24.COM PLATFORM TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Click here for the terms and conditions in Afrikaans

BY USING AND/OR ACCESSING OUR PLATFORMS OR SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY OUR TERMS.

These terms and conditions together with our Privacy Policy and User Rules (collectively, the “Terms”) will form a written contract between you and Media24 Proprietary Limited acting through its 24.com division (herein referred to as “Media24”, “we”, “us” and “our”) and will govern our relationship and your use of our Platforms and/or Services. When we refer to “Platforms” we mean all our websites, mobile sites, mobile apps, emails, social media platforms or any other technology or mechanism you may use to interact with us. “Services” refer to any products, goods, services or functionality offered, owned or operated by Media24 via our Platforms.

ABOUT OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS

You can either be an anonymous visitor, registered user, or subscriber or a nominated subscriber to our Platforms; it may differ depending on (in certain instances) the nature of your subscription and on the Platform you’re using. A registered user is a user that has registered on our Platforms and may get access to free content and free features. A subscriber is a user that has subscribed and paid a subscription fee and will get access to all content and paid features. An anonymous user of our Platforms is neither a registered user or subscriber. In these Terms “users” refers to anonymous users, registered user and subscriber.

A subscriber may be a natural person or a legal entity. A subscriber other than a natural person (“legal entity subscriber“) may subscribe for one or more group packages, as set out in the group subscription order, and such package subscription will entitle the following people or entities (as the case may be) to use our Platforms and/or Services, subject to these Terms –

  • full-time employees of the legal entity subscriber;
  • any other person approved by us, in our sole discretion

in each instance as nominated in writing by the legal entity subscriber concerned, and the persons so nominated are hereafter referred to as “nominated subscribers”.

To gain access, nominated subscribers must initiate their subscription online and cancel any existing subscriptions.

Nominated subscribers are subject to the Terms.

The legal entity subscriber who nominated a nominated subscriber acknowledges that the use of the Platform and/or Service by such nominated subscriber will be subject to the Terms and in the event of any breach of the Terms by the nominated subscriber, we shall be entitled to suspend or terminate such nominated subscriber’s use immediately, without the legal entity subscriber having any right of recourse.

By accessing the Platform, a nominated subscriber accepts and agrees to be subject to and bound to the Terms.

A legal entity subscriber shall not benefit commercially from the subscription for group packages, whether directly or indirectly, and whether through resale, grant of use or otherwise.

The general use of our Services, Platforms and any content on our Platforms is governed by our Terms. “Content” refers to any information, data, files, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, images, video, messages, comments, hyperlinks or tags and other material appearing on our Platforms or Services and all applicable copyrights, trademarks, patents, logos or other intellectual property rights displayed on our Platforms or Services.

We may amend the Terms from time to time. Any new version of the Terms will be published on our Platforms and will become effective from the date that we first published it. It is your obligation to visit our Platforms on a regular basis in order to determine whether any amendments have been made. By continuing to use our Platforms and/or Services after we published changes to the Terms, you agree to be bound by the changed Terms.

Some of our Platforms and/or Services may contain additional rules or terms from time to time, which may be relevant to specific Services you use or subscribe to. By using those Services, you agree to be bound by such additional rules and/or terms.

Our Content

Media24 owns or is entitled to use all of the Content made available on our Platforms or through our Services.

You may not, unless with our express consent, –

  • reproduce, publish, perform, broadcast, make an adaptation of, sell, lease, offer, expose or otherwise transfer or use for commercial purposes any Content;
  • decompile or reverse engineer the Content, or reduce the Content to any format other than the format in which they were delivered;
  • incorporate the Content into any other content for whatever purpose;
  • remove any legal notices (copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices) in or on the Content; or
  • frame any portion of a web page that is part of our Platforms or Services.

You may retrieve, store, cite or refer to or print Content from any of our Platforms or Services for educational, research, non-commercial, private or personal use only, as provided for under South African copyright law.

