TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Statement of Rights and Responsibilities
This Statement of Rights and Responsibilities ("Statement," "Terms," or "SRR") derives from the The Microphone Principles, and is our terms of service that governs our relationship with users and others who interact with The Microphone, as well as The Microphone, brands, products and services, which we call the “The Microphone Services” or “Services”. By using or accessing the The Microphone Services, you agree to this Statement, as updated from time to time in accordance with Section 13 below. Additionally, you will find resources at the end of this document that help you understand how The Microphone works.
Because The Microphone provides a wide range of Services, we may ask you to review and accept supplemental terms that apply to your interaction with a specific app, product, or service. To the extent those supplemental terms conflict with this SRR, the supplemental terms associated with the app, product, or service govern with respect to your use of such app, product or service to the extent of the conflict.
Registration and Account Security
The Microphone users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:
1. You will not provide any false personal information on The Microphone, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
2. You will not create more than one personal account.
3. If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.
4. You will not use your personal timeline primarily for your own commercial gain, and will use a The Microphone Page for such purposes.
5. You will not use The Microphone if you are under 13 years old.
6. You will not use The Microphone if you are a convicted sex offender.
7. You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.
8. You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.
9. You will not transfer your account (including any Page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.
10. If you select a username or similar identifier for your account or Page, we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe it is appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user's actual name).
Sharing Your Content and Information
You own all of the content and information you post on The Microphone, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:
1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with The Microphone (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
2. When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).
3. When you use an application, the application may ask for your permission to access your content and information as well as content and information that others have shared with you. We require applications to respect your privacy, and your agreement with that application will control how the application can use, store, and transfer that content and information. (To learn more about Platform, including how you can control what information other people may share with applications.
4. When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of The Microphone to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).
5. We always appreciate your feedback or other suggestions about The Microphone but you understand that we may use your feedback or suggestions without any obligation to compensate you for them (just as you have no obligation to offer them).
Safety
We do our best to keep The Microphone safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to keep The Microphone safe, which includes the following commitments by you:
1. You will not post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on The Microphone.
2. You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access The Microphone using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our prior permission.
3. You will not engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as a pyramid scheme, on The Microphone.
4. You will not upload viruses or other malicious code.
5. You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.
6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
7. You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.
8. You will not develop or operate a third-party application containing alcohol-related, dating or other mature content (including advertisements) without appropriate age-based restrictions.
9. You will not use The Microphone to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.
10. You will not do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working or appearance of The Microphone such as a denial of service attack or interference with page rendering or other The Microphone functionality.
11. You will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Statement or our policies.
Protecting Other People's Rights
We respect other people's rights, and expect you to do the same.
1. You will not post content or take any action on The Microphone that infringes or violates someone else's rights or otherwise violates the law.
2. We can remove any content or information you post on The Microphone if we believe that it violates this Statement or our policies.
3. We provide you with tools to help you protect your intellectual property rights. To learn more, visit our How to Report Claims of Intellectual Property Infringement page.
4. If we remove your content for infringing someone else's copyright, and you believe we removed it by mistake, we will provide you with an opportunity to appeal.
5. If you repeatedly infringe other people's intellectual property rights, we will disable your account when appropriate.
6. You will not use our copyrights or Trademarks or any confusingly similar marks, except as expressly permitted by our Brand Usage Guidelines or with our prior written permission.
7. If you collect information from users, you will: obtain their consent, make it clear you (and not The Microphone) are the one collecting their information, and post a privacy policy explaining what information you collect and how you will use it.
8. You will not post anyone's identification documents or sensitive financial information on The Microphone.
9. You will not tag users or send email invitations to non-users without their consent. The Microphone offers social reporting tools to enable users to provide feedback about tagging.
Mobile and Other Devices
1. We currently provide our mobile services for free, but please be aware that your carrier's normal rates and fees, such as text messaging and data charges, will still apply.
2. In the event you change or deactivate your mobile telephone number, you will update your account information on The Microphone within 48 hours to ensure that your messages are not sent to the person who acquires your old number.
