Effective Date: September 29, 2023

Introduction

Welcome to our terms and conditions – see the Summary directly below for what these include, and which together we refer to throughout this page as our/the “terms”. Our terms are designed to provide our subscribers and visitors with information as to how all aspects of our services (see “Part 1, Introduction below for what our “services” include) are accessed, how you can and should interact with our services, and all other terms and conditions that govern access or use of our services. This ranges from website terms of use to how to become a subscriber and what your subscription includes, to providing details as to how we use your personal information. Our terms have been designed with our subscribers and visitors in mind, and they apply to you whenever you access or use the relevant aspects of our various services. To navigate, just click on the relevant area of our terms and you will be taken directly there.

Summary

Part 1 – Website terms of use

Welcome to our website terms of use for The Times and The Sunday Times website. Our website terms of use are important as they contain all the information you need to know about using our services, so please take a little time to read them and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact feedback@timesplus.co.uk and we will do our best to answer your questions.

Introduction

Our services are provided by and maintained by us for your personal entertainment, information and communication. The services offered by us include our digital information network including website/s (including mobile/tablet app versions) and all The Times and The Sunday Times features, content, competitions, prize draws and/or other promotions, and any and all other material of whatever kind made available by us from time to time. By using these services either as a visitor or as a subscriber of one of our subscriptions, you may need to download software and/or content and/or agree to additional terms. If you choose to participate in any of our services you will be bound by any applicable and additional terms as well as these website terms of use.

Your agreement with us is formed of all applicable elements of these terms, including these website terms of use and in addition our:

  • Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy, which sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us and information about how your use of our services is monitored so that we are able to improve your user experience. Please read our Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy so that you understand our privacy practices. You warrant that all data provided by you is accurate;
  • Subscription Terms, which sets out the terms that will apply to your subscription with us;
  • Cancellation Terms, which sets out how to cancel your subscription; and
  • Participation Guidelines, which sets out our approach to community interaction and how we moderate your content, such as comments made in relation to our articles.

Our services

Accessing our services

Parts of our services are only accessible to our subscribers and not to visitors. In addition, we may not offer or make available all of our services or content to residents of certain countries.

If you are required to register with us to access some or all of our content, you agree that you will keep your user name and/or password confidential and will not share this information with any third party. You also agree that you will not register multiple email addresses. We may terminate or restrict your use of our service if you violate these website terms of use or are engaged in illegal or fraudulent use of the service.

Modifications

We may, at our discretion change, remove, suspend or discontinue any aspect of our services at any time including the availability of any content (e.g. a community forum may be withdrawn).

Our content

Our content, trademarks, copyright, patents, logos, domain names and other related intellectual property rights or other features of our brand belong to us or to our licensors. Your use of our services does not grant you any rights in our, and/or our licensors’, intellectual property whether for commercial or non-commercial use.

We grant our users a limited licence to access and use our services and intellectual property rights (subject to your ability to access our services as set out above) and to the following usage restrictions:

  • you may use our services for personal, private and non-commercial purposes only; 
  • you must not register multiple email addresses;
  • you must not use, share, or otherwise exploit the services, or any content appearing on the services, for any commercial, business, or monetised purpose (this does not apply to any user content posted by you and in which you retain ownership rights, see paragraph on user generated content below), or for any other purpose not expressly permitted by these terms; 
  • you must abide by any exclusionary protocols (e.g. Robots.txt) that may be used in connection with the services. You may not access parts of the services to which you are not authorised or attempt to circumvent any restrictions imposed on your use of or access to the services; and 
  • you must not:
    • use the services in any way that is unlawful, improper, or fraudulent; that is defamatory, threatening, abusive, pornographic, objectionable; or which advocates bigotry, hatred, or discrimination; 
    • reproduce, duplicate, publish, copy, share, or re-sell any part of the services; 
    • extract any data or metadata from the services or any content on/available via the services (including by means of so-called “scraping”);
    • use any content, data or information (including associated metadata) from the services for any machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) purposes, including, but not limited to, developing, building, training, fine tuning, or grounding or otherwise utilising in any large language models (LLMs), machine learning tools, or generative AI systems; 
    • alter, delete or conceal any copyright, trademark, service mark or other notices contained within our content or services; 
    • use the services in a way that could damage, disable, overburden, impair or compromise our systems or security or interfere with other users;
    • circumvent any digital rights management software or geo-blocking software (including by the use of a VPN or other similar technologies to mask your location);
    • incorporate the services into another service or website;
    • transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of the services; or
    • access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt (a) any part of the services; (b) any equipment or network on which the services is stored; (c) any software used in the provision of the services; or (d) any equipment, network or software owned or used by any third party.

