Print

Terms of Service

About This Terms of Service

The AOL company name has changed to Oath. Oath is part of the Verizon family of companies and consists of over 50 digital and mobile brands globally, including AOL.

The Oath Terms of Service (TOS) consists of these terms, the  Oath Privacy Policy,  the Community Guidelines, and any supplemental terms provided to you for any of the products, services, software, websites, and other goods and services offered, owned, or operated by Oath (Canada) Corp. (collectively “Services”). It is a contract in electronic form between you (“you,” “your,” and “yourself”) and Oath (Canada) Corp. and its parents, successors, subsidiaries, affiliates, and family of brands (“Oath,” “we,” “us,” and “our”).

By using the Services or registering with us, you are agreeing to the TOS and may use our Services as long as you comply with the TOS.

Registering a Username and Keeping Your Account Active

You will need a username to use some Services. A username is a unique identifier selected or supplied by you or provided by us and is used to identify you on our Services.

To register a username and create an account, you must be a Canadian resident and at least 13 years of age unless the Service expressly indicates otherwise. You must give us true and accurate information about yourself and keep that information up to date.

You may be able to use an e-mail address or other online identifier provided to you by someone other than us as a username. You are responsible for maintaining security and control over any e-mail address or online identifier provided to us as a username. If you fail to maintain security or control over such an e-mail address or other online identifier, you are responsible for any consequences and may lose access to your personal information and any data stored on our Services. Also, we are not responsible for the release or loss of any information that is identified with that address or identifier.

Your username and account may be terminated if you do not sign on to a Service with your username at least once every 90 days. If you are registered for fee-based or term-specific Services, we will not terminate your username or account unless they are subject to being terminated for some other reason. In addition, an individual Service may require you to sign in and use the Service periodically to remain active on that Service. If you fail to remain active on a specific Service, we may deactivate your access and use of that Service.

After we terminate or deactivate your account for inactivity or any other reason, we have no obligation to retain, store, or provide you with any data, information, e-mail, or other content that you uploaded, stored, transferred, sent, mailed, received, forwarded, posted or otherwise provide to us (collectively “posted” or “post”) on the Services and may allow another user to register and use the username. We also have no general obligation to remove any public data, content, or other information that you posted on a Service or to reactivate your account.

Our Privacy Policy

Your personal information and certain other information about you are subject to our Privacy Policy. For more information please see our Privacy Policy. You understand that through the use of the Services, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of this information as permitted under the Privacy Policy, including transfer of this information to the United States and/or other countries for storage, processing, and use by Oath(Canada) Corp. and its affiliates in order to provide the Services to you.

Using Our Services

To use our Services, you must:

1. Comply with applicable laws and regulations and not participate in, facilitate, or further illegal activities;
2. Immediately notify us if you learn of a security breach or other illegal activity on the Services;
3. Protect your username and password;
4. Not post content that contains explicit or graphic descriptions or accounts of sexual acts or is threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another’s privacy, or tortious;
5. Not engage in an activity that is harmful to us or our customers, advertisers, affiliates, vendors, or anyone else;
6. Not use any automated process to access or use the Services or any process, whether automated or manual, to capture data or content from any Service for any reason; and
7. Not use any Service or any process to damage, disable, impair, or otherwise attack our Services or the networks connected to the Services.

To prevent violations and enforce this TOS and remediate any violations, we can take any technical, legal, and other actions that we deem, in our sole discretion, necessary and appropriate, without notice to you.

You are responsible for obtaining at your own expense all equipment and services needed to access our Services. If you are accessing our Services by a mobile device, your wireless carrier may charge you fees for data, text messaging, and other wireless access or communications services. We do not guarantee that our mobile Services can be accessed through all wireless devices or service plans or are available in all geographical locations.

If you elect to store authentication information, such as a username and password, where others may access it, we are not responsible for any loss of personal data or other consequences if someone other than you uses that information to access our services. If you lose a device, such as a laptop, desktop, or smartphone, or a device is stolen containing your username and password, it is up to you to take all the steps necessary to protect yourself.