3. You provide consent and all rights necessary to enable users to sync (including through an application) their devices with any information that is visible to them on The Microphone.
Payments
If you make a payment on The Microphone, you agree to our Payments Terms unless it is stated that other terms apply.
About Advertisements and Other Commercial Content Served or Enhanced by The Microphone
Our goal is to deliver advertising and other commercial or sponsored content that is valuable to our users and advertisers. In order to help us do that, you agree to the following:
1. You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us. This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you. If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it.
2. We do not give your content or information to advertisers without your consent.
3. You understand that we may not always identify paid services and communications as such.
Special Provisions Applicable to Advertisers
If you use our self-service advertising creation interfaces for creation, submission and/or delivery of any advertising or other commercial or sponsored activity or content (collectively, the “Self-Serve Ad Interfaces”), you agree to our Self-Serve Ad Terms. In addition, your advertising or other commercial or sponsored activity or content placed on The Microphone or our publisher network will comply with our Advertising Policies.
Special Provisions Applicable to Pages
If you create or administer a Page on The Microphone, or run a promotion or an offer from your Page, you agree to our Pages Terms.
Special Provisions Applicable to Software
1. If you download or use our software, such as a stand-alone software product, an app, or a browser plugin, you agree that from time to time, the software may download and install upgrades, updates and additional features from us in order to improve, enhance, and further develop the software.
2. You will not modify, create derivative works of, decompile, or otherwise attempt to extract source code from us, unless you are expressly permitted to do so under an open source license, or we give you express written permission.
Amendments
If we make changes to policies, guidelines or other terms referenced in or incorporated by this Statement, we may or may not provide notice.
Your continued use of the The Microphone Services, following notice of the changes to our terms, policies or guidelines, constitutes your acceptance of our amended terms, policies or guidelines.
Termination
If you violate the letter or spirit of this Statement, or otherwise create risk or possible legal exposure for us, we can stop providing all or part of The Microphone to you. We will notify you by email or at the next time you attempt to access your account. You may also delete your account or disable your application at any time. In all such cases, this Statement shall terminate.
Disputes
1. You will resolve any claim, cause of action or dispute (claim) you have with us arising out of or relating to this Statement or The Microphone exclusively in Australian Court and you agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of litigating all such claims. The laws of the State of New South Wales will govern this Statement, as well as any claim that might arise between you and us, without regard to conflict of law provisions.
2. If anyone brings a claim against us related to your actions, content or information on The Microphone you will indemnify and hold us harmless from and against all damages, losses, and expenses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) related to such claim. Although we provide rules for user conduct, we do not control or direct users' actions on The Microphone and are not responsible for the content or information users transmit or share on The Microphone. We are not responsible for any offensive, inappropriate, obscene, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable content or information you may encounter on The Microphone. We are not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user of The Microphone.
3. WE TRY TO KEEP THE MICROPHONE UP, BUG-FREE, AND SAFE, BUT YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE PROVIDING FACEBOOK AS IS WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE MICROPHONE WILL ALWAYS BE SAFE, SECURE OR ERROR-FREE OR THAT THE MICROPHONE WILL ALWAYS FUNCTION WITHOUT DISRUPTIONS, DELAYS OR IMPERFECTIONS. THE MICROPHONE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS, CONTENT, INFORMATION, OR DATA OF THIRD PARTIES, AND YOU RELEASE US, OUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS FROM ANY CLAIMS AND DAMAGES, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH ANY CLAIM YOU HAVE AGAINST ANY SUCH THIRD PARTIES. OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THIS STATEMENT OR THE MICROPHONE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100) OR THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH CASES, THE MICROPHONE'S LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.
Definitions
1. By "The Microphone" or” The Microphone Services” we mean the features and services we make available, including through (a) our website at www.TheMicrophone.com.au and any other The Microphone branded or co-branded websites (including sub-domains, international versions, widgets, and mobile versions); (b) our Platform; (c) social plugins such as the Like button, the Share button and other similar offerings; and (d) other media, brands, products, services, software (such as a toolbar), devices, or networks now existing or later developed. The Microphone reserves the right to designate, in its sole discretion, that certain of our brands, products, or services are governed by separate terms and not this SRR.
