Terms of Use

The Short Version

• Local Lens is a personal subscription – one account, one user. Your account cannot be shared with colleagues or your organization. If you love it and want your team to join, reach out to locallens@americanpublicmedia.org to discuss Enterprise options.
• AI-generated content may contain errors. Always verify what you find before publishing.
• Your subscription auto-renews. You can cancel at any time before your renewal date.
• Local Lens is a research tool, not an editorial voice.

These are just the highlights – the full Terms of Service below are what’s legally binding.

Transparency

Local Lens exists because local government decisions affect everyone – and too often those decisions happen in the dark. We built this tool to help journalists and citizens shine a light on what’s happening in city halls, school boards, and other government meetings across the country.

We believe transparency isn’t just a value we help others practice – it’s one we hold ourselves to. That’s why we provide these Terms of Service in plain language; no unnecessary jargon, just a clear explanation of what we ask of you, and what you can expect from us.

If anything is unclear, please ask. We want to answer your questions. Reach out anytime at locallens@americanpublicmedia.org.

Local Lens Terms of Service

Last Updated: June 3, 2026

Introduction

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern access to and use of Local Lens, a subscription-based platform offered by American Public Media Group (“APM,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By creating an account, purchasing a subscription, or using Local Lens, you agree to these Terms.

What Is Local Lens

Local Lens gives you access to a database of AI-generated transcripts, summaries, highlights, and related information from local government meetings. It is built to help journalists and other users follow local government activity, spot trends, and find topics worth further reporting or research.

Local Lens is an informational and research tool. It is not a substitute for independent reporting, source review, legal analysis, public records research, or editorial judgment.

Who Can Use Local Lens

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use Local Lens.

Your Account

Local Lens subscriptions are for individual users. Each account is for one named person only. You can pay with company funds, but unless APM agrees in writing, your employer, newsroom, or organization gets no shared access, admin rights, or any other rights in your account.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity under your account. You may not share, sell, transfer, or allow others to use your account.

Subscriptions and Billing

Local Lens is offered through subscription plans. Depending on the plan you select, your subscription may include access to a specific number of meetings, a specified database tier, or the full database. Annual subscriptions are billed annually and may be offered at a discounted annual rate.

Automatic Renewal

Your subscription automatically renews unless you cancel at least thirty (30) days before the end of the then-current subscription term. By purchasing a subscription, you authorize APM or its payment processor to charge your selected payment method on a recurring basis for the applicable subscription fees, plus any applicable taxes, until you cancel.

Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription through your account settings or by contacting locallens@americanpublicmedia.org. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the then-current billing period unless otherwise required by law. You will continue to have access to your subscription until the end of that billing period.

No Refunds

Subscription fees are nonrefundable except where required by law or expressly stated in writing by APM.

Price Changes

APM may change subscription pricing or plan features. If we change the fee for your existing subscription, we will provide advance notice before the change takes effect and tell you how to cancel if you do not agree to the change.

Taxes

Prices are listed in U.S. dollars and exclude applicable taxes. You are responsible for any applicable taxes, duties, or governmental charges associated with your subscription.

Not a Donation

Subscription payments are for access to Local Lens and are not charitable contributions or tax-deductible donations. Subscription revenue, if any, supports the operation, maintenance, and development of Local Lens and APM’s public service mission.

What You Can Do with Local Lens

As long as your subscription is active and you follow these Terms, APM gives you a personal license to access and use Local Lens for your own professional or personal research. You cannot transfer this license, and APM can end it.

You may use Local Lens to review meeting information, identify topics for further research, support reporting workflows, and conduct civic or government-related research.

You may quote limited excerpts from Local Lens outputs in your own work if you independently verify the underlying information and do not suggest that APM endorses your work, conclusions, publication, organization, campaign, position, or advocacy.

What You Cannot Do with Local Lens

You may not:

• Share your account or permit access by anyone other than the named account holder.
• Copy, download, scrape, crawl, harvest, bulk export, or systematically extract Local Lens content except through functionality APM makes available within the product.
• Resell, sublicense, distribute, publish, or commercialize Local Lens or any substantial portion of its database.
• Use Local Lens to create or train a competing product or service.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, bypass, interfere with, or test the security of Local Lens.
• Use Local Lens for unlawful, deceptive, harassing, defamatory, discriminatory, or harmful purposes.
• Misrepresent Local Lens content as official government records, verified transcripts, or APM editorial content.
• Use Local Lens in a manner that implies APM endorses any candidate, campaign, ballot measure, lobbying position, advocacy effort, publication, product, service, or organization.
• Remove or obscure proprietary notices, disclaimers, attribution, or usage limitations.
• Use Local Lens in violation of applicable law or these Terms.

