title: Terms of Service

Also see the [Package Inclusion Policy](/policy_and_guidance/).

## Content

### Prohibited content

You must not post/transmit anything which is illegal under the laws in any part of the United Kingdom.

You must not (or use the service to) facilitate or commit any offence under the laws in any part of the United Kingdom.

This includes, in particular, terrorism content (as set out in Schedule 5, Online Safety Act 2023),
child sexual exploitation and abuse content (as set out in Schedule 6, Online Safety Act 2023), and
content that amounts to an offence specified in Schedule 7, Online Safety Act 2023.

Prohibited content includes:

* Pornographic content. This includes content of such a nature that it is reasonable to assume that it was produced
  solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal.
* Content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide
* Content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for an act of deliberate self-injury
* Content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for an eating disorder or behaviours associated with an eating disorder
* Content which is abusive and which targets any of the following characteristics: race, religion, sex,
  sexual orientation, disability, gender reassignment.
* Content which incites hatred against people:
    * of a particular race, religion, sex or sexual orientation
    * who have a disability
    * who have the characteristic of gender reassignment
* Content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for an act of serious violence against a person
* Bullying content
* Content which:
    * depicts real or realistic serious violence against a person
    * depicts the real or realistic serious injury of a person in graphic detail
* Content which:
    * depicts real or realistic serious violence against an animal
    * depicts the real or realistic serious injury of an animal in graphic detail
    * realistically depicts serious violence against a fictional creature or the serious injury of a fictional
      creature in graphic detail
* Content which encourages, promotes or provides instructions for a challenge or stunt highly likely to result in
  serious injury to the person who does it or to someone else
* Content which encourages a person to ingest, inject, inhale or in any other way self-administer:
    * a physically harmful substance
    * a substance in such a quantity as to be physically harmful

### Protecting users from illegal content

We provide this service free of charge, and on the basis that we may:

* take down, or restrict access to, anything that you generate, upload or share; and
* suspend or ban you from using all or part of the service

if we think that this is reasonable to protect you, other users, the service, or us. This applies, in particular,
to prohibited content.

If we are alerted by a person to the presence of any illegal content, or we become aware of it in any other way, 
we will swiftly take down that content.

To minimise the length of time for which any illegal content within the scope of the Online Safety Act 2023 is present:

* in respect of terrorism content, we offer an easy-to-access and use reporting function and will swiftly remove such content when we become aware of it.
* in respect of child sexual exploitation or abuse content, we offer an easy-to-access and use reporting function and will swiftly remove such content when we become aware of it.
* in respect of other content that amounts to an offence specified in Schedule 7, Online Safety Act 2023, we offer an easy-to-access and use reporting function and will swiftly remove such content when we become aware of it.

### Protecting children

We protect all children from the kinds of content listed in "Prohibited Content" by:

* prohibiting that type of content from our service; and
* swiftly taking down that content, if we are alerted by a person to its presence, or we become aware of it in any other way.

### Proactive technology

We do not use proactive technology to detect illegal content.


## Limitation of Liability

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL WE BE LIABLE
FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SERVICE.

We reserve the right to ban or suspend your account, or take down your content, for any reason.


## Jurisdiction and Governing Law

This service is subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.


## Complaints

### Reporting content

You may report content by clicking the report flag next to a comment or "Report" on the page containing the content.

You can also make reports by [contacting the admin]({{ admin_contact_url }}).

### Complaints and Appeals

You may send a complaint / request an appeal by [contacting the admin]({{ admin_contact_url }}). 

### Your right to bring a claim

This clause applies only to users within the United Kingdom.

The Online Safety Act 2023 says that you have a right to bring a claim for breach of contract if:

* anything that you generate, upload or share is taken down, or access to it is restricted, in breach of the terms of service, or
* you are suspended or banned from using the service in breach of the terms of service.

This does not apply to emails, SMS messages, MMS messages, one-to-one live aural communications,
comments and reviews (together with any further comments on such comments or reviews), or content which identifies
you as a user (e.g. a user name or profile picture).

Whether or not a contract exists between you and us is a question of fact. If we do not have a contractual
relationship with you in respect of the service, there can be no breach of contract and, as such, this cannot apply.

It is for a court to determine:

- if there is a contract between you and us and, if so, its terms
- if there has been a breach by us of that contract
- if that breach has caused you any recoverable loss
- the size (e.g. value) of your loss

This clause is subject to "Limitation of liability" and "Jurisdiction".


## Acknowledgements
    
This terms of service was written based on [a template](https://onlinesafetyact.co.uk/online_safety_act_terms/)
created by Neil Brown, CC BY-SA 4.0.