2. By "Platform" we mean a set of APIs and services (such as content) that enable others, including application developers and website operators, to retrieve data from The Microphone or provide data to us.
3. By "information" we mean facts and other information about you, including actions taken by users and non-users who interact with The Microphone.
4. By "content" we mean anything you or other users post, provide or share using The Microphone.
5. By "data" or "user data" or "user's data" we mean any data, including a user's content or information that you or third parties can retrieve from The Microphone or provide to The Microphone through Platform.
6. By "post" we mean post on The Microphone or otherwise make available by using The Microphone.
7. By "use" we mean use, run, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute, modify, translate, and create derivative works of.
8. By "application" we mean any application or website that uses or accesses Platform, as well as anything else that receives or has received data from us. If you no longer access Platform but have not deleted all data from us, the term application will apply until you delete the data.
Other
1. If you are a resident of or have your principal place of business in Australia, this Statement is an agreement between you and The Microphone. Otherwise, this Statement is an agreement between you and The Microphone. References to “us,” “we,” and “our” mean The Microphone.
2. This Statement makes up the entire agreement between the parties regarding The Microphone, and supersedes any prior agreements.
3. If any portion of this Statement is found to be unenforceable, the remaining portion will remain in full force and effect.
4. If we fail to enforce any of this Statement, it will not be considered a waiver.
5. Any amendment to or waiver of this Statement must be made in writing and signed by us.
6. You will not transfer any of your rights or obligations under this Statement to anyone else without our consent.
7. All of our rights and obligations under this Statement are freely assignable by us in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, or by operation of law or otherwise.
8. Nothing in this Statement shall prevent us from complying with the law.
9. This Statement does not confer any third party beneficiary rights.
10. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you.
11. You will comply with all applicable laws when using or accessing The Microphone.
Our mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Every day, people come to The Microphone to share their stories, see the world through the eyes of others and connect with friends and causes. The conversations that happen on The Microphone reflect the diversity of a community of more than one billion people.
We want people to feel safe when using The Microphone. For that reason, we've developed a set of Community Standards, outlined below. These policies will help you understand what type of sharing is allowed on The Microphone, and what type of content may be reported to us and removed. Because of the diversity of our global community, please bear in mind that something that may be disagreeable or disturbing to you may not violate our Community Standards.
We remove content, disable accounts and work with law enforcement when we believe that there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety. Learn more about how The Microphone handles abusive content.
Direct Threats: How we help people who feel threatened by others on The Microphone.
We carefully review reports of threatening language to identify serious threats of harm to public and personal safety. We remove credible threats of physical harm to individuals. We also remove specific threats of theft, vandalism or other financial harm.
We may consider things such as a person's physical location or public visibility in determining whether a threat is credible. We may assume credibility of any threats to people living in violent and unstable regions.
Self-injury: How we work to help prevent self-injury and suicide.
We don't allow the promotion of self-injury or suicide. We work with organisations around the world to provide assistance for people in distress. We prohibit content that promotes or encourages suicide or any other type of self-injury, including self-mutilation and eating disorders. We don't consider body modification to be self-injury. We also remove any content that identifies victims or survivors of self-injury or suicide and targets them for attack, either seriously or humorously. People can, however, share information about self-injury and suicide that does not promote these things.
Dangerous Organisations: What types of organisations we prohibit on The Microphone.
We don't allow any organisations that are engaged in the following to have a presence on The Microphone:
· terrorist activity, or
· organised criminal activity.
We also remove content that expresses support for groups that are involved in the violent or criminal behaviour mentioned above. Supporting or praising leaders of those same organisations, or condoning their violent activities, is not allowed.
We welcome broad discussion and social commentary on these general subjects, but ask that people show sensitivity towards victims of violence and discrimination.
Bullying and Harassment: How we respond to bullying and harassment.
