Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By using the Service in any way — browsing articles, subscribing to the newsletter, posting a comment, submitting a story pitch or testimonial, or requesting a media kit — you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. We may update these Terms from time to time as described in Section 15.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may only use the Service, including submitting comments, pitches, or testimonials, with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these requirements.

3. The Service

ASG is an independent digital publication covering news, culture, business, and opportunity for students and young professionals across Africa. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service, including specific features such as comments, story pitches, testimonials, or the newsletter, at any time and without liability to you.

4. Accounts

Certain areas of the Service (our editorial/administrative dashboard) require an account and are restricted to authorized ASG staff and contributors. If you are issued an account, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

5. User-Submitted Content & License

When you submit a comment, story pitch, testimonial, or any other content to us (“User Content”), you retain ownership of it, but you grant ASG a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, edit, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, and display that User Content, in whole or in part, in any media, in connection with operating and promoting the Service, without further compensation to you. For story pitches specifically, if we approve your pitch for publication, we may edit, format, and publish it (including under a byline reflecting the information you provided) as an article on the Site, at our sole editorial discretion, including whether and when to publish it.

You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to submit your User Content, and that it does not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to review, moderate, edit, refuse to publish, or remove any User Content at our sole discretion, for any reason, including if we believe it violates these Terms.

6. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to, and not to attempt to:

• Post or submit content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, hateful, obscene, or discriminatory;
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
• Submit false, misleading, or fraudulent information in a comment, pitch, testimonial, or media kit request;
• Upload or transmit viruses, malware, or other harmful code;
• Scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the Service other than through publicly supported means (e.g. standard search engine indexing);
• Interfere with, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, our servers, or any connected systems;
• Use the Service to send unsolicited advertising or spam;
• Violate any applicable law or regulation in connection with your use of the Service.

We reserve the right to remove content, suspend access, or take any other action we deem appropriate in response to a violation of this section.

7. Our Intellectual Property

Except for User Content, all content on the Service — including articles, graphics, logos, the ASG name and marks, layout, and design — is owned by or licensed to ASG and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may view, download, and print content from the Service for personal, non-commercial use only. Any other use, including reproduction, modification, distribution, republication, or commercial use, requires our prior written permission.

8. Advertising & Sponsored Content

The Service may display advertising, sponsored content, and partner placements. Sponsored articles and native advertising are clearly labeled as such at the point of publication. Media kit and advertising requests submitted through the Service do not create any obligation on ASG to enter into an advertising relationship; all such arrangements are subject to a separate agreement between ASG and the advertiser.

9. Third-Party Links

The Service may contain links to third-party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by ASG. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party websites or services. You access third-party links at your own risk.

10. Disclaimers

The Service and all content are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. Editorial content reflects the views of the respective authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of ASG. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any content on the Service.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, ASG and its officers, employees, contributors, and affiliates shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising from or related to your use of, or inability to use, the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall not exceed one hundred United States dollars (US $100) or the equivalent in Nigerian naira.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless ASG and its officers, employees, contributors, and affiliates from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of or in any way connected with your access to or use of the Service, your User Content, or your violation of these Terms.

13. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to any part of the Service at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including violation of these Terms. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 5, 7, 10, 11, and 12) will survive.

14. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You agree that any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the Service will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Nigeria, except where applicable law requires otherwise.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. We will post the updated Terms on this page with a revised effective date. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service.

16. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at hello@africanstudentsgazette.com.