Terms of Service

Public Notes is a forum where anyone can attach a comment thread to any URL or real-world thing. We built it because conversation on the open web is increasingly locked down by platforms like YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook. We believe people should be able to speak about what they see and read — without asking a private company's permission first.

That said, total free-for-all isn't useful either. These terms describe what we won't tolerate and the rules of the road for everyone.

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If your country sets a higher minimum age for online services (the GDPR's "age of digital consent" is 16 in some EU countries), you must meet that age too.

You can be anonymous. We don't require a real name and we don't ask for one. Pick a username that doesn't impersonate someone else.

We remove content and may suspend accounts for the following:

• Anything illegal under United States federal or state law, or illegal in the country you're posting from. You're responsible for knowing your own jurisdiction's rules.
• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of any kind. We report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as required by US law.
• Direct threats of violence or specific incitement to commit violence against a person or group.
• Doxxing — publishing someone's private personal information (home address, phone, employer, SSN, etc.) without their consent, especially with intent to harass.
• Copyrighted material you don't own or have permission to share. See "Copyright and DMCA" below.
• Impersonation of a real person or organization with intent to deceive.
• Spam, malicious links, or malware.

Beyond this list, we lean toward leaving content up. We don't think you need a content-moderation team to decide what opinions are acceptable.

You keep ownership of whatever you post. By posting, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display your content on Public Notes and in features like the Chrome extension that show your content to readers. That license lasts as long as your content is on the site. If you delete your account or a specific comment, the license ends for that content.

We will not sell your content or claim that we wrote it. Your comments are yours.

If you believe content on Public Notes infringes your copyright, send a notice via our contact form with:

• Description of the copyrighted work
• The URL of the offending content on publicnotes.xyz
• Your contact information
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is unauthorized and that the information in your notice is accurate
• Your physical or electronic signature

We'll review and remove infringing content. Repeat infringers will have their accounts terminated.

You can delete your account at any time from your account page. Your username becomes anonymized and your personal information is wiped; your past comments stay attached to the anonymous handle so threads don't lose context. For a full data export or for past comment text to be scrubbed too, contact us through the form linked below — those need a manual review.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms. We try to give a reason and a chance to appeal, but in clear-cut cases (CSAM, mass spam) we won't wait.

We're skeptical of broad moderation. We're not interested in policing strong opinions, vigorous disagreement, or unpopular views. We are interested in keeping this from becoming a vector for actual harm — the categories above ("What you can't post") are where we draw the line.

Reports help us find issues, but we don't pre-screen posts. If you're reading something that bothers you and isn't on the prohibited list, the right answer is usually to reply, downvote, or scroll past.

Public Notes is provided "as is." We try hard to keep it running, but we don't promise it will always work, be free of bugs, or preserve your data forever. Don't rely on us as a permanent archive — keep copies of anything important.

To the maximum extent allowed by law, Public Notes and its operators aren't liable for indirect or consequential damages arising from your use of the site. Our total liability for any claim is limited to what you've paid us — which is nothing, since the site is free.

You agree to defend and hold us harmless from any claims arising from content you post. If you libel someone or share copyrighted material, that's on you, not us.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in California.

We may update these terms. Material changes will be announced on the site. Your continued use of Public Notes after a change means you accept the new terms. The current version is always at publicnotes.xyz/terms.

Questions, copyright notices, account requests: contact form.