and profiles to display our or other advertisements and other personalized content on the platform and to manage the behavior of the platform, but also for market and user research and to provide us and other parties with information about you and the use of our online presence. Where we are jointly responsible with the provider for certain types of processing, we will conclude a corresponding agreement with such provider. You may obtain information about the material content of this agreement from the provider. They also process this data for their own purposes, in particular for marketing and market research purposes (e.g. to personalize advertising) and to manage their platforms (e.g. to decide what content they show you) and, to that end, they act as separate controllers.

We are entitled but not obliged to review contents prior to or after their publication on our online presences, to delete contents without notification, and to report them to the provider of the platform in question, if necessary. When rules of decency and codes of conduct are violated, we may also notify the provider of the platform of the user account in question for blocking or deletion.

For further information on the processing of the platform operators, please refer to the privacy information of the relevant platforms. There you can also find out about the countries where they process your data, your rights of access and erasure of data and other data subjects rights and how you can exercise them or obtain further information. We currently use the following platforms:

On Facebook we operate the page https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum/. The controller for the operation of the platform for users from Europe is Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. Their privacy notice is available at www.facebook.com/policy. Some of your data will be transferred to the United States. You can object to advertising here: www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads. With regard to the data collected and processed when visiting our site for «page insights», we are joint controllers with Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. As part of page insights, statistics are created about the actions visitors perform on our site (comment on posts, share content, etc.). This is explained at www.facebook.com/legal/terms/information_about_page_insights_data. It helps us understand how our page is used and how to improve it. We receive only anonymous, aggregated data. We have agreed our data protection responsibilities according to the information on www.facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum.

On Twitter we operate the account https://twitter.com/wef. The controller for the operation of the platform for users from Europe is Twitter International Company, Dublin, Ireland. Its privacy notice is available at twitter.com/en/privacy. Some of your data will be transferred to the United States. You can object to advertising here: twitter.com/settings/ads_preferences.

On LinkedIn we operate the page https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-economic-forum. The controller for the operation of the platform for users from Europe is LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Dublin, Ireland. Its privacy notice is available at www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. Some of your data will be transferred to the United States. You can object to advertising here: www.linkedin.com/psettings/advertising-data. With regard to the data collected and processed when visiting our site for «page insights», we are joint controllers with LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Dublin, Ireland. As part of page insights, statistics are created about the actions visitors perform on our site (comment on posts, share content, etc.). This is explained at: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. It helps us understand how our page is used and how to improve it. We receive only anonymous, aggregated data. We have agreed our data protection responsibilities according to the information on https://legal.linkedin.com/pages-joint-controller-addendum.

On Flipboard we operate the page https://flipboard.com/@WEF. The controller for the operation of the platform is Flipboard, Palo Alto, California, United States. Its privacy notice is available at https://about.flipboard.com/privacy/?noredirect=en_US. Some of your data will be transferred to the United States. You can object to advertising here: https://flipboard.helpshift.com/hc/en/1-flipboard/faq/1030-control-the-ads-i-see-in-flipboard/.

On TikTok we operate the page https://www.tiktok.com/@worldeconomicforum. The controller for the operation of the platform for users from Europe is TikTok Technology Limited, Dublin, Ireland. Its privacy notice is available at https://www.tiktok.com/legal/privacy-policy-eea?lang=en. Some of your data will be transferred to the United States.

This Cookie Policy is not part of a contract with you. We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other reasons. Please refer to this Cookie Policy from time to time to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The version published on this website is the current version.