TERMS OF USE
These Terms of Use including the Privacy Policy (“Terms of Use”) govern the use of the website of Aap ki Awaaz (www.aapkiawaaz.pk) and the content appearing on the website (“Content”). By using the Website including but not limited to, accessing or visiting or browsing the Website, you (the user) indicate your acceptance to these Terms of Use and that you agree to abide by them. The Terms of Use constitute a legal agreement between you, as the user of the Website and us, the owner of the Website. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, please refrain from using this Website.
For purposes of this Agreement, the term “Content” includes, without limitation, any information, data, text, logos, photographs, video, audio, animations, written posts, text, articles, comments, software, scripts, graphics, themes and interactive features generated, underlying source code, provided or otherwise made accessible on or through the Website, including the User Generated Content as defined hereinafter in Clause 1.2.
The Terms of Use shall be considered as part of any agreement, the reference to which shall be made in that agreement and shall be read along with the terms and conditions of that agreement. In the event of conflict between the terms of such agreements and the Terms of Use, the terms of such agreements will prevail and govern so long as they relate to matters specifically referenced herein and this Terms of Use will apply with respect to all other matters.
Information about us and the Website
1.1. The Website and its content is owned and operated by Life Media Private Limited (“Company/we/us/our”).
1.2. The Website is an online media platform that has the functionality of an online intermediary enabling its users to read, create, submit, post, or display the Content on or through the Website (“User Generated Content”).
Access to the Website
2.1 By accessing the Website, you agree to these Terms of Use set out at aapkiawaaz.pk. The access to certain sections of the Website is conditional upon our acceptance of you as a “contributor” of User Content to the Website. The Company will not be liable if for any reason our Website is not available to you at any period of time. Further, we have the right to restrict your access to the whole or part of the Website.
2.2. All rights that are not expressly granted to you are reserved under these Terms of Use.
Registration
3.1 Our Website as an intermediary allows users to create and post content to the Website. Any Content which you have publicly posted or published on or through our Website shall be publicly available by default, and your profile information may appear on the Website as the creator thereof.
3.2 If you wish to be a contributor of Content, the Website may require you to create a user account by voluntarily providing your information such as your name, email address etc. or by logging in to your account in another service (such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, as the Company may in its discretion determine). You may further voluntarily provide us with additional information such as your date of birth, gender, location, profile picture and friend list. Unless otherwise set out our in this agreement personal information will only be used to operate, maintain and provide you with User Generated Content.
3.3 For the purpose of uploading, submitting, posting etc. of User Generated Content, the Website requires you to login using your personal account. Where you log in through any third party service, you permit us to access personal and other information from your profile for use by us in accordance with these Terms of Use. Such personal and other information of the user shall not be used for any purpose other than as required by us to operate, maintain the Website and to provide you access to other User Generated Content. In no event shall such information accessed by us under this clause 3 be shared or used in any manner other than as envisaged under these Terms of Use.
User Generated Content
4.1 You hereby represent, warrant and covenant to the Company that all User Generated Content authored, submitted or posted by you shall be original content, developed solely by you through necessary research, review of facts and other bona fide means, and shall be of a high quality level in accordance . User Generated Content must not infringe the rights of any third party, including any intellectual property rights, rights of publicity, rights of privacy, rights to payment of royalties and residuals; or result in any tort, injury, damage or harm to any third party.
4.2 While you retain certain inherent rights to the User Generated Content under applicable law, and the Company shall credit you for your contribution to the relevant User Generating Content by identifying you as the author. It is further agreed by you that all User Generated Content generated by you complies with our Community Standards. On complaint by other users or persons we may remove any User Generated Content if it breaches these agreed Community Standards.
4.3 ,By submitting or posting User Content, you grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, license to use, display, copy, reproduce, delete, add to, prepare derivative works of, publish and distribute any such User Generated Content and all intellectual property rights associated therewith, throughout the world in any media formats, without any obligation to make any payment to you or others or to give you credit for the same.
