Terms and Conditions

PaperWall Last Updated: May 10, 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using the PaperWall website (the “Site”), you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions (“Terms”). If you do not agree, please do not use our Site.

These Terms apply to all visitors and users worldwide. We reserve the right to update these Terms at any time, and continued use of the Site constitutes acceptance of any changes.

2. About PaperWall

PaperWall is an independent online publication operated by an international collective of contributors. It publishes news, articles, blog content, and commentary.

Editorial stance. The articles on PaperWall represent the personal opinions, observations, and good-faith analysis of their authors. Our intent is to inform, share perspectives, and contribute to open discussion — not to harm, defame, or disparage any individual, organization, or group. Where we write critically about a subject, we do so as opinion and fair commentary on matters of public interest, supported by sources where possible. Nothing on the Site should be read as a statement of fact unless explicitly presented as one.

Use of AI tools. Our articles are written by human contributors. AI tools are used to assist with reformatting, copyediting, structuring, and polishing text — not to generate the underlying ideas, reporting, or opinions, which remain those of the human author. Some images on the Site are AI-generated; this is one of the sources described in Section 3.2.

Sponsored content and affiliate links. PaperWall does not currently publish sponsored content or affiliate links. If this changes, any article that is sponsored, contains affiliate links, or is based on a product or service received free of charge from a third party will be clearly disclosed at the top of that article.

Corrections and right of reply. If we get something factually wrong, we want to know. Email [email protected] and we will review and, where appropriate, correct or update the article with a visible note acknowledging the change. We will also consider requests for a right of reply from subjects of critical coverage on a case-by-case basis.

No account or registration is required to access content. An optional newsletter subscription is available — see Section 8.

For all communications, contact us at [email protected].

3. Intellectual Property

3.1 Text content — permission to reuse

The original text content published on PaperWall (articles, blog posts, news commentary) is created by our contributors. We grant you permission to reproduce, republish, translate, and adapt this text — in whole or in part, including for commercial purposes — provided that all of the following conditions are met:

You credit PaperWall as the original source;
You include a clearly visible hyperlink back to the original article on paperwall.space;
That link is a standard, indexable hyperlink — it must not carry rel="nofollow", rel="sponsored", rel="ugc", or any other attribute that prevents search engines from following or crediting the link;
You do not present the content in a misleading way or imply endorsement by PaperWall or its contributors.

This permission does not extend to selling our text as a standalone product (e.g., paid e-books or bundled article collections).

AI and machine learning use. We welcome the inclusion of our text in AI training datasets and its use by AI assistants, summarizers, and search tools. Where an AI system surfaces or quotes our content at inference time (e.g., in a chat reply or AI-powered search result), we ask — but cannot strictly require — that PaperWall be cited as the source, with a link to the original article where the medium allows.

If any of the conditions above are not met, the permission is automatically revoked and standard copyright protection applies.

3.2 Images — third-party material

PaperWall does not own most of the images displayed on the Site. Images are sourced from:

Free stock photography platforms (Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay) and used under their respective licenses;
Creative Commons-licensed material (including Wikimedia Commons), used under the relevant CC license terms; and
AI-generated visuals.

Image rights remain with their respective owners or are governed by the applicable license. If you want to reuse an image you find on our Site, please trace and check the license at the original source — we cannot grant permission to reuse images that we do not own.

If you are a rights holder and believe an image on our Site is being used without proper authorization, please contact us via the procedure in Section 11 (Copyright Complaints). We respond to legitimate takedown requests promptly.

3.3 Logos, branding, and Site design

The PaperWall name, logo, branding, and the overall visual design of the Site remain the exclusive property of PaperWall and may not be reused, copied, or imitated without our prior written permission. The text-reuse permission in Section 3.1 does not apply to these elements.

4. Permitted Use

You may use the Site for any lawful purpose. Republishing of text content is permitted under the conditions set out in Section 3.1.

You agree NOT to:

Republish text from the Site without complying with the attribution and dofollow-link conditions in Section 3.1
Republish, redistribute, or claim ownership of images, logos, or branding from the Site (see Sections 3.2 and 3.3)
Use the Site or its content in any way that violates applicable laws or regulations
Attempt to interfere with, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to the Site or its servers
Use automated bots, crawlers, or scrapers in a way that imposes an unreasonable load on our servers, ignores robots.txt, or circumvents rate limits
Impersonate PaperWall or any of its contributors

We reserve the right to block or restrict access to any user who, in our reasonable judgment, violates these Terms.

