Values & Standards

This page sets out what Friendly News stands for and how it works. We've written it down so you can hold us to it. If we fall short, tell us.

Our mission

To make honest, unbiased news accessible to everyone, so people can understand the world without being misled or left out.

What we stand for

• Honesty. Truth over traffic. When facts and a good headline collide, the facts always win.
• Independence. We answer to readers, not advertisers. No ads, no personal data for sale.
• Accessibility. Everyone, regardless of ability, deserves to know what's going on in the world.

Why we exist

Most online news is paid for by advertising and measured by attention. Algorithms favour whatever provokes the strongest reaction, and the reading experience fills up with ads, trackers, and all kinds of tricks to grab your attention. We believe ad-supported content was the Internet's original sin, and groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have spent years tracking the cost.

Two consequences of this model stand out to us: the news grows more divisive, and it grows harder to reach -- especially for anyone who reads differently or can't filter out the noise.

We believe everyone deserves access to clear, unbiased information about the world. Friendly News is our attempt to provide it: the day's news, covered plainly, without the clickbait, the outrage, or the clutter.

Why we cost money

Because we don't run ads, Friendly News is paid for by the people who read it. That keeps our incentives simple: readers are the only people we answer to.

We're honest that this is a bet. Reader-funded news is harder to sustain, and we don't know whether it works at scale yet. We run as lean as we can and charge the minimum needed to keep the service viable.

If you want to read Friendly News but can't afford a subscription, get in touch and we'll do what we can to help.

Accessible first

Large parts of the mobile internet are hard to use for people with accessibility needs. Ads that cover the screen, autoplaying video, shifting layouts, small controls, and pages screen readers can't parse get in the way of something that should be simple. We think access to the news matters too much to treat this as an afterthought, so accessibility guides how we build rather than being something we add at the end.

Some of what that means, today and as we grow:

• Screen reader support, with clear labels and a sensible reading order.
• Adjustable text, contrast, and colour to suit how you read.
• A clean reading experience, free of ads and interruptions.
• Respecting the settings you've already chosen on your device rather than overriding them.

We don't consider this finished. If something is hard for you to use, let us know. We work towards the standards set by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.

How we operate

We want to be clear about what Friendly News is. We don't do original, on-the-ground journalism. We're a small operation and we don't have the budget for it.

What we do is track the biggest stories, gather the coverage from the internet and established outlets, research the facts within it, and present those facts as clearly and plainly as we can.

With each story we include further coverage from across the internet, so you can get the whole picture and reach your own view. We'd encourage you to read widely, and to support the publications you value.

How we use AI

Friendly News uses AI to help do our work, and we'd rather say so plainly.

We believe people whose work is used to train AI models should be paid for it, and we support the campaigns pushing to make that the norm. The Statement on AI Training, signed by tens of thousands of creators worldwide, is one you can add your name to.

We also appreciate the transformative nature of this technology when it comes to information processing and quite frankly, Friendly News wouldn't be possible without it.

Specifically, we use AI to help research stories, gather coverage, process information, and draft content. Every story goes through an editorial process, including fact-checking, before it reaches you.

We value factual accuracy above all. No process is perfect, so if you find a mistake in a story, tell us and we'll correct it.

Your data

We don't sell your browsing history, your contacts, or your interests, and we don't build a profile of you. We ask only for what the service needs to work.

You don't create an account, we don't ask for your name, and we never see or store your payment details, since the app stores handle billing.

We do collect basic, anonymous analytics to keep the service running and improve it. That data isn't tied to your identity and we don't sell it. Our Privacy Policy has the full detail.

That's where we stand. If we've got something wrong, or you think we can do better, we're listening.