4.3 Any User Generated Content submitted or posted by you shall undergo a screening process. This process includes review and modifications to the User Content by our in-house editorial team. We may consult and communicate with you in respect of any such modifications required in the User Content submitted or posted by you.
4.4 We may modify or adapt your User Generated Content in order to transmit, display or distribute it over computer networks and in various media and/or make changes to your User Content as are necessary to conform and adapt it to any requirements or limitations of any networks, devices, services or media.
4.5 You further grant us the right to use your name under the license contained in this clause 4.1 in association with your User Content and the promotion and advertising thereof. You also waive any right to inspect or approve any final version of the User Generated Content.
4.6 Our objective is to constantly identify and seek new channels/avenues to increase our user/readership/audience. In furtherance thereto, from time to time we engage/partner with third party websites to share and republish the User Generated Content. To this effect, you grant us the unconditional right to share the User Generated Content with other third party websites.
Privacy Policy
5.1 The Website may require you to create a user account by voluntarily providing your information such as your name, email address etc. or by logging in to your account in another service (such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, as the Company may in its discretion determine). You may further voluntarily provide us with additional information as requested from time to time.
5.2 We may also track certain information about you based upon your behaviour on the Website. We use this information for internal research on our users’ demographics, interests, and behaviour to better understand, protect and serve our users. This information is compiled and analysed on an aggregated basis. This information may include the URL that you just came from (whether this URL is on the Website or not), which URL you next go to (whether this URL is on the Website or not), your computer browser information, your IP address, and other information associated with your interaction with the Website.
5.3 We also collect and store personal information provided by you from time to time on the Website. We only collect and use such information from you that we consider necessary for achieving a seamless, efficient and safe experience, customized to your needs including:
(1) To communicate necessary account and service-related information from time to time;
(2) To undertake necessary fraud prevention checks, and comply with the security standards;
(3) To comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations; and
(4) To provide you with information and offers, on updates, on promotions, on related, affiliated or associated service providers and partners that we believe would be of interest to you.
Where any interaction on the Website involves a third party, information pertaining to you as collected by the Company and is deemed reasonably necessary, may be shared with such third party.
We may also use your contact information to send you offers based on your interests and prior activity. The Company may also use contact information internally to direct its efforts for Content improvement, to contact you as a survey respondent, to notify you if you win any contest; and to send you promotional materials from its contest sponsors or advertisers.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Terms of Use, we may disclose your information to a third party if we believe that it is reasonably necessary to comply with any law; to protect the safety of any person; to address fraud, security or technical issues; or to protect our rights and property.
Although the Company endeavours to safeguard the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information, you understand and agree that transmissions made by means of the Internet are not absolutely secure. By using the Website, you agree that the Company will have no liability for disclosure of your information due to errors in transmission and/or unauthorized acts of third parties.
Representations and Warranties of Users
6.1 Your entering into these Terms of Use on your own behalf to abide by the Terms of Use or such other agreements that you may enter into while browsing through the Website. You agree to stop using the Website and inform us of any violation of law that may stop you from using our Website.
You represent that all the information provided by you is and shall be true, correct and accurate and you shall inform us of any change/ amendment in such information from time to time.
Notwithstanding the Company’s right to review any User Generated Content submitted or posted by you from time to time, you shall not seek to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any User Generated Content that: (i) belongs to another person and to which you do not have any right to; (ii) is grossly harmful, harassing, libellous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, anti-religion sentiment, unlawful in any manner whatsoever; (iii) harms minors in any way; (iv) infringes any patent trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights; (v) violates any law for the time being in force; (vi) deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of such messages or communicates any information which is grossly offensive or menacing in nature; (vii) impersonates another person; (viii) threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of Pakistan, friendly relations with friendly states, or public order or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation. This is illustrative and does not include a violation of our community standards. Even otherwise we retain the right to remove information as per discretion and without assigning any reasons.
