Terms of Service
Last updated: June 15, 2026
Welcome to Steeped ("Steeped", "we", "us", or "our"), a news-aggregation website operated by Kriss Phoha, an individual at steepednews.com. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Steeped website, applications, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference and forms part of your agreement with us.
1. Eligibility
You must be at least 13 years old to create an account or otherwise use the Service. By using the Service you represent that you meet this requirement and that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms. The Service is offered worldwide, but you are responsible for complying with the laws of your own jurisdiction.
2. Your Account
You may sign in using an email and password ("Native Account") or via Google OAuth ("Google Account"). You agree to provide accurate information, to keep your credentials confidential, and to be solely responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us at [email protected] if you suspect any unauthorized access. We may suspend or terminate accounts that we reasonably believe are being used in violation of these Terms.
3. Acceptable Use
You agree not to, and not to attempt to:
- circumvent, disable, or interfere with security or rate-limiting features of the Service;
- scrape, harvest, or copy content from the Service at abusive rates or for redistribution;
- upload or transmit malicious code, viruses, or any content designed to disrupt the Service;
- use the Service to harass, defame, or infringe the rights of any person;
- use automated means to create accounts or generate traffic; or
- use the Service in any manner that violates applicable law.
3A. Community Guidelines
Steeped lets you connect with other users through friend requests, direct messages, shared articles, public profiles, and leaderboards. When you interact with others or post anything visible to others, you agree that you will not:
- harass, bully, threaten, stalk, or intimidate any person, or incite others to do so;
- post or send hateful content or slurs targeting people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristic;
- post, send, or solicit sexual content involving minors, or any child sexual abuse material — we report such material to the authorities and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) as required by law;
- send spam, chain messages, or unsolicited bulk or commercial messages, or use friend requests or messaging to advertise or recruit;
- share another person's private or identifying information (such as a home address, phone number, or private communications) without their consent ("doxxing");
- impersonate any person or organization, including by using a handle, display name, bio, or profile designed to suggest you are someone you are not, or that you are affiliated with Steeped;
- post or share content that infringes someone else's copyright, trademark, or other intellectual-property rights, or that you do not have the right to post;
- post or transmit content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or that promotes illegal activity, self-harm, or violence; or
- use any feature of the Service to deceive, defraud, or mislead other users.
These Community Guidelines apply to all User Content, including the contents of private direct messages.
4. Third-Party Content
Steeped aggregates publicly available headlines, summaries, and links from third-party publishers via their public RSS feeds. All third-party content remains the intellectual property of its respective owner. Steeped displays headlines, short summaries, source attribution, and a link back to the original publisher within what we believe to be a fair use of that material. We do not host the full text of third-party articles, and we do not endorse any view expressed by any third-party publisher.
Steeped sorts the sources it aggregates into "Left", "Center" ("Middle Ground"), and "Right" columns. This grouping is our own subjective, good-faith editorial categorization, offered as opinion and for general orientation only. It may be incomplete or mistaken; it does not purport to be a factual statement, rating, or judgment about any publisher's bias, accuracy, or journalism, and it is not intended to disparage any outlet. If you believe a source has been miscategorized, email [email protected] and we will review and correct it.
5. AI-Drafted, Human-Reviewed Content ("The Homebrew")
The section of the Service titled "The Homebrew" is first drafted by a large language model (currently Anthropic's Claude) from third-party headlines. When the operator (Kriss Phoha) reviews and approves a given day's brief, it is credited as reviewed and edited by them; a brief that has not been reviewed is presented as AI-drafted only ("Brewed by Claude"). This human review is editorial oversight only; it is not a guarantee of accuracy. AI-drafted content can be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or out of date, and may misattribute or mischaracterize what a cited source actually reported, and the review may not catch every such error. Always verify the cited sources before relying on any claim presented in the Homebrew. It is provided for general information only and is not professional, financial, legal, medical, or other advice. The Homebrew is Steeped's own synthesis; it does not represent the views of, and is not endorsed by, the publishers cited in it. Steeped makes no warranty as to the accuracy of the Homebrew and is not responsible for actions you take in reliance on it.
6. Your Content
What this covers. "User Content" means anything you create, upload, post, send, or display through the Service, including articles you save to your Portfolio, direct messages and notes you send to other users, articles you share with a friend, your public-profile handle, nickname, bio, and interest tags, your friend connections, and your game scores.
You keep ownership. You retain all ownership rights you have in your User Content. We do not claim ownership of it.
License you grant us. You grant Steeped a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, transmit, display, and otherwise use your User Content solely to operate, provide, secure, and improve the Service — for example, to store your Portfolio and show it back to you, to deliver a direct message or shared article to the friend you sent it to, to display your public profile and Portfolio to others if you have made them public, and to show your display name, handle, and score on a leaderboard. This license is limited to these purposes, and (except for content you have chosen to make public, and copies that may remain in routine backups for a limited period) it ends when you delete the content or your account. We do not sell your private messages, and we do not show one user's private messages or non-public Portfolio to anyone else.
Public content. Some User Content is public by design: your public profile at /u/<your-handle> (handle, display name, bio, interests, and your Portfolio if you choose to make it public) and your name and score on global leaderboards. Anyone, including people who are not logged in and search engines, may be able to see this content. Do not put anything in a public field that you do not want to be public.