Use of Content in electronic clipping services or personalised news services shall only be allowed if such electronic clipping service or personalised news service –

  • does not copy or provide the whole article, as it appears on our Platforms or Services, but only provides a short summary of the contents of the article
  • acknowledges us as the source of the Content and acknowledges writers, journalists, photographers and third-party agencies as they are acknowledged on our Platform;
  • provides a correct and working hyperlink to the source of the Content or article on our Platform; and
  • includes the date upon which the Content was sourced from our Platforms in the summary of the Content.

Use of Content by news aggregators shall only be allowed if such news aggregators –

  • only provide the thumb nail and headline as it appears on our Platforms or Services;
  • provide a correct and working hyperlink to the source of the Content or article on our Platform; and
  • acknowledge us as the source of the Content and acknowledge writers, journalists, photographers and third-party agencies as they are acknowledged on our Platform.

The caching of our Platforms shall only be allowed with our written permission and if –

  • the purpose of the caching is to make the onward transmission of the Content from our Platform more efficient;
  • the cached Content is not modified in any manner whatsoever;
  • the cached Content is updated at least every 12 (twelve) hours; and
  • the cached Content is removed or updated when so required by us.

You may quote small and reasonable amounts of Content available from our Platforms only if such quote is placed in inverted commas, the author is acknowledged and a hyperlink to the quoted Content is provided as a footnote to such quote.

All licenses and/or permissions granted in terms of this clause are provided on a non-exclusive and non-transferable basis and may be terminated or cancelled by us at any time without giving reasons, therefore.

Your Content

You will retain ownership of any original Content which you may upload, transmit or store when using our Platforms or Services.

Media24 will own all compilations, collective works or derivative works created by us which may incorporate your Content.

You grant us an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide and royalty-free right and license to use, publicly display, publish, publicly perform, reproduce, distribute, broadcast, adapt, modify and promote on any medium, your Content which you may upload or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas on our Platforms or through our Services.

Any content you transmit or post to publicly accessible areas on our Platforms or Services shall be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. We shall have no obligations with respect to such Content.

You agree to adhere to our User Rules when posting or transmitting any Content or material to our Platforms or Services.

All information that you upload or share with us, must be true, accurate, relevant to our times and complete.

You warrant that you are authorised to supply such information to us.

In order to protect the integrity of our archives, we do not allow you to remove content provided by you after it has been published on any of our Platforms or publications.

Third Party Content

Our Platforms or Services may include, from time to time, Content or advertisements from third parties and/or external links to other websites possessing their own content (“Third Party Content”).

You acknowledge that the Third-Party Content –

  • is beyond the control of Media24 and that any reliance on any representation, statement or information contained in Third Party Content is at your risk;
  • cannot be verified by Media24, and that Media24 cannot be expected to determine its accuracy or reasonableness; and
  • may contain representations, statements or information which does not represent the views, opinions or beliefs of Media24, its associates, directors or employees.

Publication Schedules

Publications are published according to varying schedules. It can be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly. Sometimes the publications are skipped for a few weeks, or months, or cancelled entirely. We will do our utmost to show current publication schedules. Since the publication schedules are managed by the publishers and not by us, delivery times can vary from those indicated on the publication schedule.

Listen to Articles: Text to Speech

You need an active subscription to listen to articles. Articles have a media player below the headline which you can play to have the news read to you. If you do not have an active subscription, you will still see the audio player, but you will be prompted to subscribe when you click on it.

You are not allowed to make an audio recording of the narration of any articles.

Shared Articles

All active subscribers can gift a total of 5 (five) articles per month to someone that is not a subscriber (like friends and family). You only need the email address of the recipient(s) you wish to send the gift article to. The recipients will be able to read locked articles 5 (five) times without being prompted to subscribe.

Session Limitation

Only 5 (five) concurrent sessions will be allowed. That means users can only have five open sessions on various devices.

Locked Articles

There are articles across our Platforms that only subscribers can access, read in full and make use of the features inside those articles.

E-Publications (PDF)

Subscribers will have access to selected e-editions in PDF format. E-editions may only be used by subscribers and may not be shared or gifted.

Access to archive e-editions will be available for selected editions based on the frequency of the selected publication.