You will not misuse your right to the Website by introducing viruses, trojans, worms or other material likely to cause harm to the Website and shall indemnify and keep us indemnified in case any action is initiated against us due to any loss, injury, expenses or liability caused to any other user of the Website or any third party. You shall further not gain any unauthorised access to the Website or on any other source to our Website beyond the present terms of access.
You shall not: (i) take any action that imposes or may impose (as determined by us at our sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our (or our third party providers’) infrastructure; (ii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website or any activities conducted on the Website; (iii) bypass, circumvent or attempt to bypass or circumvent any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Website (or other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to the Website); (iv) run any form of auto-responder or “spam” on the Website; (v) use manual or automated software, devices, or other processes to “crawl” or “spider” any part of the Website; (vi) harvest or scrape any Content from the Website; or (vi) otherwise take any action in violation of our guidelines and policies and shall keep us indemnified in case any loss, injury, expenses or liability caused to us.
Our rights in relation to the Website
7.1 We have the right to discontinue or change our Website at any time and shall not be liable for the same.
7.2 We may delete your account or cancel access to the Website for any reason whatsoever, at any time at our discretion. We may also suspend or limit your access to the Website as and when may be considered necessary. For the aforesaid, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you and inform you of such an action and the reasons thereof, in any.
7.3 We may disclose such confidential information as may be provided by you or such other details about yourself as may be necessary to satisfy any governmental department or authority under applicable law or to any third party in accordance with the terms of the Privacy Policy.
7.4 With reference to Clauses 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3, you agree and understand that we shall not be liable for any claim based on any termination, suspension or any of the aforesaid actions taken by us in relation to your access to the Website.
7.5 We reserve the right to, but do not have any obligation to, (i) remove, refuse to distribute, edit, modify or otherwise manipulate any Content at our sole discretion, at any time, without notice to you or for no reason at all, and (ii) to remove or block any Content from the Website.
Intellectual Property Rights
8.1 The Website may contain Content specifically provided by us, our partners or other users and such Content is protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets or other proprietary rights and laws. You shall abide by and maintain all copyright notices, information, and restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Website.
8.2 When you visit our Website, we give you a limited license to access and view Content for informational and personal use.
8.3 You are not permitted to delete or change any copyright symbol, trademark or other proprietary details contained on the Website. You shall not use our information for any other purpose other than for the aforesaid. You agree that any use of the proprietary information displayed on the Website shall infringe our intellectual property rights for which you shall indemnify us.
8.4 We have intellectual property rights in all Content displayed on the Website including graphics, logo, and software that is either owned or licensed to us other than any third party contents which are specifically identified as such. Any infringement of our intellectual property rights shall be governed by the applicable law in Pakistan.
8.5 The license to access and use the Website does not include the right to copy or reproduce the information of our Website on any other platform or medium, without our prior written permission.
8.6 Except where otherwise specified, any word, logo or device to which is attached the symbols ™ or ® shall be considered as a registered trademark that is either owned by us or which we have license to use. The right to use the Website does not give a license to use those trademarks in any way.
Linked Parties/Partners
9.1 We are a socially responsible online media platform and this gives us the opportunity to partner with non-governmental organisations, corporate entities etc. to collaborate on specific online media campaigns for the purpose of awareness and promotion on various social and economic issues of the country.
9.2 Such campaigns are developed, designed and created by us in partnership with our partners and associates from time to time.
9.3 We do not endorse any views expressed on such campaigns. We are not responsible for any User Generated Content posted on such campaigns. You understand that the inclusion of campaigns on the Website is not intended as an endorsement or recommendation of any content.
Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability
10.1 You agree and understand that the use of the Website is at your own risk. The Website is being made available to you on an “as is” and “as available” basis without providing any warranties, guaranties or conditions as to the usage being free from any faults, defects, interruptions, errors, viruses or to the accuracy, reliability, availability of any Content. You agree and understand that we shall not be responsible for any interference or damage that may be caused to your computer resource which arises in connection with your access to our Website.
