The Public Views

Terms

Last updated 14 August 2026

These are the terms for using The Public Views. Using the app means you accept them. They are meant to be read, so they are written in plain words rather than in the long form of the same thing.

What this is

The Public Views is a news app. Each story is a short summary of reporting published elsewhere, attributed to the publication that did it, with a poll attached. You vote, and then you see what everyone else said.

This is version 0.1, and it is a beta. Things will change, break and be rebuilt. It is free and there is nothing to buy.

The Public Views is operated by Arcston Global Private Limited, and “we” on this page means that company.

Your account

  • Opening the app creates an anonymous account for you automatically, so that your first vote is saved rather than lost.
  • There are no passwords. You sign in with a code sent to your email, or with Google. The same email address always leads to the same account, whichever of the two you use.
  • You are responsible for what happens under your account. Tell us if you think someone else has access to it.
  • Do not create multiple accounts to move a poll result, and do not script or automate voting. We can remove votes obtained that way.

Voting

  • One vote per poll. You can change your mind, and changing it replaces your answer rather than adding a second one.
  • Three votes without signing in. After that, sign in to keep voting. This limit is enforced by the database, not just by the screen. Changing an existing vote never costs you another one.
  • Removing a poll from your Activity list hides it from you and nothing more. Your vote stays and keeps counting toward the result. It has to: other people have already been shown a percentage that includes it, and quietly moving a published number is not something a tidy-up control gets to do. The app says this where you do it.

What a poll result is, and is not

A poll here is a snapshot of what people using this app tapped. It is not a survey. The people answering are not a representative sample of India, the results are not weighted, and nobody chose who took part.

So please do not cite a result as research, publish it as opinion polling, or make a decision on the strength of it. It is here to make a story worth arguing about.

Comments

  • Commenting needs a signed-in account. Anonymous readers can vote but not comment.
  • Your display name comes from your profile and is attached by the database, not sent by the app - so nobody can post under someone else’s name.
  • Nothing abusive, hateful, harassing, threatening, obscene, deceptive or unlawful. No spam, no advertising, no impersonating anyone.
  • You keep ownership of what you write, and you give us permission to show it in the app. We can remove a comment or suspend an account without notice, and we will not always explain why.

The stories, and whose work they are

  • Our summaries describe reporting done by other publications. Each story names its source and links to it where we have the link. We do not claim to have done that reporting - the byline on a story is the publication, never one of us.
  • The summaries themselves, along with the design, the polls and the app, belong to us. Read them, share them, link to them. Do not republish them in bulk or pass them off as your own.
  • If you are a publisher and want an attribution corrected, a link changed or a summary taken down, email us and we will deal with it properly.
  • If you think something here infringes your copyright, email us with enough detail to find it.

What we do not promise

This is beta software given to you free of charge, and it is provided as it is.

  • We do not promise it will be available, correct, complete or uninterrupted, and we may change or remove features.
  • Check the original report before relying on anything. A summary is short by design and can be wrong or out of date; the source link on every story is there for exactly this.
  • Nothing here is advice - not legal, financial, medical or any other kind.
  • We are not responsible for what other sites do, including the publications we link to.
  • To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for loss arising from your use of the app, and data could be lost while it is in beta.

Ending it

You can stop using The Public Views whenever you like. To have your account and your data deleted, email us - there is no delete button in the app yet, and the privacy policy explains what that means. We can suspend or close an account that breaks these terms.

Changes, and the law that applies

We may change these terms; the date at the top changes with them, and anything material will be said in the app. These terms are governed by the laws of India, and are between you and Arcston Global Private Limited.

Getting in touch

Anything at all - contact@thepublicviews.com.