User-Generated Content Policy

Empathy First Media may allow users to contribute content in certain areas of our website or online presence (for example, posting comments on our blog, submitting testimonials, participating in forums or community discussions, etc.). This User-Generated Content (UGC) Policy outlines the rules and rights related to any content created by users (you) and submitted to our platforms. By posting or submitting content on our site, you agree to this policy.

Ownership of Content: When you submit any content (such as comments, text, images, or any other materials) to Empathy First Media’s site, you retain ownership of your content. You remain the owner of any intellectual property rights in the content you create. We do not claim exclusive ownership of your works. However, by submitting content, you are granting Empathy First Media a broad license to use that content as described below.

License to Empathy First Media: In order for us to display and distribute your content, we need certain rights. Thus, by posting or submitting content, you grant Empathy First Media a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display your content (in whole or part) on our website and in connection with promoting our website or services​.

This license is:

• Non-exclusive: You can still use your content however you like elsewhere (you can post it on your own blog, share it with others, etc.).

• Royalty-free: We will not pay you for the right to use this content (the exchange is that you get to publish on our platform and potentially reach our audience).

• Perpetual & Irrevocable: Even if you remove the content or ask us to remove it later, any uses that have already happened (like content in backups, or quotes used in marketing materials) can persist. (However, we generally honor removal requests for future use if reasonable.)

• Sublicensable: We have the right to sublicense these rights as needed to service providers or partners solely for the operation or promotion of our services. (For example, if our site is backed up by a CDN or data storage provider, we effectively sublicense the content for storage; or if we highlight a great user comment in a marketing brochure, the printer needs the right to reproduce it as part of the brochure.)

This license allows us to display your comment on our blog, use a snippet of your testimonial in a case study, keep your content available to other users, or make necessary copies for technical reasons (e.g., caching, backups). If we ever wanted to use user content in a significantly different way (say, in a paid product), we’d likely seek additional permission, but the broad license covers general usage.

Warranties and Representations: By submitting content, you represent and warrant that:

• You own or have secured all necessary rights to the content you post and the right to grant the license above.

• The content is your original work (or you have permission to post it). It does not infringe any third party’s copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, privacy rights, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights.

• The content is not unlawful, defamatory, or in violation of any laws or our policies (see Acceptable Use and Comment Policy for prohibited content guidelines).

• If the content includes personal data of others, you have obtained consent as required or otherwise have the legal right to post it.

You agree to indemnify Empathy First Media for any claims arising from content you submit (meaning if a third party sues us because of something you posted – e.g., claiming it was copyrighted or defamatory – you may be responsible for the costs/damages).

No Compensation: Generally, we do not provide compensation for content that users contribute. If, for example, you write a helpful comment that we later feature, you will not be paid for that. If we have specific programs (like a guest contributor program with payment), those would be governed by separate agreements.

Moderation and Removal of Content: User content is subject to moderation. We reserve the right to remove, edit, or refuse to publish any content that violates our policies or for any other reason at our sole discretion. (Refer to our Comment Policy for details on moderation approach). We might remove content that is off-topic, unlawful, inappropriate, or if we receive a valid DMCA takedown notice for copyrighted material.

If you believe content posted by another user infringes your rights or is unlawful, please notify us (for copyright, see DMCA contact at [email protected]). We will take appropriate action, which may include removing or disabling the content if warranted.

DMCA – Copyright Infringement Notices: Empathy First Media complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If you believe user-submitted content on our site infringes your copyright, you may send us a DMCA takedown notice at the designated contact (see below). Your notice should include:

• Identification of the copyrighted work you believe is infringed.

• Identification of the content on our site that you claim is infringing, with enough detail (URL or quote) for us to locate it​.

• Your contact info (name, address, email).

• A statement that you have a good faith belief the copyright owner does not authorize the use​

• A statement under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate and you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf​

• Your physical or electronic signature

Send DMCA notices to:
DMCA Agent – Empathy First Media
Email: [email protected]
Address: 260 1st Ave S, Suite 200 #166, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA
Phone: (866) 383-1077

We will respond expeditiously to remove or disable content that is claimed to be infringing and follow the DMCA’s procedures (including notifying the user who posted it, and allowing them to submit a counter-notice if they believe it’s a mistake). As per DMCA:

• If a counter-notice is received (asserting the content was wrongly removed, with consent to jurisdiction, etc.), we may restore the content after 10-14 business days unless the copyright owner informs us they have filed a court action​.

• We keep records of DMCA notices and may terminate users who are repeat infringers under appropriate circumstances (policy to ban repeat offenders).

Privacy of User Content: Except for confidential information (like maybe if we had private forums), assume anything you post is public. Do not include sensitive personal information in content. We do provide options for anonymity or using nicknames when commenting; however, your profile name and any info you share will be public. We respect your privacy as per our Privacy Policy, but user posts themselves are generally considered public information.

Third-Party Platforms: If user content is submitted on our social media pages or other external platforms (like commenting on our YouTube videos or LinkedIn posts), the platform’s own terms and license may apply as well. We will still expect users to follow our guidelines there, but note that content on third-party services is also subject to those services’ user agreements (for example, Facebook’s terms might allow them certain rights to anything posted on Facebook).

Attribution: If you submit content, we may choose to attribute it to you by the name or handle you provide. By default, your username or provided name will show. If we feature or quote your content in other contexts, we might credit you (e.g., “A user named JohnDoe on our blog said…”) unless you posted anonymously. If you want to be anonymous, do not use personally identifiable info in your username or content.

Removal by User: If at any time you wish to remove content you posted (like a comment you regret), you can request deletion by contacting us. We will make good faith efforts to delete or anonymize it from public view. However, our license allows that we might have archived copies or backups that won’t be accessible publicly but aren’t scrubbed immediately. Also, search engines or other users might have cached or copied the content, which is out of our control.

Prohibited Content (Recap): This UGC policy ties into our Acceptable Use and Comment policies. You must not post any content that:

• Violates any law or rights (copyright, trademark, privacy, etc.).

• Is obscene, pornographic, hate speech, harassing, or violates others’ rights.

• Contains malicious code or spam.

• Is false or misleading in a harmful way.

• Violates any other policy we’ve set forth.

We want the user contributions to be valuable and safe.

External Links in UGC: If you post external links, note:

• They should be relevant and safe. We may remove posts with links that appear spammy or malicious.

• We are not responsible for user-posted links. Click at your own risk and understand they might lead off our site (we cannot guarantee their content).

• By posting a link, you assert it does not violate any rights or this policy.

No Obligation to Monitor: While we strive to monitor user content, we are not legally obligated to do so. We disclaim liability for user posts, as those are authored by users not by Empathy First Media. However, we reserve the right to monitor and we will act on violations when we become aware.

Changes to User-Generated Content Areas: We might modify or discontinue interactive areas at any time. For example, if we decide to close a forum, content might be archived or removed. The rights we obtained through this policy would survive as needed (for moderation or legal compliance reasons).

Community Guidelines Agreement: By engaging with our user content features, you are essentially agreeing to our Community Guidelines (which are encompassed in this policy plus the Comment and Acceptable Use policies). Non-compliance can result in removal of content or banning of accounts.

If you have any questions about this UGC Policy or need clarification on any point (such as our license terms or how to get content removed), feel free to contact us at [email protected] or [email protected].

Last Updated: April 2025