Signal/noise

Terms of Service

Rules of the road

1. Agreement to terms

By accessing or using Signal/noise (“the Service”), including s2n.news, the email digest, or the iOS app, you agree to these Terms of Service (“Terms”). The iOS app can begin with a device-scoped profile without an email account; these Terms still apply. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, govern your use of the Service.

2. What Signal/noise is

Signal/noise is a multi-perspective news intelligence platform that aggregates and analyzes news coverage from publicly available sources. We use artificial intelligence to identify framing differences, coverage blindspots, and narrative patterns across the political spectrum.

We are: An analysis and intelligence tool that helps you understand how news is covered from multiple perspectives.

We are not:A news publisher, a primary news source, a licensed fact-checking organization, a financial advisor, or a legal authority. Our analyses are generated by AI and are intended to supplement — not replace — your own critical thinking and independent judgment.

3. Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 16 years old to use the Service. By using it, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

An email or Sign in with Apple account is optional for the initial iOS setup but may be required for cross-device recovery or account-specific features. A device-scoped profile is not a substitute for securing your device.

You are responsible for:

• Providing a valid email address
• Maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials
• All activity that occurs under your account
• Keeping publisher credentials and access to your device secure
• Using publisher content only as permitted by your publisher subscription and the publisher’s terms
• Notifying us promptly at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorized access

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, engage in abusive behavior, or that we reasonably believe are fraudulent.

4. The Service

4.1 What we provide

The Service includes a daily digest email, public web content, and an iOS membership with personalized local and favorite sources, grouped Living Stories, evidence and revision views, alerts, save references, and an optional on-device publisher reader. Feature availability can vary by platform, market, publisher, subscription status, and source availability.

4.2 Availability

We strive to keep the Service available and reliable, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access. The Service may be temporarily unavailable due to maintenance, updates, infrastructure issues, or circumstances beyond our control. We will make reasonable efforts to provide advance notice of planned downtime where practical.

4.3 Changes to the Service

We may modify, add, or discontinue features of the Service at any time. If we make changes that materially reduce the core functionality you rely on, we will notify you at least 14 days in advance where practical.

5. Acceptable use

You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. You agree not to:

• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other user accounts, or our infrastructure
• Use the Service to harass, threaten, abuse, or harm others
• Scrape, crawl, or automatically extract data from the Service at scale without prior written permission
• Redistribute our AI-generated analyses in bulk or present them as your own editorial content for commercial purposes
• Interfere with, disrupt, or place an unreasonable burden on the Service or its infrastructure
• Create multiple accounts to circumvent usage limits or restrictions
• Use the Service to knowingly generate, amplify, or distribute misinformation
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the Service
• Use automated means (bots, scripts) to interact with the Service beyond normal use patterns

Sharing is encouraged. You are welcome and encouraged to share individual stories, analyses, shareable cards, Reality Check results, and podcast episodes with others via the sharing features we provide. This is how the Service grows, and we designed it for this purpose.

6. Content and intellectual property

6.1 Our content

The AI-generated analyses, framing summaries, blindspot reports, prediction questions, digest emails, podcast episodes, and other original content produced by Signal/noise are our intellectual property, protected by copyright to the extent permitted by law.

Permitted uses: You may share individual analyses using our sharing features, link to and reference our content with attribution, quote brief excerpts of our analyses for the purpose of commentary and criticism, and use our content for personal, non-commercial purposes.

Prohibited uses: You may not bulk-reproduce, mirror, resyndicate, or redistribute our analyses for commercial purposes without written permission. You may not present our AI-generated content as human-written editorial content without disclosure. You may not create derivative products or services based on systematic extraction of our content.

6.2 Third-party news content

Signal/noise aggregates headlines and metadata from third-party news sources. The underlying articles, reporting, and editorial content belong to their respective publishers. Signal/noise servers do not receive or host authenticated premium article bodies. When you open an eligible article after the publisher grants access in its visible webpage, the iOS app may extract and render that article on your device and, only after you tap Save, store a protected device-local copy for your personal reading. Those copies are not synced to Signal/noise servers or redistributed by Signal/noise.

Publisher access is provided by the publisher, not Signal/noise. You must have any subscription or other authorization the publisher requires and comply with its terms. The reader does not guarantee compatibility or continuing access, does not bypass a publisher login or paywall, and always offers the original publisher page when available. We may disable a reader integration at any time for technical, legal, security, or publisher-policy reasons.

6.3 Your content

Any content you submit to the Service (including Reality Check claims, feedback, and support communications) remains yours. By submitting content, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that content solely for the purpose of operating and improving the Service. You may revoke this license by deleting your content or your account.

7. AI-generated content disclaimer

Signal/noise uses artificial intelligence to generate news analyses, framing summaries, fact-check assessments, prediction questions, podcast scripts, and other content. You acknowledge and agree that:

AI content may contain errors. While we design our prompts and methodology to produce accurate, balanced analysis, AI systems can misinterpret context, omit relevant details, or produce incomplete or incorrect analyses. Our content should be treated as one analytical perspective among many, not as authoritative fact.

