TNL MediageneUser Terms

Welcome to use The News Lens Media Group website (https://www.tnlmediagene.com/), its digital products, mobile apps, online commenting service, as well as other relevant services (hereinafter referred to as the “Services”). The Services are operated by The News Lens Media Group (hereinafter referred to as the “Group”). The Services and the digital products owned by the Group are governed under the User Terms (hereinafter the “Terms”). To protect your rights, please carefully read the Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any other provision that may be published in the future, and abide by the following provisions faithfully, before you use the Services.

Application and Acceptance of the User Terms
1. When you have begun to use the Services or become a member of the Services, you are deemed to have read, understood, and agreed to accept all the Terms, and accepted, without reservation, the existing Services and any further addition or change thereof. In addition, when you use certain services of the Group, you may, depending on the nature of the services, be required to comply with the membership terms or relevant regulations otherwise announced by the Group. Such terms or regulations will be included under the Terms.
2. The Group reserves the right to revise the Terms at any time without prior notice. The revised terms will become effective upon being published on the website and replace existing ones. Once you continue to use the Services after the Terms are revised and published, you are deemed to have accepted the revised terms and agree to comply with them.
3. If you cannot accept the Terms, the Privacy Policy, or the existing Services and any further addition or change thereof, please send an e-mail to the Group’s contact mailbox requesting the termination of your member account, in accordance with the termination clause in the Terms.
4. If you are legally a minor, you should not apply for, register for, or use the Services until you meet what is stipulated above and have your legal representative or guardian read, understand, and consent to all the Terms and any further revision or change thereof. When you use the Services, you are deemed to have assured the Group that you have obtained prior consent from your legal representative or guardian.
Terms and Conditions for Visitors and Members
1. General Visitors
  1. Any individual visitor who uses the Services can read the free contents offered by the Services, including but not limited to articles, images, videos, and advertisements. If you want to use paid contents or products offered by the Services, you should register as a member, thus enjoying membership rights.
  2. Until general visitors register as members, they cannot enjoy membership rights nor are they allowed by the Services to manage their own privacy settings and access history.
2. Membership Registration
  1. Please provide your correct, accurate, latest, and complete personal information in accordance with the instructions of registration for the Services (hereinafter referred to as the “Member Information”).
  2. Members should maintain and update their Membership Information. In the event that you provide wrong, inaccurate, and incomplete information, the Group reasonably believes that the said information is incorrect, inaccurate, and incomplete, or you violate any of the Terms, the Group has the right to suspend or terminate your membership and will not allow you to use the Services at the present or in the future.
  3. Any individual can obtain membership to the Services by completing the registration process. If you are authorized by a company, incorporated organization, or any other legal entity to register for membership, you shall declare that the company or organization has been established according to law, and you are adequately and legally authorized by that company or organization to accept the Terms. If the employer or any other legal entity you are representing accepts the Terms and you declare and guarantee that you have complete legal rights, this ensures that the employer or legal entity will be bound by the Terms and adequately fulfill all the obligations set forth in the Terms.
  4. If you are legally a minor, you should not register as a member until you have your legal representative or guardian read, understand, and consent to all the Terms and any further revision thereof. Once you have registered as a member, you are deemed to have assured the Group that you have obtained prior consent from your legal representative or guardian.
3. Membership Rights
  1. After you have registered as a member of the Services, the Services include, but are not limited to, the following free options:
    1. Member account management
    2. Newsletter subscription
    3. Privacy management (please read the Privacy Policy carefully.)
    4. Free member-exclusive contents available on INSIDE
    5. Free member-exclusive contents available on Business Yee
    6. TNL Salon (please read the Salon Pages and Rules of Use carefully.)
  2. After you have registered as a member of the Services, the Services include, but are not limited to, the following paid products and services:
    1. Services corresponding to the products that you subscribe to on a monthly or annual basis (please read the Terms of Service for Paid Contents carefully)
    2. Event tickets that are available on Taketla (please read Taketla’s user terms carefully.)
  3. If any member of the Services wants to use paid products and services, the obligations of the member and each product and service should be respectively set forth in accordance with the terms and conditions for that product and service. Before using a paid product and service, the member should read the Terms of Service for Paid Contents and complete the corresponding purchase process.
4. Account Security
  1. To ensure account security, this service system does not, in principle, automatically generate passwords. The user must create a username and password for their account at the time of membership registration. Only if the user requests to change their e-mail address or seeks to verify their identity does the service system send a “one-time password” for the user to complete required settings. These settings should be completed in accordance with the instructions presented by the Services.
  2. You are obligated to remain confidential about the username and password of the member account you use with the Services, particularly about the behaviors that may arise after the account is correctly logged in. You will be held fully responsible for such behaviors unless you can prove no involvement in their occurrence.
