— the rules —

Terms of Service

Effective: 2026-05-19  ·  Last updated: 2026-08-05

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are the agreement between you and Top Townie ("Top Townie," "we," "us," or "our") when you use the Top Townie mobile app, the website at toptownie.com, or the business console at business.toptownie.com. By creating an account, claiming or managing a business, or otherwise using Top Townie, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Top Townie.

These Terms work together with our Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy explains what data we collect and how we use it; these Terms explain how you may use Top Townie and what happens if you don't follow the rules.

Questions about these Terms? Email support@toptownie.com.

Who can use Top Townie

Top Townie is intended for adults living in or visiting the communities we serve. You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are between 13 and 17, you should use Top Townie with the guidance of a parent or guardian. By creating an account, you represent that the information you provide is accurate and that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms.

Your account

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure and for any activity that happens under your account. Notify us at support@toptownie.com if you suspect unauthorized access.

You may delete your account at any time — see the Account deletion section of our Privacy Policy. Deletion is final after a 30-day grace period.

Your content

You retain ownership of the content you post on Top Townie — your photos, your business posts, the text you write, the edits you make to business profiles you manage. You are responsible for what you post, including making sure you have the rights to share it.

By posting content on Top Townie, you grant Top Townie a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, and adapt that content for the purpose of operating, providing, and improving Top Townie. This license ends when you delete the content or your account, except where retention is required by law, by the public-entity nature of business data (see the Account deletion section of the Privacy Policy), or for safety and audit purposes.

You also grant other users a non-exclusive license to view and interact with your content as the app allows (for example, liking, bookmarking, following the business you posted under).

Acceptable use

When using Top Townie, you agree not to:

  • Post content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable.
  • Impersonate any person or business, misrepresent your affiliation with any entity, or claim ownership of a business you do not have the right to claim.
  • Post spam, advertising for unrelated products or services, or repetitive content intended to game ranking or visibility.
  • Use Top Townie to harass, threaten, intimidate, stalk, or otherwise harm another person.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to Top Townie, to other users' accounts, or to our systems; probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems without permission.
  • Use automated means (bots, scrapers, etc.) to access Top Townie except through any API we explicitly provide for that purpose.
  • Interfere with or disrupt the integrity of Top Townie or the data it contains.
  • Use Top Townie in violation of any applicable law or regulation.

Objectionable content & abusive users

Top Townie has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users.

You may report objectionable content and block abusive users from within the app at any time. Tap the overflow menu on a post, photo, or business profile to report content; open a business profile and use the block action to hide that business's posts, photos, and contributions from your feed.

When you report content as objectionable, the reported content disappears from your view immediately. We commit to act on reports of objectionable content within 24 hours by removing the content, ejecting the user who provided it, or both, where the report is confirmed.

When you block a business, that business's posts, photos, comments, and contributions are hidden from your feed. You can review and remove existing blocks in Settings → Blocked Businesses.

You can also email support@toptownie.com with the relevant details for issues that cannot be addressed through the in-app surfaces. We will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include removing content, suspending accounts, or banning users.

We reserve the right (but have no obligation) to monitor, review, or remove content posted on Top Townie at our discretion, and to suspend or terminate any account that violates these Terms.

Business claims

If you claim ownership of a business listed on Top Townie, you represent that you are authorized to act on behalf of that business — typically as an owner, principal, or designated representative.

Claims are verified via a phone number associated with the business. Top Townie may, at its discretion, require additional verification (such as documentation) before approving a claim, and may dispute, revoke, or reassign a claim that is later found to be fraudulent or contested by another rightful party.

Business listings on Top Townie are compiled from public and third-party sources, including open map and business-directory data, and exist before anyone claims them. Claiming a business gives you permission to manage that listing. It does not transfer ownership of the listing, of the underlying source data, or of Top Townie's compilation, to you or to the business.

When Top Townie approves a claim, the claimant is added as an owner of the business, with full permissions to manage the listing, publish content, and invite or remove other members — regardless of how the claimant described their relationship to the business when submitting the claim. Top Townie reviews every claim before approving it and may require additional verification, decline a claim, or revoke or reassign a claim later found to be unauthorized or contested.

