Privacy Policy

1. Acceptance of This Policy

By accessing, browsing, registering with, subscribing to, or otherwise using the Site in any manner, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and irrevocably agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy in its entirety, without modification, exception, or reservation. Your continued use of the Site following any update to this Policy constitutes your unconditional acceptance of the revised terms, regardless of whether you have actually reviewed the changes. If you do not agree with any provision of this Policy, your sole and exclusive remedy is to immediately discontinue all use of the Site. Southal News reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to require acceptance of this Policy as a condition of continued access to any or all features of the Site.

2. Information We Collect

Southal News collects information as broadly as permitted by law, through all means available to it, including but not limited to the following categories:

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Name, email address, mailing address, telephone number, and other contact details submitted through registration, subscription, comment, survey, contest, or contact forms.
• Payment and billing information submitted in connection with subscriptions, donations, or purchases (processed in whole or in part through third-party processors, as described below).
• Any content you submit, post, upload, or transmit to the Site, including comments, images, videos, tips, story submissions, and correspondence.
• Any other information you voluntarily choose to provide, regardless of whether it was requested.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Device identifiers, IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, time spent on pages, click patterns, and other usage and analytics data.
• Precise or approximate geolocation data, where permitted by your device settings.
• Information collected via cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, local storage, device fingerprinting, and other tracking technologies described in Section 5.

2.3 Information From Third Parties

• Information obtained from data brokers, advertising networks, analytics providers, social media platforms, and other third parties, which Southal News may combine with information collected directly.
• Information from single sign-on providers (e.g., Google, Facebook) if you choose to log in using such services.

Southal News reserves the right to collect any additional categories of information it determines, in its sole discretion, to be useful for its business purposes, whether or not such categories are enumerated above.

3. How We Use Your Information

Southal News may use any information it collects for any lawful business purpose, including but not limited to:

• Operating, maintaining, and improving the Site and its editorial, advertising, and subscription products;
• Personalizing content, advertising, and marketing communications, including targeted and cross-context behavioral advertising;
• Building aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized data sets and analytics products, which Southal News may use, license, or sell without restriction and without further compensation or notice to you;
• Communicating with you about the Site, promotions, partner offers, and third-party products, including by email, text message, and push notification, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law;
• Conducting research, analytics, product development, and artificial intelligence or machine learning model training;
• Enforcing this Policy, our Terms of Use, and protecting the rights, property, and safety of Southal News, its affiliates, users, and the public;
• Complying with legal obligations, court orders, subpoenas, and government requests, and cooperating with law enforcement at Southal News’s sole discretion, with or without a formal legal requirement to do so;
• Any other purpose disclosed at the time of collection or otherwise permitted by law.

Southal News is under no obligation to limit its use of your information to the purpose for which it was originally collected and may repurpose previously collected information for any new use consistent with applicable law.

4. Sharing, Selling, and Disclosure of Information

Southal News may share, disclose, license, rent, or sell your information, in identifiable, pseudonymized, or aggregated form, to or with any of the following, at its sole discretion and without further notice or compensation to you except where notice is legally required:

• Affiliates and subsidiaries of Southal News, for any business purpose;
• Advertising, marketing, and analytics partners, including ad networks, demand-side platforms, and data management platforms;
• Service providers and contractors who perform functions on our behalf, including hosting, payment processing, customer support, and email delivery;
• Data brokers and other third parties for consideration, where such sale is not prohibited by applicable law;
• Successors in interest in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of all or a portion of Southal News’s assets, in which case your information will be among the transferred assets;
• Government authorities and third parties in response to legal process, or where Southal News believes disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect its rights, comply with a legal obligation, or investigate suspected wrongdoing, even absent a formal legal request;
• Any other third party where you have provided consent, deemed to include your continued use of the Site following the posting of this Policy or any update to it.

Southal News does not guarantee, warrant, or represent that any third party receiving your information will maintain its confidentiality, and Southal News disclaims all responsibility for the privacy or data-handling practices of any third party, including affiliates, advertisers, and service providers.

5. Cookies, Tracking, and Advertising Technologies

The Site uses cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, software development kits (SDKs), device fingerprinting, and other tracking technologies to collect information about your use of the Site and other websites and applications over time and across devices. By using the Site, you consent to the placement of such technologies to the fullest extent permitted by law. Southal News is under no obligation to honor “Do Not Track” browser signals or similar mechanisms. Where a jurisdiction requires an opt-out or consent mechanism for certain cookies, Southal News will provide the minimum mechanism required by law and no more.

