Terms of Use

Section 1 Guidelines for commenting

At SWI swissinfo.ch we believe it is important to hear from the communities we serve while providing a space for constructive conversation, debate and information. To help us achieve these goals we have some guidelines that apply to all our websites and social platforms. Details on what we allow and encourage and what will not be tolerated are below. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please email [e-mail]. 

Our community management is constantly evolving. This is why we would be happy to receive your suggestions for improvement, have discussions about our processes and test a range of models.

As a rule, no right to publication exists. Comments may be removed without prior notice. In the event of repeated netiquette violations, the user may be blocked. 

What we expect:

Please read the guidelines carefully and adhere to them. These guidelines are for everyone commenting on our pages and social media channels. 

Carefully check your sources before submitting a comment. All users of our offers take responsibility for the accuracy of their contributions and agree not to spread disinformation.

What we encourage: 

• Sharing of experiences and expertise relevant to the topic at hand
• Asking others to share their experiences and expertise 
• Dialogue with our journalists about their work 
• Asking questions about the content of our stories, if something is unclear
• Making suggestions about other aspects of a topic we could/should cover
• A constructive and respectful discussion with us and other readers 

The following will not be tolerated:

• Contents that are unrelated to the respective topic;
• Generalisations, accusations or assertions that cannot be verified. This includes links to pages we cannot verify as trusted sources.
• Personal attacks of any kind, insults or intentional provocation;
• Discrimination of any kind, for example with regard to origin, language, religion, nationality, skin colour, sexual orientation, political affiliation, age or gender;
• Content or language that glorifies violence or is obscene;
• Commercial or political advertising;
• Illegal content

Comments may be removed without prior notice. In the event of repeated netiquette violations, the user may be blocked. As a rule, no right to publication exists.

Section 2 Scope

swissinfo.ch shall be responsible exclusively for content that is generated, published and distributed. The Terms of Use apply to the contents of the website www.swissinfo.ch, and all sub-domains belonging to this domain (hereinafter referred to as the Website or Online Offering of swissinfo.ch).

Section 3 Liability

swissinfo.ch shall not be held liable, insofar as permitted by law, either for the content and software distributed on the website of swissinfo.ch, or for damages resulting therefrom. This shall apply to damages of all types, particularly to those that can be caused by errors, delays or disruptions in the transmission of data, breakdowns of the technical equipment and service, incorrect content, loss or deletion of data, viruses or in some other way through the use of this Online Offering.

The swissinfo.ch website may contain links to third party websites for informational purposes. In this case swissinfo.ch shall assume no responsibility for the content, accuracy, legality and functionality of websites of third parties to which reference is made via hyperlinks or tools on the website of swissinfo.ch. Any access of said web pages by means of these hyperlinks is made at the user’s own risk.

Section 4 Copyright

All rights reserved. The content of the website by SWI swissinfo.ch is copyrighted. It is intended for private use only. Any other use of the website content beyond the use stipulated above, particularly the distribution, modification, transmission, storage and copying requires prior written consent of SWI swissinfo.ch. Should you be interested in any such use of the website content, please contact us via [e-mail].

As regards the use for private purposes, it is only permitted to use a hyperlink to specific content, and to place it on your own website or a website of third parties. The SWI swissinfo.ch website content may only be embedded without any modifications, with reference to the source (SWI swissinfo.ch / name of the author) and only in an ad-free environment. 

Specifically applying to all software, folders, data and their content provided for download by the SWI swissinfo.ch website, a basic, non-exclusive and non-transferable license is granted that is restricted to the one-time downloading and saving of said data on private devices. All other rights remain the property of SWI swissinfo.ch. In particular, any sale or commercial use of these data is prohibited.