Our Services

When providing you with our Services, we may display advertising within them and you agree to accept the advertising on whatever devices, including a wireless phone, you are using to access our Services.

We may, in our sole discretion, change any aspect of a Service or discontinue a Service without notice.

You may use our Services only if they comply with the laws of the country from which you are accessing our Services.

Posting Content on Our Services

You can post content to a Service only if (a) you created and own the rights to the content or you have the owner’s express permission to post the content; and (b) the content does not infringe any other person’s or entity’s rights (including the copyrights, trademarks, or privacy rights) or violate any applicable laws, this TOS, our Community Guidelines, or any other posted policies. We can remove content for any reason.

You are responsible for any content you post to our Services and the consequences of sharing or publishing such content with others or the general public. This includes, for example, any personal information, such as your home address, the home address of others, or your current location. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF SHARING OR POSTING ANY PERSONAL OR OTHER INFORMATION ON OUR SERVICES.

You may not post content intended to provide professional advice, including the provision of medical treatment, legal advice, or investment advice. You may not post content to solicit, recommend, endorse, or offer to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments, tout stocks, or recommend that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for you or any specific person.  You may not post content containing advertisements or other commercial solicitations without our prior permission.

Except as otherwise provided in this TOS, you or the owner of any content that you post to our Services retain ownership of all rights, title, and interests in that content. However, by posting content on a Service, you grant us and our assigns, agents, and licensees the irrevocable, royalty free, perpetual, worldwide right and license to use, reproduce, modify, translate, display, remix, perform, communicate, distribute, redistribute, adapt, promote, create derivative works, and syndicate this content in any medium and through any form of technology or distribution. We own all rights, title, and interests in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by us using or incorporating your content (but not your original content).

When you use a Service that allows users to share, transform, readapt, modify, or combine user content with other content, you grant us and our users an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual, worldwide right and license to use, reproduce, modify, translate, display, remix, perform, communicate, distribute, redistribute, adapt, promote, create derivative works, and syndicate your content in any medium and through any form of technology or distribution and to permit any derivative works to be licensed under these same license terms.

Copyright and trademark owners can report alleged violations by following the instructions for reporting claims of copyright and trademark infringement.

Using Our Content and Trademarks

Some content on our Services is created and supplied by us or by a vendor, and we or our vendor own all rights, title, and interests in that content and in any compilation, collective work or derivative work created by us using or incorporating this content.

The Services and the content provided on the Services are protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, international treaties, laws, and other proprietary rights, and also may have security components that protect digital information or content. You agree that you will not take any action to interfere with anyone’s rights in their content and you will not attempt to circumvent any mechanisms for preventing the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of content.

You may be given the opportunity to download certain content such as music and photos. You may do so only to the extent authorized for that particular content. You may not use the content in a manner that exceeds the rights granted for your use of the content nor may you copy or distribute the content or create a derivative work unless you are authorized to do so. For more information and instructions for requesting permission to use content owned by us, see Requesting Permission to Use Copyrighted Materials.

The content provided on the Services, including content posted by users, is for general information, discussion and entertainment purposes only. We make no representations or guarantees about any aspect of the content on the Services and do not endorse any opinions expressed by any users. ALL CONTENT IS POSTED "AS IS" AND YOUR USE OR RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE HAVE NO LIABILITY TO YOU FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF USING OR RELYING ON ANY CONTENT.

You may not use any of our trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features. See the Oath Trademark List for more information.

Use of any RSS feeds provided by Oath (including The Huffington Post and/or any other Oath property) is subject to these terms of use.  If you choose to use an Oath RSS feed, you are only permitted to display the content that is provided in the feed, without modification, and with attribution to the source Oath website, and you must link to the full article on the source Oath web site.  You may not incorporate advertising into any Oath RSS feed.  You may not remove our attribution or links back, or otherwise modify our feed content.  Oath reserves the right to discontinue any RSS feeds at any time and to require anyone to cease use of an Oath RSS feed at any time for any reason.

