Using the site
You're welcome to read, share and quote Current Zeitgeist with a link back to the page. Each third-party source keeps its own terms, and its credit appears next to its data. Videos on the site ("Trending on YouTube", "Seen from outside" and shared videos) play in YouTube's own player and come through YouTube API Services: by watching them you agree to YouTube'sTerms of Service. TikTok videos and Instagram posts in "On social media" play in TikTok's and Instagram's own embeds and stay theirs and their creators': TikTok's andInstagram's terms apply to them. Please don't scrape the site in bulk: use the API, or write to us if you need the data.
Accounts
Reading the site needs a free account, and you must be 18 or over to create one. The same account keeps your interests, filters, "For you" page, alerts and Pro. Filters that hide or blur topics are sorted automatically and can miss things: they are a reading aid, not parental controls.
What the data is and isn't
The site reports online attention and consumption signals. They are not polls, forecasts or advice. Briefs marked AI-generated are written by an AI model from each page's data and checked automatically, and can still contain mistakes. "Where it's heading next" is a statistical estimate from past patterns, not a promise. Nothing on the site is investment, financial or legal advice; don't rely on it as your only basis for financial, legal or safety decisions.
Pro subscriptions
Pro is sold by Polar as merchant of record, and Polar's buyer terms also apply to the purchase. A subscription renews automatically each month or year until you cancel. You can cancel anytime from your account ("Cancel subscription"), and access continues until the end of the period you paid for.
Free trial. Pro starts with a 7-day free trial. You enter a card at checkout; the first payment is taken when the trial ends unless you cancel before then. We email you 2 days before it ends. One trial per person.
Refunds. If Pro isn't for you, ask within 14 days of your first payment and you get a full refund. After that, cancelling stops the next renewal. This doesn't limit any right you have under the law where you live.
Prices. Prices are in US dollars; sales tax or VAT is added at checkout where it applies. If we raise a price, we announce it at least 30 days ahead, and existing subscribers keep the price they joined at for as long as their subscription stays active.
Founding Member. Founding Member is for individuals: one membership per person, bought by that person for their own use, on one account that isn't shared or transferred. It isn't for companies or teams, which use a Business plan. Its price stays the same for as long as the membership stays active; if it ends, it can't be bought again. It has no trial; instead, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days. If a Founding membership is bought for a company (for example with a company tax ID), we'll offer to move it to a Business plan or refund it.
Business. Business plans are agreed in writing with each organisation (price, seats, what the data may be used for); those terms apply alongside these. Unless agreed otherwise, the data may be used inside your organisation, with its sources' credits, and not resold or republished in bulk.
Accounts. Keep your sign-in to yourself. A personal account may be signed in on up to 5 devices. We may suspend accounts that scrape Pro data in bulk or share it publicly.
Community rules
Signed-in readers (18 or over) can make a profile (a username, a name, a short bio, a country and a photo), like, react to topics and debates, vote on debates, and post short comments and replies. They can also share posts from social media platforms, which then show through each platform's own embed and stay their authors' and the platforms', and post pictures of their own: post only pictures you made or have the right to share, and never anything illegal, sexual or violent. You keep the rights to your pictures and let us show them on the site. Verified badges are given by us, by hand, to journalists, researchers, experts, creators, organizations and public figures who show who they are; we can remove a badge if it's misused. Verified people can publish articles: they are responsible for them, and the community rules apply. Reputation badges are worked out automatically and can change. To report a copyright infringement, use the Report button (Copyright) or write to data@currentzeitgeist.com with the work, where it appears and your contact details; we remove infringing material and close the accounts of repeat infringers. Profiles, photos, notes on shared posts and comments are checked automatically before they appear, and anyone signed in can report one. Don't pretend to be someone else, and use only photos you have the right to use that show no nudity, violence or anyone else's personal details. We remove comments, profiles and photos that are illegal, attack people for who they are, harass or threaten anyone, are sexual, encourage violence or self-harm, share someone's personal information, are spam or advertising, pretend to be someone else, or aren't about the topic. When we remove a comment we email its author what we removed, why, how it was decided and how to ask us to look again; you can also use a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under the EU Digital Services Act. Repeated breaches can pause commenting on an account. Report illegal content with the Report button or to data@currentzeitgeist.com, our contact point for authorities and users under the Digital Services Act (English).
Advertisers
A sponsor slot puts a labelled card with your name, one line and a link beside the home page's map, or on a category's, an industry's or the startups page and the topic pages in it, for as long as it's paid, billed monthly in advance and cancellable any time (it ends at the end of the paid month). We approve every sponsor and may refuse or remove one that breaks the rules on theadvertise page, refunding the unused part. Cards never appear on country pages or on topics about war, violence, death or sex, and paid members can turn them off. We count clicks and share them with you; we don't promise any number of views or clicks. You're responsible for what your card says and the site it links to.
API and AI agents
Plans with the API include a number of calls each calendar month (UTC) and a limit per minute; they're shown on your API keys page. Every request counts, including ones that fail, and each tool an AI agent calls counts as one call. How to use it: developer docs.
Your keys. A key belongs to your account and is for you (or, on a Business plan, your organisation). Keep it secret: don't put it in web pages, apps you give out or public code. You're responsible for what's done with it; if it may have leaked, revoke it on your account page.
What you may do with the answers. Use them in your own work, analysis and AI assistants, and quote them with a link to Current Zeitgeist and the credits each answer lists underattribution. Numbers come only from sources whose terms let us pass them on with credit, and their licences apply too. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, don't resell the data, republish it in bulk, offer it as your own data service or API, or use it to train or fine-tune AI models.
What you may not do. Don't get around keys or limits (for example by sharing keys or using several accounts), probe or overload the service, or try to find out how it is built or reach data it doesn't offer. We may suspend keys or accounts that do.
About the answers. Names in answers are titles of topics from public sources, given as data: we don't vouch for them, and software reading them should treat them as data, not instructions. The API is provided as is, without a promise that it is always available (Business agreements can say otherwise). We may add fields at any time; before we remove or change one, we say so on the developer docs at least 30 days ahead, unless a source's terms or security need us to act sooner.
Contact
Last updated 4 October 2026 (community rules).