10.2 You also agree and understand that the information displayed on the Website is for information purposes only and does not to amount to any advice.
10.3 To the extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim our liability against any loss, damage, expenses, liabilities, claim, injury caused due to the failure of performance, omission, defect, deletion, interruption, error, delay, virus, communication, unauthorised access, theft, destruction, alteration or use of records, whether due to breach of contract, negligence, tort or due to other cause of actions.
10.4 Further, in no circumstances shall we be responsible for any loss of profits, goodwill, revenue, consequential, exemplary, punitive damages or any financial or indirect loss arising out of the use of the Website.
10.5 We do not endorse any views expressed on the Website and are merely a platform for users to generate and display relevant Content. As such, we are not responsible for any User Content posted on the Website and do not endorse or subscribe to the views contained in any User Content.
10.6 Notwithstanding anything in the Terms of Use, the total liability for damages actually incurred by you shall be limited to Rs50,000. The aforesaid applies to all liabilities in the aggregate, including but not limited to, liabilities arising out of use of the Website, any other subject matter arising out of or in relation to the use of the Website.
Indemnity
11.1 You hereby agree to indemnify and hold the Company, its affiliates and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents (each an “Indemnified Party”) from and against and in respect of all liabilities, losses, costs, charges, fees and expenses, including reasonable legal fees and expenses, incurred in connection with any claim, allegation, suit, action, investigation, judgment, inquiry, demand or other proceeding arising out of, or in connection with (i) your failure to comply with these Terms of Use, (ii) your failure to comply with any applicable law, (iii) any misstatement or breach of an obligation or covenant applicable to you under these Terms of Use or under any conditions on the Website accepted by you, or (iv) any allegation that User Content submitted or posted by you infringes in any manner any intellectual property rights or any other right of any third party, or contains any information that is defamatory, libelous, or that otherwise violates any law.
Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
12.1. Governing Law
The Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in all respects in accordance with the laws of Pakistan.
If the designated representatives of each of the Parties are unable to resolve a dispute under the Terms of Use within 30 (thirty) days after notice of such dispute shall have been given by either of the Parties to the other, then either Party may require that such dispute be determined and resolved by arbitration.
Amendments to the Terms of Use
13.1 We reserve the right to amend the Terms of Use from time to time. Any amendment that is made will come into effect from the moment it is displayed on the Website. The updated version of the Terms of Use shall supersede any of the previous versions of the Terms of Use.
13.2 We shall make reasonable efforts to notify users of such changes, however, it shall be your responsibility to be updated with the Terms of Use at all times.
The continued use of the Website shall amount to your acceptance to the Terms of Use of the Website.
Miscellaneous
14.1 No partnership or agency
The Terms of Use shall not be construed so as to create a partnership or joint venture between you and us. Nothing in the Terms of Use shall be construed so as to constitute you and us as agents of one another.
14.2 Specific Performance
Each one of us agrees that damages may not be an adequate remedy and that either of us shall be entitled to an injunction, restraining order, right for recovery, suit for specific performance or such other equitable relief as a court of competent jurisdiction may deem necessary or appropriate to restrain the other, from committing any violation or enforce the performance of the covenants, representations and obligations contained in the Terms of Use. These injunctive remedies are cumulative and are in addition to any other rights and remedies the Parties may have at law or in equity, including without limitation a right for damages.
14.3 Severability
Each and every obligation under the Terms of Use shall be treated as a separate obligation and shall be severally enforceable as such in the event of any obligation or obligations being or becoming unenforceable in whole or in part. Any invalid or unenforceable provision of the Terms of Use shall be replaced with a provision, which is valid and enforceable and most nearly reflects the original intent of the invalid and unenforceable provision.
14.4 Non-Exclusive Remedies
The rights and remedies herein provided are cumulative and none is exclusive of any other, or of any rights or remedies that any of us may otherwise have at law or in equity.
