Last updated: June 2026
By accessing or using Townhall Café ("Service," "Platform," "we," "us"), you agree to these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. These Terms constitute a binding legal agreement between you and Townhall Café.
Townhall Café is a civic engagement platform for verified neighborhood residents to discuss local issues, track civic matters, and engage with subject-matter experts and public officials. The Service uses zero-knowledge cryptographic proofs to verify neighborhood residency without storing your home address or GPS coordinates. The Platform also provides AI-assisted summaries of publicly available government records to help residents understand local civic activity. Townhall Café is a nonpartisan civic resource and is not affiliated with any government body, political party, or candidate.
You must be at least 18 years of age to use the Service. You may create only one account per person. By creating an account, you affirmatively represent and warrant that you are 18 years of age or older and that all information you provide is accurate and truthful. If we discover or have reason to believe that an account holder is under 18, we will immediately suspend the account and delete associated personal data. Providing false age information is a violation of these Terms and may result in permanent termination.
You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must promptly notify us at hello@townhallcafe.org if you suspect unauthorized access to your account. We will never ask for your password by email. You may not share, transfer, or sell your account to any other person.
You agree not to post, transmit, or otherwise make available any content that is:
We may remove content and suspend or terminate accounts that violate these standards. Content removed under these policies may be retained internally as documentation of the violation for legal compliance purposes.
You retain full ownership of the content you post ("User Content"). By posting User Content on the Platform, you grant Townhall Café a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable, royalty-free license to display, store, and distribute your User Content solely for the purpose of operating and providing the Service to other verified residents of your neighborhood. This license does not permit us to use your content for AI model training, data resale, advertising, or any commercial purpose outside of Service operation. You may revoke this license by requesting account deletion; we will process deletion within 30 days.
Townhall Café may designate certain users as "Expert" or "Official." For Experts, this designation reflects only that a professional license or credential number the user provided appeared valid in the relevant public licensing registry at the time of review — it is a report of that public-record fact, not an endorsement of the user's competence, judgment, or the accuracy of anything they post. Experts may contribute anonymously under a handle; their legal identity is collected solely to confirm the credential and is never published. Officials are designated based on verified control of an official government email or equivalent confirmation. We do not guarantee the ongoing validity of any credential, do not independently assess professional reliability, and expressly disclaim any duty of care for content posted by designated Experts or Officials. Designations may be revoked at any time without notice. Townhall Café, its operators, employees, and affiliates shall not be liable for any harm arising from reliance on statements made by a designated Expert or Official. Experts and Officials agree, as a condition of designation, to provide accurate credential information and to post only factual claims they reasonably believe to be accurate, clearly distinguishing opinion from fact.
Townhall Café's civic engine generates AI-assisted summaries ("Concern Cards") derived from publicly available government records, including municipal meeting minutes, council vote records, and permit filings. These summaries are created by the Platform — not by users — and are based on official public records. We make reasonable efforts to anchor factual claims to source documents and to display source attribution and timestamps on all civic content. These summaries are produced with the assistance of a third-party artificial-intelligence service provider (Anthropic), which processes only publicly available government records — never your account or personal data — under a service agreement.
Civic content summaries are provided for informational purposes only. They do not constitute legal advice, official government records, or a complete account of any proceeding. Records are derived from public sources and may not reflect the most current official record at the time of viewing. For authoritative records, consult the relevant municipality directly or submit an OPRA request to the applicable NJ public agency.
Townhall Café strictly prohibits the posting, sharing, or linking of nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) of any person, including AI-generated or digitally altered imagery. This prohibition applies to all users and all content formats.
Removal process (TAKE IT DOWN Act, FTC platform enforcement effective May 19, 2026): If you are the subject of NCII posted on the Platform, or if you identify NCII posted without consent, email ncii@townhallcafe.org with (1) a description of the content, (2) a link or location on the Platform, and (3) your contact information. We will review the request and, upon confirmation, remove the reported content and any known identical copies within 48 hours of receiving a complete, valid request. We will use reasonable efforts to identify and remove duplicates using available technical tools.
