The English version of these Terms is the authoritative version; the Spanish translation is provided for accessibility.
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of actacivic.com (the "Service"), operated by Acta Civic Engagement, LLC ("Acta," "we," "us," or "our"). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
Acta is a nonpartisan civic-engagement platform. It provides neutral, sourced informational briefs on public issues and tools to take civic action, contacting representatives, drafting letters, building campaigns, and coordinating with others. Acta is neutral; its users are not. The positions you take, the messages you send, and the campaigns you run are entirely your own. Acta does not endorse any candidate, party, or position.
Acta is a general-audience civic platform, and we handle age in three bands based on the age you report, matching our Privacy Policy. Under 13: we do not knowingly collect personal information from you, you may not submit personal information through the Service, and you are limited to the features that collect no personal data. Ages 13-15: you may use the Service's informational and action features, and we do not collect personal information from you or share your data. Ages 16-17: you may use the Service with limited data collection, consistent with the Privacy Policy, which limits or excludes data collection for minors. Because Acta Pro requires an account, an email address, and a payment method, Acta Pro is available only to users 18 and over. By using the Service, you represent that the age information you provide is accurate.
The briefs and materials Acta provides are for general informational and civic purposes only. They are not legal, financial, or professional advice. Acta uses automated tools (including AI) to generate briefs and drafts; while we strive for accuracy and neutrality, you are responsible for reviewing materials before you act on or send them.
Educators may use Acta in educational settings through a class link ("Classroom Mode"). In Classroom Mode, no personal information is collected from students. Educators are responsible for using the Service in compliance with their institution's policies and applicable law.
Fees and Payment (for organization accounts). Some Acta features are available to organizations under a paid subscription ("Acta for Organizations"), on the terms and at the price set out in your applicable order, invoice, or subscription agreement. Except where a separate written agreement between your organization and Acta says otherwise, subscriptions are billed annually in advance through our payment processor, Stripe, and fees are exclusive of any applicable taxes, which you are responsible for.
Renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically for successive annual terms unless either party gives notice of non-renewal at least 30 days before the end of the then-current term. Acta may change its fees for a renewal term by giving at least 30 days' notice before the renewal date; continued use after a fee change takes effect means you accept the new fee.
Non-payment. If a payment fails or is not received when due, Acta may suspend access to paid features until the balance is resolved, after reasonable notice.
Cancellation. An organization may cancel at any time through its account portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; the organization keeps access through that period, and ordinary cancellation does not include a refund of amounts already paid.
Data deletion. Requesting deletion of an organization's data immediately cancels any active subscription and triggers a prorated refund of the unused portion of the current billing period, issued to the original payment method within a reasonable time. If a refund cannot be completed, Acta will follow up to resolve it; cancellation of billing takes effect regardless. Refund timing may also depend on your bank or card issuer, which Acta does not control. After deletion, the organization's account can still be signed into, but returns to a new, unconfigured state with no prior data retained.
Negotiated and promotional plans. An organization on a negotiated, founding, or promotional plan is additionally governed by the terms of its separate written agreement with Acta, which controls over this section in the event of a conflict.
You agree not to:
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or to harass, threaten, or harm others;
• Submit false, misleading, or impersonating information;
• Create campaigns designed to identify, target, harass, or intimidate individuals based on their views;
• Misrepresent the source, funding, or true purpose of an organizing effort;
• Attempt to disrupt, overload, scrape, or gain unauthorized access to the Service;
• Use the Service to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages;
• Engage in coordinated inauthentic behavior, including multiple accounts to artificially amplify a campaign.
We may suspend or terminate access for violations of these Terms.
You retain ownership of the content you create using the Service (such as letters and campaign materials). By using the Service, you grant Acta a limited license to process and store that content as needed to provide the Service. You are responsible for the content you create and send.
The Service, including its design, text, and software (excluding government documents and your own content), is owned by Acta and protected by applicable laws. You may not copy, modify, or distribute the Service without permission.
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind. We do not warrant that briefs or materials are error-free or that the Service will be uninterrupted. Civic and legislative information changes; verify anything time-sensitive against official sources. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Acta will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising from your use of the Service.
Cap on damages. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Acta's total liability to you for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms, taken together in the aggregate rather than per claim, will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you actually paid Acta in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars (US $100). Most of Acta is free and requires no payment at all, so the $100 floor is there to make sure this limit is never zero for someone who paid nothing.