15.5 Execution
The Terms of Use shall be deemed duly executed and shall become effective and binding upon you and us when you access the Website.
Community Guidelines
AKA is a people’s platform. That means hundreds use it daily to share their thoughts and opinions. Which makes it doubly necessary that this should be a safe space for all.
Disagreement that leads to debate is therefore encouraged but shutting down someone because you disagree with them is not. That’s what being a community is about. We act on these community guidelines set out below on any complaint or report by our users.
And therefore:
No personal attacks:
Anything that violates or infringes upon someone else’ rights and attacks them personally for their beliefs and choices will not be accepted. You can attack the argument but not the individual.
Nothing discriminatory in nature:
We have all kinds of people belonging to different faiths, nationalities and all across the gender and sexuality spectrum contributing to our community. Which also means, no content that is in any way discriminatory in nature towards any community shall be tolerated on the platform. We clarify that as a rights based publication platform and violations that promote discrimination or abuse especially towards any group, community or individual will be taken seriously.
Allegations and rants:
Rants of this kind seldom leads to meaningful debates. It’s great for personal sharing but here, let’s just stick to substantiated stuff that people can engage with. We urge you to put draw all your opinions reasonably on the basis of factual assertions.
No threats of violence:
At no point will anything that suggests violence be put on the platform. Threats of violence here may be against person or group.
If found in contravention of the above:
While chances are that any content that violates the above guidelines will not make it to the platform in the first place as we expect our users to be responsible and comply with these guidelines, in case it does, it will be immediately taken down when it comes to our notice.
Fairness and freedom of speech and expression are core to AKA’s existence. And we do believe that the best way to counter opposing ideas is to battle ‘em out with more ideas. Censorship is not the solution.
However, while trying our best to implement the above, we do reserve the right to remove any comment or post without prior notice, for reasons, especially to protect the rights of other community members and our services. These are guidelines only and do not place any obligation on us to act a certain way. You are also requested to read through the terms of service which link to these community guidelines.
If you find a post that violates these guidelines and has not been taken down, please “Report” the post immediately to us, using the report option or email us at thecurrentmember@gmail.com
How Content Is Featured
We are growing as a community every day with many new writers joining us every week. Therefore, we have come up with some new and exciting ideas to show the amazing and diverse content we have! All the articles will now fall under three broad categories: Staff Picks, Trending and Latest.
Here’s all you need to know:
What happens when you publish a post?
Once you hit publish, the post goes live immediately on Aap ki Awaaz. It is then slotted in the Latest section, post review by an AKA Community Editor depending on the quality of your writing or the uniqueness of your story, your story could also feature in the Trending or the Staff Picks section of the homepage.
How can you get your post featured on the homepage?
Hundreds of posts are published on AKA every day. These will now get featured and highlighted on the platform through votes and views.
Make your post trend on AKA!
Yes, you can do that yourself! As soon as you hit publish, share your article on your social media accounts and with your friends and family. Once your post starts getting some views, it will gradually make its way up to our algorithm and feature in the trending section of the homepage basis how it’s fairing compared to other posts published in the last seven days.
Another way to make it to the trending section is via votes. Encourage your readers to upvote your articles and AKA’s algorithm will help it rise the ladder and reach more people.
You can also help your fellow writers trend on AKA by sharing their pieces and upvoting them.
What are ‘Staff Picks’ articles?
These are stories hand-picked by the AKA staff. Articles that get featured in this section must meet the following criteria:
Can your story make it to the staff picks section?
Absolutely. If your article meets the above criteria it could be featured in staff picks. Write the story the best way you can, hit us up if you need feedback.
And do check out the Writers’ Resource Centre for more on this!
What is the ‘Latest’ section?
Every single article published on AKA deserves its space. You can read and discover all the raw, latest stories straight from the community in this section (after being reviewed, of course). We strongly recommend you to engage with these stories: share, comment and upvote. Show your fellow writers some love!