Foursquare Platform & Acceptable Use Policy

Last Updated: March 12, 2024

This Foursquare Platform & Acceptable Use Policy (“Policy”) applies to all access or use by a developer, enterprise user, customer or other authorized user of any Foursquare Labs, Inc. (“Foursquare”) products, services, data, databases, APIs, platforms, infrastructure, applications, or websites (collectively, the “Foursquare Services”), to the extent incorporated into your agreement with Foursquare or any applicable terms of use. This Policy applies to you, and anyone you enable to access, view, or host the Foursquare Services, including end users as well as any permitted sublicenses (if any), subcontractors, and agents (collectively referred to in this Policy as “You”).

I. General Restrictions

You, Your respective websites, applications and/or services (“Your Service”), and Your end users may not:

Repurpose any demonstration, evaluation, or beta program credentials for any commercial use case;
Omit, remove, or obscure, or otherwise fail to display, branding and/or copyright information affixed by Foursquare;
Fail to promptly integrate the latest generally available commercial version of the applicable Foursquare Service;
Degrade or diminish the perceived quality of the Foursquare Services, whether by act or omission;
Use the Foursquare Services to report information You know to be false or misleading;
Integrate any Foursquare Services with any other material and/or services that may subject the Foursquare Services to any “share-alike” concepts, such as open source software, open database or data licenses (including ODBL, CDLA or otherwise), where Foursquare’s licensing or distribution of the Foursquare Services (or any rights therein) would be restricted or conditioned in any way;
Allow third parties to systematically query any Foursquare Services to obtain all or substantially all data for a given locality, region or country;
Provide access to the Foursquare Services to third parties (except as integrated into Your Service as permitted under your agreement with Foursquare or applicable terms of use), or otherwise use the Foursquare Services on behalf of any third party;
Provide any of the following data (“Prohibited Data”) to Foursquare or process Prohibited Data through the Foursquare Services: (i) data that is classified and or used on the U.S. Munitions list, including software and technical data; (ii) articles, services and related technical data designated as defense articles or defense services; (iii) ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) related data; (iv) financial or payment information; (v) government–issued identification information; (vi) online account access credentials; (vii) consumer health data, as defined under applicable law including the Washington My Health, My Data Act and similar U.S. state health data laws; (viii) medical, genetic or health insurance information, individual biometric data, data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation or data that reveals racial or ethnic origin, restricted health status, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership, and any other information considered sensitive or restricted under applicable law or regulation unless expressly authorized by law and in an agreement between You and Foursquare; or (ix) any data regarding a minor who is under thirteen (13) years of age or otherwise defined as a child under applicable privacy law;
Copy the look and feel of any Foursquare Services; or
Use the Foursquare Services in violation of applicable law, including, but not limited to implementing a geofence around a location that provides in-person health care services or a health care facility in violation of applicable law, including the Washington My Health, My Data Act and similar U.S. state health data laws.

II. Prohibited: Illegal, Harmful, or Offensive Activity or Content

You agree not to access or use any Foursquare Services: (i) for the purpose of or in connection with any illegal, harmful, fraudulent, infringing or offensive activity, or (ii) to transmit, store, display, distribute or otherwise make available content, products or services that are illegal, harmful, fraudulent, infringing or offensive. Prohibited activities, content, or products include, but are not necessarily limited to, that which are, or relate to:

Fraudulent goods, services, schemes or promotions, ponzi and pyramid schemes, and stolen goods;
Phishing, pharming, social engineering, or similar deception/manipulation to obtain confidential or personal information or to create any fraudulent or fake account;
Using business names and/or logos in a manner that can mislead, confuse or deceive users about the source of any Foursquare data contained within, or the purpose of, Your Service;
Deanonymization, by any manner or means, of any content, for purposes of identifying or locating an individual without the individual’s express consent;
Infringing, unlicensed, or counterfeit goods or content;
Pornography, sexual content, or sexual services;
Abuse, threats, harassment, bigotry, racist or other hate-related content;
Invasion of privacy or misappropriation of celebrity/publicity rights or violation of any other third party rights;
Violating laws prohibiting discrimination or to determine adverse terms and conditions of or ineligibility for employment, credit, health care treatment, housing, or insurance, or for any purpose that violates the law in the jurisdictions where You operate;
Transmission/republication of false or misleading newsworthy material;
Viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, spyware, ransomware or malware;
Unsolicited e-mail or other messaging, promotions, advertising, or solicitations (like “spam”);
Explosives, weapons, explosive materials, aviation, nuclear facilities, and similar ultrahazardous items or activity;
Products and/or services that do not comply with applicable third party agreements (e.g., app store terms for mobile applications, etc.);
Applications that link to materials that are otherwise restricted or prohibited with this Policy.

