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Acceptable Use Rules

Last Modified: September 20, 2022

We have a few rules on how our services can and cannot be used and this policy explains them (the “Acceptable Use Rules”). The rules apply to all of Hootsuite’s services (the “Services”) and to all our users regardless of their plans (Free, Professional, Team, Business, and Enterprise). These rules form part of our broader terms of service. If you see an undefined term here, it has the same definition as in the terms of service applicable to your Services (the “Terms”).

GENERAL RULES

1. You must:

a. Use your best efforts to prevent unauthorized access to or use of the Services, including by maintaining a strong password;

b. Keep your passwords and other login credentials for the Services confidential;

c. Monitor and control all activity conducted through your Hootsuite account;

d. Notify us promptly if you become aware of or suspect any security breach regarding your account, including any loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure or use of your (or any of your Authorized Users’) username, password, or account; and

e. Comply with the Social Networks’ applicable terms which you connect through the Services (the “Social Network TOS”). These include without limitation and as applicable: 

f. If you use Hootsuite to upload Content that was made for children to YouTube websites, applications, services or products, go to YouTube on desktop to declare that Content was made for children.

2. You must not:

a. Make the Services available to anyone other than your Authorized Users;

b. Allow more than one individual Authorized User to use a single log-in to the Services, or use the Services in excess of the quantities or limits set out in your Services plan;

c. Sell, trade, or otherwise transfer any Services to another party;

d. Upload or share Customer Content that you do not own or otherwise have the right to share;

e. Use the Services to store or transmit any Content, including Customer Content, that may infringe or violate the intellectual property, privacy, publicity rights, or any other rights of any person or third party, that may violate any applicable laws or applicable Social Network TOS, or that is:

  • i. Defamatory;

  • ii. Threatening;

  • iii. Fraudulent;

  • iv. Willfully or intentionally misleading;

  • v. Hate speech;

  • vi. Terrorist content;

  • vii. Inciting violence;

  • viii. Child exploitative;

  • ix. Intimate content shared without consent; or

  • x. Otherwise tortious or unlawful;

f. Use the Services to send spam or other unsolicited messages in violation of applicable laws or any applicable Social Network TOS;

g. Upload to, or transmit from, the Services any Content that contains or redirects to a virus, Trojan horse, worm, or other harmful component;

h. Attempt to reverse engineer, de-compile, hack, disable, interfere with, disassemble, modify, copy, translate, or disrupt the features, functionality, integrity, or performance of the Services or the Social Networks (including any mechanism used to restrict or control the functionality of the Services or the Social Networks) or any data from third parties (in other words, someone other than you, your Authorized Users or Hootsuite) contained in the Social Networks (except to the extent such restrictions are prohibited by applicable laws);

i. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Services, the Social Networks, or related systems or networks or to defeat, avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or otherwise circumvent any software protection or monitoring mechanisms of the Services or the Social Networks;

j. Access the Services in order to build a similar or competitive product or service or copy any ideas, features, functions, or graphics of the Services or the Social Networks;

k. Engage in any abusive practices that degrade the performance of the Services (or any part of the Services) for you or any of our other customers (for example, by tracking singular high-frequency terms such as “love”, “yes”, or “the” or other similar activities);

l. Use the Services for redistribution, syndication, or fraudulent activities;

m. Knowingly use, display, distribute, or otherwise make Content (or information derived from Content) available to any entity, for the purpose of: (a) conducting or providing surveillance or gathering intelligence, including but not limited to investigating or tracking end users or Content; (b) conducting or providing analysis or research for any unlawful or discriminatory purpose, or in a manner that would be inconsistent with end users' reasonable expectations of privacy; (c) monitoring sensitive events (including but not limited to protests, rallies, or community organizing meetings); or (d) targeting, segmenting, or profiling individuals based on sensitive personal information, including their health (e.g., pregnancy), negative financial status or condition, political affiliation or beliefs, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical affiliation or beliefs, sex life or sexual orientation, trade union membership, Content relating to any alleged or actual commission of a crime, or any other sensitive categories of personal information prohibited by law;

n. Use the Services to access or use Content from Twitter if you are, or act on behalf of, any government-related entity whose primary function or mission includes conducting surveillance or gathering intelligence; or

o. Allow or encourage any third party to do any of the above.

USING AND TRANSFERRING MENTIONS OUTSIDE OF HOOTSUITE

3. When Hootsuite obtains Mentions on your behalf and at your instruction from Social Networks or other Third-Party Services that you connect to the Hootsuite Services, Hootsuite does so subject to the terms and conditions that the Social Networks and Third-Party Services impose on use of those Mentions within our Services. When you subsequently make any use of Mentions outside of Hootsuite’s Services, export Mentions outside of Hootsuite’s Services, or instruct Hootsuite to transfer Mentions to Third-Party Services, you are controlling the purposes and means of processing any personal data associated with such Mentions, Hootsuite does not control the use of those Mentions and is consequently unable to ensure that the use of those Mentions complies with the requirements of the Social Networks or other Third-Party Services from which the Content originated or any privacy laws. As such, to the extent that you use, transfer or instruct Hootsuite to transfer Mentions outside of Hootsuite, you expressly acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for ensuring that your and your service providers’ use of such Mentions complies in all respects with privacy laws and the then-current terms and conditions imposed by the Social Networks or other Third-Party Services on the use of such Mentions, including, without limitation and as applicable:

a. any Mentions that originated from Facebook or Instagram are subject to the Meta Platform Terms published at https://developers.facebook.com/terms/ and Developer Policies published at https://developers.facebook.com/devpolicy/;

b. any Mentions that originated from Twitter are subject to Twitter’s Developer Agreement and Policy published at https://developer.twitter.com/en/developer-terms/agreement-and-policy.html.

THE FOREGOING LIST IS NOT INTENDED TO BE EXHAUSTIVE. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO IDENTIFY WHICH SOCIAL NETWORKS OR OTHER THIRD-PARTY SERVICES MENTIONS ORIGINATE FROM AND TO ENSURE THAT YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THOSE MENTIONS IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THIS SECTION AND ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS REQUIRED BY THE APPLICABLE SOCIAL NETWORK OR OTHER THIRD-PARTY SERVICE.

If a Social Network or other Third-Party Service requires Hootsuite to remove Mentions from the Hootsuite Services, you agree to cooperate with Hootsuite to ensure that any affected Mentions are also removed from your and your service providers’ systems.

ADDITIONAL RULES APPLICABLE IF YOU USE THE SERVICES FOR CONTESTS OR OTHERWISE ASK INDIVIDUALS TO SUBMIT CONTENT THROUGH THE SERVICES (“Submitted Content”)

4. You must not:

a. Request that any participant submit personal medical information, social security information, payment card details, financial or other similarly sensitive information;

b. Request Submitted Content that would violate any applicable laws, rules, or regulations; or

c. Refer to Hootsuite or use our name, trademarks, or trade names in connection with your request for Submitted Content.

CONFLICT

5. In the event of any conflict between these Acceptable Use Rules and the Terms, the Terms will govern.