We don’t tolerate bullying or harassment. We allow you to speak freely on matters and people of public interest, but remove content that appears to purposefully target private individuals with the intention of degrading or shaming them. This content includes, but is not limited to:
· Pages that identify and shame private individuals,
· images altered to degrade private individuals,
· photos or videos of physical bullying posted to shame the victim,
· sharing personal information to blackmail or harass people and
· repeatedly targeting other people with unwanted friend requests or messages.
We define private individuals as people who have neither gained news attention nor the interest of the public, by way of their actions or public profession.
Attacks on Public Figures: What protection public figures receive on The Microphone.
We permit open and critical discussion of people who are featured in the news or have a large public audience based on their profession or chosen activities. We remove credible threats to public figures, as well as hate speech directed at them – just as we do for private individuals.
Criminal Activity: How we handle reports of criminal activity on The Microphone.
We prohibit the use of The Microphone to facilitate or organise criminal activity that causes physical harm to people, businesses or animals, or financial damage to people or businesses. We work with the police when we believe that there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety.
We also prohibit you from celebrating any crimes that you've committed. We do, however, allow people to debate or advocate for the legality of criminal activities, as well as address them in a humorous or satirical way.
Sexual Violence and Exploitation: How we fight sexual violence and exploitation on The Microphone.
We remove content that threatens or promotes sexual violence or exploitation. This includes the sexual exploitation of minors and sexual assault. To protect victims and survivors, we also remove photographs or videos depicting incidents of sexual violence and images shared in revenge or without permission from the people in the images.
Our definition of sexual exploitation includes solicitation of sexual material, any sexual content involving minors, threats to share intimate images and offers of sexual services. Where appropriate, we refer this content to law enforcement. Offers of sexual services include prostitution, escort services, sexual massages and filmed sexual activity.
Regulated goods
We prohibit any attempts by unauthorised dealers to purchase, sell or trade prescription drugs, marijuana, firearms or ammunition. If you post an offer to purchase or sell alcohol, tobacco or adult products, we expect you to comply with all applicable laws and carefully consider the audience for that content. We do not allow you to use The Microphone 's payment tools to sell or purchase regulated goods on our platform.
Encouraging respectful behaviour
People use The Microphone to share their experiences and to raise awareness about issues that are important to them. This means that you may encounter opinions that are different from yours, which we believe can lead to important conversations about difficult topics. To help balance the needs, safety and interests of a diverse community, however, we may remove certain kinds of sensitive content or limit the audience that sees it. Learn more about how we do that here.
Nudity
People sometimes share content containing nudity for reasons such as awareness campaigns or artistic projects. We restrict the display of nudity because some audiences within our global community may be sensitive to this type of content – particularly because of their cultural background or age. In order to treat people fairly and respond to reports quickly, it is essential that we have policies in place that our global teams can apply uniformly and easily when reviewing content. As a result, our policies can sometimes be more blunt than we would like and restrict content shared for legitimate purposes. We are always working to get better at evaluating this content and enforcing our standards.
We remove photographs of people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks. We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but we always allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures and other art that depicts nude figures. Restrictions on the display of both nudity and sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless the content is posted for educational, humorous or satirical purposes. Explicit images of sexual intercourse are prohibited. Descriptions of sexual acts that go into vivid detail may also be removed.
Hate Speech
The Microphone removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on their:
· race,
· ethnicity,
· national origin,
· religious affiliation,
· sexual orientation,
· sex, gender or gender identity, or
· serious disabilities or diseases.
Organisations and people dedicated to promoting hatred against these protected groups are not allowed a presence on The Microphone. As with all of our standards, we rely on our community to report this content to us.
People can use The Microphone to challenge ideas, institutions and practices. Such discussion can promote debate and greater understanding. Sometimes people share content containing someone else's hate speech for the purpose of raising awareness or educating others about that hate speech. When this is the case, we expect people to clearly indicate their purpose, which helps us better understand why they shared that content.
We allow humour, satire or social commentary related to these topics, and we believe that when people use their authentic identity, they are more responsible when they share this kind of commentary. For that reason, we ask that Page owners associate their name and The Microphone Profile with any content that is insensitive, even if that content does not violate our policies. As always, we urge people to be conscious of their audience when sharing this type of content.
