Google+ Contests and Promotions Policy

Policy Requirements

Google+ allows contests, sweepstakes, and other promotions ("Promotions"), to the extent they are permitted by law, subject to the following policy requirements and legal terms laid out below.

  • Generating spam or encouraging individuals to engage in spam or abuse is strictly prohibited. Please note that the definition of spam on Google+ may develop and change over time, and that Google reserves the right to determine what qualifies as spam. In order to play a part in helping us fight spam and abuse, we have the following specific requirements for Promotions:
    • The official rules for your Promotion must include a clear statement that anyone found to have created multiple accounts in order to increase their chances of winning, or anyone who posts entries in excess of an entry limit you have set, will be disqualified from the Promotion. You must set an entry limit for your promotion below a level that is likely to encourage spam.
    • If you ask participants to use hashtags in their Promotion entries, they must be relevant to the kind of content users are posting. For example, do not ask for photos of sunsets with #spaghetti.
  • Promotions should not be used to try to circumvent any applicable terms or policies.
  • YouTube video contests are prohibited on Google+. This includes contests that involve posting videos on YouTube and contests that involve posting YouTube videos on Google+.
  • Do not run Promotions that offer potential rewards in exchange for +1ing content, following a user, adding a user to one’s circles, +mentioning a user (other than the contest creator or sponsor or an affiliate of the contest creator or sponsor), having other users enter the promotion, or voting in polls. Also, don’t run Promotions that encourage users to post unoriginal or repetitive content.
  • Please note that doing a public search (via hashtag or otherwise) may not show every entry or every participant in your Promotion. Accordingly, you should not rely solely on the search feature to view or find all entries or participants in your Promotion.
  • Please note that some Promotion entries may be filtered, hidden, or removed from Google+ for spam or quality reasons, or if the entries violate this Promotion Policy or any of our other applicable policies or terms of service.

Legal Terms

All Promotions that run on Google+ or that use Google+ or Google+ functionality are subject to the below rules.

  1. General Requirements.
    1. You are responsible for your Promotion, including the official rules, offer terms, eligibility requirements (including age and residency restrictions), and all aspects of your Promotion administration.
    2. You are responsible for ensuring that Your Promotion on Google+ complies with all applicable federal (including trade sanctions regulations), state, and local laws, as well as rules, regulations, and applicable codes of conduct or guidances in the jurisdiction(s) where your Promotion is offered or advertised, including registering your Promotion, obtaining necessary regulatory approvals, language requirements, and disclosure requirements. Please consult with an attorney if you have questions about legal compliance.
    3. You are responsible for instructing participants to make it clear that they are posting content or otherwise using Google+ as part of a Promotion where required.
    4. Your Promotion cannot be run or conducted in a way that conflicts with any of our policies or terms of service, including this Promotion Policy, our Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, User Content and Conduct Policy, Button Policy, Google+ Pages Additional Terms of Service, or YouTube’s Contest Policies and Guidelines, and you must not encourage participants in your Promotion to engage in any activity that would violate any of our policies or terms of service. Please review our policies before conducting any Promotions on Google+. If your Promotion is deemed to violate any Google policies or Google terms of service, we reserve the right to take appropriate action, including prohibiting you from running future promotions on Google+ or disabling your account.
  2. Liability.
    1. You must have official rules that clearly state that your Promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or otherwise associated with Google or its affiliates.
    2. In the official rules, each participant must completely release, to the full extent permitted by law, Google and its affiliates from all liability related to your Promotion. Participants should be instructed to direct all questions and comments regarding the Promotion to you and not to Google.
    3. You hereby release Google and its affiliates from any liability associated with your Promotion and you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Google, its parent corporation, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, or debt and expenses (including attorney's fees) arising from: (i) your use of and access to Google+ for your Promotion; (ii) your violation of any term of this Promotion Policy or any other Google policies; (iii) any violation within your Promotion of any third party right, including any copyright, property, publicity (including defamation), or privacy right; (iv) any claim from any third party relating to or arising from your Promotion including for any prizes awarded or the failure to award such prizes; or (v) any claim that your Promotion violates any law, rule, or regulation. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive the termination of the service, changes to this Promotion Policy or any other Google policies and your use of Google+.
  3. Google+ Services and Site Functionality.
    1. Google will not assist you in the administration of your Promotion.
    2. Google is not responsible for any issues with your Promotion should there be a problem or interruption on the Google+ site or with any Google+ functionality.
    3. Google is not liable to you for termination of any account, the removal or reposting of any content, or any action or inaction related to user content or submissions related to Promotions or otherwise.
    4. You assume all risks associated with the administration of your Promotion on Google+.