Terms of Service

1. Terms of Service

Article 1 (Purpose)

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") set out the conditions for using the applications and web services that SmartNews, Inc. (the "Company," "we," or "us") provides or operates under the names "SmartNews," "SmartNews+," "SmartNews for docomo," "Wanderland," or any other name, and the services incidental to them (excluding advertising services; collectively, the "Services"). Users of the Services ("Users") agree that, by using the Services, these Terms form the contract between the Company and the User, and must comply with these Terms and the other rules that the Company separately presents to Users (together with these Terms, the "Terms, etc.").

Article 2 (Changes to the Terms)

The Company may change these Terms. When it does, the Company will carry out an appropriate procedure for the change depending on its content (including, without limitation, announcing in advance, through the internet or by other appropriate means, that the Terms will be changed, the content of the change or addition, and the date on which it takes effect). In any of the following cases, Users are deemed to have agreed to the changed Terms once the Company has announced the content of the change and its effective date by appropriate means.

1. The change conforms to the general interests of Users.
2. The change does not go against the purpose of these Terms, is necessary because of laws and regulations, taxation, economic conditions, social conditions, demand for the Services, the Company's business environment, or other circumstances, and the changed content is reasonable.

Article 3 (User Accounts)

1. When using the Services, Users may set up an account unique to them by the method the Company designates.
2. Users are solely responsible for managing their accounts, and must not lend, transfer, change the holder of, sell, pledge, or otherwise dispose of their accounts to any third party, or let any third party use them.

Article 4 (Use of Personal Information)

In providing the Services, the Company uses Users' personal information in accordance with the separately established Privacy Policy.

Article 5 (Intellectual Property Rights)

1. Copyrights and all other intellectual property rights in the Services belong to the Company.
2. Copyrights and intellectual property rights in the information that the Company provides through the Services ("Company Content") belong to the third parties who hold legitimate rights to that information.
3. Beyond the extent permitted by law (including, without limitation, copyright law), Users may not translate, edit, modify, or otherwise use Company Content, have any third party use it, or make it public, without the permission of the Company and the third parties described in the preceding paragraph.
4. Copyrights and all other intellectual property rights in information that a User sends to the Company through the Services and that is made public through the Services ("User Content") belong to the User. Users grant the Company in advance, free of charge, without any time limit, and without any territorial restriction, the right to use User Content to the extent necessary for the development, operation, and promotion of the Services (including the right to abridge or otherwise modify it to the extent the Company considers necessary and appropriate, and the right to sublicense this right of use to third parties affiliated with the Company).

Article 6 (Prohibited Acts)

When using the Services, Users must not do any of the following.

1. Acts that violate the Terms, etc.
2. Acts that infringe, or may infringe, the copyrights, trademark rights, or other intellectual property rights, privacy rights, portrait rights, publicity rights, property interests, or other rights or interests of the Company or any third party
3. Acts that violate, or may violate, laws and regulations or public order and morals
4. Acts that disadvantage, or may disadvantage, other Users or third parties
5. Acts that interfere, or may interfere, with the operation of the Services
6. Acts that damage, or may damage, the credibility of the Company or the Services
7. Accessing the Services, or viewing, obtaining, or using information on them, by any means other than the legitimate means of use that the Company permits
8. Reposting, reproducing, redistributing, selling, or using as training data or the like the information on the Services, by any means other than the legitimate means of use that the Company permits
9. Reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling the software and works included in the Services
10. Except as permitted by the Company (including, without limitation, crawling by legitimate search engines), using crawlers, bots, spiders, scrapers, or any other automated programs, whatever they are called, to access the Services, the Company's network, or the internet servers used to provide the Services (collectively, the "Facilities"), and to obtain, collect, extract, reproduce, or analyze information
11. Obtaining information by circumventing or disabling robots.txt or any other access control, authentication, or technical protection measure that the Company establishes
12. Accessing the Facilities without authorization, or rewriting or erasing information stored in them without authorization
13. Sending viruses or other harmful computer programs to the Facilities
14. Placing an excessive load on the Facilities
15. Any other act that the Company deems inappropriate

Article 7 (Users' Responsibility)

Users use the Services at their own risk and are responsible for everything they do on the Services and for its results. If the Company finds that a User is using the Services in violation of the Terms, etc., the Company has the discretion to take any of the following measures without notifying the User in advance. This does not mean, however, that the Company has any obligation to prevent or correct such a violation.

