Free News or Magazine + User Comments Website Terms of Use

These News or Magazine Website Terms and Conditions are designed for websites publishing free news or magazine-style content for general use and, where appropriate, non-commercial use. They also provide for user content, most commonly in the form of comments on articles.

The terms are intended to be accepted through use, so visitors are deemed to accept them as soon as they start using the site. Users may also be required to accept them when creating an account, and the template refers to other website policies that may apply, such as a Privacy Policy and Acceptable Usage Policy.

Designed for editorial websites with user comments

This template is tailored to websites publishing editorial, news, or magazine-style content where users may also post comments. It combines standard website terms for free digital content with additional provisions dealing with user-generated content.

The disclaimers include an important additional provision stating that opinions, views, and values expressed in content on the site are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the site operator.

Intellectual property and use of content

Intellectual property is a key part of the template. It includes two alternative versions of the intellectual property clause, allowing you to choose a more restrictive or more flexible approach to saving, copying, and using content from the site.

In either case, use of your content can be limited to personal use or opened up to commercial use where appropriate. User content is also addressed separately: users retain the intellectual property rights in their comments and grant you a licence to display and use that content to operate the site.

The template also allows users to copy and quote each other’s comments within your site.

User content, complaints, and reporting

User content is handled in a dedicated section, reflecting the fact that on news and magazine-style websites it will often take the form of comments on articles. Users warrant that they will comply with your Acceptable Usage Policy and will indemnify you for breach of that warranty if you suffer loss or damage as a result.

Users are also responsible for backing up their own content, and you are not responsible if any is lost.

If a user wishes to complain about another user’s content, the template explains how they can do so. An optional link may also be included to a page on your site explaining your reporting and take-down process, how relevant guidelines are developed, enforced, and reviewed, and where you provide information on metrics and take-down. This reflects guidance in the UK Government’s Code of Practice for Providers of Online Social Media Platforms.

Scraping, linking, and other key provisions

The template includes a clause prohibiting scraping and text and data mining. This is intended to make such activity a direct breach of the website terms, and technical measures may also be advisable to help protect website content.

It also covers other important website terms, including:

• information about the website operator, including company and regulatory details;
• accounts, access to the site, and changes to the site or the terms;
• links to and from the site;
• disclaimers and liability, with separate provisions for consumers and business users; and
• viruses, malware, security, acceptable use, and personal information.

For certain trades and professions, additional information may be required by law. Members of regulated professions may need to include professional titles, links to professional rules, and other regulatory details, so professional advice should be taken where relevant.

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