Terms of Use

Last updated: July 7, 2026

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and CladFacts LLC ("CladFacts," "Clad," "we," "us," or "our") and govern your access to and use of the website at cladfacts.com and any related services, features, content, email programs, and subscriptions (together, the "Services"). By accessing or using the Services, creating an account, or subscribing, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

Please read Section 15 (Dispute Resolution; Arbitration; Class-Action Waiver) carefully. It requires most disputes to be resolved by binding individual arbitration and waives your right to participate in a class action, unless you opt out within 30 days.

1. Who we are and what Clad is

Clad is an independent publication that reviews news broadcasts and other publicly available material. Its reports are editorial commentary, opinion, and analysis, produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Letter grades, factuality scores, and political-lean ratings assess the evidence and reporting in the material reviewed; they are our opinions and are not statements of fact about the character of any person named. Source material (including short quotations and embedded clips) is used for the purposes of commentary, criticism, and news reporting.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Services and at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where you live) to purchase a subscription, or have a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf and supervises your use. By using the Services you represent that you meet these requirements and that your use complies with all applicable laws.

3. Accounts

You can read much of the Site without an account. If you create one (by email or by signing in with Google, Apple, or X), you agree to:

provide accurate, current information and keep it up to date;
keep your credentials confidential and not share them — you are responsible for all activity under your account;
maintain one account for your own use and not create an account for someone else without authorization;
notify us promptly of any unauthorized use or security breach.

You may delete your account at any time by emailing support@cladfacts.com. We may suspend, limit, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or that we reasonably believe are used for fraud or abuse. Account data is handled as described in our Privacy Policy.

4. Subscriptions, billing, and cancellation

Report text can be read without an account. Creating a free account unlocks the full product at no charge (including letter grades, factuality scores, political-lean ratings, charts, and Reader Reactions). We may offer optional paid "Premium" plans in the future. The following terms apply if and when you purchase a paid plan:

Pricing and plans. Current prices and billing intervals (e.g., monthly or annual) are shown at checkout. Stated prices are exclusive of any applicable taxes, which may be added.
Trials. We do not currently offer free trials of Premium — a free account already includes grades and ratings. If we offer a promotional trial in the future, its terms will be disclosed at sign-up and, unless you cancel before the trial ends, it converts to a paid subscription charged at the then-current price.
Automatic renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period at the then-current price until you cancel. By subscribing, you authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method on a recurring basis.
Payments. Payments are processed by Stripe. You agree to provide a valid payment method and authorize the charges. We do not receive or store your full card number.
App Store purchases. If you purchase or manage a subscription through Apple's App Store rather than on the web, Apple processes that payment and the subscription is governed by Apple's applicable terms, including Apple's billing, renewal, and refund policies. You manage and cancel an App Store subscription through your Apple account settings, and refunds for such purchases are handled by Apple.
Cancellation. You can cancel anytime from your account's billing portal. Cancellation stops future renewals; your access continues until the end of the current paid period and is not renewed thereafter.
No refunds. Except where required by law, payments are non-refundable and we do not provide refunds or credits for partial periods, unused access, or downgrades.
Price changes. We may change prices or plan features. We will provide notice of a price change before it applies to your next renewal; continuing your subscription after the change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the new price.
Failed payments. If a charge fails, we may retry, suspend, or downgrade your access until payment is resolved.

5. User submissions

You may submit content such as reader "flags" disputing a report's grade or rating. You are responsible for what you submit and represent that you have the right to submit it and that it is not unlawful, defamatory, or infringing. Do not include confidential or sensitive personal information.

By submitting content, you grant CladFacts a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, store, reproduce, and act on it to operate and improve the Services. We are not obligated to use, respond to, or retain any submission. When you submit a flag, we re-evaluate the report through the same process used to produce it; if the output is still inaccurate the report may be removed, and if it holds up it remains — submitting a flag does not guarantee any particular change.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

use the Services for any unlawful, harmful, or fraudulent purpose;
attempt to disrupt, overload, probe, or gain unauthorized access to the Services, accounts, or systems, or bypass any access controls or paywall;
scrape, harvest, or use automated means to access the Services in a way that burdens our infrastructure or violates these Terms;
use the Services or our content to train machine-learning models without our written permission;
resell, redistribute, or republish substantial portions of our content as your own, or share paid access with others;
upload malware, infringe others' rights, harass others, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation; or
remove, obscure, or alter any notices on the Services.