  3. If you find your username or password illegally accessed or misused or identify any security hole in the network management of the website, please inform the Group promptly and provide concrete evidence. The Group may respond by taking relevant measures in order to safeguard the rights of its members, rather than explicitly and/or implicitly assuming that you are responsible for any guarantee or compensation. The Group is not obligated to indemnify members for illegally accessed usernames and passwords.
  4. If you use the Services through a public computer or related device, please log out your account after you are finished. The Group will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your failure to comply with this provision.
User Behaviors
1. The Services and website are a public space. You are legally responsible for any behavior you exhibit on the Services and website; such behaviors include but are not limited to engaging in discussion, posting a comment, and submitting an op-ed piece. You are fully responsible for any text, image, picture, music, video, software, message, and information you publish through the Services and website, as well as any content you send to other members (hereinafter referred to as the “User Contents”). The Group cannot manipulate the User Contents published on the Services or website, nor can it guarantee their accuracy, completeness, and quality. The Group is not liable for the User Contents under all circumstances, including but not limited to any error or omission found in the contents and any loss or damage that may arise from the publication or transmission of the contents or the sending of e-mails through the Services and website.
2. Once you upload, transmit, input, or provide any User Content to the Services and website, you are deemed to have allowed the Group to—with no conditions—use, modify, reproduce, publicly broadcast, distribute, issue, and publicly publish such contents, and grant such rights to others. If you have no legal rights to license the contents, do not upload, transmit, input, or provide them to the Services and website. You also guarantee that the use, modification, reproduction, public broadcast, distribution, issuance, and publication of the contents by the Group will not violate the intellectual property rights of any third party or other rights. Otherwise, you shall be liable for damages to this website.
Prohibited Behaviors
1. You agree not to behave in any way that might cause harm to the Services and website, to prevent others from logging in to access the Services, or to cause any damage to the Services and the contents thereof. You also agree not to use the Services to engage in any behavior that might compromise the rights of the Group or a third party.
2. While meeting the aforementioned provision as a general duty, you shall make the following commitments during your use of the Services and throughout your membership period:
  1. You guarantee that you will not publish improper User Contents through the Services or website. Such contents include but are not limited to those associated with defamation, vilification, obscenity, coercion, harassment, illegality, interference with the privacy of others, infringement on the rights of others, racial discrimination, or ethical discomfort.
  2. You guarantee that you will not publish, or sent in any way, any advertisement letter, promotional material, junk mail, spam, direct mail, or other forms of information intended to cause an inducement.
  3. You guarantee that you will not impersonate any individual or organization, falsely state, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any individual or organization.
  4. Without the Group’s express written content, you shall not display the webpages of the Services on any other website or webpage by accessing or framing the Services.
  5. Without the Group’s express written content, you shall not explicitly or implicitly ask the Group to endorse any content you have published on the Services.
  6. You shall not publish, transmit, or duplicate any content or other related information protected by a copyright or trademark, without the consent of the owner of that copyright or trademark.
  7. You shall not use any manual or automatic means or any search software or device to acquire, collect, index, or mine the contents of the Services and Member Information. Nor shall you duplicate or bypass in any manner the typical browsing structure and display layout of the Services.
  8. You shall not publish, transmit, or distribute any software virus or any programming language, file, or program that acts like malware.
  9. You shall not forge the subject line of any e-mail, change the other information about the e-mail, interfere with or conceal the confirmation of information sources.
  10. You shall not declare affiliation with the Services, website, or other services—or falsely claim so by using any computer program or device/method—to mislead others to visit any other website.
  11. You shall not decipher or crack any part of the contents, techniques, or software programs of the Services and website or other services, through modification, rewriting, translation, selling, or reverse engineering.
  12. You shall not interfere with or damage the Services or the servers and networks connected to them, or violate the rules, procedure, policy, or regulations set forth for the network connection for the Services.
  13. You shall not violate local law, international law, and any rules with legal force, including but not limited to codes of conduct on the Internet, regulations governing the User Contents, and laws governing the processing of personal data.
3. In the event that you engage in any behavior prohibited under this provision while using the Services, the Group has the right to suspend or terminate your use of the Services and you shall assume all legal ramifications
4. In the event that you identify any improper act while using the Services, you may report this act to the Group via its contact mail. The Group has the right to investigate such reported act and take relevant actions.
Notice of Intellectual and other Proprietary Rights
1. Any of the Services provided by the Group, as well as information contained on the website that can be viewed, listened to, or acquired through other means—including but not limited to all website structures, website interfaces, webpage layouts, webpage designs, trademarks, reports, texts, videos, pictures, voices, and other materials—is protected by copyright, trademark, and related laws in Taiwan and abroad; its copyright and ownership belong to the Group or other rights owners.