1. Hiding, unpublishing, or deleting all or part of the User Content
2. Suspending all or part of the User's use of the Services, or deleting the User's account
3. Providing information to investigative authorities or victims to the extent permitted by law
4. Any other measure that the Company deems necessary and appropriate

Article 8 (Changes to the Services)

The Company may change, interrupt, suspend, or end all or part of the Services at any time and for any reason, without notifying Users in advance.

Article 9 (No Warranty)

Users use the Services at their own discretion and responsibility, having recognized and accepted the following.

1. The Company does not warrant that the Services will operate or that they are compatible with the devices used.
2. The Company does not warrant the completeness, accuracy, legality, or usefulness of the Services, or the accuracy, appropriateness, legality, usefulness, or any other aspect of the information obtained through the use of the Services.
3. The Company does not warrant that the Services will be free from slow display caused by excessive access or other unexpected causes, or from system failures and the like.

Article 10 (Liability for Damages)

Notwithstanding any other provision of these Terms, if the Company bears liability to a User in connection with the Services for breach of obligation, tort, or any other legal liability, the Company will compensate the User for the loss or damage the User has suffered only within the scope of the direct and ordinary damage actually incurred by the User, up to a maximum of 10,000 yen. This limitation does not apply if the Company acted intentionally or with gross negligence.

Article 11 (Severability)

Even if any provision of these Terms becomes invalid or illegal under applicable law, that invalidity or illegality does not in any way affect the other provisions of these Terms, impair their validity, or make them invalid, and all other provisions of these Terms remain in full force and effect.

Article 12 (Governing Law)

If a User resides in Japan, the formation, validity, performance, and resolution of these Terms in the relationship with that User are governed by the laws of Japan, and the Japanese version of these Terms prevails over the English version.

Article 13 (Jurisdiction)

If any dispute arises in connection with the Services or these Terms, the Tokyo District Court or the Tokyo Summary Court has exclusive agreed jurisdiction as the court of first instance.

Article 14 (Miscellaneous)

The Company may make calls to the YouTube API to provide YouTube-related features and to collect data used to improve the Services. By using the Services, Users agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. The YouTube Terms of Service are available at the following URL.
https://www.youtube.com/t/terms

Subscription Services Terms of Use

For subscription services, these terms apply.

SmartNews Points Terms of Use

For SmartNews Points, these terms apply.

Generative AI Services Terms of Use

For generative AI services, these terms apply.

Terms for the d ACCOUNT Linking Service

Users of the Services may use the d ACCOUNT linking service provided by NTT DOCOMO, INC. For Users who use the d ACCOUNT linking service, these terms apply.

User Content Guidelines

When a User makes User Content public through the Services, the User Content must meet the conditions set out in these guidelines.

2. Special Terms for the Wanderland Services

Article 1 (Purpose and Scope)

1. These Special Terms for the Wanderland Services (these "Special Terms") set out special provisions to the "Terms of Service" established by SmartNews, Inc. (the "Company") (the "Terms of Service") for the applications and web services that the Company provides or operates under the name "Wanderland" and the services incidental to them (excluding advertising services; the "Wanderland Services").
2. The Terms of Service and the Company's other rules apply to the Wanderland Services in addition to these Special Terms. If there is any conflict between these Special Terms and the Terms of Service or those rules regarding the Wanderland Services, these Special Terms prevail to the extent of the conflict.
3. Unless otherwise provided in these Special Terms, terms defined in the Terms of Service have the same meanings in these Special Terms as in the Terms of Service.

Article 2 (Governing Law and Language)

1. Notwithstanding Article 12 of the Terms of Service, and regardless of where the User resides, the formation, validity, performance, and resolution of the Terms, etc. (including these Special Terms) in the relationship with Users regarding the Wanderland Services are governed by the laws of Japan.
2. If a version of the Terms, etc. (including these Special Terms) in a language other than Japanese is provided for the Wanderland Services, the Japanese version prevails over the version in that language.

Article 3 (Changes to These Special Terms)

The Company may change these Special Terms. When it does, the Company will carry out an appropriate procedure for the change depending on its content (including, without limitation, announcing in advance, through the internet or by other appropriate means, that these Special Terms will be changed, the content of the change or addition, and the date on which it takes effect). In any of the following cases, Users are deemed to have agreed to the changed Special Terms once the Company has announced the content of the change and its effective date by appropriate means.