You acknowledge that in using our services we and our third party affiliates may provide advertising and other information to you.

 

Third Party Content

Third party content included as part of our services, is licensed to you either under these website terms of use or through such third party terms and conditions that will be made known to you as and when they become relevant (e.g. if you use any services provided by The Sunday Times Wine Club, you will also be required to accept their terms and conditions).

User Generated Content

Users of our services may be given an opportunity to interact with us and submit, post and/or upload content (including comments and pictures). In posting your content, you confirm to us that you are the owner or have consent from the owner to post the content and that the content complies with our Participation Guidelines and does not defame any person, company or business or violate the privacy rights, copyright and other intellectual property rights, contract rights or any other rights of any person.

By submitting content, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, perpetual, royalty free worldwide licence to use any of the content that you post on or in connection with our services and you also irrevocably waive the benefit of any moral rights you may have in any such material. We do not claim any ownership rights in your content and you continue to retain all ownership rights in your content. If you believe that your rights have been infringed in relation to your content, please contact community@thetimes.co.uk.

By submitting content, you also warrant that you have read and agree to be bound by our Participation Guidelines which are incorporated in these website terms of use and govern all interactions with us.

We do not endorse any user generated content nor do we guarantee the accuracy or authority of any user generated content. We reserve the right to remove your content and to remove, suspend or discontinue your opportunity to submit, post and/or upload content, at any time and for any reason at our sole discretion and without further recourse to you.

Costs of using our services

We provide our users (whether as a subscriber or visitor) with a variety of services. To benefit fully from our services you will need to become a subscriber as not all aspects of our services are made available to visitors. We may also occasionally require you to download our content and/or call our service providers. If there are charges associated to any of these services, we will make it clear before you incur any such charges and you will be responsible for any charges incurred from that point on.

Disclaimer

We will always aim to provide you with the best service we can, but our service is provided “as is” and we do not and cannot promise that all of the information provided in our services will always be 100% accurate. The information provided by our services is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. All our services are provided without any warranties or guarantees.

Some of the information provided by our services is supplied to us by our third party partners. We have no control over third party content and we are unable to guarantee the accuracy of such third party content. You agree that you access any content at your own risk. Before relying on any information, whether it is from us or from our third party partners, we advise you to verify the accuracy of such information.

Whilst we will do our best to ensure that our service is fully operational at all times, we are not responsible for and shall not be liable to you for any problems or temporary interruptions in using our services arising from factors outside of our control (e.g. technical problems from traffic congestion on the internet) or for any problems arising from participating in or from downloading third party content.

To the extent permissible by law, we are not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from use of our services or from any content posted on or through our services.

Limitation of our liability to you

You agree, that to the extent permissible by law, your sole and only remedy for any problems, issues or concerns with our service is to stop using our services, whether as a subscriber or as a visitor using one of our services.

Changes to our terms

We may amend these website terms of use at any time to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your experience in using our services, so please ensure that you check our website terms of use frequently. By continuing to use our services after any changes are made, you accept those changes and will be bound by them.

The law that governs our services

These website terms of use and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them (including non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. However, if your use of the website gave rise to a potential legal action when you were a resident of: (i) Ireland, these website terms of use are subject to Irish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts; or (ii) Scotland, these website terms of use are subject to Scottish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.

Other information

In these website terms of use the following words and expressions will have the following meanings:

Our content means any text, files, images, photos, graphics, video, sounds, musical works, or any other materials that we publish or post on or through our services.

Third party content any text, files, images, photos, graphics, video, sounds, musical works, or any other materials published or posted on or through our services by our third party partners.

Us, our, we means The Times and The Sunday Times of Times Media Limited, whose registered office is at 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, the holding company of Times Media Limited and any subsidiary from time to time of Times Media Limited or its holding company.

Your content means any text, files, images, graphics, photos, video, sounds, musical works, or any other materials that a user posts on or through our services.

Part 2 – Subscription terms

Welcome to our subscriber terms. Please read these terms carefully as they will set out the terms for your subscription with us. Where there are differences between our subscriptions for The Times or The Sunday Times in the UK and Ireland (for example, the price of your subscription or what it includes), we have set out these details below. Unless otherwise stated, any reference to a subscriber or a subscription shall include reference to all our subscribers.

