Privacy Policy

Who Runs This Site

CommentDraw is an independently operated website. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by YouTube, Google LLC, or any of their subsidiaries.

If you have a question about this policy or about data we may hold, use the contact details at the bottom of this page. We aim to reply within 48 hours on business days.

Information You Give Us Directly

You do not need to create an account to use CommentDraw. There is no sign-up, no password, and no user profile.

The only place you can voluntarily give us personal information is the contact form. If you use it, we receive the name, email address, and message you type. We use that information solely to reply to you, and we never add it to a marketing list or pass it to advertisers.

How the Comment Picker Handles YouTube Data

When you paste a video URL into the comment picker or the spin wheel, that URL is sent to our own API service, which then requests the video's publicly visible comments from the official YouTube Data API. Filtering and the random draw are performed by that service, and the result is returned to your browser.

This means comment data is processed on a server, not only inside your browser. The data involved is limited to what YouTube already publishes publicly: comment text, the commenter's public display name, their public profile image, and the like count.

We never ask for, receive, or store your YouTube password or account credentials. CommentDraw does not sign in to your YouTube account and cannot post, edit, or delete anything on it.

Comment data is processed only to produce the draw you asked for. It is not used to build profiles of you or of the people who commented, and it is not sold or shared with advertisers.

If you click "Share link" on a finished draw, the winner list you chose to share (public display names, comment text, like counts and public profile links) is stored on our servers so that the link can display it. Share links are unlisted (the address is not guessable and we do not publish it), they are created only when you explicitly ask for one, and they expire automatically 30 days after creation. If you never use the share button, no draw result is stored.

Information Collected Automatically

Like most websites, we and our providers automatically receive some technical information when you visit:

This information is used in aggregate to understand which pages are useful and to detect abuse. It is not used to identify you personally.

• IP address, and the approximate region derived from it
• Browser type, operating system, and device category
• Which pages you view on this site, and the page that referred you
• Date, time, and duration of your visit

Cookies and Similar Technologies

Cookies are small files your browser stores. CommentDraw uses them in two categories:

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we ask for your consent before any analytics or advertising cookie is set. Until you make a choice, only essential cookies are used.

You can change your decision at any time using the “Cookie settings” link in the site footer, or by clearing cookies in your browser.

• Essential — remember your language preference and your cookie choice itself. These are always active, because the site cannot work correctly without them.
• Analytics and advertising — set by Google to measure traffic and to select and measure ads. These are activated only if you consent.

Third-Party Services We Use

The following providers may process data as part of running this site. Each operates under its own privacy policy:

• Google AdSense — displays the ads that fund the site. Depending on your consent, ads may be personalised using cookies.
• Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager — measures aggregate site usage.
• YouTube Data API (Google LLC) — supplies the public comments used by the picker. Your use of these features is also subject to the Google Privacy Policy.
• Firebase Hosting (Google LLC) — serves the website files and keeps standard server logs.
• Vercel — hosts the API service that fetches comments and performs the draw.

Advertising and Your Choices

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our site and/or other sites on the Internet.

You can opt out of personalised advertising in Google's Ads Settings at adssettings.google.com, or opt out of third-party vendor cookies at www.aboutads.info.

You can also withdraw analytics and advertising consent at any time through the cookie settings link in our footer.

Legal Basis for Processing (EEA and UK)

Where the GDPR applies, we rely on these legal bases: your consent, for analytics and advertising cookies; our legitimate interest, in keeping the site secure and understanding aggregate usage; and performance of your request, when you run a comment draw or send us a message.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

Because we do not operate user accounts, in most cases the only personal data we hold is a contact form message you chose to send. Write to us at the address below and we will act on your request.

California residents: we do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA and CPRA.

• Ask what personal data we hold about you, and receive a copy
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Ask us to delete your data
• Object to, or ask us to restrict, certain processing
• Withdraw consent you previously gave, at any time
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

Data Retention

Contact form messages are kept only as long as needed to resolve your enquiry, then deleted.

Comment data pulled for a draw is processed to produce your result and is not retained as part of any user profile.

Shared draw results created with the "Share link" button are deleted automatically 30 days after creation.

Aggregated analytics data is retained by Google under its own retention settings.

Children's Privacy

CommentDraw is not directed at children under 13, or under 16 in the European Economic Area. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information through the contact form, contact us and we will delete it.

International Data Transfers

Our hosting, analytics, and advertising providers operate globally, so data may be processed on servers outside your country, including in the United States. These providers rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent safeguards for such transfers.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the site changes. When we do, we update the date at the top of this page. We will highlight material changes on the site itself.

Payments (Full Draw Pass)

The core tool is free. If you buy an optional Full Draw Pass, the payment is processed entirely by Paddle.com, our merchant of record — Paddle collects your payment and billing details and issues your receipt. We never receive or store your card information.

What we process: the Paddle transaction ID of your purchase (stored in your browser and sent with your draws to verify the Pass), the video ID the Pass applies to, and an aggregate sales record (amount, currency, date — no name or email). Pass verification results are kept briefly server-side so we don't have to re-check every draw. We also keep an anonymous per-transaction usage record (draw timestamps and counts) to handle refund claims fairly. Paddle's own processing is described in Paddle's privacy policy.