Reality Check is not professional fact-checking. Reality Check provides AI-generated assessments of claims based on publicly available information. Verdicts are AI-generated opinions, not statements of legal or absolute truth. Reality Check is not a substitute for professional fact-checking organizations, investigative journalism, legal counsel, or expert analysis.

Prediction features are informational only. Our prediction market integrations and user prediction features are educational and informational. They do not constitute investment advice, trading signals, or financial recommendations. Do not make financial decisions based on information from Signal/noise.

Bias analysis is not absolute. Our source bias ratings are based on our methodology and are approximations of editorial positioning. Reasonable people may disagree with individual ratings. Bias can vary by story, topic, and time period. Our ratings are tools for critical thinking, not definitive judgments.

8. Pricing, payment, and subscriptions

The email digest and public marketing content are available without an iOS membership. Functional iOS app features require an active free trial or paid auto-renewable subscription.

8.1 Plans and trial

Signal/noise offers an annual plan at $29.99 per year and a monthly plan at $2.99 per month in the United States. App Store pricing can be localized or changed prospectively, and the price shown in the purchase sheet controls. A seven-day introductory trial is offered only when the App Store determines you are eligible. The app will not describe a trial as available when eligibility is unknown.

8.2 Billing and renewal

Subscriptions are purchased through your Apple Account and are processed by Apple using App Store In-App Purchase. Signal/noise does not receive your payment-card details. Unless you cancel, your subscription automatically renews for the same period at the price disclosed by the App Store. Apple charges your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase and may charge for renewal within 24 hours before the current period ends.

You can manage or cancel in your Apple subscription settings. Cancellation stops future renewal but does not remove access before the current paid or trial entitlement expires. Deleting a Signal/noise account or device profile does not cancel an App Store subscription. Restore Purchases is available in the app. Refund requests and billing disputes are handled by Apple under Apple’s policies.

8.3 Changes and availability

If we offer additional paid products or change pricing:

• We will clearly communicate what is free and what requires payment before any charge occurs
• Paid subscriptions will be cancellable at any time with no cancellation fees
• The App Store purchase sheet will show the controlling price, duration, and offer terms
• Price increases and consent, where required, will be handled through Apple

8.4 No advertising

We do not serve advertisements within the Service, sell or share your data with advertisers, or accept paid placement within our analyses. Our revenue comes from users who voluntarily purchase membership, not from selling attention.

9. Email communications

By creating an account with digest enabled, you consent to receive our daily digest email and periodic product updates. You may:

• Disable the daily digest at any time through your account settings
• Unsubscribe from product updates via the link in any email
• Control your email preferences at s2n.news/settings

We will send essential account communications (password resets, security alerts, material Terms or Privacy Policy changes) regardless of your notification preferences, as these are necessary for the security and operation of your account.

We will never sell, share, or disclose your email address to third parties for marketing purposes.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

Signal/noise is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.

We 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 damages arising from:

• Decisions made based on our AI-generated analyses, fact-check assessments, or prediction features
• Errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or delays in our content
• Interruptions, downtime, or unavailability of the Service
• Unauthorized access to your account resulting from your failure to maintain credential security
• Any third-party content linked from or referenced within the Service

Our total aggregate liability for any claims arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you have paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim, or (b) fifty United States dollars ($50.00).

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

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Signal/noise and its operators, employees, contractors, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from: your violation of these Terms, your misuse of the Service, your violation of any applicable law, or any content you submit to the Service.

12. Dispute resolution

12.1 Governing law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

12.2 Informal resolution first

Before initiating any formal dispute proceeding, you agree to contact us at [email protected] and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

12.3 Arbitration

If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, it shall be resolved through binding arbitration administered in Houston, Texas, in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitration shall be conducted by a single arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision shall be final and binding.

12.4 Exceptions

Either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction for claims relating to intellectual property infringement, data security breaches, or unauthorized access. Claims eligible for small claims court may be brought in small claims court in lieu of arbitration.

12.5 Class action waiver

You agree that any disputes will be resolved on an individual basis and not as part of a class, collective, or representative action.

13. Account termination

13.1 By you

You may delete an account or device-scoped profile through the app, or request account deletion by emailing [email protected]. Upon deletion, covered personal data will be removed in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Deletion does not cancel an Apple subscription; manage that separately in Apple subscription settings.

13.2 By us

We may suspend or terminate your account if: you materially violate these Terms, your account is used for abusive or fraudulent purposes, we are required to do so by law, or we discontinue the Service. If we terminate your account without cause, we will provide at least 14 days’ notice where practical and offer you the opportunity to export your data.

13.3 Effect of termination

Upon termination, your right to access the Service ends. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including intellectual property, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution) will survive.

14. General provisions

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Signal/noise regarding the Service.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

Waiver. Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, provided the assignee agrees to be bound by these Terms.

Force majeure. We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, strikes, government actions, internet outages, or third-party service failures.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you via email or a prominent notice on the website at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

If you disagree with the updated Terms, you may delete your account before the effective date.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at:

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://s2n.news