In addition to these terms, you will also be subject to the individual offer terms which govern the specific offer which you choose. Such offer terms will be made available to you when choosing your pack/subscription/offer.

If you access one of our packs under a corporate subscription, these standard subscription terms will apply to your subscription as far as they are relevant. The duration of your subscription is determined by the corporate subscription holder.

This is an instant access service.  By purchasing this subscription you agree your access will start immediately. Please see Part 3 – Cancellation Terms for your cancellation rights.

Brief description

Subscription in the UK

The Digital Pack – includes access to the tablet edition, thetimes.co.uk website, smartphone app and Times+ benefits.

The Ultimate Pack – includes access to the tablet edition, the print edition, thetimes.co.uk website, smartphone app, and Times+ benefits.

The Classic Pack – includes the print edition every day, thetimes.co.uk website, smartphone app, and Times+ benefits.

The Student Pack – includes access to thetimes.co.uk website, smartphone app and Times+ benefits. Your Student Subscription is assigned to a single user.  You must ensure that the username and password for your Student Subscription remain secure and are not shared with any other user. Times Media reserves the right to cancel your Student Subscription at any time if we believe it is being misused. By signing up to a Student subscription you agree that your Student Subscription cannot be used with more than three devices concurrently. You are responsible for all use, activities and charges associated with your username and password. Your username and password are not otherwise transferable.

There are more subscriptions available at: www.thetimes.co.uk/subscribe

Subscription in Ireland

The Digital Pack – includes access to, and localised content on, the tablet edition, thetimes.co.uk website, smartphone app and Times Memberships benefits.

There are several more bespoke packs that can be made available to customers on request during the registration process.

The exact entitlements for your selected pack will be made clear to you before you purchase your subscription.

How do I become a subscriber?

To become a subscriber in the UK, please visit store.thetimes.co.uk or call our Customer Services team on 0800 018 5177 and select which one of our subscriptions or offers best suits your needs.

To become a subscriber in Ireland, please visit store.thetimes.ie or call our Customer Services team on 1800 949 690 or 015360900 and select which one of our packs or offers best suits your needs.

Any UK resident (excluding Channel Islands) can become a subscriber, except for our digital only subscriptions, which are available in Ireland and the rest of the world (we reserve the right to exclude certain territories from time to time and limit the entitlements on offer in any country).

You must be 18 or older and have the power to enter into a contract with us and are not prevented from doing so under any local laws.

By registering to become a subscriber, you agree that you have given us accurate registration details, including payment information and will ensure that we always have up to date contact information.

How long is my subscription?

Your subscription will start immediately upon payment. The terms that govern your minimum and continuing subscription with us will vary depending on which subscription you chose under the offer advertised and whether you have taken out subscription to one of our trial offers.

Your minimum subscription term will be made known to you before you agree to purchase your subscription and will be confirmed to you in your welcome email.

What does my subscription cost?

The cost of your subscription will be made clear to you on our sign-up pages and in your welcome email and may vary from time to time or by country. You agree to pay the fees at the rates notified to you at the time you purchase one of our subscriptions. If you later request us to change your subscriptions, you agree to pay the new pack price set out in your change confirmation email.

If you choose to become a subscriber through a trial offer, your trial offer will cost you the trial price offered. At the end of your stated trial period, your subscription will automatically continue on a rolling monthly or quarterly basis (this will be made known to you before you complete registration to the trial offer) at the rate notified to you at the time of purchase.

Depending on your location, The Classic Pack and The Ultimate Pack may also be available with home delivery for an additional cost per week on top of the basic pack price.

There are several more bespoke packs that can be made available to customers on request during the registration process. The cost of these other packs will vary and will be made known to you before you register.

Payment can be made using all major credit or debit cards and via PayPal. Where relevant, currency conversion values may fluctuate and conversion fees may be charged by your bank. Unless otherwise stated, the savings calculation stated is relevant to the specified pack and is either based upon saving made per week against cover price or against the standard rate (as may be applicable). By submitting payment details to us, you promise that you are entitled to purchase a subscription using those payment details. You also give us permission to store your payment details in accordance with our Privacy and Cookie Policy (please see Part 5 – Privacy and Cookie Policy). 

We reserve the right to change your subscription price and/or benefits with 30 days’ notice and affected subscribers may terminate their subscription within this notice period.

How can I change my subscription?

It is possible to change your subscription in certain circumstances. To find out if you are eligible, please contact our Customer Services team on 0800 018 5177 in the UK or 1800 949 687 in Ireland. Lines are open 8am – 7pm Monday to Friday, and 8am – 4pm  7 days a week.on Saturday and Sunday.