III. Prohibited: Security Threats or Network Abuse

You may not access or use any Foursquare Services to:

Mount any kind of denial-of-service attacks (DoS, DDoS);
Access a system or monitor a network without permission;
Attempt to hack, scan, test the vulnerability, penetrate or breach any security or authentication measures;
Spoof headers or obscuring packet origin or route;
Access or copy any Foursquare Services through automated means such as bots, spiders, scrapers, and webcrawlers;
Extract sales leads, business category listings, mailing, or marketing lists.

IV. Restricted: Combinations and Modifications of the Foursquare Services

Unless otherwise permitted in Your agreement with Foursquare, You may not:

Access or use the Foursquare Services with any activity that is outside of licensed territory(ies), or with any activity that exceeds licensed use set forth in such agreement;
Combine, blend, or commingle datasets with, or make any modifications, adaptations, additions or alterations to, the Foursquare Services;
Copy, rent, sell, transfer, assign, sublicense, disassemble, reverse engineer or decompile (except to the limited extent expressly authorized by applicable statutory law) the Foursquare Services;
Extract or store any Foursquare Services for the purpose of creating or enhancing a database of e.g., location data.

V. Restricted Applications/Use

Unless otherwise permitted in Your agreement with Foursquare, You may not access the Foursquare Services in connection with websites, applications or uses that:

Monetize, on a standalone basis, the Foursquare Services (such as by selling advertising against the Foursquare Services);
Enable non-human (or unmanned/uncrewed) control of air, sea, or land vehicles;
Enable dispatch of ambulances, EMT, police, fire, or similar emergency response services;
Lack any legally-required and otherwise appropriate instructions, warnings, notices, and safety information as of the jurisdiction where You operate or distribute Your Service.

VI. API Restrictions/Caching

You may not:

use any Foursquare Service except as permitted in the relevant developer documentation for such service (currently found at https://docs.foursquare.com/) (including updates and any successor site thereto), including without limitation with regard to any applicable query limits and caching restrictions;
Implement measures that might avoid or circumvent any usage limitations, or interfere with the accuracy of reporting;
Benchmark or test the availability or performance of the Foursquare Services without Foursquare’s advance written authorization (and if permitted, then subject to the requirements/protocols specified by Foursquare);
Attempt to circumvent any API limits (including, without limitation, through mass-registering of applications);
Append materials or content to API requests/queries (except as permitted in the applicable API documentation).

VII. Monitoring and Remedial Action

Foursquare may directly or through third parties investigate any suspected violation of this Policy or misuse of any Foursquare Services. Foursquare may, if it develops a reasonable suspicion of any violation of this Policy, without limiting other available remedies and without liability:

Cooperate with appropriate law enforcement agencies, regulators, or other appropriate third parties to help with investigation and prosecution of illegal or harmful conduct by providing network and systems information related to suspected violations of this Policy;
Take remedial action if the Policy is violated, such as limiting, removing or disabling access to any or all Foursquare Services, suspending access credentials, throttling Your Service’s access to any Foursquare Services, or terminating contract(s) (in accordance with the terms of such contract(s));
Commence legal proceedings in any jurisdiction for reimbursement of all losses and costs, including, but not limited to, reasonable legal costs resulting from such violations;
Report any activity that Foursquare believes, in good faith, violates any law or regulation to appropriate law enforcement officials, regulators, or other appropriate third parties. Reporting may include disclosure of information that identifies You, Your agents, representatives, and/or employees.

VIII. Attribution and Supplier Terms

You are obliged to review and pass through to Your end users all notices or disclosures required or suggested by Foursquare.

IX. Reporting Violations

If You become aware of any violation of this Policy, You will immediately notify Foursquare and provide reasonable assistance, as requested, to stop and/or mitigate the violation. To report any violation of this Policy, please email legal@foursquare.com.

X. Updates

We reserve the right to modify this Policy. We will notify You by making the revised version available on this page, and an updated revision date will indicate that changes have been made. If we make material changes to this Policy, we will provide you with additional notice such as sending you an email or by posting a message on the Foursquare Service. If you do not accept the changes, you must stop using the Foursquare Services. Your continued use of the Foursquare Services after we publish changes means that you are consenting to the updates. We also reserve the right to modify or discontinue any or all of the Foursquare Services at any time, for any or no reason, with or without notice.