1. The change conforms to the general interests of Users.
2. The change does not go against the purpose of these Special Terms, is necessary because of laws and regulations, taxation, economic conditions, social conditions, demand for the Wanderland Services, the Company's business environment, or other circumstances, and the changed content is reasonable.

3. Generative AI Services Terms of Use

Article 1 (Purpose and Scope)

1. These Generative AI Services Terms of Use (these "AI Terms") set out the conditions for using the various services using generative AI that SmartNews, Inc. (the "Company") provides in the Services (the "AI Services").
2. Users of the AI Services ("AI Users") use the AI Services after agreeing to these AI Terms.
3. In using the AI Services, AI Users use them after agreeing to these AI Terms, the "Terms of Service" (the "Terms of Service"), and the individual related terms and policies of the AI Services (the "Individual Terms").
4. Unless otherwise provided in these AI Terms, terms defined in the Terms of Service have the same meanings in these AI Terms as in the Terms of Service.
5. The AI Services are part of the Services, and the Terms of Service apply to them in addition to these AI Terms. If there is any conflict between these AI Terms and the Terms of Service regarding the AI Services, these AI Terms prevail to the extent of the conflict, and if there is any conflict between these AI Terms and the Individual Terms, the Individual Terms prevail to the extent of the conflict.

Article 2 (Information Entered into the AI Services)

1. The various content using generative AI provided in the AI Services ("AI Content") includes content created from information entered by the Company and content created from information that AI Users themselves enter into the AI Services.
2. In accordance with the "Privacy Policy," the Company may use information that AI Users enter into the AI Services for the purpose of providing the AI Services, and also for providing, improving, and developing the AI Services and the other services that the Company provides. At the same time, the Company endeavors to take restrictions in its contracts with third parties, opt-outs, and other appropriate measures so that this information is not used to improve the third-party generative AI services used in the AI Services.
3. In addition to the preceding paragraph, information that AI Users enter into the AI Services, the AI Content created from it, and other information are treated as User Content as defined in the Terms of Service.

Article 3 (Nature of AI Content)

1. AI Users understand that AI Content is created automatically using generative AI, and recognize in advance that, by its nature, it may contain inaccurate, incomplete, inappropriate, or untrue content (so-called hallucinations).
2. In view of the nature of generative AI and its effects, the Company endeavors, to the extent possible given that nature, to take measures such as human review of AI Content, measures to protect AI Users, and correction or deletion after the fact, so that inappropriate AI Content is not provided. However, the Company does not warrant that no inaccurate AI Content, no AI Content that infringes the rights of third parties, or no other inappropriate AI Content will be provided, and liability in such cases is as set out in Articles 9 and 10 of the Terms of Service.

Article 4 (Matters to Be Observed)

1. By its nature, generative AI may output inaccurate information, information that may infringe the rights of third parties, and other inappropriate information. When AI Users enter information into the AI Services themselves to create AI Content, they must correct, delete, or otherwise deal with that AI Content as necessary. The Company may also correct or delete that AI Content as necessary at its own discretion.

2. In using the AI Services, AI Users must not do any of the following, in addition to what is set out in the Terms of Service.

   1. Entering confidential information, personal information, or any other information about a specific individual (including not only the AI User's own information but also information about third parties) into the AI Services
   2. Entering information that infringes the intellectual property rights, portrait rights, publicity rights, or other rights of third parties
   3. Except as expressly permitted by the Company, using AI Content for any purpose other than using the AI Services or the other Services
   4. Trying to output information that is subject to restriction under the User Content Guidelines, or making such information public
   5. Prompt injection or any other act that causes, or may cause, the AI Services to behave contrary to the Company's intent
   6. Trying to obtain output that falls, or may fall, under the prohibited acts in Article 6 of the Terms of Service
   7. Acts that violate the terms of use of third parties that provide generative AI services (OpenAI's terms, Google's terms, Anthropic's terms, and others the Company designates)

3. When AI Users introduce or share AI Content on social media, blogs, or other external media (whether or not they use a feature of the Services to do so), they must not do any of the following.