Posting NCII is a violation of these Terms and may violate federal and New Jersey criminal law. Accounts that post NCII will be permanently terminated and reported to law enforcement where required.
We may suspend or permanently terminate your account for violations of these Terms, for fraudulent residency verification, or to protect the integrity of the Platform. Where feasible, we will provide notice and an opportunity to respond before permanent termination.
If we terminate your account, you retain your rights under our Privacy Policy including the right to request deletion of your personal data. Platform-initiated termination does not forfeit your data deletion rights. We will process deletion requests arising from termination within 30 days.
You may delete your account at any time by emailing hello@townhallcafe.org. Upon deletion, your personal data will be removed within 30 days. Certain records may be retained for legal compliance purposes (such as records of content violations for legal hold) for the minimum period required by applicable law, not to exceed 3 years.
If your account is suspended or content is removed, you may request review by emailing hello@townhallcafe.org with "Content Appeal" in the subject line. We will respond within 10 business days. We reserve final decision-making authority, but we commit to giving your appeal meaningful consideration.
If we receive a subpoena, court order, or other legal demand for your account information or content, we will, where legally permitted, attempt to notify you before complying so that you have the opportunity to seek a protective order or other legal relief.
We will evaluate legal demands for compliance with applicable law and will challenge overbroad, abusive, or procedurally defective demands. Where user speech concerns matters of public civic interest, we will consider asserting protections available under the New Jersey Anti-SLAPP Act (P.L. 2023, c.155) and will seek attorney's fees where appropriate.
We will not voluntarily disclose user identity or private account data to third parties in response to informal requests, non-binding notices, or pressure from private parties without proper legal process.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, TOWNHALL CAFÉ AND ITS OPERATORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, INCLUDING DAMAGES FROM RELIANCE ON AI-GENERATED CIVIC SUMMARIES, RESIDENCY VERIFICATION DECISIONS, OR USER-GENERATED CONTENT.
NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS LIABILITY FOR FRAUD, GROSS NEGLIGENCE, OR OBLIGATIONS THAT CANNOT BE DISCLAIMED UNDER NEW JERSEY LAW.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Townhall Café and its operators from any claims, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) arising from: (a) your use of the Service in violation of these Terms; (b) content you post on the Platform; (c) your provision of false or spoofed residency information; or (d) your violation of any applicable law or third-party rights.
Townhall Café is a nonpartisan civic platform. The Platform does not endorse, oppose, or advocate for any political candidate, political party, or ballot measure. Users may not use the Platform to campaign for or against political candidates or to conduct partisan political organizing. This policy applies to all users and is required by the Platform's status as a civic nonprofit (pending 501(c)(3) designation) under IRS rules prohibiting political campaign intervention.
Discussion of elected officials' voting records, civic decisions, and public actions in their official capacity is permitted and encouraged as core civic speech. Discussion of candidate campaigns, partisan election messaging, or content that endorses or opposes a candidate is not permitted.
Neighborhood access on this Platform is gated by a zero-knowledge cryptographic proof that your device-reported GPS coordinates fall within a neighborhood boundary. This process verifies location mathematically but cannot independently confirm that the GPS coordinates you provided were accurate or truthful. Intentionally providing false location data to obtain a fraudulent residency proof is a violation of these Terms and may constitute fraud under applicable law.
If you are unable to complete GPS-based residency verification due to a device limitation, disability, or technical barrier, contact hello@townhallcafe.org to request an alternative verification process. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations consistent with the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions. Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in New Jersey. Before initiating litigation, the parties agree to attempt informal resolution by emailing hello@townhallcafe.org with a written description of the dispute.
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify registered users by email of any material changes at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to updated Terms, you may delete your account before the effective date.
General inquiries: hello@townhallcafe.org
Privacy and data requests: hello@townhallcafe.org
NCII removal requests: ncii@townhallcafe.org
Legal process and subpoenas: hello@townhallcafe.org (subject line: "Legal Process")
Appeals: hello@townhallcafe.org (subject line: "Content Appeal")