2. Any of the Services provided by the Group, as well as information contained on the website that can be viewed, listened to, or acquired through other means, is only for personal and non-commercial purposes. Consent from a copyright owner must be obtained before such materials are used commercially or beyond reasonable limits. In other words, without the Group’s express written consent you shall not reproduce, distribute, issue, publicly state, publicly broadcast, publicly release, publicly transmit, publicly display, publicly present, adapt, edit, lease, or sell any of the Services or information acquired from the website.
3. In the event that you find any matter that infringes upon intellectual property rights while you are using the Services, you may report the matter to the Group via its contact mail. The Group has the right to investigate such matter and take relevant actions.
Privacy Policy
1. The Group enacts a privacy policy to govern the protection of your personal information, membership information, and privacy. All the terms of this privacy policy constitute part of the Terms. Please read the policy carefully.
Protection for Children and Teenagers
1. To ensure that children and teenagers use the Internet securely and protect their privacy from being invaded, parents or guardians should fulfill the following obligations:
  1. Please carefully read the privacy policy for the Services before deciding whether to agree to submit relevant personal information, and remind the child or teenager not to reveal any of their own or family members’ information (including names, phone numbers, addresses, e-mails, pictures, and credit card numbers).
  2. If your child is under the age of 12, stay with the child when it uses the Services. As for teenage children aged over 12 but under 18 years, discretion is advised whether to allow them to use the Services.
Disclaimer
1. Pursuant to the Terms, the Group fulfills obligations associated with the Services, using only reasonable technologies to provide the Services in a prudent manner to you. You understand and agree that the Services are provided in their “existing” and “present” conditions.
2. You understand and agree that you are solely responsible for all risks of your use of the Services, decide on your own whether to use, download, or acquire any information through the Services, and assume any risk of your decision.
3. You understand and agree that the Group does not explicitly or implicitly endorse the Services, including but not limited to commercial merchantability, applicability of specific purposes, and non-infringement of the rights of others. The Services do not guarantee that:
  1. they will meet your needs;
  2. they are free from interruption, timely provided, secure and reliable, or subject to no errors;
  3. the results or information obtained from the use of the Services are correct or reliable;
  4. the use of the Services will meet your expectations.
4. You understand and agree that under all circumstances, the Group assumes no legal responsibility for any loss incurred for the following reasons, which include:
  1. using the Services or the network and other physical services provided by the website;
  2. failing, for whatever reason, to use the Services or other services provided by the website;
  3. any error found in the contents and information published on the Services or website;
  4. other issues or technical glitches relating to the Services or any other service provided by the website.
5. You understand and agree that the Group assumes no legal responsibility for any loss that may arise from your belief in the Services, other related services, or any information sent to you by a member of the Services. In other words, the third party is solely responsible for any advertisement, feedback, suggestion, statement, quote, as well as other contents or information they provide to you through the Services. The Group does not endorse, guarantee, or have legal responsibility for the completeness, accuracy, availability, or reliability of such information.
System Interruption or Breakdown
1. Due to the specificity of network services, the Services may encounter interruptions, delays, or breakdowns. This may cause inconveniences, losses of information, or errors when you are using the Services. The Group will handle such issues as soon as possible. However, in cases where there are inconvenience and damages due to any of the aforementioned situations, force majeure, or an emergency when you are using the Services, you understand and agree that the Group has no responsibility for the breakdown of the Services or the corruption and loss of any data, nor is it obligated to recover such data.
Terms for Purchase and Payment
1. The Group reserves the right to charge you for the Services partially or wholly at any time. However, the Group will not charge you in any way without your prior consent. If the Group charges for free contents or services at any time, you will be notified in advance, and you can decide whether to use them. Information about the purchase and prices of all paid contents, products, and services will be available at proper locations of the Services or website, and so will any further feature added to the paid contents in a non-periodical way. If you have decided to use the paid contents or purchase a paid product and service, you shall abide by relevant provisions and pay for relevant costs.
2. Once you have placed an order through the Services in accordance with a specified method, criteria, and procedure for purchase, you are deemed to have provided purchase consent and promised to buy the paid product or service pursuant to the Terms as well as relevant provisions that are already agreed upon.
3. After you have placed an order, the Group will process your order as soon as possible. A purchase agreement will be established between both parties after the Group confirms this transaction. The Group reserves the right to decide whether to accept your order; the automatic reply regarding your order does not represent the Group’s acceptance of the order. The purchase agreement between you and the Group will not be established until the Group issues a formal notification to you or a notice of your order being completed appears in your member account.
4. When you purchase a paid content, product, or service, you should make a transaction through your payment tools, including but not limited to credit cards, bank accounts, and third-party payment services. You agree not to make this transaction by using anyone else’s credit card or payment tool that is not authorized by the owner. If you pay through any payment tool that does not belong to you, the Group will deem that you have been legally allowed to use it. In case of any violation, you shall resolve any consequent dispute and agree that the Group cancels the transaction and withhold your payment until the dispute is resolved.