   1. Deleting, hiding, or making illegible the identification (a logo, a note, or the like) attached to AI Content showing that it was generated by AI
   2. Making AI Content public with edits or descriptions that hide that it was generated by AI and mislead others into thinking that a human created it

Article 5 (Changes to These AI Terms)

The Company may change these AI Terms. When it does, the Company will carry out an appropriate procedure for the change depending on its content (including, without limitation, announcing in advance, through the internet or by other appropriate means, that these AI Terms will be changed, the content of the change or addition, and the date on which it takes effect). In any of the following cases, AI Users are deemed to have agreed to the changed AI Terms once the Company has announced the content of the change and its effective date by appropriate means.

1. The change conforms to the general interests of AI Users.
2. The change does not go against the purpose of these AI Terms, is necessary because of laws and regulations, taxation, economic conditions, social conditions, demand for the AI Services, the Company's business environment, or other circumstances, and the changed content is reasonable.

4. User Content Guidelines

1. These User Content Guidelines (these "Guidelines") set out the conditions that comments, images, videos, and other User Content posted by Users in accordance with the "Terms of Service" (the "Terms") must meet.

2. Unless otherwise provided, terms used in these Guidelines have the same meanings as the terms used in the Terms.

3. The Company believes that User Content provided by Users, such as opinions, impressions, reactions, images, and videos, gives rise to good-quality information that serves the public, and User Content that falls under any of the following is subject to restriction.

   1. Content that is unrelated to the content it is posted on

      1. Examples

         1. Private communications
         2. Content that includes URLs, email addresses, or the like, or whose main purpose is otherwise to lead others to a linked destination

   2. Content that announces or encourages illegal acts

      1. Examples

         1. Content that suggests, announces, or incites murder, injury, kidnapping, terrorism, fraud, or other criminal acts
         2. Content that shows how to make, obtain, or use weapons, explosives, hazardous materials, or the like, or that otherwise shows how to do dangerous acts

   3. Content that includes self-harm or its announcement, or other harmful expressions

      1. Examples

         1. Content that includes violent, cruel, or grotesque material, material about the sexual exploitation of children or animal abuse, or other material that ordinary people find offensive
         2. Content that suggests or announces suicide, self-harm, drug abuse, refusal to eat, or similar acts

   4. Content that infringes the rights or interests of others

      1. Examples

         1. Content that infringes the copyrights, trademark rights, portrait rights, privacy, trade secrets, or other rights or interests of third parties

   5. Content that defames others

      1. Examples

         1. Defamation, excessive criticism, or other content that damages the reputation or credibility of third parties

   6. Content that discriminates against others

      1. Examples

         1. Content that amounts to discrimination, bullying, hate speech, or the like

   7. Content that includes offensive expressions

      1. Examples

         1. Content that includes obscene material or explicit sexual expressions
         2. Content that includes cruel expressions

   8. Content that lacks consideration for others

      1. Examples

         1. Content that includes insensitive remarks toward people involved in incidents or accidents
         2. Content that includes insensitive remarks about disaster-stricken areas

   9. Content that amounts to advertising

      1. Examples

         1. Advertising, solicitation, affiliate marketing, stealth marketing, or other content for commercial purposes
         2. Content for the purpose of election campaigning, political activities, religious activities, or the like

   10. Content that includes information that identifies individuals

       1. Examples

          1. Personal information or other content that leads to identifying an individual, whether it concerns the User or a third party

   11. Content that includes misinformation or that is misleading

       1. Examples

          1. Content that impersonates others
          2. Content that spreads information whose truth is unknown, or false information
          3. Content that includes poorly grounded information in fields such as medicine, health, and beauty
          4. Content that includes excessive exaggeration or that otherwise misleads others about facts
          5. Content aimed at manipulating financial products, stock prices, or markets
          6. Content aimed at steering public opinion in an organized way, such as by manipulating ratings

   12. Any other content that the Company reasonably deems inappropriate

4. Making public User Content that falls under any item of the preceding paragraph is an act that violates the Terms, etc., as set out in Article 6 (a) of the Terms, and is subject to the following measures by the Company set out in Article 7 of the Terms.

   1. Hiding, unpublishing, or deleting all or part of the User Content
   2. Suspending all or part of the User's use of the Services, or deleting the User's account
   3. Providing information to investigative authorities or victims to the extent permitted by law
   4. Any other measure that the Company deems necessary and appropriate