Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Rally News at rally.news ("the Service") and/or connecting your third party identification details, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use the Service.

These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and Sam Brooks ("we", "us", or "our"), the operator of Rally News.

2. Description of the Service

Rally News is a news aggregation platform that surfaces positive, constructive, and solutions-focused news stories from third-party publishers. The Service does not host, reproduce, or republish original articles. All stories are linked directly to the original publisher's website. We are not a news publisher ourselves.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet this age requirement.

4. User Accounts

4.1 Registration

You may use certain features of the Service by creating an account using Google or Mastodon OAuth authentication. You do not need an account to browse the Service. We store your authentication details through a third-party platform (Google Firebase).

4.2 Account Responsibility

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your account.

4.3 Account Termination

You may delete your account and associated data at any time by contacting us. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable laws or regulations
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Service or its infrastructure
• Scrape, crawl, or systematically collect data from the Service without our express written permission
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity
• Use automated tools to interact with the Service in a manner that places disproportionate load on our servers

6. Third-Party Content

All articles displayed on Rally News are sourced from and link to independent third-party publishers. We do not control, endorse, or take responsibility for any content on third-party websites. Your use of any third-party website is subject to that website's own terms and policies.

We use AI tools to identify and categorise positive news content, but we do not author, edit, or modify the underlying articles.

7. Intellectual Property

The Rally News name, logo, interface design, and original content (including curation systems and software) are owned by Sam Brooks and are protected by applicable intellectual property laws. All article content remains the property of its respective publishers.

You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works of any part of the Service without our prior written consent.

8. Advertising

The Service displays third-party advertisements to support free access. We do not control the content of these advertisements, and the presence of an advertisement does not constitute an endorsement. We will always aim to serve advertising in an ethical manner and will not use ad formats that interrupt your reading experience.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. We do not warrant that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure
• The news content surfaced by the Service is complete, accurate, or current
• The Service is free of viruses or other harmful components

Your use of the Service is at your sole risk.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Sam Brooks shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of or inability to use the Service, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of revenue, or loss of goodwill.

Our total liability to you for any claims arising under these Terms shall not exceed the amount you have paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim (excluding free users who are not entitled to liability compensation).

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

11. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Germany. Any disputes arising from these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Germany.

If you are a consumer in the EU, you may also benefit from mandatory consumer protection provisions of your country of residence.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify users of material changes by posting the updated Terms on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the Service after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

13. Contact

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at: