Acceptable Use Policy

Why This Page Exists

Welcome to West Georgia is a public platform that surfaces businesses, listings, content, and community campaigns to residents of Carroll, Douglas, Haralson, Heard, and Paulding counties. We host user-submitted material (claims, testimonials, sponsorship campaign messages, contact-form text, and similar) and we have a duty to keep that surface trustworthy.

This Acceptable Use Policy describes content and uses that are not permitted, the rights we reserve to enforce it, and how to report problems.

Prohibited Content

Illegal content. Content that violates federal, Georgia, or local law.

Defamatory or harassing content. False statements of fact about identifiable people or businesses, threats, or targeted harassment.

Deceptive reviews and testimonials. We require honest, first-hand testimonials. Fake reviews, paid-for endorsements without disclosure, AI-generated reviews presented as human, and reviews written by competitors are not allowed.

Content that infringes intellectual property rights. See our DMCA policy at /dmca.

Content depicting or promoting violence, sexual exploitation, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), or other content unlawful under U.S. law.

Spam, phishing, malware, or any content designed to defraud or harm users.

Prohibited Uses

Scraping the site at scale, automated harvesting of business listings, or any other automated access that exceeds typical browsing.

Reverse-engineering, decompiling, or attempting to extract source code or non-public data from the site.

Probing or testing the security of our systems without prior written authorization. Bona fide security researchers are welcome — see "Reporting" below.

Bypassing or attempting to bypass access controls, rate limits, region gates (for example, the GA-residents-only sponsorship geo gate), or eligibility checks.

Using the site to compete with us by replicating substantial portions of our directory, content, or design.

Testimonials and Reviews on Business Pages

Business owners on Featured or Anchor tiers may submit testimonials and review content for their listing. We require that any testimonial be from a real customer, accurately attributed, and submitted with the customer’s permission.

We may remove testimonials that appear to be fabricated, that contradict third-party review surfaces (Google, Facebook), or that violate the FTC Endorsement Guides.

Our Enforcement Rights

We may, at our sole discretion, remove or restrict any user-submitted material that we believe violates this policy or any applicable law. We may suspend or terminate access to the site, claimed listings, or paid tiers for violations.

We are a publisher of our own editorial content (videos, blog posts, city pages) and a host of certain user-submitted material (claims, testimonials, contact-form messages). Where we host third-party content, we rely on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and reserve all defenses available under it.

Reporting Problems

Security issues — vulnerabilities, suspected breaches, or other security concerns: security@welcometowestgeorgia.com.

Content concerns — defamation, harassment, fake reviews, broken claim flows: hello@welcometowestgeorgia.com.

Copyright takedown notices: see /dmca.

We aim to acknowledge security reports within 5 business days and content reports within 10 business days.

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted here with an updated effective date.