How can I cancel?

Please see Part 3 – Cancellation Terms.

Using your voucher booklet

If your pack includes the print edition version of one of our publications, and you do not choose delivery, you will receive a voucher booklet every 13 weeks. Vouchers are accepted at most newsagents. Please keep your vouchers safe as we are unable to accept any liability for lost or stolen vouchers.

Depending on your subscription type, you are entitled to up to five weeks’ subscription holiday per year, each yearly period starting on your subscription start date.

If your subscription is for less than a year, your subscription holiday will be pro-rated accordingly.

You can arrange up to five weeks’ holiday of your subscription a year, so you don’t have to pay for your newspaper when you are away. You can add, edit and delete your holiday dates until 4pm the day before your holiday start.

Unused allowance from each yearly period cannot be carried forward or refunded in any circumstances.

Please contact our Customer Services team for details about your subscription holiday and how to book.

How can we change these terms?

We may amend these terms at any time to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your subscription experience. If we make any important changes to the subscription terms we will notify you.

What do I need (devices and hardware)?

To benefit fully from our subscriptions, you will need one or more of the following:

  • Android supported smartphones and/or tablet devices (e.g. Nexus, HTC and Galaxy devices);
  • Apple iOS 12.4 (or above) supported smartphones and/or tablet devices (e.g. iPhone and iPad); and/or
  • for our UK subscriptions only, Kindle (although not all digital content will be supported) and second generation or above Kindle Fire devices.

What happens if I default on a payment?

If you default on any payment, we may:

  • terminate your subscription;
  • charge you for any outstanding amount remaining on the unexpired portion of your minimum subscription term (subject to your subscriptions and/or offer terms);
  • send your details to third party debt collectors; and/or
  • take any action which is necessary in our opinion to recover our losses.

If your subscription has been terminated and you would like to re-subscribe to one of our subscriptions, we have the right to require payment in full of any outstanding amount owed to us.

How do I make a complaint?

If you would like to get in touch with us to make a complaint, please use one of the following options:

  • for Live Chat, go to www.thetimes.co.uk/help#contact-us;
  • by email, please email us on care@thetimes.co.uk;
  • by telephone free from a UK landline to 0800 018 5177, by mobile to 020 7022 6620 at the network providers standard charge, or from overseas to +44 20 7022 6620;
  • by post to Customer Services to 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF.

For subscribers in Ireland, please contact our Customer Services team using the details above or by telephone free from an Irish landline to 1800 949 687, by mobile or landline in Ireland to 015360818, or from overseas to +35315360818.

If you are unable to resolve your dispute with us directly, you may wish to use the European ODR platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/

Can my rights under these terms be terminated?

Yes, in certain circumstances. We are entitled to end, or restrict, your rights under these terms immediately and without notice:

  • if you breach these terms including (without limitation) any of the Acceptable Use Restrictions (see Part 1 above) or the Participation Guidelines (see Part 6 below); and/or
  • if, in our reasonable judgement, we determine that your use of our services is illegal, fraudulent, or unsuitable in any other way.

If we end your rights under these terms, you must immediately stop all activities authorised by these terms, including your access of the services, and we may permanently ban you from the services and any other sites/services operated by our corporate group. If you are a subscriber to our services and we end your rights under these terms, this will result in the termination of your subscription with us and you will not be entitled to a refund in these circumstances.

Anything else I should know?

We may change our subscription entitlements at any time with 30 days’ notice and you may cancel your subscription within this notice period.  We may also at any time and at our sole discretion, terminate your subscription with us where we believe that we have serious grounds to terminate (for example, for non-payment or breach of these terms).

We may screen your name and address against credit reference and fraud prevention databases when we decide whether or not to accept your application for subscription. If we do not accept your application for subscription, we will terminate your subscription and reimburse any payment that you have made.

Home delivery (which carries additional monthly charges) may be available in London (subject to our home delivery catchment area) on subscriptions which include the print edition. Home delivery requires sufficient access to premises and may be cancelled at any time by us at our discretion. Any stated home delivery offer (if applicable) relates to the home delivery service charge only and not the cost of subscription.

Our Standard Subscription Terms apply to all subscriptions and can be viewed at thetimes.co.uk.

In addition to these standard subscription terms, you will also be subject to any specific terms relating to the offer or pack that you have chosen, as made available to you before the purchase of your subscription. If you are found to be abusing the terms of any of our offers, we have the right to suspend and/or terminate your subscription and/or offer agreement with us.