No Spam

You may not use or allow others to use your username on a Service or otherwise attempt access to the Services to use it in any way that does not comply with Canada’s Anti-Spam Laws (CASL).  This includes but is not limited to sending a commercial electronic message, including a text, sound, voice or image, to an electronic address via e-mail, instant messaging, telephone or any similar account unless the recipient has consented to receive the message, and the message otherwise complies with CASL. You may not access the Services to harvest or collect any information about our users for any purpose without our express written authorization. You may not create multiple usernames for sending unsolicited bulk communications or posting advertising or other notice on any Service. Any violation of these provisions may result in immediate termination of your account and legal action.

Fee-Based Services and Billing

We may offer fee-based Services. Our provision of those fee-based Services will be governed by the terms you agree to when you register for the fee-based Service and any terms in this TOS not inconsistent with those terms.

If you register for a fee-based Service, you must designate a payment method and provide us with accurate billing and payment information. All billing information, including payment method, must be kept up to date.

We will bill you for all fee-based Services through the payment method that is associated with any of your fee-based Services. You agree to pay us for all charges incurred under your account, including all applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges. You authorize and direct us to charge your designated payment method for these charges or, if your designated payment method fails, to charge any other payment method you have on file with us. Further, you authorize and direct us to retain information about the payment method(s) associated with your account. If we do not receive payment from your designated payment method or any other payment method on file, you agree to pay all amounts due upon demand by us.

We may charge for fee-based Services in advance and on a daily, monthly, yearly, lump sum, or other basis. We may, in our sole discretion, post charges to your payment method individually or aggregate charges for some or all of your fee-based Services with us.

Every time you use a fee-based Service, you reaffirm that (a) we are authorized to charge your designated payment method; (b) we may submit charges incurred under your account for payment; and (c) you will be responsible for such charges, even if your account is canceled by you or terminated by us.

Surcharges apply if you use certain payment methods, such as payment from your checking or savings account, or telephone bill.

Any trial promotion for a fee-based Service (such as free trial time for a paid Internet access service) must be used within the specified time of the trial. You must cancel your account before the end of the trial period to avoid being charged a subscription fee. However, even during any free trial or other promotion, you will still be responsible for any purchases and surcharges incurred using your account and any sub- or linked-accounts. We reserve the right to limit you to one free trial or promotion of a fee-based Service and to prohibit the combining of free trials, promotions, and other offers.

You can get information about billing or determine the status of your bill and the amounts of any surcharges for the Internet connectivity Service at http://help.aol.com. You can also contact a customer service representative at 1-888-265-HELP (4357).

All charges are non-refundable unless provided otherwise in the terms you agree to when you register for a fee-based Service.

We, in our sole discretion, may change or discontinue any or all aspects of a fee-based Service without notice, including access to support services, content and other products or services ancillary to the fee-based Service.

We may change our fees and billing methods at any time. We will provide you with notice of any change in your pricing at least thirty (30) days in advance. If you disagree with any proposed change, your sole remedy is to cancel your fee-based Service before the price change takes effect. Your continued use of or subscription to the Service after the price change takes effect constitutes your agreement to pay the new price for the Service. We will not refund any charges if you choose to cancel your account for this reason.

After 30 days from the date of any unpaid charges, your fee-based Service will be deemed delinquent and we may terminate or suspend your account and fee-based Service for nonpayment. We reserve the right to assess an additional 1.5 percent late charge (or the highest amount allowed by law, whichever is lower) per month if your payment is more than 30 days past due and to use any lawful means to collect any unpaid charges. You are liable for any fees, including attorney and collection fees, incurred by us in our efforts to collect any remaining balances from you.

