Mei

Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 26, 2026

Mei is a browser extension that helps you assess the reliability of a news article, blog post, or editorial you are reading, by highlighting facts, opinions, and possible misinformation, and by showing how other outlets are covering the same story. This policy explains what information Mei collects, how it is used, and who it is shared with.

Information We Collect

Mei only collects data connected to a page you actively choose to analyze, by clicking "Analyze." It does not run in the background and does not collect anything from pages you have not asked it to analyze.

Website content.

When you click Analyze, Mei extracts the visible article text (paragraphs) from the current page and sends it to Mei's backend server for classification into categories such as fact, research, unverified claim, misleading, false, or opinion. This text is used only to generate your results for that one request; Mei's server does not store the article text itself, only aggregate counts (for example, how many paragraphs were classified as each type) for basic operational logging.

Page URL and title.

To power the Related Coverage feature (showing other outlets covering the same story), Mei sends the URL, title, and a short excerpt of the page you are analyzing to its backend. The backend uses this to search for related articles and to cache the results for that specific page for up to 24 hours, so repeated lookups of the same story are faster. A record of the page URL may also appear in Mei's short-term operational event log, used only for monitoring server health.

Optional Anthropic API key.

If you use Mei's free daily quota and choose to continue analyzing after that quota is used, you may optionally save your own Anthropic API key. This key is stored only in your browser's local storage. It is never sent to Mei's own servers - instead, it is used to call Anthropic's API directly from your browser so analysis can continue under your own account.

Your preferences.

Mei stores a small amount of data locally in your browser (using the browser's storage API) to remember whether Mei is turned on, whether the Details tab should open automatically, and your most recent analysis results, so they can be displayed without re-fetching them.

What Mei does not collect.

Mei does not collect your name, email address, physical address, age, or any other personally identifying information. It does not collect health information, financial or payment information, passwords for other services, personal communications such as email or chat messages, location data (Mei's servers do not log or use IP addresses or geolocation), browsing history beyond the single page you ask it to analyze, or activity data such as clicks, scrolling, or keystrokes.

How We Use Your Information

Mei uses the information described above only to:

  • Analyze the page you asked it to analyze and return highlighted results.
  • Look up and display related coverage of the same story from other outlets.
  • Show a shared daily usage quota, and let you continue analyzing with your own API key if you choose to.
  • Maintain and troubleshoot Mei's backend service, for example aggregate error rates and response times.

Mei does not use your data for advertising, does not build user profiles, and does not use your data for any purpose unrelated to the features described above.

How Information Is Shared

Mei shares data only with the service providers needed to deliver its features, and only the minimum data each one needs:

  • Anthropic (the maker of Claude) receives the article text you ask Mei to analyze, in order to perform the fact/opinion/misinformation classification, and, for Related Coverage, the page title and a short excerpt to help find related articles. If you provide your own API key, your browser sends this data to Anthropic directly instead of through Mei's backend.
  • NewsAPI.org receives a short search query, derived from the page's headline, to find other outlets covering the same story, as part of the Related Coverage feature.
  • Upstash provides the database Mei's backend uses to store daily usage counters, a short-term cache of Related Coverage results per article URL for up to 24 hours, and a rolling operational event log.
  • Render hosts Mei's backend server.

These providers process data on Mei's behalf to deliver the extension's features; they do not receive data for their own independent use. Mei does not sell user data, does not share user data with advertisers or data brokers, and does not use or transfer user data for any purpose unrelated to Mei's single purpose of analyzing content you ask it to analyze.

Data Retention

  • Article text sent for analysis is processed for your request and is not stored afterward.
  • Related Coverage results are cached on Mei's server, keyed to the article URL, for up to 24 hours, after which they expire automatically.
  • Operational event logs, used to monitor server health such as error rates and response times, are kept on a short rolling basis and limited to the most recent events.
  • Data stored locally in your browser (your preferences, cached results, and optional API key) remains on your device until you clear it or uninstall Mei.

Data Storage and Security

Data sent to Mei's backend is transmitted over HTTPS. Your optional API key is stored only in your browser's local storage and is never transmitted to Mei's servers. Mei's backend does not require or support user accounts, so there is no persistent per-user profile of your activity.

Your Choices and Controls

  • You control when Mei analyzes a page - it only runs when you click Analyze.
  • You can turn Mei on or off, and can turn off automatic opening of the Details tab, from the extension's popup.
  • You can remove your saved API key at any time from the popup.
  • You can clear all locally stored Mei data by clearing the extension's browser storage, or by uninstalling the extension.

Children's Privacy

Mei is not directed at children and is not designed to knowingly collect information from children.

Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes, the "Last updated" date at the top will be updated, and material changes will be reflected here.

Contact Us

Questions about this policy or Mei's data practices can be sent to koxtra.info@gmail.com.