Our editorial content is subject to either the Editors’ Code of Practice, administered by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the independent regulator of the UK’s newspapers and magazines or the Code of Practice administered by the Press Council of Ireland.  For more information, please go to IPSO’s website at www.ipso.co.uk or the Press Council of Ireland’s website at www.presscouncil.ie.

Our subscriptions are subject to English law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. However, if you are a resident in Scotland, our subscriptions are subject to Scottish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts and if you are a resident in Ireland, our subscriptions are subject to Irish law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts.

Your subscription is with Times Media Limited (whose registered office is at 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF).

Part 3 – Cancellation terms

 

How can I cancel my subscription?

You cancel your subscription simply by calling our Customer Services team on 0800 018 5177 in the UK or 1800 949 687 in Ireland. Lines are open 8am to 4pm 7 days a week.

If you would like to cancel and it has been more than 14 days since the start of your subscription, you can do so by calling the number above.

If you receive a digital only subscription or a print subscription by delivery (including a combined print and digital subscription), you must call us at least 2 days before your next billing date. If you do not provide such notice, you will be required to make your next bill payment and your subscription will continue until the end of the next billing period. Your estimated bill payment date will be set out in your welcome email and you can find out your exact billing date by calling our Customer Services team.

If you receive a print subscription (including a combined print and digital subscription) by way of a voucher book, you must call us at least 15 days before the end of your 13 week voucher book. If you do not provide such notice, your subscription will continue and you will be required to make bill payments until the expiry of the next 13 week voucher book.

What information do I need to cancel?
When cancelling your subscription with us, please have the following information ready:

  • Which subscription pack you would like to cancel;
  • Your name and address.

Can I get a refund if I cancel?

Subscribers to The Classic Pack, The Ultimate Pack and The Digital Pack
If you cancel within 14 days of the start of your subscription, we will refund any payments received from you using the same method of payment that you used to purchase your subscription.  You will not be entitled to a refund of your initial payment if you cancel after the first 14 days of the start of your subscription.
If you would like to cancel within 14 days of the start of your subscription, we advise you to cancel via telephone, as this will instantly confirm your cancellation. Alternatively, you may email care@thetimes.co.uk from your registered email address, telling us you’d like to cancel or including the completed form below and we will contact you regarding your request. These additional cancellation options are only available to subscribers who would like to cancel within 14 days of their subscription start date.
To: Customer Services, Times Newspapers Limited
Tel no:
I hereby give notice that I cancel my Subscription contract
Purchased on: [insert date of Subscription]
Customer Reference Number: [insert your Customer reference number]
Your full name:
Your address:
Date:
Reason for cancelling (optional):
Please note that if you cancel your subscription within the first 14 days, your access to our services will stop and you will be required to forfeit any subscription benefits that you have received, including sign-up offers, vouchers or any other benefits connected to your subscription. If you have any questions about what cancelling your subscription means for you, please contact us at care@thetimes.co.uk or via our online Live Chat service.

How can we change these terms?

We may amend these cancellation terms at any time to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your subscription experience.

Part 4 – Subscriber benefits

Subscribers to certain Times subscriptions will be able to use their login details to access the benefits, events, offers and competitions (Benefits) made available on either the Times+ website at www.mytimesplus.co.uk or www.timesmembership.ie in Ireland (together, the Websites). Use of the Websites is governed by the Website User Terms set out at Part 1 and the Privacy and Cookie Policy referred to in Part 5 insofar as they are applicable. Each Benefit made available through the Websites is subject to the specific terms and conditions set out or referred to on the relevant Benefit page. Benefits are personal to subscribers and shall not be transferred. Subscribers may opt out of Benefits, although we will not pay you any refund if you fail to make use of any Benefit.

Part 5 – Privacy and cookie policy

For details of how we hold and process your personal information, please visit www.newsprivacy.co.uk.

Part 6 – Participation guidelines

Our guidelines (Participation Guidelines) are designed to make clear our approach to community interaction at The Times and The Sunday Times, including moderation of comments and other content submitted by subscribers.

Our aim

We provide numerous opportunities for subscribers to discuss stories that we publish and debate issues that we cover. Our job is to provide an environment where subscribers feel that they are able to contribute and that as many as possible actively get involved on a regular basis. We hope that these guidelines will explain the standard of behaviour we expect from subscribers and encourage more people to join in with the discussion. They work in tandem with our website terms of use, which you can read above.