You agree that Media24 or its affiliates may from time to time send you communications (including editorial newsletters, information regarding new services or products launched or special offers or discounts which Media24 may negotiate for and offer to its users). All communications will abide by our Privacy Policy and applicable law. You will always be entitled to notify us in writing that you do not wish to receive or continue to receive such communications.

We will also from time to time send you service communications. These communications are required in order to manage your Services. You will not be able to opt-out from receiving these communications for as long as you use the Service.

You may approach any other relevant authority or dispute resolution body or refer the matter to Arbitration as set out below, for resolution of the dispute.

You agree that any dispute between us shall be referred to arbitration and finally resolved in accordance with the rules of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa. Such arbitration shall be held either in Cape Town or Johannesburg and conducted in the English language before one arbitrator appointed in accordance with the said rules. Any award will be final and not subject to appeal. This agreement to arbitrate shall be enforceable and judgement upon any award may be entered in any court of any country having appropriate jurisdiction. A dispute shall be deemed to have arisen when either party notifies the other party in writing to that effect.

The arbitrator shall have the power to give default judgement if any party fails to make submissions on due date and/or fails to appear at the arbitration.

The provisions set out above shall not prevent either party from approaching any court of competent jurisdiction to obtain interim or other relief in cases of urgency.

You must send any notice or legal process relating to the Terms to the following address: 24.com, 13th Floor, 40 Heerengracht Street, Cape Town, 8000.

We may offer services or products of third parties, or our Services in conjunction with that of third parties.

We provide such services or products subject to the terms, conditions and limitations imposed by those third parties.

If those third parties change, suspend or stop providing such services or products, we may similarly change, suspend or stop providing it to you. We may nevertheless endeavour to provide such a service in another way or by using another supplier or service provider.

When you acquire services or products from a third party through any of our Platforms or Services, you understand and agree that –

  • we are not a party to the contract between you and the third party;
  • we are under no obligation to monitor the third-party service used by you;
  • the third party will be responsible for all obligations under the contract including (without limitation) warranties or guarantees; and
  • you will evaluate the product or service and the applicable terms and conditions before acquiring the product or service.

Any username, password or other log-in allocated to you or created by you when subscribing to or using our Platforms or Services (“User ID“) will entitle you to access the Platforms or Services, subject to you complying with the Terms.

Your User ID is personal to you. You –

  • should keep your User ID confidential and not disclose it to any third party;
  • should inform us promptly if a third-party gains access to your User ID;
  • are responsible for all payments, use of, or activity on our Platforms or Services under your User ID;
  • will not do multiple logins (log-in at any one point in time more than once using the same User ID)
  • will not circumvent our User ID authentication procedures or systems; and
  • are liable for any damage, loss or costs sustained by you, us or by any third party howsoever arising as a result of any actions by you or any third party using your User ID.

While a User ID is personal to you, we own it. You may accordingly not sell or otherwise transfer any entitlements thereto to a User ID.

You will also not retain any entitlements to your User ID once this agreement ends

While we endeavour to ensure that our Platforms and Services are normally available 24 hours a day, we shall not be liable if, for any reason, our Platforms or Services are unavailable at any time or for any period.

Access to our Platforms or Services may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of system failure, maintenance or repair or for reasons beyond our control. Some of our Platforms and/or Services may contain additional rules or terms from time to time, which may be relevant to specific Services you use or subscribe to. By using those Services, you agree to be bound by such additional rules and/or terms.

We reserve the right to amend, suspend or discontinue any Service or Platform, or any aspect thereof, including but not limited to available content, times of availability or equipment needed for access or use.

We will be entitled to take whatever action we may deem necessary and reasonable to preserve the security and reliability of our Platforms and/or Services.

You may not use our Platforms or Services in any manner which may compromise the security of our network or any other network connected to our network.

We take reasonable steps to secure your payment information. We use a payment system that is in our reasonable opinion sufficiently secure with reference to accepted technological standards and the type of the transaction concerned.

Some of our processing activities are hosted outside of the Republic of South Africa in accordance with section 72(1) of the Protection of Personal information Act.