You are responsible for all charges incurred under your account, including applicable taxes, fees, surcharges, and purchases made by you or anyone you allow to use your account (including your children, family, friends, or any other person with implied, actual, or apparent authority) or anyone who gains access to your account as a result of your failure to safeguard your username, password, or other authentication credentials or information.

You must notify us about any billing problems or discrepancies within 90 days after they first appear on your billing method statement. If you do not bring them to our attention within 90 days, you agree that you waive your right to dispute such problems or discrepancies.

If you are using our fee-based dial-up Internet connectivity Service, you are responsible for any telephone charges you may incur to access the Internet. The use of a dial-up Internet connectivity number is the same as making a telephone call to that number and may result in additional charges on your telephone bill depending on your location and calling plan. The locations and area codes listed in connection with these numbers are not necessarily indicative of whether a call will be local or toll free for you. You should select dial-up Internet connectivity numbers carefully. Please call your local phone company to ensure that the dial-up number(s) you select are in the local calling area. This is especially important if there have been changes in area code designations, in your telephone service providers, or in your calling plan.

You agree that we may charge you and you will pay to use certain “toll free” telephone numbers (“Long Distance Access Numbers,” e.g., telephone numbers that begin with 800, 866, 877, 888, and other area codes that the telephone carriers may make available in the future) (“surcharge”) to access the Internet using one of our Services. Telephone carriers may or may not charge for using these Long Distance Access Numbers. Information on the amount of this surcharge is located at http://help.aol.com. You can incur long-distance or toll charges or surcharges for using a Long Distance Access Number even during a free trial.

You may cancel or we may terminate a fee-based Service at any time. You can cancel a fee-based Internet connectivity Service by calling, sending a fax, or mailing a letter to our Customer Service Department. Cancellation will take effect within 3 business days of receipt of your request. Complete information on our cancellation procedures for our fee-based Internet connectivity Service is available at http://cancel.aol.com/  We will send you written confirmation of the cancellation of a fee-based Internet connectivity Service. If you cancel near the end of your billing period and are inadvertently charged for the next period’s fee, call us to have the charges reversed. If you subscribe to a fee-based Service other than Internet connectivity Service, you should consult the specific cancellation policies and procedures for those Services. If your fee-based Service is canceled or terminated, any data you have stored on such Services may not be retrievable later.

In the event that your fee-based Service is terminated or canceled, no online time or other credits will be credited to you or can be converted to cash or other form of reimbursement.

Software License

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to install our software on any computer or device from which you wish to access our Services and to use the software to connect to and use our Services. We may provide automatic upgrades of our software and technology to improve your experience, although these upgrades may not be consistent across all platforms and devices. You consent to the download and/or installation of our software on your computer system(s), and the installation of any updates or upgrades to our software. We reserve the right to download and/or install any software or program on your computer system(s) that is necessary solely for the purpose of correcting a failure in the operation of our software and the computer system it operates on. You agree to accept and to take no action to interfere with such automatic upgrades and related services.

You may not copy our software except to install it on your computer or other devices. You may not sell the software or incorporate it (or any portion of it) into another product. You may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software or otherwise attempt to derive the source code (except where expressly permitted by law) or the communications protocol for accessing our Services.

You may not modify, adapt or create derivative works from the software or remove proprietary notices in the software.

Exporting of Content or Software

Your use of the Services must comply with all applicable import and export control laws and regulations of Canada and other countries and you must not transfer, by electronic transmission or otherwise, any content, data, or software subject to restrictions under such laws to a national destination, person, or entity or for an end-use prohibited under those laws without first obtaining and complying with government authorization. You must not upload any data or software to our Services that cannot be exported without prior written government authorization and notification, including, but not limited to, certain types of encryption software. The assurances and commitments contained in this section shall survive termination of this TOS.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitations on Remedies and Liability

WE SUPPLY OUR SERVICES “AS IS,” “WITH ALL FAULTS,” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” WE DO NOT WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THAT ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE USING OUR SERVICES IS ACCURATE OR RELIABLE OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR FREE FROM ERROR. WE, OUR SUPPLIERS, AND AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS GIVE NO EXPRESS WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES NOR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

YOUR ONLY REMEDY FOR ANY DEFECTIVE SOFTWARE IS REPLACEMENT OF THE SOFTWARE. IN ANY OTHER DISPUTE WITH US, YOUR ONLY REMEDY IS TO STOP USING YOUR ACCOUNT AND CANCEL ANY FEE-BASED SERVICES. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF SERVICE FEES PAID DURING A ONE-MONTH PERIOD.

