1. The service
OwnTheHype publishes independently produced coverage of significant AI developments and operates time-limited markets for clearly labelled sponsor placement alongside that coverage. Editorial facts, conclusions, sources, comparisons, corrections, and homepage prominence are not for sale.
2. Eligibility and company authority
You must be at least 18 years old and authorized to act for the company you represent. We may reject or suspend a sponsor whose authority, destination URL, or conduct cannot be verified, and may review a placement after payment to protect the service and its users.
3. Sponsor markets
Each market closes at the timestamp displayed before checkout. A purchase increases the sponsor's confirmed cumulative spend in that market; it does not guarantee a permanent rank. Another confirmed payment may change the ranking before or after your checkout. Equal totals are ordered by the time each total was first confirmed.
Every market opens at $5 USD. Taking the leading position requires a confirmed total at least $5 above the current leader; other rank movements and sponsor rebids use $1 minimum increments. A returning sponsor is charged only the difference needed to reach its chosen cumulative total.
The checkout disclosure shows the payment amount, requested target total, expected rank, market close, and applicable version of these terms. The authoritative result is produced from verified server-side payment events, not the browser success page.
4. Advertising disclosure and sponsor content
Sponsor placements are advertising and are labelled accordingly. Payment does not buy an endorsement, review, certification, traffic guarantee, conversion guarantee, SEO result, or editorial influence. Sponsors are responsible for the accuracy and legality of their names, claims, logos, and destination pages.
5. Payments, refunds, and disputes
Prices are stated in U.S. dollars and processed by Stripe. A payment confirmed after the market closes is excluded from ranking and automatically refunded. Other refunds are not guaranteed merely because a sponsor is overtaken, receives less traffic than expected, or changes its mind. We may refund or reverse a placement affected by fraud, duplicate processing, technical error, unlawful content, or a successful payment dispute. Bank and network processing times are outside our control.
6. Acceptable use
Do not misuse the service, impersonate another company, manipulate traffic, submit unsafe or deceptive URLs, interfere with market operation, scrape protected areas, probe for vulnerabilities without permission, or use the service unlawfully. We may quarantine or remove content and restrict access to protect users and market integrity.
7. Corrections, availability, and changes
Automated editorial systems can make mistakes. We may correct, update, label, or remove coverage while preserving a correction history where appropriate. The service is provided on an as-available basis and may change, pause, or end. Material changes to these terms will be posted with a new effective date.
8. Intellectual property
OwnTheHype owns its service, design, and original editorial material. Sponsors retain their rights in submitted marks and grant us a limited licence to display and reproduce them for the purchased placement, receipts, market archives, analytics, and related promotion.
9. Disclaimers and liability
Coverage and marketplace data are provided for general information and advertising, not legal, financial, investment, or professional advice. Any warranty exclusions, liability limits, indemnities, governing law, dispute process, and statutory consumer-rights language must be finalized by counsel before live payments are enabled.
10. Contact
Questions about these terms may be sent to legal@ownthehype.today. This address must be operational and monitored before launch.
Launch note: This is a practical product draft, not legal advice or legal approval.