More than one person can manage a business. A business may have an owner and one or more managers. An owner can invite and remove managers, transfer ownership to another member, or leave the business.

Any member's actions bind the business. When any owner or manager submits content, accepts terms, or grants a license on behalf of a business, that action is taken on behalf of the business and binds it — including the license in Business data and event listings. Each member is individually bound by these Terms, and one member's acceptance is effective for the business as a whole. A member leaving, being removed, or losing access does not withdraw or revoke a license the business has already granted.

Business profiles are treated as public-entity data — the entity exists independently of any one user. If the sole owner of a claimed business deletes their account, the business becomes unclaimed and remains available for claim by another rightful party in the future. See the Account deletion section of the Privacy Policy for the full explanation.

Business data and event listings

This section applies only to content you submit for a business you have claimed or are authorized to manage. It does not apply to your personal account content, which is governed by Your content above.

What "Business Data" means. "Business Data" means the following factual, business-entity fields, and nothing else: business name; business postal address; business phone number; business website; the Top Townie link for the business or event; event title; event description; event date(s) and time(s); event recurrence pattern; event location or venue; and business or venue geographic coordinates. Business Data expressly excludes any personal information about any individual — including the identity of any person who created or edited content, account identifiers, user engagement data, and any individual's personal contact details — and excludes photographs and other images, which are covered by Photos that accompany an event below.

The license you grant. When you submit or publish Business Data for a business, you grant Top Townie a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, host, store, reproduce, distribute, display, transmit, adapt, reformat, license, sublicense, sell, and resell that Business Data, and to make it available to third-party platforms, publishers, media outlets, tourism and civic organizations, and other recipients, for any purpose, including commercial purposes. Top Townie exercises this license as principal, and not as your agent, broker, or representative.

Combined and derived information. Top Townie may combine Business Data with information from other businesses and other sources, and may create statistics, summaries, analyses, benchmarks, aggregates, and other derived information from it. Top Townie owns that derived information and may use, license, and sell it — including to businesses, publishers, researchers, and civic organizations — for any purpose. Derived information that identifies your business is only made available to you, or with your permission, or where it is already public; everything else is reported in aggregated or de-identified form that does not identify any individual business.

Your authority. You represent that you are authorized to act for and to bind the business, and that you are authorized to grant this license. If you are not, do not submit Business Data.

Survival. Deleting Business Data, ending your role with a business, or deleting your account stops future distribution of that Business Data. It does not recall copies already distributed. As to Business Data already made available to a third party before deletion or termination, this license is irrevocable and continues after termination.

No obligation, no payment. Top Townie decides whether, when, in what form, and through which recipients to distribute Business Data, and is under no obligation to distribute any of it. No payment is owed to you for this license. If Top Townie later offers a revenue-share or paid arrangement, it will be set out in a separate written agreement that applies going forward only.

Photos that accompany an event. Photos you upload for a business or event are not Business Data and are not sold, resold, or sublicensed. When Top Townie makes Business Data available to a third party, it may include a link to a photo hosted by Top Townie, so the photo can appear alongside the event information. Top Townie continues to host and serve that photo; it does not transfer a copy of it. You grant Top Townie the right to display and serve your photos this way, including on third-party surfaces that display Top Townie event information. If a photo is removed from Top Townie, it stops appearing everywhere it was shown.

If you later accept a separate Operator Agreement or Operator Data License Agreement with Top Townie, that agreement supplements this section and controls to the extent of any conflict. Nothing in a later agreement reduces or revokes the license granted under this section as to Business Data submitted before that agreement took effect.

Top Townie hosts content — photos, event listings, business information — submitted by its users and by businesses. We do not create that content and we do not review it before it appears. If you believe content on Top Townie infringes your copyright, we will respond under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

To report infringement, email dmca@toptownie.com with a notice containing the elements required by 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3):

  1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner, or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed, or a representative list if multiple works are covered by a single notice.
  3. Identification of the material you claim is infringing, with enough detail for us to locate it — a direct link is best.
  4. Your contact information: address, telephone number, and email address.
  5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and — under penalty of perjury — that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf.

