Terms of Service

1. Account Terms

• You must be at least 16 years old to create an account.
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and email.
• One account per person.
• We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.
• You may close your account at any time by emailing privacy@bigbear.news. Account closure takes effect within 30 days. See our Privacy Policy for details on data retention after account deletion.

2. User-Generated Content

When you post content on bigbear.news — including forum posts, replies, event submissions, and business claims — the following applies:

• You retain ownership of your content.
• You grant bigbear.news a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, distribute, and moderate that content on the site.
• You agree not to post spam, harassment, hate speech, illegal content, personal information of others (doxxing), or intentionally misleading information.
• We reserve the right to remove any content or suspend any account at our discretion.
• Users can flag content for review. Our admin team makes final moderation decisions.

3. Business Directory

• Business listings are publicly visible.
• Claiming a business listing requires verification and admin approval.
• Business owners are responsible for the accuracy of their listing information (name, address, hours, phone, website).
• We reserve the right to remove or modify any listing at our discretion.

4. Advertising

• Ad placements require a paid subscription and admin approval before going live.
• Prohibited ad content includes: illegal products or services, misleading claims, adult content, and malware or deceptive links.
• We reserve the right to reject, pause, or remove any advertisement at our discretion.
• Ad performance metrics (impressions and clicks) are provided as-is. We do not guarantee their accuracy.
• Ad images must meet our format requirements (JPEG, PNG, or WebP; max 150KB).

5. Subscriptions & Payments

• Payments are processed securely by Stripe. We never store your credit card details.
• Subscriptions renew monthly unless cancelled.
• Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You will retain access until then.
• No refunds are issued for partial billing periods.
• If your subscription lapses, your account is downgraded to the free tier. Your content is retained, but premium features are disabled.
• You can manage your billing and payment method through the Stripe customer portal in your account settings.

6. Third-Party Content

bigbear.news aggregates publicly available information from external sources, including event listings, local news articles, road conditions, weather data, and lake levels. This content is provided "as-is." We do not guarantee its accuracy, completeness, or timeliness, and we are not responsible for decisions you make based on third-party content.

If you are a copyright holder and believe content on bigbear.news infringes your rights, see Section 7 (Copyright and DMCA) below.

7. Copyright and DMCA

If you believe content on bigbear.news infringes your copyright, you may submit a DMCA takedown notice to our designated agent:

DMCA Agent: Andrew Sauer
Email: legal@bigbear.news

Your notice must include:

• A description of the copyrighted work you claim is infringed
• The URL or location of the allegedly infringing material on our site
• Your contact information (name, address, phone, email)
• A statement that you have a good faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf
• Your physical or electronic signature

We will respond to valid DMCA notices within 10 business days by removing or disabling access to the material. Counter-notices may be filed following the same process.

8. Intellectual Property

• The bigbear.news name, design, and original content are our property.
• Third-party content displayed on the site remains the property of its respective owners.
• You may not scrape, reproduce, or redistribute site content without our written permission.

9. Limitation of Liability

bigbear.news is provided "as-is" and "as-available" without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the site, including but not limited to inaccurate third-party content. Our maximum aggregate liability is limited to the amount you have paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless bigbear.news, its owner, and its affiliates from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the site, your content, or your violation of these Terms.

11. Service Availability

bigbear.news may be unavailable from time to time due to maintenance, updates, or circumstances beyond our control, including third-party service outages. We do not guarantee uninterrupted access to the site or the accuracy of real-time data such as weather, road conditions, or event listings.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California. Any disputes shall be resolved in the courts of San Bernardino County, California.

13. Privacy

Your use of bigbear.news is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and protect your personal information.

14. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via a site notice or newsletter. Your continued use of the site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at questions@bigbear.news.