Terms of Use

1. INTRODUCTION

Thank you for your interest in #MySocialTruth! These Terms of Use (the “Terms”) cover your rights and obligations relating to your access and use of the #MySocialTruth website and related online services (collectively, the “Service”). All references to “we”, “us”, “our”, “or “CHT” refer to Center for Humane Technology, a California nonprofit corporation. All references to “you”, “your”, or “user” refers to the user of the Service. In addition to these Terms, please review the #MySocialTruth Privacy Policy, which describes our practices related to collection and use of your information. These Terms apply to our Privacy Policy as well. By using the Service, you represent and agree that you have read, understand, and agree to be bound by both these Terms and our Privacy Policy as binding agreements. Further, you agree that these Terms and our Privacy Policy apply to your past use, if any, of the Service prior to the Effective Date.

PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THESE TERMS, AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, INCLUDING LIMITATION OF OUR LIABILITY AND BINDING ARBITRATION. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE.

Do not hesitate to contact us at socialtruth@humanetech.com if you have any questions or want to discuss either of these important documents.

2. AGE POLICY; PERMITTED USERS

We do not intend that the Service be used by anyone under 13 years old. If we learn or have reason to suspect that you are under 13 years of age, we will promptly delete any personally identifiable information transferred by you through the Service and prevent you from using our Service moving forward. Further, you represent and warrant that your use of the Service does not and will not conflict with any pre-existing obligation in conflict or in any way inconsistent with the provisions of these Terms.

3. OVERVIEW OF SERVICE

The Service offers a story bank to collect young people’s experiences of harm on social media and visions for a radically reimagined 21st century digital infrastructure. Users will be able to share and read their stories that explore how it feels to be on social media, how it feels to be off of social media, and how we might reimagine social media to awaken authentic human connection.

4. USER CONTENT

 As noted above, the Service permits you to share via the Service your stories and other content, which you represent and warrant that you own, have created or otherwise have appropriate rights in (collectively, “User Content”). User Content is subject to the Submission and Community Guidelines (the “Guidelines”), and the Guidelines form part of these Terms. In the event of any conflict between these Terms of Use and the Guidelines, the Guidelines shall control. User Content may include video and audio recordings, images, pictures, writings, and any other content or materials contributed by users to, on, or through the Service. You are solely responsible for the User Content you post on or through the Service, as well as any and all consequences of posting or publishing the User Content on or through the Service. In addition, we should not be relied upon as a means to store your User Content and we assume no responsibility for such activities.

5. PROHIBITED, ILLEGAL, AND INAPPROPRIATE USER CONTENT

By posting or publishing User Content on or through the Service, you agree not to provide User Content that (i) libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, hateful, or threatening content; (ii) content that advocates or encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, (iii) give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national, or foreign law or regulation; (iv) content that is misleading or not true; (v) advertise or otherwise solicits funds for goods or services; (vi) degrades others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual preference, disability or other classification; and (vii) impersonates any person, or misrepresents your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.

In addition, you affirm, represent, and warrant that (i) you are the creator of or otherwise own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to provide the User Content and make it publicly available through the Service; (ii) no element of User Content, nor the exploitation of such User Content through the Service, infringes the intellectual property rights or privacy or any other rights of anyone else or is illegal or breaches the Terms; (iii) you waive and agree not to assert any so-called “moral rights” or similar rights you may have in User Content; (iv) the User Content, your submission of the User Content, and the exploitation of the User Content through the Service will not conflict with any pre-existing obligation in conflict or in any way inconsistent with the provisions of these Terms; (v) no fees (or any other remuneration of any kind) shall be due to you or any third party for the exploitation of the User Content through the Service; (vi) you are solely responsible for the User Content you transmit through the Service; (vii) you will not claim or represent to anyone that CHT in any way endorses or supports your User Content or any part thereof; and (viii) you will abide by these Terms and the Guidelines.

If you post any User Content that violates the Terms, we reserve the right to immediately remove, block, or edit such User Content from the Service, investigate (in our sole discretion, with or without notice to you) such User Content, and seek applicable remedies for violations of the Terms and applicable law to the fullest extent of the law.

6. LICENSE TO USE USER CONTENT.

By making your User Content available through the Service, you grant CHT a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, fully sublicensable license to publish, reproduce, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, edit, adapt, modify, and otherwise use your User Content (or any portion thereof) in any manner, and in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. In the interest of clarity, you will continue to own your User Content.

