Terms of Service

Last updated November 8, 2026

1. Agreeing to these terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and the operator of notfiction ("notfiction", "we", "us"). They cover your use of notfiction.com and any related services (together, the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy and our Community Rules. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

2. Who can use notfiction

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. If you are under 18, or under the age of majority where you live, you may use the Service only with the permission of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms for you. You may not use the Service if we have banned you, or if the law where you live doesn't allow it.

3. Your account

• You can read and vote without an account. To post, comment or start a group, you create an account by picking a username, either on its own or with Google sign-in.
• If you create an account without Google, we show you a sign-in key once. That key is the only way to get back into the account. We do not store a copy we can show you, and we can't recover an account whose key is lost unless you've connected Google to it.
• You are responsible for everything done with your account and for keeping your sign-in key and Google account secure. Tell us through the contact page if you think someone else is using your account.
• Usernames may not impersonate other people or organizations, or be offensive. We may reclaim or change usernames that break this rule.
• You can delete your account at any time from your account menu.

4. Your content

"Your content" means anything you post on the Service: posts, links, text, comments, group names and descriptions, and votes.

• You own your content. You keep all rights you have in it.
• You give us a license to run the Service. You grant notfiction a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable and sublicensable license to host, store, copy, display, distribute, and adapt your content (for example, to format it for different screens) in order to operate, provide, promote and improve the Service. This license ends when your content is removed from the Service, except for copies we keep for legal reasons, backups, or where others have already shared it.
• You're responsible for your content. You confirm you have the rights needed to post it, and that it doesn't break these Terms, the Community Rules, or the law.
• Your content is public. Posts, comments, usernames and group memberships can be seen by anyone, including people without an account and search engines.

5. Votes and scores

notfiction shows two scores on stories and posts:

• The newsroom score counts how many independent news outlets we found reporting the same story at that moment. It is produced automatically by software that matches headlines, and it can be wrong. It may group unrelated stories together or miss outlets that are reporting a story.
• The people score shows the share of notfiction users who voted that something is "Real". It reflects opinions, not facts, and can be affected by who happens to vote.

Neither score is a fact-check, a verification, or a statement by notfiction that anything is true or false. Don't rely on them to make decisions about your health, safety, money, or legal matters. Always check original sources. You may not manipulate votes, for example with multiple accounts, bots, or paid or coordinated voting.

6. News headlines and other publishers' content

notfiction automatically collects headlines, short summaries, links and preview images that news publishers make available through their public RSS feeds, and groups them by story. That material belongs to its publishers. It is shown with attribution and links to the original reporting. notfiction is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of those publishers, and we don't control or check their reporting. Publishers can ask us to stop including their feeds through the contact page.

7. Links and other websites

The Service links to websites we don't control, including news sites and links posted by users. We're not responsible for their content, accuracy, availability, or privacy practices. Visiting them is at your own risk.

8. Rules of conduct

You agree to follow the Community Rules. You also agree not to:

• break any law, or help anyone else do so;
• access the Service by automated means (scraping, bots, crawlers) beyond what a normal search engine does, or interfere with or overload it;
• try to get around bans, rate limits, or security measures, or access accounts or data that aren't yours;
• upload viruses or other harmful code;
• use the Service to send spam or unsolicited advertising.

9. Moderation

We may, but don't have to, review, remove, hide, or restrict any content, and suspend or ban any account, at any time and for any reason, including content that we believe breaks these Terms or the Community Rules, or that could harm others or expose us to legal risk. Content reported by several people may be hidden automatically. Group founders may also moderate their own groups. We don't pre-screen content and we are not responsible for what users post. If you think we made a mistake, tell us through the contact page.

10. Copyright

We respond to notices of claimed copyright infringement and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers where appropriate. See our Copyright Policy.

11. Our rights in the Service

The Service, including its design, software, logo and name, belongs to notfiction and is protected by law. These Terms don't give you any right to use our name or logo. If you send us feedback or ideas, we may use them without owing you anything.

12. Changes to the Service and these Terms

We may change, suspend, or stop any part of the Service at any time. We may update these Terms. If we make a material change, we'll post the new Terms here with a new date and, where reasonable, tell users on the site. If you keep using the Service after the change takes effect, you accept the new Terms.

13. Ending your use

You can stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or end your access at any time, including if you break these Terms. Sections 4 (the license for content already shared), 5, 6, and 14 through 18 continue to apply after your use ends.

14. Disclaimer of warranties

The Service, including all scores, headlines, user content and links, is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. We don't promise that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any content is accurate, current, or reliable.

15. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent allowed by law, notfiction and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill or reputation, arising from or related to the Service or these Terms, even if we were told such damages were possible. Our total liability for any claim related to the Service is limited to the greater of US $50 or the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim (which, for a free service, is zero).

Some places don't allow some of these limits, so they may not all apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that can't be limited by law.

16. Indemnity

If someone makes a claim against notfiction because of your content, your use of the Service, or your breaking these Terms or the law, you agree to cover our reasonable losses and costs, including reasonable legal fees, to the extent the law allows.

17. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and of the state in which notfiction's operator is located, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located there, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring a claim in your local courts. Before filing a claim, you agree to contact us through the contact page and try to resolve it informally for at least 30 days.

18. Other terms

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Community Rules and Copyright Policy, are the whole agreement between you and us about the Service. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we don't enforce a part of these Terms, that doesn't waive our right to do so later. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer ours, for example if notfiction is sold.

19. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Use the contact page.