While we work hard to remove hate speech, we also give you tools to avoid distasteful or offensive content. Learn more about the tools we offer to control what you see. You can also use The Microphone to speak up and educate the community around you. Counter-speech in the form of accurate information and alternative viewpoints can help create a safer and more respectful environment.
Violence and Graphic Content
The Microphone has long been a place where people share their experiences and raise awareness about important issues. Sometimes, those experiences and issues involve violence and graphic images of public interest or concern, such as human rights abuses or acts of terrorism. In many instances, when people share this type of content, they are condemning it or raising awareness about it. We remove graphic images when they are shared for sadistic pleasure or to celebrate or glorify violence.
When people share anything on The Microphone, we expect that they will share it responsibly, including carefully choosing who will see that content. We also ask that people warn their audience about what they are about to see if it includes graphic violence.
Keeping your account and personal information secure
We work hard to help keep your account secure and protect your personal information. By joining The Microphone, you agree to use your authentic name and identity. You may not publish the personal information of others without their consent. Learn more about how we work to keep your information safe.
Fraud and Spam: How we protect you from fraud and spam.
We work hard to help ensure that the information you share is secure. We investigate any suspected breach of security. Any attempt to compromise the security of a Profile, including fraud, may be referred to law enforcement. Using misleading or inaccurate information to artificially collect likes, followers or shares is not allowed. We also ask that you respect people by not contacting them for commercial purposes without their consent.
Accounts of Friends or Family Members Who Have Passed Away: How you can create a place to remember lost loved ones on The Microphone.
The Microphone is a place where people come to share their stories and reminisce about friends and family members who have passed away. Once we receive proof of death, we secure and memorialise accounts. We do this once we receive sufficient proof of death. Learn more about what happens when we memorialise an account.
Immediate family members can also request that we remove and delete a loved one's profile.
Protecting Your intellectual Property
The Microphone is a place for you to share the things that are important to you. You own all of the content and information you post on The Microphone, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. However, before sharing content on The Microphone, please make sure that you have the right to do so. We ask that you respect copyrights, trademarks and other legal rights.
Reporting Abuse
Our global community is growing every day, and we strive to welcome people to an environment that is free from abusive content. To do this, we rely on people like you. If you see something on The Microphone that you believe violates our terms, please report it to us. We have dedicated teams working around the world to review things you report to help make sure The Microphone remains safe.
Governments also sometimes ask us to remove content that violates local laws but does not violate our Community Standards. If after careful legal review we find that the content is illegal under local law, then we may make it unavailable only in the relevant country or territory.
Please bear the following in mind:
· We may take action whenever something violates the Community Standards outlined here.
· We may ask Page owners to associate their name and The Microphone Profile with a Page that contains cruel and insensitive content, even if that content does not violate our policies.
· Reporting something doesn't guarantee that it will be removed because it may not violate our policies.
· Our content reviewers will look to you for information about why a post may violate our policies. If you report content, please tell us why the content should be removed (e.g. is it nudity or hate speech?) so that we can send it to the right person for review.
· Our review decisions may occasionally change after receiving additional context about specific posts or after seeing new, violating content appearing on a Page or The Microphone Profile.
· The number of reports does not impact whether something will be removed. We never remove content simply because it has been reported a number of times.
The consequences for violating our Community Standards vary depending on the severity of the violation and the person's history on The Microphone. For instance, we may warn someone for a first violation, but if we continue to see further violations we may restrict a person's ability to post on Facebook or ban the person from The Microphone.
Not all disagreeable or disturbing content violates our Community Standards. For this reason, we offer you the ability to customise and control what you see by unfollowing, blocking and hiding the posts, people, Pages and applications you don't want to see – and we encourage you to use these controls to better personalise your experience. Learn more. People also often resolve issues they have about a piece of content by simply getting in touch with the person who posted it. We've created tools for you to communicate directly with other people when you're unhappy with posts, photos or other content you see on The Microphone.
