Terms of Use

1.1 These Terms of Use govern your use of Popverdict: the apps for iOS and Android, the website popverdict.com and every related service (together, the "Service"). The Service is provided by Mina Nagi ("Popverdict", "we", "us"). 1.2 The Community Rules and the Subscriptions and refunds page form part of these Terms. The Privacy Notice explains how we handle personal data; it is information for you, not a contract you accept. 1.3 In these Terms, "Content" means anything you submit to the Service, including questions, answers, appeals, reasons, discussion posts, reactions, chamber names, profile details, messages and reports. A "Vote" is a question with two to four answers and a closing time, together with the choices cast on it. An "Appeal" is an answer added to a Vote while it is open. A "Chamber" is a public topic space. A "Group" or a "Parliament" is a private space whose Content only its members can see. "Paid Features" are Colours and Parliament plans.

2.1 You can read public Votes and results without an account. To vote, ask, add answers, join or create Groups or Parliaments, send messages or buy Paid Features, you need an account. 2.2 The agreement between you and us is concluded when you complete sign-up and your account is created; we confirm this on screen. Before you sign up, we show you these Terms and a link to the Privacy Notice. 2.3 The agreement is concluded in English. You can read, save and print these Terms on this page at any time. 2.4 The free features of the Service cost nothing.

3.1 You must be at least 16 years old to create an account. Each person may have one account. 3.2 If you are under 18, you need the permission of a parent or guardian before you buy a Paid Feature. 3.3 If you use the Service on behalf of an organisation, for example as the administrator of a Parliament, you confirm that you are authorised to act for it.

4.1 Keep your sign-in details to yourself, and tell us at team@popverdict.com as soon as you suspect that someone else has used your account. 4.2 You are responsible for what happens on your account where you are at fault, for example because you shared your password. 4.3 Your @username must not impersonate anyone or use someone else's name or trade mark without the right to do so. If it does, we ask you to change it; if you do not, we may change it after telling you.

Popverdict lets people ask questions with two to four answers, vote on them, add better answers while a Vote is open, and see the result once the Vote closes. Counts are not shown before the close. A result shows how the people who took part in a Vote chose before it closed. It does not say that an answer is true, right or representative of anyone who did not vote, and it is not a legally binding vote, election or decision, unless an organisation using a Parliament decides, under its own rules, to adopt it. Play is a free guessing game about closed Votes; there is no stake, no payment and no prize.

6.1 Voting requires your separate consent to the processing of your votes, which we ask for before your first vote (Privacy Notice, section 4). 6.2 Each person may hold one live choice per Vote. You may change your choice until the Vote closes; your new choice then replaces the earlier one in the count. 6.3 After the close, no choice can be changed by anyone, including us. 6.4 Voting more than once — through extra accounts, other people's accounts, scripts or bought votes — is not allowed. If we find, before or after a Vote closes, that a result was affected by such manipulation, we leave the cast choices untouched but may mark the result and explain what we found.

7.1 You are responsible for your Content. Public Votes and their answers can be seen by everyone; Content in a Group or Parliament can be seen by its members. 7.2 When you post a question anonymously, other users do not see who asked it. We still know which account posted it, use that link only to run and moderate the Service, and disclose it only where the law obliges us to. 7.3 You keep the rights to your Content. So that we can operate the Service, you give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right to store, copy, display, make publicly available, translate and technically adapt your Content, for example to fit a screen, a result page or a share image, and to combine an answer with another one when the community decides that they are duplicates. Our service providers may exercise this right only to operate the Service for us. 7.4 We use this right only to show your Content in the Service and on popverdict.com, to count and publish results, to let people share Votes and results, and to keep a complete record of closed Votes. 7.5 The right ends when you delete the Content or your account, with two exceptions: questions and answers on which other people have voted remain part of the Vote and its result, shown without your @username; and we may keep copies for as long as the law requires or as needed to defend legal claims. 7.6 You confirm that you have the rights needed to post your Content and that posting it does not break the law or these Terms. If someone brings a claim against us because of Content you posted in breach of these Terms, and you are responsible for that breach, you will reimburse us for the reasonable costs of our legal defence.

The Community Rules apply to everything you do in the Service. In addition, you must not use bots or scripts to vote, post or collect data; collect non-public data about other users; get around limits, blocks or suspensions; test the security of the Service other than as described on the page "How the votes are protected"; or resell access to the Service. The published results of closed Votes may be quoted, with a link to the result page.

9.1 We do not check Content before it appears, with one exception: an automatic filter refuses a short list of slurs and of calls for violence against a group (Community Rules 1 and 2). We act on reports, on our own checks, and on orders from courts and authorities. 9.2 We use these tools: Report in the app, and reports by e-mail; an automatic precaution that hides a Vote or answer once three different users have reported it, until a moderator has reviewed it — this is not a finding that anything is wrong; an automatic similarity check that, when you add an answer, suggests existing answers that look alike, and never blocks; a jury of users that decides whether two answers are duplicates; and review by a person. Every decision to remove Content, or to restrict, suspend or close an account, is taken by a person. 9.3 When the jury decides that two answers are the same, they are merged: their votes are combined and each voter is counted once. You may contest a merge by writing to team@popverdict.com. 9.4 Depending on the case, we may add a note to a Vote or result, keep Content hidden, remove it, limit a feature for your account (for example asking or messaging), suspend your account for a period, or close it. We choose the measure in proportion to how serious the breach is, whether it was intentional and whether it has happened before, and we take into account everyone's rights, including freedom of expression. 9.5 When we hide or remove your Content, or restrict, suspend or close your account, we tell you in the app: what we did and for how long; the facts we relied on, including whether we acted on a report and whether an automated step was involved; the rule we relied on and why; and how you can ask for a review. 9.6 Anyone, with or without an account, can report Content they believe is illegal, with Report in the app or by e-mail to team@popverdict.com. Please include the link to the Content, why you believe it is illegal, your name and e-mail address, and a statement that you believe in good faith that your report is accurate and complete. We confirm receipt, decide carefully and without undue delay, and tell you our decision and how you can challenge it. If Content suggests that someone's life or safety is in danger, we inform the competent authorities.