WE, OUR SUPPLIERS, AND AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES.

SOME PROVINCES DO NOT ALLOW US TO LIMIT OUR LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUDE CERTAIN WARRANTIES. IN THOSE PROVINCES, OATH’S LIABILITY AND WARRANTIES ARE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Additional Terms

You agree that the laws of Canada and the Province of Ontario govern this contract and any claim or dispute that you may have against us, without regard to Ontario’s conflict of laws rules. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall have no applicability.

Unless you and we agree otherwise, you agree that any disputes or claims that you may have against us reside in and will be resolved by a provincial or federal court located in Ontario and you agree and submit to the exercise of personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of litigating any such claim or action.

PLEASE NOTE THAT BY AGREEING TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, YOU ARE:  (1) WAIVING CLAIMS THAT YOU MIGHT OTHERWISE HAVE AGAINST US BASED ON THE LAWS OF OTHER JURISDICTIONS, INCLUDING YOUR OWN; (2) IRREVOCABLY CONSENTING TO THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF, AND VENUE IN, PROVINCIAL OR FEDERAL COURTS IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO OVER ANY DISPUTES OR CLAIMS YOU HAVE WITH US; AND (3) SUBMITTING YOURSELF TO THE PERSONAL JURISDICTION OF COURTS LOCATED IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO FOR THE PURPOSE OF RESOLVING ANY SUCH DISPUTES OR CLAIMS.

General Legal Terms

This TOS along with any supplemental terms for some Services constitutes the whole legal agreement between you and Oath and replaces any prior agreements between you and Oath.

We may modify this TOS from time to time. If you do not agree to the changes, stop using our Services (and remember to cancel any fee-based services) before the changes take effect. Your continued use of or subscription to a Service after the effective date of any changes means that you agree to the changes.

If a court of law finds that any provision of this TOS is invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to be valid and enforceable.

We may assign this contract at any time without notice to you. You may not assign this contract to anyone else.

Registrations, agreements, and terms presented by us electronically to you have the same effect as one in writing and are legally enforceable as a signed writing. You also consent to receive all communications regarding our Services electronically from us.

When you sign up for Services and provide us with your telephone number or mobile phone number, you agree that we may contact you from time-to-time about the Services.

We may use the phone number that you provide to us when you open your account, when you add a telephone number to your account information, when you provide it to one of our employees or customer support, or by contacting us from your number. If you provide us with a mobile number, you consent to receive SMS or text messages at that number. You may stop further text messaging by simply texting “STOP” per the instructions we provide to you. Standard telephone minute and text charges may apply if we contact you.

We will not share your phone number with non-affiliated third parties for their purposes without your consent, but we may share your phone number with our service providers, such as billing or collection companies, who may contact you.

The delivery of any communication from us is effective when sent by us, regardless of when you receive or read the communication. In addition, we are not responsible for communications that do not reach you if you have not provided us with your current contact information. If you decided not to receive notices from us electronically, we may cancel your account and terminate access to the Services.

We may be required by law to release information to a third party about your account, including the content of e-mail. You agree to hold us harmless for the release of any information related to your account in connection with a civil subpoena including, but not limited to, any claims that you did not receive notice of the civil subpoena from us.

Language

The parties hereto have agreed that this Agreement and any of its accessories, including notice, be written in the English language. Les parties aux présentes ont exigé que ce contrat et ses accessoires, y compris tout avis, soient rédigés en anglais.

Last Updated: June 15, 2017