AI Content: Always Check It

Local Lens uses automated tools to generate transcripts, summaries, highlights, classifications, and other content. AI-generated content may contain errors, omissions, misattributions, incomplete information, timing inaccuracies, or other limitations.

You are responsible for independently verifying any Local Lens content before relying on it, publishing it, quoting it, making decisions based on it, or using it in any professional, legal, policy, advocacy, or public-facing context.

APM does not represent that Local Lens content is complete, accurate, current, suitable for publication, legally sufficient, or an official record of any government meeting. Where accuracy matters, you should consult the original meeting recording, official minutes, agenda materials, public records, or other primary sources.

Our Editorial Independence

APM’s operation of Local Lens does not create any obligation to cover, investigate, publish, promote, suppress, or otherwise act on any topic, meeting, user request, organization, or viewpoint.

Your subscription does not influence APM’s editorial decisions, newsroom priorities, reporting, programming, public media operations, or other journalistic activities. APM retains full editorial independence.

You may not use your subscription, communications with APM, or Local Lens outputs to suggest that APM supports or opposes any political candidate, legislation, public policy position, advocacy campaign, commercial product, or organizational agenda.

Your Content and Feedback

You may provide information to APM through your account, customer support communications, product feedback, saved searches, notes, or other features made available through Local Lens (“User Content”).

You retain ownership of your User Content. You grant APM a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, and process User Content as needed to provide, maintain, secure, support, and improve Local Lens.

If you provide feedback, suggestions, or ideas about Local Lens, APM may use them without restriction or compensation.

Do not submit confidential source information, sensitive personal information, privileged information, or information you do not have the right to provide.

Our Content and Rights

Local Lens, including its software, database structure, workflows, interfaces, documentation, AI-generated outputs, compilations, summaries, highlights, metadata, and related content, is owned by APM or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property and other laws.

Except for the license described above, no rights are transferred to you. APM keeps all rights it does not expressly grant.

Privacy

APM’s collection and use of personal information in connection with Local Lens is described in the Local Lens Privacy Policy, available at [Privacy Policy URL]. By using Local Lens, you acknowledge the Privacy Policy.

Changes to the Service

APM may update, modify, suspend, or discontinue Local Lens or any feature, database tier, meeting source, plan, or functionality at any time. We may also impose usage limits or take steps to protect system performance, security, and integrity.

Service Availability

APM does not guarantee that Local Lens will be uninterrupted, error-free, available in all locations, or compatible with all devices or systems.

Suspension and Termination

APM may suspend or terminate your account or access to Local Lens if you violate these Terms, fail to pay fees when due, create legal or security risk, misuse Local Lens, or use Local Lens in a way that may harm APM, other users, public media operations, or third parties.

You may stop using Local Lens at any time and may cancel your subscription as described in the Subscriptions and Billing section.

Upon termination, your right to access and use Local Lens ends. Sections intended to survive termination will continue to apply, including provisions about fees, restrictions, intellectual property, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnity, and disputes.

Disclaimers

LOCAL LENS IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, APM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AVAILABILITY, AND RELIABILITY.

APM DOES NOT WARRANT THAT LOCAL LENS WILL IDENTIFY EVERY RELEVANT MEETING, DECISION, DISCUSSION, DEBATE, TREND, OR STORY; THAT TRANSCRIPTS OR SUMMARIES WILL BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE; OR THAT LOCAL LENS CONTENT WILL BE SUITABLE FOR ANY PARTICULAR USE.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, APM WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST DATA, LOSS OF GOODWILL, PUBLICATION ERRORS, EDITORIAL DECISIONS, OR THIRD-PARTY CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO LOCAL LENS OR THESE TERMS.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, APM’S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO LOCAL LENS OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID TO APM FOR LOCAL LENS IN THE SIX MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limitations of liability, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.

Your Responsibility for Claims

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless APM, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, contractors, and agents from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to:

• Your use or misuse of Local Lens.
• Your publication, distribution, or reliance on Local Lens content.
• Your User Content.
• Your violation of these Terms.
• Your violation of law or third-party rights.

Changes to These Terms

APM may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice through Local Lens, by email, or by another reasonable method. The updated Terms will apply after the effective date stated in the notice. Your continued use of Local Lens after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota, without regard to conflict of law principles, except where applicable consumer protection laws require otherwise.

Any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or Local Lens will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Ramsey County, Minnesota, unless applicable law requires a different forum. You and APM consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

The Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with any subscription order, checkout terms, and policies referenced in these Terms, form the entire agreement between you and APM about Local Lens.

You may not assign these Terms or your account without APM’s prior written consent. APM may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, reorganization, asset transfer, or operation of law.

Severability and Waiver

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect. APM’s failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver.

Contact Us

For questions, cancellations, support, or notices, contact:

American Public Media Group
480 Cedar Street
St. Paul, MN 55101
Email: locallens@americanpublicmedia.org