Terms of Service

What YNTK Is

YNTK ("You Need To Know") is a citizen intelligence platform providing open-source intelligence analysis on crisis situations and geopolitical events. Content is produced for informational purposes only.

YNTK is not a news organization. It is not affiliated with any government, military, or intelligence agency. It is an independent project applying structured analytical methods to publicly available information.

Crowd Signal System

The crowd signal system lets readers indicate content importance through two mechanisms:

• "This matters" — available to all visitors, including anonymous readers. No account required.
• "Dig deeper" — available only to signed-in users (via Google or GitHub). Signals that a topic warrants further investigation.

Signals inform YNTK's research priorities but do not guarantee coverage of any topic. We reserve the right to reset, remove, or modify signal data at any time for any reason, including system integrity, data migration, or feature changes.

Acceptable Use

The following activities are prohibited:

• Automated voting or bot manipulation of the signal system
• Coordinated inauthentic behavior, including organized vote brigading
• Attempts to exploit the signal system to suppress or artificially promote content
• Scraping the signal API at rates exceeding reasonable use

Violation may result in vote removal, signal reset, or access restriction without prior notice. We detect anomalous voting patterns automatically and act on them at our discretion.

Accounts & Authentication

Accounts are optional. Most site features — including reading all content and using the "This matters" signal — work without one.

Sign-in is available via Google or GitHub OAuth. We store only a one-way hash of your OAuth provider user ID. We do not store your name, email, or profile information. See our privacy policy for full details on data handling.

You can sign out at any time, which deletes your session. We may terminate accounts that violate the acceptable use policies above.

Content & Accuracy

YNTK content includes assessments, analysis, and sourced intelligence compiled from publicly available information. All analytical claims carry confidence levels:

• VERIFIED — confirmed by multiple independent sources
• LIKELY — strong evidence with minor gaps
• UNCERTAIN — plausible but incomplete evidence

These levels indicate our assessment of reliability, not absolute truth. Content may be corrected, retracted, or updated as new information emerges. Corrections are documented — intelligence gets revised, not silently deleted.

YNTK is not liable for decisions made based on its content. This is analysis, not advice. If you are making operational, legal, or safety decisions, verify through authoritative sources.

No Warranty

This service is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We make no guarantee of availability, accuracy, or completeness. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any feature — including the signal system — at any time without notice.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms at any time. Continued use of YNTK after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. Material changes will be noted on this page with an updated date.

Contact

Questions about these terms can be directed to: