This Cookie Policy explains how Max-Forge Advisors uses cookies and similar technologies on www.max-forge.com. It should be read alongside our Privacy Policy, which provides broader context on how we handle your personal information.
1. What are cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, tablet, or mobile phone) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work efficiently, to remember your preferences, and to provide information to website owners about how their sites are used.
Cookies are not programs and cannot carry viruses or install malware on your device. They can, however, store small amounts of data that a website can retrieve on subsequent visits.
Similar technologies — such as web beacons, pixels, and local storage — function in comparable ways and are covered by this policy.
2. How we use cookies
The Max-Forge Advisors website is a professional information and contact platform. We use a small set of cookies: essential cookies required for the site to function, security cookies set by our hosting provider, and analytics cookies through Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — used to understand how visitors engage with our content.
The cookies on this website are used for the following purposes:
- Ensuring the website functions correctly across different browsers and devices
- Enabling smooth page navigation and scroll behaviour
- Supporting basic website security and DDoS protection (Cloudflare)
- Measuring website traffic and content engagement (Google Analytics 4)
We do not use cookies to track your browsing behaviour across other websites, to serve targeted advertising, or to build profiles about you for commercial purposes.
Under POPIA, we are required to obtain your consent before placing any non-essential cookies on your device. Analytics cookies (GA4) are non-essential — we will only activate them after you have provided consent via the cookie banner on this website. You may withdraw your consent at any time by adjusting your browser settings or clearing your cookies.
3. Cookies we currently use
The following table describes the cookies that may be set when you visit www.max-forge.com:
| Cookie name | Type | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session cookies (browser-managed) |
Temporary cookies that maintain basic session state while you browse the site. These are deleted automatically when you close your browser. | Session only | |
| nav_state (if applicable) |
Stores your navigation preferences (such as whether a mobile menu was open) to maintain a consistent experience during your visit. | Session only | |
| cf_clearance Cloudflare |
Set by Cloudflare, our website hosting and security provider. Used to identify trusted web traffic, prevent malicious bots, and protect the website from denial-of-service attacks. Required for website security. | 30 minutes – 24 hours | |
| __cfduid / _cfuvid Cloudflare |
Used by Cloudflare to identify individual users behind a shared IP address and apply security settings per user. Does not correspond to any user ID or store personal information beyond what is necessary for security purposes. | Up to 1 year | |
| _ga Google Analytics 4 |
The main Google Analytics cookie. Used to distinguish unique visitors by assigning a randomly generated identifier. Tracks session count, timing, and the source of the visit. Does not store personally identifiable information. | 2 years | |
| _ga_[ID] Google Analytics 4 |
Used by GA4 to persist session state. The [ID] suffix is unique to the Max-Forge Advisors GA4 property. Stores an expiry time and a randomly generated session identifier. No personally identifiable information is stored. | 2 years | |
| _gid Google Analytics 4 |
Used to distinguish users between sessions. Stores a new unique identifier for each browser session and is used to count and track pageviews. Expires after 24 hours. | 24 hours | |
| _gat / _gat_gtag Google Analytics 4 |
Used to throttle request rate to Google Analytics — limits the collection of data on high-traffic sites to protect server performance. Set to expire after 1 minute. | 1 minute |
Note: This list reflects the cookies in use at the time this policy was last updated. As our website evolves, this list may change. We will update this policy promptly whenever changes are made to our cookie usage.
4. Third-party services and cookies
Our website uses a small number of third-party services that may set their own cookies or collect data when you visit our site.
Cloudflare
Our website is hosted and secured by Cloudflare Pages, a service of Cloudflare Inc. Cloudflare acts as a reverse proxy between your browser and our web server. In doing so, it may set security-related cookies (described in the table above) and collect technical data including your IP address, browser type, and the pages you visit. This data is used solely for security, performance, and reliability purposes.
Cloudflare's privacy practices are governed by their privacy policy: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy
Google Fonts
Our website uses Google Fonts, a free web font service provided by Google LLC. When you visit our website, your browser makes a request to Google's servers to download the fonts used on the page. This request includes your IP address and browser information, which Google may log.
Google Fonts itself does not set cookies. However, the request to Google's servers is subject to Google's privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy
If you prefer not to send requests to Google's servers, you can use a browser extension that blocks Google Fonts, or use the site with fonts disabled in your browser settings.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors engage with our website — which pages are viewed, how long visitors spend reading our intelligence briefs, and what traffic sources bring visitors to the site. This helps us improve our content and understand the reach of our work.
GA4 is operated by Google LLC and processes data on servers that may be located outside South Africa, including within the European Economic Area and the United States. Google LLC participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, providing an adequate level of data protection for international transfers under POPIA.
GA4 cookies collect anonymous, aggregated data. They do not collect your name, email address, or any other directly identifying information. Your IP address is anonymised by default in GA4 before being stored by Google.
You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by:
- Declining analytics cookies when the cookie consent banner appears on this site
- Installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
- Clearing your browser cookies and declining consent on your next visit
Google's privacy policy governing GA4 data is available at: policies.google.com/privacy
What we do not use
To be explicit about what is not present on this website:
- No advertising or retargeting cookies (Google Ads, Facebook Pixel, etc.)
- No social media tracking pixels
- No session recording software (Hotjar, FullStory, etc.)
- No A/B testing tools
- No live chat cookies
If this changes, we will update this policy and notify users before any new tracking is deployed.
5. Your choices and how to manage cookies
You have several options for managing cookies on your device:
Browser settings
All modern web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can typically choose to:
- View the cookies currently stored on your device
- Block all cookies (note: this may affect the functionality of this and other websites)
- Block only third-party cookies
- Delete cookies when you close your browser
- Be notified when a cookie is set
Below are links to cookie management instructions for the most common browsers:
Impact of disabling cookies
The cookies used on the Max-Forge Advisors website are primarily essential and functional. Disabling them may cause some aspects of the website to behave unexpectedly. It will not prevent you from viewing content, reading our intelligence briefs, or sending us an enquiry via email.
Opting out of Google Fonts
If you wish to prevent your browser from making requests to Google's servers for fonts, you can use browser extensions such as uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger, which block third-party font requests.
6. POPIA and your rights
Under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you have the right to:
- Be informed about the cookies and tracking technologies used on websites you visit
- Object to the processing of any personal information collected through cookies
- Request deletion of any personal information collected about you
- Lodge a complaint with the South African Information Regulator if you believe your rights have been violated
To exercise any of these rights, or to raise a concern about our use of cookies, please contact us at info@max-forge.com.
To lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:
- Website: www.justice.gov.za/inforeg
7. Changes to this Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time. This could happen if we add new features to our website, introduce new third-party services, or in response to changes in law or regulation.
When we make significant changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.
8. Contact us
If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy or how we use cookies on our website, please contact us:
- Email: info@max-forge.com
- Organisation: Max-Forge Advisors
- Address: Johannesburg, South Africa
We aim to respond to all enquiries within 5 business days.