We are always working on improving our users’ experience. This includes the Cookie preference capability. You are able to delete or disable cookies manually, however, this may adversely affect the operation and functionality of our Platforms and/or Services. Information on managing cookies is available in our Cookie Policy.

We are not domiciled outside of the Republic of South Africa. Although our Platforms and/or Services are accessible worldwide, we do not specifically target users outside of the Republic of South Africa.

We have a non-personalised advertisement setting in place within Google for anyone who access our Platforms and/or Services from the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). This applies to both direct campaigns as well as open exchange advertisements and prohibits all targeting and retargeting of audiences based on personal information.

We handle your personal information in accordance with the provisions of the Media24 Privacy Policy which embeds the Media24 Cookie Policy.

We reserve the right to adjust the subscription fee, but we will always inform you of such adjustments before we implement it. Should this happen, you will be notified on your subscribed email address. Should you not accept the adjusted subscription fee, you can terminate your subscription to the Service by following the online cancellation flow. Your subscription to the Service will come to an end at the end of the period for which you have paid the subscription fee.

The digital publisher may adjust the subscription packages to add or remove features and/or content in line with the business model.

The digital publisher reserves the right to add or remove titles to the subscription package(s).

BUNDLE-SPECIFIC TERMS

Bundle Structure and Dependencies

  • The New York Times (NYT) subscription is included as a component service within the News24 bundle

  • NYT access is contingent upon maintaining an active News24 bundle subscription

  • The bundle cannot be partially canceled (users cannot keep only one service)

  • Bundle access is only available to existing News24 subscribers who pay via debit/credit card or debit order (app payment methods are excluded)

  • Promotional pricing does not apply to bundle upgrades

Third-Party Service Integration

  • Users must comply with The New York Times’ own terms of service https://help.nytimes.com/115014893428-Terms-of-Service

  • News24 acts as a reseller/distributor and not as the content provider for NYT services

  • News24 does not guarantee service continuity for NYT services and disclaims liability for NYT-related disruptions

  • Editorial independence is maintained between News24 and NYT – neither underwrites the opinions of the other

ENHANCED BILLING AND PAYMENT TERMS

Bundle Pricing and Pro-Rata Billing

  • If you have an existing News24 subscription and upgrade to the NYT bundle during an existing cycle, then the bundle pricing for the cycle in which you upgraded will be pro-rated for the remaining subscription cycle. The following cycles will be billed at the higher bundle pricing.

  • The payable amount is displayed transparently during the upgrade process

  • Bundle billing occurs in USD as required by third-party agreements, with currency conversion applied at prevailing rates

Activation and Redemption Process

  • After payment, users receive a unique NYT activation link and voucher code (“activation code”)

  • Activation codes must be redeemed by you (by clicking on the link provided) to access NYT content

  • Each activation code is single-user only and cannot be transferred to someone else

  • Activation codes expire according to subscription terms and cannot be extended

  • Subscribers must immediately report lost, stolen, or compromised activation codes

BUNDLE-SPECIFIC CANCELLATION TERMS

Interconnected Cancellation Policy

  • Canceling the bundle terminates all associated services (both News24 and NYT)

  • Partial cancellations are not permitted

  • Termination for both services occurs at the end of the subscription term, unless there is an unpaid invoice (which will result in immediate termination)

Downgrade Limitations

  • There is no direct downgrade option from bundle to standard News24 subscription

  • Subscribers must cancel the bundle and resubscribe to a standard subscription to downgrade

  • Full cancellation and re-subscription process is required for plan changes

USER ELIGIBILITY AND RESTRICTIONS

Age Requirements

  • Subscribers must be at least 18 years old to subscribe

  • Subscribers under 18 require parental or guardian consent to activate NYT access within the bundle

  • By subscribing you warrant that you are 18 years or older, or that you have your parent or guardian’s legal consent to subscribe.

