Site Terms of Use

1. Agreement and parties

By creating a community site, accepting these Site Terms in the product, or operating a site on LocalFocus.news (“LocalFocus”, “we”, “us”, “platform”), you agree to these Site Terms of Use (“Site Terms”). If you do not agree, do not create or operate a site on the platform.

LocalFocus provides multi-tenant software, hosting, and related platform services. You are an independent Site Operator. These Site Terms are a B2B-style agreement between you and LocalFocus. Nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or franchise relationship.

2. Your site; your responsibility

You are solely responsible for:

• All content published on your community site, including user-generated content you allow;
• Moderation, editorial standards, takedowns, and local community rules;
• Compliance with applicable law (including advertising, consumer, privacy, and journalism-related rules that apply to you);
• Your administrators, staff, contractors, and the accounts you invite;
• Communications with your readers and advertisers;
• Any third-party rights in materials you upload or authorize.

LocalFocus is not the publisher of your community’s content and does not undertake to pre-approve articles, ads, notices, or other materials on your site.

3. Platform license

Subject to these Site Terms and timely payment of any applicable fees, LocalFocus grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the platform to operate your community site. You may not reverse engineer, resell, or sublicense the platform except as expressly allowed in writing. LocalFocus retains all right, title, and interest in the platform, branding, and related intellectual property.

4. Acceptable use of the platform

You agree not to use the platform to:

• Host or distribute unlawful, infringing, or highly harmful content;
• Engage in fraud, phishing, or deceptive practices;
• Attack, probe, or overload LocalFocus systems or other tenants;
• Circumvent billing, usage limits, access controls, or security features;
• Misrepresent that LocalFocus endorses your content or political positions.

5. User accounts on your site

Readers and contributors on your site agree to the User Terms. You must not encourage violations of those terms. You may impose additional community rules that do not conflict with LocalFocus platform requirements. You are responsible for how you grant roles and permissions on your site.

6. Intellectual property; DMCA cooperation

You retain ownership of your original site content. You grant LocalFocus a license to host, process, back up, display, and transmit that content as needed to provide the Service, and to use your site name and logos in connection with operating and promoting LocalFocus.

You will promptly respond to copyright and other IP complaints relating to your site. You will cooperate with LocalFocus on notices we receive (including DMCA-style notices) and implement removals or counternotice processes as reasonably requested. LocalFocus may disable content or sites that appear to infringe or that repeatedly infringe.

7. Fees, wallets, and payments

Fees for plans, add-ons, disk space, use charges, or other LocalFocus products are as disclosed in the product or in a separate order. Payment processing may use third parties (for example Stripe). Platform wallets and site wallets are ledger features of the Service—not bank accounts—and are not FDIC-insured. LocalFocus may adjust pricing with notice as described in the product or these Site Terms.

You are responsible for taxes on your operations. Chargebacks, refunds, and payment disputes for amounts you collect from your users are your responsibility unless LocalFocus expressly agrees otherwise in writing.

8. Data; privacy

You will handle personal data of your users in accordance with applicable privacy law and our Privacy policy where it applies to platform processing. You will not use the platform to collect children’s data unlawfully. LocalFocus processes data to provide the Service; you remain responsible for your own notices and choices presented to your community.

9. No uptime or content warranty

THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” LOCALFOCUS DOES NOT WARRANT UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION, PARTICULAR UPTIME LEVELS, OR THAT DATA WILL NEVER BE LOST. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING YOUR OWN COPIES OF CRITICAL CONTENT WHERE APPROPRIATE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, LOCALFOCUS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

10. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, LOCALFOCUS AND ITS OWNERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR SITE OR THE PLATFORM, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR ANY OTHER THEORY.

LOCALFOCUS’S TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE SITE TERMS OR THE PLATFORM WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE FEES YOU PAID TO LOCALFOCUS FOR THE AFFECTED SERVICE IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$100).

11. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless LocalFocus and its owners, officers, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your community site and its content; (b) your users’ conduct on your site; (c) your moderation or failure to moderate; (d) your advertising, billing, or commercial practices; (e) your breach of these Site Terms or law; and (f) any claim that your content or branding infringes third-party rights.

12. Suspension and termination

LocalFocus may suspend or terminate your site or access immediately if you breach these Site Terms, create risk to the platform or other tenants, fail to pay amounts due, or if required by law. You may stop using the platform by closing your site through available product controls or by written request to LocalFocus. Upon termination, your license ends; LocalFocus may delete or retain data as described in the Privacy policy and as needed for legal compliance. Sections that should survive (including IP, disclaimer, limitation of liability, indemnity, and dispute terms) survive termination.

13. Changes

We may update these Site Terms. The version identifier will change when we do. Continued operation of a site after notice, or acceptance when prompted in the product, constitutes acceptance of the revised Site Terms. Material fee changes will be communicated through the product or email when practicable.

14. Governing law; arbitration

These Site Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Nebraska, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules (placeholder — LocalFocus may designate another U.S. state).

Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Site Terms or the platform will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules. You and LocalFocus waive any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class, collective, or representative action. Either party may seek provisional injunctive relief in court to protect intellectual property, confidential information, or platform security. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

15. Contact

Legal notices: [email protected] (set a monitored inbox before relying on these Site Terms in production).

These Site Terms are a protective template for LocalFocus.news as platform operator and are not a substitute for advice from a licensed attorney. Have counsel review them before production use.