Your promises about your content. You represent and warrant that, for all User Content you post: (a) you own it or have all rights and permissions needed to post it and to grant the license above; (b) it does not infringe or misappropriate anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other rights; and (c) it does not violate these Terms (including the Community Guidelines above) or any applicable law. You are solely responsible for your User Content and for the consequences of posting it.
6A. User Content Is Yours, Not Ours — and Moderation
User Content is created by users, not by Steeped. We do not pre-screen, monitor, or review User Content before it appears, and in particular we do not routinely monitor the contents of private direct messages. We are not responsible or liable for any User Content, including any errors, omissions, or any loss or damage of any kind arising from it, and any reliance you place on User Content posted by other users is at your own risk.
We are not obligated to monitor the Service, but we have the right (in our sole discretion and without notice) to review, refuse, remove, restrict, or disable access to any User Content that we believe violates these Terms, the Community Guidelines, or applicable law, or that we believe may harm the Service or any person. We may also suspend or terminate your access to all or part of the Service, with or without notice, for any violation of these Terms or the Community Guidelines, or to protect the Service or other users. We have no obligation to retain or provide you copies of your User Content, and we are not liable to you for removing or disabling access to User Content or for suspending or terminating your account in accordance with these Terms.
If you believe another user has violated these Terms or the Community Guidelines, you can report it to us at [email protected].
7. Account Deletion
You may delete your account at any time from the account menu inside the Service. Deletion permanently removes your profile, Portfolio, friend connections and friend code, the messages and shared articles you sent, your game scores, and associated data from our active database. Some information may persist in routine backups for a limited period and in transactional email delivery logs (see Privacy Policy). We may also delete or suspend accounts that we reasonably believe violate these Terms.
8. Intellectual Property
The Steeped name, logo, design, source code, and original written content are owned by Steeped or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. All rights are reserved. Except as expressly permitted by these Terms, you may not copy, modify, distribute, reverse-engineer, or create derivative works of any part of the Service without our prior written permission.
8A. Copyright Complaints (DMCA)
We respect intellectual-property rights and respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement. If you believe content on the Service (including something another user has shared or posted) infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to our designated agent that includes: (1) your physical or electronic signature; (2) identification of the copyrighted work you claim is infringed; (3) identification of the material you claim is infringing and information reasonably sufficient to let us locate it (such as a URL or the conversation/profile where it appears); (4) your contact information; (5) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (6) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.
Designated Copyright Agent:
Kriss Phoha (Copyright Agent, Steeped)
[MAILING ADDRESS]
Email: [email protected]
We will respond to valid notices as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512), which may include removing or disabling access to the material. If you believe your material was removed by mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notification with the information required by § 512(g). We will, in appropriate circumstances and in our discretion, terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers.
9. Disclaimers
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY CONTENT WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE.
WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONDUCT OF ANY USER OR FOR ANY USER CONTENT. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER USERS, AND WE DISCLAIM ALL LIABILITY ARISING FROM ANY USER CONTENT OR ANY DISPUTE OR INTERACTION BETWEEN YOU AND ANY OTHER USER.
10. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL STEEPED OR ITS OPERATORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THIS INCLUDES, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM USER CONTENT, FROM THE CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS, OR FROM YOUR USE OF DIRECT MESSAGING, ARTICLE SHARING, PUBLIC PROFILES, OR LEADERBOARDS. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNTS YOU PAID TO US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM, AND (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100.00). NOTHING IN THESE TERMS EXCLUDES OR LIMITS LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, INCLUDING LIABILITY FOR FRAUD, GROSS NEGLIGENCE, WILLFUL MISCONDUCT, OR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY CAUSED BY OUR NEGLIGENCE.
11. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Steeped and its operators from and against any claim, demand, loss, liability, or expense, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or related to: (a) your breach of these Terms or the Community Guidelines; (b) your User Content; (c) your violation of any law or of the rights of any third party, including any intellectual-property, privacy, or publicity right; or (d) your misuse of the Service.
12. Changes to the Service or Terms
We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time. We may also update these Terms from time to time; when we do, we will update the "Last updated" date above, which is also the effective date of the revised Terms. For material changes we will provide reasonable notice via the Service or by email. Continued use of the Service on or after that effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
13. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Subject to Section 13A (Mandatory Local Law), any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in or serving Centre County, Pennsylvania, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
13A. Mandatory Local Law
Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes any right or remedy you have under the mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country or state of residence that cannot be waived by agreement. If you are a consumer in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland: (a) you benefit from any mandatory provisions of the law of the country where you reside; (b) nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights, including any right to bring proceedings in your local courts; and (c) the limitations in Sections 9 and 10 apply only to the extent permitted by the law applicable to you. If you are a California resident, nothing here waives any right that California law makes non-waivable. To the extent any provision of these Terms conflicts with such mandatory law, that law prevails for you.
14. Contact
Questions or legal notices about these Terms may be sent to [email protected] or by mail to Kriss Phoha, [MAILING ADDRESS].
15. General
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced here, are the entire agreement between you and Steeped regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements or understandings.
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to do so later. A waiver is effective only if it is in writing and signed by us.
Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your account without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or by operation of law. These Terms bind and benefit the parties' permitted successors and assigns.
Force majeure. We are not liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, labor disputes, governmental action, power or internet failures, or failures of third-party services or hosting providers.
Survival. Any provision that by its nature should survive termination of these Terms or of your account will survive, including the content license you have granted for any public or backed-up content, your representations and warranties, the disclaimers, the limitation of liability, indemnification, intellectual-property terms, and these general provisions.