Terms of Service

1. Agreement

By creating an account, checking the signup boxes, going live, uploading content, joining a show as a guest, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy. We store the time you accepted and the version dated 18 August 2026. If you use the Service for an organization, you represent that you can bind that organization.

2. The Service

CitizenSpotlight is a civic-broadcast and citizen-journalism platform. You may watch public shows, file reports, tip creators when that feature is on, and — with a qualifying studio plan or trial — host live video that we record. Interview desks, on-page advertising, live captions, and (on qualifying plans) realtime translated captions or a voice-dub option are part of the Service when enabled. Other civic-OS surfaces may still be incomplete. We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old, or the age of digital consent in your country if higher. If you are under 18 you may use the Service only with a parent or guardian’s consent. The Service is not directed at children under 13 (US COPPA). We delete accounts we learn are under-age. You may not use the Service if we have banned or suspended you.

4. Accounts

Signup requires a real email, a password of at least 8 characters, a display name, and explicit acceptance of these Terms and the Privacy Policy. Keep credentials secret. You are responsible for activity on your account. We may require email verification. Optional TOTP two-factor authentication is in Settings. Admin access requires TOTP. Handle samia and other reserved names are not available. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, applicable law, or another person’s rights.

5. Watching is free; studio is paid

Watching public live shows and VODs, following hosts, comments, and filing reports do not require a paid plan. Display advertising may appear on free watch pages. Tips and wallet, when enabled, are also free to use as an audience feature. Scheduled shows, extra guests, tickets, branding, live captions, realtime translation, voice dub, and similar desk tools require a studio subscription or an active trial, as described on /pricing.

New accounts may receive a 7-day Network trial without a card. Cancel or let it expire and you keep watching and reporting for free. Unused trial time is not cash. Prices are in USD: Journalist Studio $19/mo, Studio Pro $49/mo, Broadcast $149/mo, Network $499/mo, billed monthly through Stripe on the Shent account. Fees are generally non-refundable except where law requires.

6. Live broadcasts and recording

If you start a live show on the default Paradise Modern path, we record it. There is no in-product switch to go live unrecorded. If recording cannot start, we will not mark the show live. You are responsible for rights and consents from everyone on camera or microphone, including guests. Field / panic tools create a public recorded show unless we say otherwise. We are not responsible for lost recordings caused by your device, network, or browser beyond what the law requires.

7. Guests

Invite links expire in about 24 hours or when you revoke them. Guests land in backstage and appear on the audience feed only when you put them on air. Once on air they may appear in the live stream and the recording. You must tell them they may be recorded and published. Guests who join without an account still agree to these Terms for that session. Interview bookings, when accepted, open a recorded desk on the same path as a regular show.

8. Captions, translation, and dub

Live captions may be generated from the host microphone (device speech recognition) and stored with the stream so viewers can read them. On qualifying plans we may also machine-translate those captions and, as a premium option, synthesize a dubbed voice track. Machine output can be wrong, late, or incomplete. It is not a certified interpretation. You are responsible for telling guests they may be captioned, translated, or dubbed. We may refuse or throttle the feature. Voice dub is offered only on Broadcast and Network plans unless we comp it.

9. Advertising

We may show house or third-party display ads on public pages (typical sizes: 728×90, 300×250, 300×50). Ads on the default path are contextual or house promotions (for example studio plans), not a sale of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Ticketed or paid-desk experiences may be ad-light. We are not responsible for advertiser sites you click through to.

10. Your content

You keep ownership of reports, video, chat, captions, and other material you submit (“Your Content”). You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, transcode, reproduce, display, distribute, translate, synthesize a technical voice track of, and create technical copies of Your Content so we can operate the Service (including VOD, clips you make, captions, embeds, search, and backups). You represent that you have the rights needed to grant this license and that Your Content does not infringe others. You may delete or unpublish content where the product allows; we may retain copies for legal, security, or backup purposes as described in the Privacy Policy.

11. License to other users; tips

Public content may be watched, shared by link, and quoted with attribution. That does not transfer your copyright. Separate licensing deals with outlets, if offered, are additional contracts. Tips are voluntary; they are not a purchase of copyright unless a listing says so.

12. Trust tiers

Trust tiers and labels describe verification steps, not “this is true.” We do not warrant that any report, live statement, or VOD is accurate. Do not treat the Service as legal, medical, or financial advice.

13. Prohibited use

You may not: break the law; incite violence; upload sexual content involving minors; dox or harass; impersonate others; submit fabricated “evidence” as authentic; scrape or overload the Service; reverse engineer except as allowed by law; evade bans; deliver malware; or interfere with recording, CSRF, rate limits, or bot checks. We may remove content and suspend accounts. Appeals: /appeals or legal@citizenspotlight.com.

14. Copyright complaints

We respond to valid DMCA notices at /legal/dmca. Counter-notices: the same flow. Other takedowns: /legal/takedown. Repeat infringers may lose their accounts.

15. Third-party processors

Media, email, and infrastructure may run on Paradise Modern, LiveKit, DigitalOcean Spaces, DigitalOcean hosting, Mux on the legacy path, and Stripe when checkout is enabled. Search engines receive public URLs only (sitemaps, IndexNow, Google Indexing API). Their outages can affect recording and delivery. We are not liable for those vendors beyond what the law requires.

16. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” WE DISCLAIM IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT LAW ALLOWS. We do not warrant uninterrupted live service, perfect recording, accuracy of user-generated content, or accuracy of machine captions, translations, or dubbed audio.

17. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent law allows, we are not liable for lost profits, lost recordings caused by your device or network, or indirect or consequential damages. Our total liability for a claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) amounts you paid us in the 12 months before the claim or (b) one hundred US dollars. Some places do not allow these limits.

18. Indemnity

You will defend and indemnify us against claims arising from Your Content, your live guests, your failure to obtain consents, or your breach of these Terms, except to the extent we caused the claim.

19. Termination

You may close your account in settings or by requesting deletion. We may suspend or terminate access immediately for violation, risk, non-payment, or prolonged inactivity. Public VODs and reports may remain while published unless removed under product rules or law. Sections that should survive (license for existing distributions, liability, indemnity, governing law) survive.

20. Changes

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be posted on this page with a new effective date. Continued use after that date is acceptance. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and close your account.

21. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, except where a mandatory consumer law in your country applies. Courts in Delaware have exclusive venue, except that we may seek injunctive relief anywhere.

22. Contact

Samia Harris Enterprises — CitizenSpotlight
Email: legal@citizenspotlight.com
Privacy: privacy@citizenspotlight.com
Web: https://citizenspotlight.com