Terms of Service

Last updated: August 5, 2026

Welcome to Hardin Local. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of hardinlocal.com and the content we publish. By using the site, subscribing to our newsletter, or becoming a member, you agree to these Terms. We've kept them in plain English; if anything is unclear, contact us.

Who We Are

Hardin Local is a community-focused podcast and local-news platform covering Hardin County, Kentucky. The website at hardinlocal.com is operated by Hardin Local, a DBA of PT Holding, LLC, based in Kentucky. You can reach us at [email protected].

Use of the Site

You may use hardinlocal.com for personal, non-commercial purposes — reading our articles, watching our videos, signing up for the newsletter, and participating as a member. You agree not to:

  • Use the site in any way that violates applicable law.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site, member accounts, or our systems.
  • Scrape, harvest, or bulk-download site content or member information.
  • Interfere with the site's operation (for example, through denial-of-service attacks or malicious code).

Memberships and Newsletter

Some content and features may require a free or paid membership. Paid memberships are billed through Stripe; prices and benefits are shown at sign-up. You can cancel at any time through your account page, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link in any email footer.

Comments and Member Conduct

Members may be able to comment on posts. You're responsible for what you post. We may remove comments that are unlawful, harassing, hateful, defamatory, spam, or otherwise inconsistent with a friendly community-news site, and we may suspend accounts that repeatedly cross those lines. Comments are publicly visible — don't post anything you wouldn't say at a county fair.

Our Content and Intellectual Property

The articles, videos, podcast episodes, graphics, and other content on hardinlocal.com are owned by Hardin Local (or used with permission) and are protected by copyright. You may share links to our content freely and quote brief excerpts with attribution. You may not republish, redistribute, or commercially exploit our content without written permission.

Some Hardin Local content is sponsored by local businesses. Sponsored segments and posts are identified as such. Sponsorship never gives a sponsor control over our editorial coverage.

Our Publishing Tools

Hardin Local builds and operates its own internal publishing software — the "Hardin Local Publisher" — which we use to publish Hardin Local's own content to Hardin Local's own accounts on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram through each platform's official API. This same internal tooling is used across all four platforms. It is an internal tool, used only by Hardin Local to publish its own content:

  • It is not offered to the public, and there is no third-party access to it.
  • It posts only content created by Hardin Local, only to accounts owned by Hardin Local.
  • It does not collect or process data from anyone else; see our Privacy Policy for details.

Third-Party Links and Embedded Content

Our pages may link to or embed content from third-party platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, and others). Those services have their own terms and privacy policies, and we're not responsible for their content or practices.

Disclaimers

We work hard to get local news right, but the site and its content are provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We don't guarantee that the site will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that every piece of information is complete or current. Nothing on the site is professional, legal, or financial advice.

Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hardin Local and PT Holding, LLC will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the site. Our total liability for any claim related to the site will not exceed the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim (or $50 if you paid nothing).

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be noted at the top of this page with an updated date. Continued use of the site after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Kentucky.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email [email protected] or use our Contact page.

QR Studio

QR Studio (hardinlocal.com/qr) lets members create free QR codes and short links, with scan statistics and an optional subscriber-collection feature. By creating a code you agree to the following:

  • Beta service. QR Studio is currently in beta and provided as-is. Codes are designed not to expire, but we cannot guarantee uninterrupted service, and features may change. Report problems to [email protected].
  • Acceptable destinations. Codes may only point to lawful http(s) destinations. No links to anything illegal, deceptive, malicious (malware, phishing), infringing, or harmful. We may deactivate any code or revoke QR Studio access at our discretion, including for abuse or policy violations.
  • Subscriber collection. The subscriber option is on by default when you create a code; you can turn it off per code. Emails collected through your codes are personal information entrusted to you: use them only to send the updates people signed up for, honor unsubscribe requests promptly, never sell or share your list, and follow applicable law (including CAN-SPAM). Signups are only confirmed after the person clicks the confirmation link we email them.
  • Your responsibility. You are responsible for the destinations your codes point to and for how you use collected emails. Hardin Local is not responsible for third-party sites your codes link to.