Terms of service

Last updated: 19 October 2026

What follows is the agreement between VeriTaus and the people who read, comment on or write for it. It is set in plain language so that it can be read in full, and we ask that you read it before commenting or publishing. Using the site signifies that you accept it.

1. Parties and scope

“We” and “the VeriTaus team” refer to those who operate the platform. Everyone else who makes use of the site, whether reading, commenting or publishing, is addressed here as “you”. VeriTaus publishes columns: signed, dated stories by invited columnists, printed under the columnists’ own names.

2. Reading

Every page may be read free of charge without an account. Columns may be followed through RSS feeds.

3. Commenting

Readers may comment on a story without an account. Responsibility for a comment rests with the person who wrote it, not with the columnist and not with VeriTaus. Comments are reviewed before publication, and we may decline or later remove any comment as we see fit. Submitting a comment authorises us to print it beneath the story together with the name you gave.

4. Columnists and their accounts

A columnist account exists only where we have issued an invitation; nobody can register on their own initiative. An invited columnist answers for all activity on the account and must not disclose the sign-in details to anyone. If you suspect another person has used your account, inform us through the contact page.

5. Rights in published work

Text and images a columnist publishes on VeriTaus remain the columnist’s property. Publication grants us a licence to host, store, display and distribute the work within the service, whether on the column, on topic pages or in RSS feeds, and to make whatever technical copies that requires.

The columnist answers for what is published, and warrants that they hold the right to publish it, that it violates no one else’s rights and that it meets the standards. A columnist may have a single story, or the whole column, withdrawn on request at any time. Once withdrawn, it is no longer displayed on the site; copies that feeds have already delivered may remain with the readers who received them.

6. Conduct

The standards are incorporated into these terms and set out what may not be published. You further undertake not to disrupt the running of the service, not to try to enter any part of it you are not authorised to use, and not to direct automated traffic at it in a way that impairs it for others.

7. Enforcement

Any story, image or comment that breaches these terms or the standards, or that we are legally obliged to take down, may be removed, and the column carrying it may be closed. We generally act on reports received through the contact page. Apart from reader comments, we have no duty to review material before it is published.

8. External sites

Columns and stories may link elsewhere on the web, including to columnists’ own sites. We do not operate those sites and accept no responsibility for what they publish or for their treatment of your information.

9. No warranty

VeriTaus is offered “as is” and “as available”. We give no assurance that it will run without interruption or error, or that it will suit any given purpose, and we do not vouch for the accuracy or completeness of anything columnists or readers publish. A column expresses the views of the person who signs it.

10. Limits on liability

So far as the law allows, we bear no liability for indirect or consequential loss, or for lost data, revenue or opportunity, resulting from your use of VeriTaus or from material others have published on it. These terms do not exclude any liability that the law forbids us to exclude.

11. Continuity of the service

Any part of the service, or all of it, may be altered, suspended or withdrawn at any time. Where it is reasonably possible, columnists will be told in advance so that they can save copies of their work.

12. Amendments

These terms will be amended as circumstances require, and each amendment will carry a new date at the head of this page. Your continued use of VeriTaus once an amendment is published constitutes acceptance of it.

13. Questions

Address any question about these terms to the desk through the contact page, the sole means of reaching us.