What this cap does not cover. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, gross negligence, willful misconduct, violation of law, or death or personal injury caused by Acta's negligence. California Civil Code section 1668 applies to these Terms, and where it applies it controls over this section. If a court finds any part of this section unenforceable, the rest of it stays in force to the fullest extent the law allows.
Acta uses artificial intelligence to generate policy briefs, draft legislation, correspondence, and other civic materials. These materials are not legal, policy, or professional advice of any kind. Acta does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any purpose of AI-generated content. You are solely responsible for reviewing all AI-generated content before use and for verifying any factual claims before presenting them to elected officials or other parties.
Acta provides only aggregated, anonymized insights about which issues communities care about, and never individual identities or personal records. Minimum group size: every aggregate describes at least 10 distinct people. Where fewer than 10 distinct people fall within a group, Acta produces no aggregate for that group at all, and reports it as having too little signal rather than reporting it with a smaller number. That floor is enforced in Acta's systems, not only stated here, and it applies to every aggregate equally, whether published, shared, licensed, or sold. We may share, license, or sell these aggregated, anonymized insights to third parties for a range of purposes, including civic, research, academic, journalistic, polling, public-affairs, and commercial market-research uses. Regardless of purpose, every recipient is contractually prohibited from (1) attempting to re-identify any individual, or combining the data with other data to do so; (2) using the data to target, profile, harass, or intimidate any person or group based on their views; and (3) using it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not sell, license, or share individual-level or re-identifiable data under any circumstance.
Acta Pro is an optional paid subscription for individuals, priced at $99 per year. The free citizen product remains free; nothing in this section applies unless you subscribe.
Automatic renewal. Acta Pro is an automatically renewing subscription. Unless you cancel, your subscription renews for successive one-year terms, and the payment method you provided will be charged $99 (or the then-current price) at the start of each renewal term. We send a reminder to your account email 7 days before renewal. You can cancel at any time, effective at the end of the current term, using the online billing portal described below; no phone call, email, or letter is required. This disclosure, the online cancellation path, and the renewal reminder are provided in accordance with California Business and Professions Code sections 17600-17606 (the Automatic Renewal Law) and other applicable law.
Cancellation. You can cancel online at any time through the Stripe billing portal, reachable from your Acta Pro account page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period: you keep full access to Acta Pro until that period ends, and you are not charged again. We do not provide prorated refunds for the unused remainder of a term, except as described under Refunds below or where required by law.
Refunds. If this is your first Acta Pro purchase and you request a refund within 14 days of that first purchase, we will refund it in full; email hello@actacivic.com from your account email. After those 14 days, and for renewal charges, payments are non-refundable except where required by law. Separately, if you delete your data through our data deletion page, any active subscription is cancelled immediately and we refund the prorated unused portion of your current term. Nothing in this policy limits any non-waivable rights you have under applicable consumer-protection law.
Price changes. We may change the Acta Pro price. If we do, we will notify you at your account email at least 30 days before the new price takes effect for you, and the new price applies only to renewal terms that begin after the notice period. If you do not agree to the new price, cancel before your renewal date and you will not be charged it.
Alignment analyses are informational. Acta Pro's alignment analyses compare public records against the positions you entered yourself; they are informational only, Acta does not recommend how you should vote or which candidate, measure, or party to support, and any analysis may be incomplete, inaccurate, or out of date.
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Acta and its members, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from and against any third-party claim, demand, action, or proceeding, and any resulting damages, losses, liabilities, and reasonable costs and attorneys' fees, arising out of or relating to: (a) content you create, send, publish, or transmit through the Service; (b) your use of the Service in violation of these Terms or of applicable law; (c) a campaign you create or run, including any representation it makes about its source, funding, or purpose; or (d) your infringement or misappropriation of any third party's rights.
How this works in practice. Acta will give you prompt written notice of any claim for which it seeks indemnity, will not settle that claim without your written consent (which you will not unreasonably withhold), and may participate in the defense with its own counsel at its own expense. This section does not apply to any claim arising from Acta's own content, Acta's own conduct, or anything for which Acta is responsible under these Terms.
Public bodies. If you are a government body, a public school district, a public college or university, or another entity that is prohibited by law from indemnifying a private party, this section applies to you only to the extent that law permits, and your inability to indemnify is not a breach of these Terms.
Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights, including your right to bring a lawsuit in court and your right to participate in a class action. It contains an opt-out you can use within 30 days at no cost.
Agreement to arbitrate. Except as stated in this section, you and Acta agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms, including questions about whether this arbitration agreement is valid or enforceable, will be resolved by binding individual arbitration rather than in court. Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, as modified by this section. The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this section.
Your right to opt out. Arbitration is not a condition of using Acta. You may opt out of this section by emailing hello@actacivic.com with the subject line "Arbitration opt-out" within 30 days of the date you first accept these Terms or, if you already had an account when this section was added, within 30 days of the date we notify you that it was added. Your message needs only your name and the email address on your account. Opting out is free, is not a breach of these Terms, and has no effect at all on your account, your price, or your use of the Service. If you opt out, the "Governing law, venue & changes" section below governs your disputes instead. An opt-out is permanent and does not need to be repeated.
Small claims. Either you or Acta may bring an individual claim in small claims court, in any court that has jurisdiction over it, instead of going to arbitration, for as long as the claim stays in that court and stays individual. Choosing small claims court for one claim does not waive this section as to any other claim.
Who pays the arbitration fees. For any claim in which you are the claimant and the amount in controversy is US $10,000 or less, Acta will pay all AAA filing, administrative, and arbitrator fees, other than the initial consumer filing fee that the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules require you to pay, which Acta will reimburse to you on request. For any other claim, fees are allocated under the AAA rules. Each party pays its own attorneys' fees unless a statute or the arbitrator's award provides otherwise. If the arbitrator finds that a claim was frivolous or brought for an improper purpose, the arbitrator may reallocate fees to the extent the AAA rules allow.
Where and how the arbitration happens. Arbitration will take place in the county where you live, at another location you and Acta agree on, by telephone or video, or on written submissions alone, at your election wherever the AAA rules permit that choice. The arbitrator may award any relief a court could award to you individually, including statutory damages and attorneys' fees where a statute provides for them, and must issue a written decision explaining the essential findings and conclusions.
Class action waiver. You and Acta each agree to bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of class or representative proceeding.
Public injunctive relief. Nothing in this section waives your right to seek public injunctive relief. If a claim for public injunctive relief is brought, that claim will be severed from the rest and heard in a court of competent jurisdiction, and arbitration of the remaining claims will be stayed until the court claim is resolved.
If part of this section is unenforceable. If the class action waiver above is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, then this entire arbitration agreement is void as to that claim and that claim will proceed in court, while this section stays in force for every other claim. If any other part of this section is found unenforceable, that part is severed and the rest stays in force.
Changes to this section. If Acta changes this arbitration section after you have accepted it, you may reject the change by emailing hello@actacivic.com within 30 days of the change, in which case the version you accepted continues to govern disputes between you and Acta.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. We may modify or discontinue the Service, and may update these Terms, at any time. We will post updated Terms with a new "Last updated" date. Continued use after changes means you accept the updated Terms.
Venue. For any dispute that is not resolved in arbitration, including a claim brought in small claims court, a claim for public injunctive relief severed under the section above, and any dispute with a user who has opted out of arbitration, you and Acta agree that it will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in the county in California where Acta maintains its principal place of business, and you and Acta each consent to personal jurisdiction and venue there. This does not prevent either party from seeking injunctive or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect its intellectual property or confidential information. Nothing in this paragraph deprives you of the protection of any mandatory consumer-protection provision of the law of the place where you live.
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions will stay in full force. The arbitration section above carries its own severability rule, which controls for that section.
Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms, or any rights or obligations under them, without Acta's prior written consent, and any attempt to do so is void. Acta may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, without your consent: to an affiliate; in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, change of control, conversion into another form of entity (including conversion from a limited liability company into a corporation), or sale of all or substantially all of its assets; or to any successor in interest. These Terms bind and benefit the parties and their permitted successors and assigns. Your rights under the Privacy Policy travel with any such assignment, and we will give the notice that policy requires.
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Acta about the Service, and they replace any prior or contemporaneous understanding on that subject. If your organization has a separate written agreement with Acta, that agreement controls over these Terms where the two conflict, as the "Fees and Payment" section states. No statement outside these documents, including anything on our marketing pages, creates a warranty or an obligation.
No waiver. If Acta does not enforce a provision of these Terms, that is not a waiver of its right to enforce that provision later.
Questions about these Terms? Email hello@actacivic.com.