5. Disclaimer of Warranties

The content on PaperWall is provided for informational and general interest purposes only. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of PaperWall as a whole.

While we strive to ensure accuracy, we make no representations or warranties of any kind — express or implied — regarding:

The accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any content
The availability or uninterrupted access to the Site
The absence of errors, viruses, or other harmful components

The Site is provided “as is” and “as available.” Your use of the Site and reliance on any content is entirely at your own risk.

6. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, PaperWall and its contributors, editors, and operators shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from:

Your use of, or inability to access, the Site
Any errors or omissions in the content
Any action taken in reliance on content published on the Site
Unauthorized access to or alteration of your data
Any third-party content or websites linked from the Site

This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory under which the claim is brought. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under applicable mandatory consumer protection law in your country of residence.

7. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless PaperWall, its contributors, and operators from any claim, damage, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your breach of these Terms or your misuse of the Site.

8. Newsletter Subscription

The PaperWall newsletter is optional and uses a double opt-in process: after submitting your email, you must confirm your subscription via a link sent to that email. You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link included in every newsletter email, or by emailing us. See our Privacy Policy for details on how subscriber data is handled.

9. Third-Party Links and Embedded Content

Our articles may contain links to third-party websites and embedded content (e.g., social media posts, video players, share buttons). These are provided for convenience and reference only.

PaperWall does not endorse, control, or take responsibility for the content, practices, privacy, or availability of any third-party websites or embedded services. We encourage you to review the terms and privacy policies of any external sites or services you interact with.

10. Communications

If you contact us by email or subscribe to our newsletter, you agree to provide accurate information and to use these channels only for legitimate purposes. We reserve the right to ignore or block messages that are abusive, spam, harassing, or otherwise inappropriate.

11. Copyright Complaints / DMCA Notice

We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content on the Site infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to [email protected] including:

Your contact information (name, email, postal address)
Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed
The exact URL(s) of the allegedly infringing material on our Site
A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized
A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorized to act on their behalf
Your physical or electronic signature

We will review valid complaints and take appropriate action, which may include removing the content. We reserve the right to remove content at our discretion if a credible complaint is received.

12. Governing Law and Disputes

The Site is hosted and operated from the United States. Except where mandatory consumer-protection law of your country of habitual residence provides otherwise:

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions.
Any dispute arising from your use of the Site shall be brought in the federal or state courts located in the United States.
Where you are a consumer in the EU, EEA, or UK, you retain the benefit of the mandatory consumer protections of your country of residence, and nothing in these Terms removes those protections.
We encourage informal resolution first: please email us at [email protected] before pursuing any formal action.

13. Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. Changes are effective upon posting to the Site. The “Last Updated” date at the top will reflect the most recent revision. For material changes, we will provide a prominent notice on the Site. Your continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance.

14. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

15. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and PaperWall regarding your use of the Site, and supersede any prior agreements.

16. No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not be considered a waiver of that right or provision.

17. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights under them. We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms at any time without notice.

18. Force Majeure

We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including (without limitation) natural disasters, war, civil unrest, pandemic, government action, internet or hosting outages, or cyberattacks.

19. Contact

For all questions about these Terms:

Email: [email protected]

We aim to respond within 30 days.

Postscript: Unofficial Enforcement Mechanisms

The 19 sections above are the operative legal terms. What follows is editorial humor — not legally binding, but emotionally accurate. PaperWall is run by a borderless collective of enthusiasts; our access to traditional courts is, let’s say, flexible. So in the interest of transparency, here is how violations are actually handled around the office:

In addition to (and not in lieu of) any remedies available under applicable law, persistent or particularly creative violations of these Terms may result in:

Trial by combat at a venue of mutual convenience. Knives permitted; foam strongly preferred. Loser buys coffee.
Divine judgment, deferred to the deity of your choice — or ours, if you don’t have one. We’re not picky.
A voodoo curse, intensity calibrated to the offense: mild for nofollow links, medium for unattributed reposts and AI tools that quote without citing us, maximum for people who hotlink our images.
Public shaming in a future PaperWall article, written with the full editorial vigor of a team that has been wronged.
A strongly worded email — escalating to a passive-aggressive one if ignored, and to a haiku if still ignored.

We retain all rights, both legal and metaphysical. The dark arts division reserves the right to subcontract.