7. Intellectual property; limited license

The original reports, grades, ratings, text, design, and other materials we create are owned by CladFacts or its licensors and are protected by intellectual-property laws. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Services for your own non-commercial use. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. Third-party names, logos, quotations, and video content remain the property of their respective owners and appear here for commentary and identification. You may share links to our pages freely.

8. Third-party content and links

Reports embed source videos (e.g., from YouTube) and link to outside sources. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party content, websites, products, or their terms and privacy practices, and your use of them is at your own risk.

9. Copyright complaints (DMCA)

We respect intellectual-property rights. If you believe content on the Services infringes your copyright, send a notice to support@cladfacts.com including: identification of the work, identification of the allegedly infringing material and its location, your contact information, a statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized, a statement under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act, and your physical or electronic signature. We may remove material and terminate repeat infringers.

10. Corrections

When we get something wrong, we issue a correction as a new post rather than silently editing the original.

11. Disclaimers

The Services and all content are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. While we strive for accuracy and issue corrections, we do not warrant that content is complete, current, accurate, or error-free, or that the Services will be uninterrupted or secure. Nothing on the Services is legal, financial, medical, or other professional advice. Every report links to its sources; please verify independently and form your own conclusions.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, CladFacts and its members, officers, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to your use of (or inability to use) the Services, even if advised of the possibility. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Services will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) US $100. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless CladFacts and its members, officers, and agents from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to your use of the Services, your content, or your violation of these Terms or of any law or third-party right.

14. Termination

You may stop using the Services and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access at any time if you violate these Terms or to protect the Services or other users. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution) will survive.

15. Dispute resolution; arbitration; class-action waiver

Please read this section carefully — it affects your legal rights.

Informal resolution first. Before starting an arbitration, you agree to contact us at support@cladfacts.com and try to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.
Binding arbitration. Except as noted below, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services will be resolved by final and binding individual arbitration, rather than in court, administered by a recognized arbitration provider under its consumer rules. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Class-action waiver. Disputes will be conducted only on an individual basis and not as a class, consolidated, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims.
Exceptions. Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies, and either party may seek injunctive relief in court for intellectual-property infringement or unauthorized access/misuse of the Services.
30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing support@cladfacts.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating your name and that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

16. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. To the extent a dispute is not subject to arbitration, you agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Forsyth County, Georgia, and waive any objection to venue there.

17. Apple App Store

The following additional terms apply when you obtain or use the CladFacts iOS app from Apple's App Store. In the event of any conflict between this section and Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement, Apple's required terms control for the app.

This agreement is with us, not Apple. These Terms are between you and CladFacts only, not with Apple, and Apple is not responsible for the app or its content.
License scope. Your license to use the app is a limited, non-transferable license to use it on any Apple-branded device you own or control, as permitted by the App Store Terms of Service.
Maintenance and support. We — not Apple — are solely responsible for providing any maintenance and support for the app. Apple has no obligation to furnish any maintenance or support.
Warranty. We are solely responsible for any product warranties, whether express or implied, to the extent not effectively disclaimed. If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple may refund the purchase price (if any) for the app; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the app.
Claims. We — not Apple — are responsible for addressing any claims relating to the app or your use of it, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to conform to any legal or regulatory requirement, and consumer-protection or privacy claims.
Intellectual property. If a third party claims the app infringes its intellectual property rights, we — not Apple — are responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of that claim to the extent required by these Terms.
Legal compliance. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as "terrorist supporting," and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
Third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms with respect to the app, and upon your acceptance Apple has the right (and is deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the Services evolve or as required by law. We will revise the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, may provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Services after an update takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

19. Miscellaneous

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and CladFacts regarding the Services and supersede prior agreements. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control. You consent to receive communications from us electronically.

20. Contact us

Questions, or think we got something wrong? Email support@cladfacts.com.

These Terms are provided for transparency and general information and are not legal advice.