By making your User Content available through the Service, you also grant a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully-paid, license to other users of the Service, and to operators and users of any other websites, apps and/or platforms to which User Content has been shared or embedded using the Service (“Third-Party Services”), to use, copy, transmit or otherwise distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, adapt, prepare derivative works of, compile, make available and otherwise communicate to the public, your User Content. Further, you understand that you will not receive any fees sums, consideration, or remuneration of any kind for any rights granted in this Section. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you understand and agree that CHT will not be in any way responsible or liable for any use of your User Content by other users.

Further, you hereby acknowledge and agree that once your User Content is distributed to a Third-Party Service, we are not obligated to ensure the deletion of your User Content from any servers or systems operated by the operators of any Third-Party Service, or to require that any user of the Service or any Third-Party Service deletes any item of your User Content.

7. INFORMATION WE MAKE AVAILABLE TO YOU

As part of the Service, we may provide you with various information in furtherance of the Service. Our intention in doing so is to be helpful and to make the Service more useful to you. However, you agree that all information and suggestions that we provide to you through the Service is strictly for informational purposes and shall not be construed or relied upon in any way. You agree that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, and as detailed below in the “Limitation of Liability” section of these Terms, we will not incur any liability at all whatsoever in the event that your reliance on any information provided by us results in harm or damage to you or your property.

8. DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT

We value your intellectual property rights. As such, we reserve the right to suspend and/or terminate your use of the Service if you are found to have infringed on the intellectual property rights of users, CHT, or third parties, or if you have violated any laws related to intellectual property. In the event that you have a good faith belief that your intellectual property rights or the rights of someone else have been violated on our Service, and you want us to delete, edit, or disable the material in question, you must provide us with all of the following information (as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998): (a) a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (c) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringed or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material; (d) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an electronic mail address at which you may be contacted; (e) a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. For this notification to be effective, you must provide it to our designated agent at:

Copyright Agent
Center for Humane Technology
77 Van Ness Ave. Ste. 101-1601
San Francisco, CA 94102
socialtruth@humanetech.com

9. YOUR USE OF OTHERS’ INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Although you may provide information and content to CHT as part of your use of the Service, you agree to be respectful of others’ intellectual property rights. You may not upload, transmit, or otherwise distribute any information or content in violation of intellectual property laws or proprietary rights of any third parties. If you do not respect a third party’s intellectual property or proprietary rights, you are solely responsible for any violations of law. In addition, you are solely responsible for infringement of third party rights caused by any information that is generated from your use of the Service.

10.  THIRD PARTY SITES AND SERVICES

Our Service is integrated with services provided by third parties as part of the functionality of the Service. We have no control over third parties and make no guarantees about, and assume no responsibility for, the information or services provided by third parties.

Additionally, we may provide links to third-party websites and businesses. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the accuracy, content, or functionality of services provided on or by such third-party websites or businesses, and we do not endorse, nor assume any liability related to your use of, such websites or businesses in any way. 

11.  PROPER USE OF THE SERVICES

You shall not violate or attempt to violate any security features of the Service, including, without limitation, (a) accessing content or data not intended for you, or logging onto a server or account that you are not authorized to access; (b) attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service, or any associated system or network, or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; (c) interfering or attempting to interfere with service to any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, by means of submitting a virus to the Service, overloading, “flooding,” “spamming,” “mail bombing,” “crashing,” or undertaking similar activities; and (d) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or in any posting using the Service.

12.  OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The Service contains: (i) User Content; (ii) materials and other items relating to CHT and its products and services, and similar items from our licensors and other third parties, including all layout, information, databases, articles, posts, text, data, files, images, scripts, designs, graphics, instructions, illustrations, photographs, sounds, pictures, videos, advertising copy, URLs, technology, software, interactive features, the “look and feel” of the Service, and the compilation, assembly, and arrangement of the materials of the Service and any and all copyrightable material; (iii) trademarks, logos, trade names, trade dress, service marks, and trade identities of CHT; and (iv) other forms of content, technology, and intellectual property (all of the foregoing, collectively “CHT’s IP”). All right, title, and interest in and to the Service and the CHT IP is the property of CHT or our licensors or certain other third parties, and is protected by U.S. and international copyright, trademark, trade dress, patent and/or other intellectual property and unfair competition rights and laws to the fullest extent possible.