5. You shall handle any dispute associated with your unauthorized use of someone else’s payment tool, or any issue with your third-party payment processor; the Group has no responsibility for such matter. The Group will only provide the account information and transaction data of the member concerned, in accordance with laws or upon request from investigative agencies.
6. Before using a credit card or any other payment tool to make a transaction, you agree to confirm on your own the availability of such tool—which includes but is not limited to the expiration date and credit limit of the credit card, whether the card is declined by the bank you are dealing with, and whether you can receive a short message with payment notification through your mobile phone or e-mail. You should also ensure the security of your credit card or payment tool and maintain the confidentiality of information such as the card’s number, lest the card or payment tool is used without your permission. In case of any violation that leads to a failed transaction or a dispute, you shall solely handle such a dispute and assume all legal ramifications, and the Group will not be responsible for all this. In addition, the Group has the right to decline your order or terminate any transaction with you.
7. The Group issues invoices pursuant to applicable laws and does not mail them in the paper form. You may query your invoice on the Minister of Finance’s E-Invoice Platform 24 hours after the invoice is issued.
8. If you have any question about the paid content, product, or service you have purchased, the payment mechanism, or payment account, please refer to the corresponding terms. For further questions, please contact the Group via its contact mailbox, and the Group will respond as soon as possible.
Advertisements
1. The Group may cooperate with its partner companies to provide advertisements, including but not limited to texts and images, and such ads are provided by advertisers or product/service suppliers. You understand and agree that you should judge on your own the suitability and accuracy of the ads, for which the Group is not responsible.
2. You shall not browse or click on, by any illegitimate means, any ad provided by the Group and its partner companies. Such means include but are not limited to blocking the ad intentionally, clicking on it through a computer program, asking someone to click on it, or browsing it in any unreasonable manner.
3. If you have any question about an ad provided by the Group and its partner companies and the notes for that ad, please read our Advertising Policy carefully.
Links to Third Parties
1. The Services may provide links to third-party websites, whose services and contents are managed by their respective owners, and do not fall within the purview of the Services. The Group cannot decide what the aforementioned websites present, nor can it guarantee the quality, accuracy, and legality of any of these sites. You understand and agree that you should determine whether what these sites present can be used, and that the Group is not responsible for third-party website links.
Use of Cookies
1. The Group may use cookies in the Services to offer services better tailored to you. A cookie is a technique used by a website server to communicate with a user’s browser; it may store certain information on the user’s computer. When you are using the Services, you are deemed to have allowed the Group’s use of cookies. However, you can limit or disable cookies by changing the settings of your browser, cookie controls, or privacy control settings (after you logged into your account). Disabling cookies may lead to some constraints in the use of the Services. You can contact the Group asking it to stop collecting, processing, using, or deleting cookies provided, although such a request is treated as an application to cease to use the Services.
Account Termination
1. As a member, you have the right to terminate your account at any time. A request for account termination should be e-mailed to the Group’s contact mailbox. The Group will handle your request as soon as it is submitted. Once the request has been processed, you will receive a notification e-mail stating that your account, as well as any of the paid services bound with the account, will be terminated within 30 working days after your receipt of the mail.
2. The Group has the right to suspend or terminate your account at any time for any reason, including but not limited to if the account has not been used for a long term or you have violated the Terms. You understand and agree that if you are no longer allowed to use the Services, the Group will delete your data and will not assume responsibility for you or any third party.
Indemnification
1. You understand and agree that you will be responsible for any behavior you exhibit when you are using any of the Group’s services. You agree to ensure that your behaviors during your use of the Services will cause no damage to the Group and its partner organizations. In the event that your use of the Services, any User Content you provide, publish, or transmit through the Services, your violation of the Terms, or your infringement of any right of anyone else leads to or cause an indemnity claim or request by any third party, you shall assume all legal ramifications, agree to compensate the Group and its partner organizations for any damage they may sustain, and help to resolve any dispute that may arise.
Others
1. The User Terms, Privacy Policy, and other relevant terms constitute a complete agreement between you and the Group, set out your use of the Services, and supersede any previous agreement made between you and the Group.
2. If all or part of the Terms become invalid, this will not affect the force of any other agreement already entered into.
3. The Terms shall be construed and applied pursuant to the laws of the Republic of China. Should any dispute arise, both parties agree to settle the matter through negotiation under the principle of good faith. In the event that such a negotiation fails, both parties agree to have the dispute heard by the Taiwan Taipei District Court as the first court of jurisdiction.
4. Contact us: If you have any question or comment regarding the Terms, please send an e-mail to the Group’s contact mailbox to.service@tnlmedia.com.