Personal Use Restrictions

  • NYT content access is strictly for personal, non-commercial use only

  • Subscribers may not:

    • Use content for commercial purposes

    • Share activation codes or login credentials

    • Access content via proxy servers or unauthorized methods

    • Reproduce or redistribute NYT content on any platform

    • Sublicense or transfer access rights

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND CONTENT USE

NYT Content Restrictions

  • All NYT content remains The New York Times’ intellectual property

  • No rights to NYT trademarks, logos, or branding are granted to subscribers

  • Content cannot be republished, copied, or distributed in any form

  • Fair use provisions apply only within personal consumption limits

Enhanced IP Protection

  • Subscribers acknowledge that unauthorized use of NYT content may result in immediate termination

LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE

Jurisdiction and Dispute Resolution

  • Governing law for bundle disputes follows South African jurisdiction with US law considerations for NYT-specific issues

Data Privacy and Cross-Border Compliance

  • Data privacy is governed by South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA)

  • Compliance with US privacy laws is ensured for NYT service components

  • No personal data will be transferred between News24 and NYT

SERVICE LIMITATIONS AND PERFORMANCE

Service Availability

  • Service availability may be impacted during peak usage periods

Activation Code Security

  • News24 reserves the right to deactivate activation codes for security or operational reasons, or in the event that you breach any of News24 of NYT’s terms

ENHANCED TERMINATION CONDITIONS

Immediate Termination Triggers

Termination may occur immediately if: Subscriber violates age requirements; Commercial use or any use contrary to these terms of NYT content is detected; Activation code sharing, or unauthorized access is identified; the agreement between NYT and Media24 is terminated

Termination Effects

  • Upon termination, all rights to NYT content cease immediately

  • Activation codes become invalid upon subscription termination

  • No refunds are available for terminated subscriptions due to violations of these terms

LIABILITY AND INDEMNIFICATION

Subscriber Indemnification

Subscribers indemnify News24 against any claims arising from their use of the services contrary to the provisions of these term.

Enhanced Liability Limitations

  • News24 is not liable for NYT service disruptions or content changes

  • Refunds are subject to third-party provider policies and may not be available for certain services

  • Currency fluctuation risks for USD-based services are borne by subscribers

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Agreement Hierarchy

  • These bundle terms supplement and do not replace the standard News24 subscription terms

  • In case of conflict, bundle-specific terms take precedence for bundle subscribers

  • Standard subscription terms continue to apply for non-bundle aspects of the service

Updates and Modifications

  • These bundle terms may be updated to reflect changes in third-party agreements

  • Subscribers will be notified of material changes with appropriate notice periods

  • Continued use of bundle services constitutes acceptance of updated terms

General  promotional offers are only available to new subscribers on web and mobile apps.

Subscribers will pay a discounted amount for a limited period, thereafter, the normal subscription fee will automatically be deducted if the subscription is not cancelled.

Subscribers will only be able to redeem a specific promotional code once.

Retention or loyalty promotional offers might be extended to current subscribers on a specific promotional offer to extend their promotional period at a new price or to standard price subscribers to offer them a discounted rate. These offers are extended directly to a specific group of subscribers and are only redeemable by that specific group. The offer is not transferable and only applies for a specific period. The offer can only be taken up while a subscription is still active and will auto renew in the next month and not after a subscription has been cancelled. There are limitations and restrictions in place pertaining to payment methods.

Payments can be made by credit card or debit card, with a debit order, via Apple App store and Google App store. The list of available payment methods may be adjusted at the digital publisher’s discretion. All other payment methods will be communicated to you as soon as they become available.

Subscribers will not be allowed to switch from one payment method to another while the subscription is active.

In some cases, your payment date may change, for example if your payment method has not successfully settled or if your paid subscription began on a day that doesn’t match your selected billing day.

In the event of non-payment where a user has not cancelled during the cancellation window, the digital publisher reserves the right to recover an owing payment at the same time as the due payment.

If a payment fails on the billing date, further attempts to collect will be made during at least one billing cycle. Should all attempts fail, the account will be placed under suspension.

You remain responsible for any uncollected amounts. If a payment is not successfully settled, due to expiration, insufficient funds, or otherwise, and you do not terminate your account, we may suspend your access to the service until we have successfully charged a valid payment method. For some payment methods, the issuer may charge you certain fees, such as foreign transaction fees or other fees relating to the processing of your payment method. Local tax charges may vary depending on the payment method used. Check with your payment method service provider for details.