In these guidelines, the following words and expressions will have the following meanings:

Content means any text, files, images, graphics, photos, video, sounds, musical works, or any other material that a subscriber posts on or through our services.

Real Name means your first name and last name e.g. John Smith. You must use your surname in full. Your first name should either be your full first name, or a commonly recognised variation (i.e. “Liz” for “Elizabeth” or “Will” for “William”) or the initial of your first name. You may include your middle name, if preferred, either written in full or as an initial, though a middle name is not a substitute for first or last names. 

Us, our, we means Times Media Limited, whose registered office is at 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, the holding company of Times Media Limited and any subsidiary from time to time of Times Media Limited or its holding company.

Community standards

There are community standards that we expect subscribers to follow when interacting with us. These are:

  • From December 13, 2022, subject to certain exemptions required by local data protection and privacy laws, subscribers that post or engage with comments must use a Real Name as their display name, as defined above.
  • Please ensure comments are legal, tasteful civil and respectful. Personal attacks, harassment and inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated.
  • Choose your words carefully and do not use language that is threatening, defamatory or offensive to any individual or groups. Understand that words which you deem acceptable may be offensive to others.
  • We acknowledge that there may be criticism of our journalism but personal insults or repeated attacks directed towards our journalists will not be tolerated. If you would like to comment on the impartiality of an article, please email feedback@thetimes.co.uk.
  • Maintain a respectful tone, especially when discussing heated or controversial issues. We realise this can be hard and we recommend that users re-read comments before posting.
  • Help us take responsibility for the level of conversation on the website by ensuring comments are relevant and on topic. If you think discussion on an article is moving away from the intended topic, click ‘Flag comment’ on the comment box and we will investigate.
  • Where you refer to reports, studies, other articles and additional information, do your best to link to the original source. This extra context is conducive for having interesting and useful discussions and will result in better feedback from our other readers.

Moderation of user generated content

We moderate comments made by our subscribers in accordance with these Participation Guidelines and content that does not breach these guidelines may be published. Our aim is to ensure that all subscribers enjoy our services.

Comments posted within The Times and Sunday Times publications may be shared via email or to social media using the ‘share’ feature and are only accessible in full to subscribers. By joining the conversation you are accepting our Participation Guidelines.

In order to ensure our subscribers remain compliant with our Participation Guidelines, we have created a non-exhaustive list of prohibited interactions. Interactions must not:

  • promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or links to articles or websites that do the same;
  • harass, threaten or attack anyone or otherwise behave in a way that could cause annoyance or distress to our subscribers;
  • be obscene, vulgar, offensive, pornographic, profane, sexually explicit or indecent;
  • use swear words, act in a threatening or abusive manner or promote violence;
  • make libellous or defamatory comments about others;
  • contain any information which personally identifies another individual (such as name, phone number and address) or breaches data protection law, unless it is editorially justified, in the public domain or express consent has been obtained;
  • constitute or encourage conduct that would be a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law;
  • prejudice pending or on-going criminal or civil court proceedings;
  • violate, plagiarise or infringe the rights of third parties including any copyright, trademark, patent, rights of privacy or publicity or any other proprietary right;
  • breach any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence;
  • contain any information, software or other material of a commercial nature;
  • contain advertising, promotions or commercial solicitations of any kind, unless editorially justified;
  • be likely to upset, embarrass and alarm any other person;
  • constitute or contain false or misleading indications of origin or statements of fact;
  • be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person;
  • contain any virus, Trojan horse, worm, time bomb, cancelbot or other similar harmful programming routine;
  • contain emojis (pictographs of faces, objects, and symbols).

We will refrain from publishing content that breaches these guidelines and may edit or remove a comment we feel has caused offence to our subscribers. This is in the interest of keeping our community areas appropriate for the vast majority of the people who visit.

If a subscriber seriously or repeatedly violates these guidelines, we will take whatever action necessary to ensure these violations are prevented from continuing and we reserve the right to remove, suspend or discontinue your opportunity to submit, post and/or upload content at our sole discretion and without further recourse to you.

At all times, we reserve the right to take actions that we think will benefit our subscribers. We will always try to communicate any changes that affect our subscribers, although this is not always possible. All actions taken by the Head of Community Development and the Community team are final. If you have any queries or suggestions about how to improve participation with us or about any aspect of our Participation Guidelines, please email us at community@thetimes.co.uk.

General

We may amend these Participation Guidelines or any of our terms to ensure that we remain compliant with relevant laws and regulations and to ensure that we are constantly improving your subscription experience.