As part of these Terms, we grant you a nonexclusive, nontransferable, and revocable license to use Service solely for the purposes for which it is intended. And, specifically, you may not sell, redistribute, download, export, or reproduce CHT’s IP in any way. You also may not decompile, reverse-engineer, disassemble, or otherwise convert CHT’s IP without our permission.

13.  NOTICE AND PROCEDURE FOR MAKING U.S. CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright and/or trademark infringement, please provide a notice (a “DMCA Notice”) with the following information to CHT’s Copyright Agent:

a. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or trademark interest;

b. A detailed description of the copyright work or trademark that you claim has been infringed;

c. A description of precisely where the material that you claim is being infringed is located on the Service;

d. Your address, telephone number, and email address;

e. A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or trademark owner, its agent or the law; and

f.  A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or trademark owner or authorized to act on the copyright or trademark owner's behalf.

CHT’s Copyright and Trademark Agent for DMCA Notices is:

Center for Humane Technology

ATTN: DMCA Agent

77 Van Ness Ave. Ste. 101-1601

San Francisco, CA 94102

E-Mail: socialtruth@humanetech.com

We may give notice to our users by means of a general notice on our Service, electronic mail to a user's email address in our records, or by written communication sent by first-class mail to a user's physical address in our records. If you receive such a notice, you may provide counter-notification in writing to the designated Copyright and Trademark Agent. To be effective, the counter-notification must be a written communication that includes the following:

a. Your physical or electronic signature;

b. Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access had been disabled, and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;

c. A statement from you under the penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake to misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled; and

d. Your name, physical address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your physical address is located, or if your physical address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which CHT may be found, and that you will accept service or process from the person who provided notification of alleged infringing material or an agent of such person.

e. CHT may terminate your use of the Service if you have been the subject of five (5) separate DMCA notices. In the event a user's materials are removed due to a DMCA Notice and then subsequently restored due to the filing of a counter-notification, CHT will treat the underlying DMCA Notice as withdrawn. CHT reserves the right to terminate your use of the Service if you are the subject of fewer than five (5) DMCA Notices in appropriate circumstances - such as where the user has a history of violating or willfully disregarding these Terms.

14.  FEEDBACK

From time to time, we may ask you for your feedback on the Service. You agree that we may use your feedback, suggestions, or ideas in any way, including in future modifications of the Service, other products or services, advertising or marketing materials. You grant us a perpetual, worldwide, fully transferable, sublicensable, irrevocable, fully paid-up, royalty free license to use the feedback you provide to us in any way.

15.  ASSUMPTION OF RISK

CHT MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (SEE BELOW), AS TO THE SERVICE, INCLUDING ANY USER CONTENT. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

WE ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO MONITOR, EDIT, OR CONTROL THE USER CONTENT THAT YOU OR OTHER USERS POST OR PUBLISH THROUGH THE SERVICE, AND WILL NOT BE IN ANY WAY RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY USER CONTENT ON THE SERVICE.  YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN USING THE SERVICE, YOU WILL BE EXPOSED TO USER CONTENT FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USER CONTENT MAY BE INACCURATE, OFFENSIVE, INDECENT OR OBJECTIONABLE. YOU AGREE TO WAIVE, AND DO HEREBY WAIVE, ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE RIGHTS OR REMEDIES YOU HAVE OR MAY HAVE AGAINST CHT WITH RESPECT TO ANY USER CONTENT. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH ANY USER CONTENT.

16.  DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES; “AS IS”

WE ARE MAKING THE SERVICE AVAILABLE “AS IS” AND, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE SERVICE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF ANY AND ALL DAMAGE OR LOSS FROM USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT OPERATION OF THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.

17.  LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR LOST DATA, REGARDLESS OF THE FORESEEABILITY OF THOSE DAMAGES) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: ANY CLAIM RELATED TO PERSONAL OR BODILY INJURY IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE SERVICE; ANY HARM OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY, OR OTHERWISE RELATED TO, YOUR RELIANCE ON INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICE; ANY LOSS OR UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF DATA; ANY HARM OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY, OR OTHERWISE RELATED TO, YOUR USE OF OR INTERACTION WITH ANY SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH THE SERVICE; AND ANY VIOLATIONS OF APPLICABLE LAWS, RULES, REGULATIONS, AND OTHER AGREEMENTS. THIS LIMITATION SHALL APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORY OR FORM OF ACTION.