We remove or disable access to material expeditiously on receipt of a compliant notice, and we notify the person who posted it.

Counter-notification. If your content was removed and you believe the removal was a mistake or a misidentification, you may send a counter-notification under 17 U.S.C. §512(g) to dmca@toptownie.com. It must include your signature; identification of the removed material and where it appeared; a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief it was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification; and your name, address, and telephone number, together with a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for your address (or, if you are outside the United States, for any district in which Top Townie may be found) and that you will accept service of process from the person who filed the original notice. If we receive a valid counter-notification, we may restore the material in 10 to 14 business days unless the original complainant notifies us that they have filed a court action.

Misrepresentation. Under 17 U.S.C. §512(f), anyone who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing — or that it was removed by mistake — may be liable for damages, including costs and attorneys' fees. Do not send a notice unless you are the copyright owner or authorized to act for the owner.

Repeat infringers. Top Townie has adopted and reasonably implements a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe the copyrights of others. Repeated infringement may result in removal of your content, loss of your ability to manage a business, and termination of your account.

Trademark and other rights. Report trademark, publicity, or other non-copyright concerns to support@toptownie.com. We review and act on these reports even though they fall outside the DMCA process.

Suspension & termination

We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if we believe you have violated these Terms, posted objectionable content, abused other users, or otherwise caused harm to Top Townie or its users. We may also suspend or terminate accounts to comply with legal obligations.

You may stop using Top Townie at any time. To delete your account and personal data, follow the Account deletion process described in the Privacy Policy.

The following sections survive termination of these Terms: Your content (with respect to the license you granted for content that remains lawfully retained), Business data and event listings (as set out in that section's Survival paragraph), Disclaimers, Limitation of liability, Indemnification, and Governing law.

Disclaimers

Top Townie is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or that Top Townie will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of viruses or other harmful components.

Business listings, hours, addresses, posts, photos, and other content displayed on Top Townie are provided by users and by publicly available sources. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or currency of any business information. Before relying on a listing — for example, before driving to a business — confirm hours and details with the business directly.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Top Townie and its officers, directors, employees, and agents are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, or use, arising out of or in connection with your use of Top Townie — whether based in contract, tort, strict liability, or any other legal theory, and whether or not Top Townie has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the extent any liability of Top Townie is not excluded by applicable law, our aggregate liability arising out of or related to these Terms or your use of Top Townie is limited to one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. In those jurisdictions, the limitations above apply to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Top Townie and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in any way connected with (a) your use of Top Townie, (b) content you post on Top Townie, (c) your violation of these Terms, or (d) your violation of any rights of another person or entity.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or your use of Top Townie will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in New York, and you consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make a material change, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and post a notice in the app and on toptownie.com/terms at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Your continued use of Top Townie after the change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Earlier versions. We keep dated, unmodified copies of these Terms so we can show exactly what was presented on a given date. The version published on 2026-08-05 is at toptownie.com/terms-archive/2026-08-05. For a version not listed, email support@toptownie.com.

Apple App Store addendum

This section applies if you obtained the Top Townie app from the Apple App Store. In that case, you also acknowledge and agree to the following:

  • These Terms are between you and Top Townie only — not with Apple. Top Townie, not Apple, is solely responsible for the Top Townie app and its content.
  • Your right to use the Top Townie app is a non-transferable license to use it on any Apple-branded device that you own or control, as permitted by Apple's Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
  • Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support services for the Top Townie app.
  • To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple has no warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the Top Townie app. Any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses attributable to any failure to conform to any warranty are the sole responsibility of Top Townie.
  • Top Townie, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims you or any third party may have relating to the Top Townie app or your possession and use of it — including product-liability claims, claims that the app fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and claims arising under consumer protection or similar legislation.
  • In the event of any third-party claim that the Top Townie app or your possession and use of it infringes that third party's intellectual property rights, Top Townie (not Apple) is solely responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of that infringement claim.
  • You represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  • Apple, and Apple's subsidiaries, are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance of these Terms, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

Contact us

For any question or concern about these Terms: