https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/01/example-story
After LinkCleanhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/01/example-story
CMP
What is CMP=share_btn_url on a Guardian link?
What the value says
The value names the route the link took. share_btn_url is the copy-link share button. Values beginning Share_iOSApp or Share_AndroidApp come from the Guardian's apps, and social and newsletter links carry codes of their own.
It is a source label, not a personal identifier: everyone who uses the same button gets the same value. What it adds to a link you pass on is a note about how you came to have it.
Why it is scoped to the Guardian
CMP is three letters, and elsewhere the same name can mean something else entirely. LinkClean removes it on theguardian.com only. The match ignores case, so cmp= is treated the same way there.
How LinkClean removes it
Default-on, scoped to theguardian.com. Everything else in the address, including page= on paginated articles, is kept. ClearURLs and Brave strip it on the Guardian too.
Frequently asked
What does CMP stand for?
Campaign. It is the Guardian's own campaign-code parameter, the house equivalent of a utm tag.
Is CMP=share_btn_url tracking me personally?
No. The value is the same for everyone who uses the share button. It labels the source of the visit.
Does the article open without it?
Yes. The article is addressed by the path.
Clean tracking on iPhone, in one tap.
LinkClean strips 250+ vendor-specific tracking parameters from any link, from any app's share sheet — and preserves functional ones like hl, t (YouTube timestamp), and q (search). No account, on-device.