Monthly Payments

Subscription fees will be automatically charged monthly to your chosen payment method on the specific billing date provided upon subscription. Please ensure that the necessary funds are available on your chosen payment method.

Upfront Payments

Upfront payment is available to new subscribers on the desktop and mobile website.

Subscribers will be billed upfront for their subscription and thereafter, the recurring billing will come into effect and automatically deducted if the subscription is not cancelled.

If subscriber has successfully paid for the period (6 Months, 12 Months) and cancels, cancellation will be effective at the end of the period already paid

A multi-period subscription can only be cancelled by contacting the Call Centre:

The subscriber needs to explicitly and in writing request a refund for the outstanding period. The active term (number of months) of the subscription will be deducted from the original amount paid when the refund is processed. The cancellation of the subscription will take effect twenty (20) business days from when the request is received. The subscriber will be billed until the last active day of the subscription and be refunded pro rata for the rest of the initial subscription period.

The digital publisher may impose a reasonable cancellation penalty with respect to any discounts granted to the consumer in contemplation of the agreement enduring for its intended fixed term.

You can terminate your subscription to a Service at any time by logging in to your profile and terminating the Service.

We can terminate your subscription to the Service –

  • at any time by providing, you with notice; or
  • if you violate the Terms.

Should your subscription be suspended, or terminated for whatever reason, you will not have any further access to subscription content or features.

You are to pay all money and costs that you have incurred up to the termination date.

You use our Platforms and Services at your own risk

While we endeavour to ensure that the information on our Platforms or Services is correct, we do not warrant the accuracy and completeness of Content on our Platforms or Services or that the Content and technology available from our Platforms or Services are free from errors or omissions.

We may make changes to the Content on our Platforms or Services at any time without notice. The Content on our Platforms or Services may be out of date, and in this regard, we make no commitment to update such Content.

To the extent allowed by law, we shall not be liable for any damage, loss or liability of whatsoever nature arising from the use or inability to use our Platforms or Services or Content provided from or through our Platforms or Services.

Our Platforms and Services are supplied on an “as is” basis and have not been compiled or supplied to meet any user’s individual requirements. It is your sole responsibility to satisfy yourself prior to entering into this agreement with us that the Services available on or through our Platforms will meet your individual requirements and be compatible with your hardware and/or software.

Information, ideas and opinions expressed on our Platforms or Services should not be regarded as professional advice or our official opinion and you are encouraged to consult professional advice before taking any course of action related to information, ideas or opinions expressed on our Platforms or Services.

Submissions of Content (like contribution to blogs, comments on articles posted), postings of any kind to our Platforms or Services and e-mails sent to our Platforms or Services are not editorially controlled by us and therefore we cannot be held liable for illegal or unconstitutional content (including, but not limited to, defamatory or harmful content).

These Terms are the sole record of the agreement between you and us, with neither party being bound by any express, tacit or implied representation or warranty not recorded in these Terms.

No agreement shall be concluded or amendment to these Terms effected merely by you sending a data message to our Platforms or using our Services.

Media24 may transfer its rights and obligations under the Terms to a third party without your consent.

You may not transfer your rights and obligations under the Terms to a third party without the consent of Media24.

If any provision of the Terms is or becomes unenforceable for any reason, then such provision will be treated as if it had not been included in the Terms to the extent that it remains unenforceable and shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of the Terms.

All provisions of these Terms must be treated as being qualified, to the extent necessary, to ensure that the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 are complied with.

The Terms are governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa without giving effect to any principles of conflict of law, with you consenting to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of South Africa.

You agree that we may intercept or monitor all communications sent or posted by you to our Platforms, Services or our employees. You agree that the consent provided herein by you satisfies any “writing” requirement prescribed in law.

Media24 Proprietary Limited (registration number 1950/038385/07) is a company registered in the Republic of South Africa.

Media24 is a member of IAB South Africa whose details can be found a www.iabsa.net and the Digital Media and Marketing Association whose details can be found at www.dmma.co.za.

A list of officer bearers can be found a www.naspers.com.