6. Data Retention

Southal News may retain your information for as long as it determines, in its sole discretion, to be useful for its business, legal, or archival purposes, including after you close an account, unsubscribe, or cease using the Site. Southal News is under no obligation to delete your information except where required by applicable law, and may retain copies of information in backups, logs, and archived records indefinitely.

7. Data Security

Southal News uses commercially reasonable measures it deems appropriate, in its sole discretion, to protect information under its control. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and Southal News makes no guarantee, representation, or warranty, express or implied, regarding the security of your information. You acknowledge and agree that you provide information to the Site at your own risk, and that Southal News shall have no liability for any unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction of your information except to the extent such liability cannot be disclaimed under applicable law.

8. Third-Party Links and Services

The Site may contain links to third-party websites, advertisements, and services not owned or controlled by Southal News. Southal News is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of any third party. Your interactions with any third-party website or service linked from the Site are solely between you and that third party, and you release Southal News from any and all liability arising out of or related to such interactions.

9. Children’s Privacy

The Site is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or the applicable age of digital consent in your jurisdiction), and Southal News does not knowingly collect personal information from such children. Southal News assumes no responsibility for verifying the age of users and disclaims all liability arising from a minor’s use of the Site in violation of this Policy. If Southal News becomes aware that it has collected information from a child in violation of applicable law, it will take steps it deems reasonable, in its sole discretion, to address the matter.

10. User-Submitted Content

Any content, comment, image, video, tip, or other material you submit to the Site is submitted on a non-confidential basis. By submitting content, you grant Southal News a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully sublicensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, publicly perform, and publicly display such content in any media now known or hereafter devised, for any purpose, without further compensation, attribution, or notice to you, and without any obligation to remove such content upon request.

11. Disclaimers of Warranties

THE SITE AND ALL INFORMATION-HANDLING PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THIS POLICY ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. SOUTHAL NEWS DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ITS DATA PRACTICES WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR THAT ANY ERRORS IN THE HANDLING OF YOUR INFORMATION WILL BE CORRECTED.

12. Limitation of Liability and Indemnification

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SOUTHAL NEWS, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AND AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS POLICY OR THE COLLECTION, USE, OR DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOUTHAL NEWS’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS POLICY EXCEED FIFTY U.S. DOLLARS (US $50) OR THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID SOUTHAL NEWS IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY, WHICHEVER IS LESS.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Southal News and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the Site, your submission of content, or your breach of this Policy.

13. International Users and Data Transfers

The Site is operated from the United States. If you access the Site from outside the United States, you understand and agree that your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States and other jurisdictions that may not offer the same level of data protection as your home jurisdiction. By using the Site, you consent to this transfer to the fullest extent permitted by law.

14. Changes to This Policy

Southal News may amend, modify, or replace this Policy at any time, for any reason, in its sole discretion, without prior notice to you. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this Policy will reflect the most recent revision. Southal News is under no obligation to notify you individually of changes, and it is your sole responsibility to review this Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Site after any change constitutes binding acceptance of the revised Policy.

15. Statutory Rights We Cannot Override

Notwithstanding anything in this Policy to the contrary, where applicable law grants you rights that cannot be waived or limited by contract — such as certain rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA), the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation, or other applicable state or national privacy statutes — Southal News will honor those specific statutory rights to the minimum extent legally required. Nothing in this section shall be read to expand any right or remedy beyond what the applicable statute mandates, and Southal News reserves all discretion permitted by law in how it responds to such requests, including verification procedures and permissible response timeframes.

16. Dispute Resolution, Arbitration, and Class Action Waiver

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to this Policy or Southal News’s data practices shall be resolved exclusively through final and binding arbitration administered on an individual basis, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative proceeding. YOU AND SOUTHAL NEWS EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION. This provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and any portion found unenforceable in a given jurisdiction shall be severed without affecting the remainder of this section.

17. Governing Law

This Policy and any dispute arising out of or related to it shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Alabama, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except to the extent applicable law in your jurisdiction mandates otherwise. You agree that any legal action not subject to arbitration under Section 16 shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Alabama, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

18. Contact Us

Questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy may be directed to:

Southal News
Email: [email protected]
Website: southalnews.com

Southal News is under no obligation to respond to inquiries beyond what is required by applicable law, and reserves the right to determine, in its sole discretion, the manner and timing of any response.