Terms of Service

1. Overview

Warrant (“the Platform”) is operated by Inspiry Labs LLC (“we”, “us”). Warrant provides tools for publishing, distributing, and evaluating integrity-enforced investigative journalism. By creating an account or using Warrant, you agree to these Terms.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old. Journalist accounts require identity verification via Stripe Identity before publishing or receiving payouts.

3. Account Responsibilities

You are responsible for all activity under your account. You must keep your login credentials secure. We authenticate via magic link email — there is no password to manage, but you must maintain access to your registered email address.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that engage in: fraudulent payment behavior, coordinated manipulation of integrity scores, harassment of other users, or abuse of moderation and dispute workflows.

4. Content Ownership and Licensing

Journalists retain full ownership of all content they publish on Warrant. By publishing, you grant Warrant a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, distribute, cache, and index your content in connection with operating the Platform.

You may withdraw published articles at any time. Withdrawn content is removed from the public feed and search indexes. Audit trails and moderation records referencing the article are retained for transparency.

5. Journalist Liability and Section 230

Warrant is a platform, not a publisher. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Warrant is not liable for third-party content published by journalists on the Platform.

Journalists are solely responsible for the accuracy, legality, and sourcing of their published work. The integrity scoring system, labels, and moderation tools are editorial aids — they do not constitute Warrant adopting or endorsing any journalist’s content.

Validators who participate in community moderation (flags, dispute votes) act in their individual capacity. Validator actions may affect integrity labels and reputation scores but do not create platform liability for the underlying content.

6. Integrity System and Moderation

Warrant operates an integrity enforcement system that assigns reputation scores to journalists based on sourcing quality, correction history, dispute outcomes, and community moderation signals.

We may apply integrity labels (e.g., DISPUTED, CORRECTION_ISSUED, RETRACTED) to published articles based on documented criteria. These labels are visible to readers and affect content distribution. Our labeling criteria and appeal processes are described on the Transparency page.

Journalists may appeal integrity decisions through the dispute and appeal workflow. Decisions are final after administrative review, though we aim to resolve disputes within 14 business days.

7. Payments and Revenue

Reader subscriptions are processed via Stripe. Subscription revenue is distributed to journalists based on read share and reputation weighting as described in our revenue model.

The platform retains a margin (currently 15%) from subscription revenue. Payouts to journalists are processed via Stripe Connect and require identity verification and a connected bank account.

We reserve the right to withhold payouts pending investigation of fraudulent activity, gaming of read metrics, or violation of these Terms.

8. Prohibited Conduct

• Publishing content you do not have the right to distribute
• Fabricating sources, evidence, or journalistic credentials
• Coordinating to artificially inflate or deflate reputation scores
• Abusing the flagging or dispute system to harass journalists
• Automated access, scraping, or bulk data extraction without permission
• Attempting to circumvent rate limits, paywalls, or access controls

9. Disclaimers

Warrant is provided “as is” without warranty. We do not guarantee uninterrupted service, data preservation beyond our stated retention policies, or the accuracy of third-party content. Integrity scores and labels are informational tools, not legal determinations of truth.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Inspiry Labs LLC’s aggregate liability is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or $100 USD, whichever is greater.

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be communicated via email to registered users at least 30 days before taking effect. Your continued use of the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict of law principles. Disputes will be resolved through binding arbitration under AAA rules, with the arbitration seated in Wilmington, Delaware.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at legal@warrant.ink.