IN NO EVENT WILL OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS AND YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE EXCEED ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100.00).

THE LIMITATIONS OF DAMAGES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN YOU AND US.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF DAMAGES OR CAUSES OF ACTION, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

18.  INDEMNIFICATION

In the event that any third party, including without limitation another user, brings a claim against us related to your actions, User Content, or any other use of the Service by you, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold us and our agents harmless from and against any and all third-party claims, including privacy violations, losses, liability, damages, and/or costs (including reasonable attorney fees and costs) relating to such claim. We will notify you promptly of any such claim and will provide you with reasonable assistance, at your expense, in defending any such claim, provided, however, that our failure to so notify you shall not relieve you of your indemnity obligations, but instead shall reduce those obligations by the amount of damages or increased costs and expenses attributable to our failure to give notice. We reserve the right to approve counsel retained by you, to take control of the defense (at our expense) of any claim for which indemnity is required, and to participate in the defense of any claim (at our expense) for which indemnity is required. You may not settle any claim without our prior consent.

19.  DISPUTE RESOLUTION

You agree to resolve any dispute, claim, or controversy with CHT arising out of or relating to your use of the Service in the following manner. First, we both agree to attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally by contacting each other by email (you can email us at socialtruth@humanetech.com). Second, if the dispute is not resolved through informal resolution, we both agree to attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute through mediation administered by JAMS, which shall take place in San Francisco, CA, and the costs of which shall be divided equally between you and CHT. Third, if the dispute is not resolved through informal resolution and mediation, we both agree to participate in binding arbitration administered by JAMS, which shall take place in San Francisco, CA.

Either you or we may bring a lawsuit solely for injunctive relief without first engaging in the dispute resolution process described above.

We both agree that, in the event of arbitration, or in the event of a lawsuit as permitted by this Section or otherwise, the prevailing party shall be entitled to costs and fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees). Arbitration pursuant to this Section shall be confidential, and neither you, nor CHT, nor the arbitrator may disclose the existence, content or results of any arbitration, except as may be required by law or for purposes of enforcement or appeal of the arbitration award. Judgment on any arbitration award may be entered in any court having proper jurisdiction. There shall be no right or authority for any claims subject to this arbitration clause to be arbitrated on a class action or consolidated basis or on bases involving claims brought in a purported representative capacity on behalf of the general public (including, but not limited to, as a private attorney general). If any portion of this arbitration clause is determined by a court to be inapplicable or invalid, then the remainder shall still be given full force and effect.

YOU AND CHT EACH HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVE ANY AND ALL RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LEGAL PROCEEDING ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED HEREBY.

Nothing contained in this Section shall limit our ability to terminate, or otherwise take action related to, your use of the Service as provided in these Terms.

20.  GOVERNING LAW, VENUE, & PERSONAL JURISDICTION

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict of law provisions. In the event that a lawsuit is filed where permitted under the provisions above, or in the event that the provisions above are found not to apply to you or to a given dispute, we both agree that any judicial proceeding will be brought in the federal or state courts of San Francisco County, California. Both you and we consent to venue and personal jurisdiction there.

21.  SEVERABILITY WAIVER

If, for whatever reason, any term or condition in these Terms is found unenforceable, all other terms and conditions will remain unaffected and in full force and effect. The failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to do so later, and no waiver shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by an authorized representative of the waiving party.

22.  CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

CHT reserves the right to change these Terms from time to time, with or without notice to you. If you continue to use the Service, you consent to the new Terms. Any changes to these Terms will become effective on the “Effective Date” indicated above. If you continue to use the Service after the Effective Date, you consent to the new Terms. CHT will always have the latest Terms posted on the Service.

23.  CONTACT US

If you have any questions about these Terms or our Service, please feel free to contact us by email at socialtruth@humanetech.com.  

24.  CALIFORNIA CONSUMER RIGHTS NOTICE

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California users of the Service receive the following specific consumer rights notice: The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112 Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

25.  HEADINGS USED IN THESE TERMS

The section headings contained in these Terms are for reference purposes only and shall not affect the meaning or interpretation of these Terms in any way.