10.1 If you disagree with a decision we took about your Content or your account, or with our decision on a report you made, you can ask us to review it within six months of being told about it. Write to team@popverdict.com with the subject "Review" and tell us why you think the decision was wrong. 10.2 Reviews are free and are carried out by a person. We aim to answer within 14 days and always give our reasons. If we conclude that the decision was wrong, we reverse it without undue delay. 10.3 You may also take any dispute about a decision to court at any time. 10.4 You may also turn to an out-of-court dispute settlement body certified for this purpose under the European Union's rules on digital services. The European Commission publishes the list of certified bodies. Doing so does not affect your right to go to court.

11.1 If an account keeps posting clearly illegal Content, or a person keeps sending reports or review requests that are clearly unfounded, we first warn them. If it continues, we suspend the account, or stop handling that person's reports, for a reasonable period: normally 7 days the first time and 30 days after that. 11.2 In deciding, we consider how many items or reports were involved, what share of the person's activity they represent, how serious the misuse and its consequences were, and, where we can tell, whether it was intentional. 11.3 We close an account immediately, without a prior warning, for the most serious breaches: sharing sexual content involving minors, credible threats of violence, terrorist content, or running fake accounts to manipulate Votes.

12.1 We keep improving Popverdict. We change the Service beyond what is needed to keep it working as described only for a valid reason — a change in the law, a security need, a change by a hosting or app-store provider we depend on, or improving and adding features — and never at extra cost to you. We tell you clearly about any such change. 12.2 If a change significantly impairs your access to or use of a Paid Feature, we tell you by e-mail at least 30 days in advance. You may then end the affected subscription free of charge within 30 days of our message or of the change, whichever is later, and we refund the unused part of the price. 12.3 We aim to keep the Service available at all times but cannot promise that it will never be interrupted, for example during maintenance, which we schedule for quiet hours where we can, or when a provider we rely on fails. 12.4 We may end a free feature after giving you reasonable notice; you can still ask us for a copy of your data.

13.1 We are liable without limitation for damage caused intentionally or through gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under any guarantee we have given, and under product liability law. 13.2 If we breach through slight negligence an obligation that is essential to this agreement — one whose fulfilment makes the proper use of the Service possible in the first place and on which you may regularly rely, such as keeping your choices secret and counting them correctly — our liability is limited to the damage that was foreseeable and typical when the agreement was made. 13.3 Apart from that, we are not liable for slight negligence. 13.4 These limits also apply to the personal liability of the people who work for us.

14.1 You may end this agreement at any time, without notice, by deleting your account in Settings → Account. 14.2 We may end the agreement for a free account by giving four weeks' notice by e-mail or in the app. We end Paid Features at the earliest at the end of the period you have paid for. 14.3 Either of us may end the agreement without notice for good cause. For us, good cause exists in particular after serious or repeated breaches of these Terms. Unless the breach is so serious that we cannot reasonably be expected to wait, we warn you first, and we always give our reasons (clause 9.5). 14.4 If we end a Paid Feature early without you being at fault, we refund what you paid for the time after it ends. Clauses 7.5 and 13 continue to apply after the agreement ends.

15.1 We may change these Terms for a valid reason: a change in the law or in court decisions, new or changed features, security needs, or to make a provision clearer. 15.2 We tell you about any significant change at least 30 days before it takes effect, in the app and by e-mail, and we show what is changing. 15.3 Changes to the main rights and obligations of this agreement — what the Service essentially does, the price of a Paid Feature, or the licence you give us — take effect only if you accept them. If you do not accept them, the current Terms continue to apply until you or we end the agreement under clause 14. 15.4 For other changes, you may object before the date they take effect. Our message will point out that, if you do not object by then, the changed Terms will apply. If you object, you may also close your account before that date, and we refund any unused prepaid amount for a Paid Feature.

We may transfer this agreement to a company that takes over the operation of Popverdict. We will tell you at least 30 days in advance and name the new provider. If you do not agree, you may end the agreement with effect from the date of the transfer, and we refund any unused prepaid amount.

17.1 If you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms limits the protection that the mandatory law of the country where you live gives you, and you may bring proceedings in the courts where you live. 17.2 If a provision of these Terms is or becomes invalid, the rest remains valid; the invalid provision is replaced by the rules the law provides. 17.3 Individual agreements between you and us take precedence over these Terms. 17.4 These Terms are concluded in English. Where we provide a translation, we take care that it is accurate; if the English text and a translation differ, the English text applies.

We send messages about your account, decisions on your Content and changes to these Terms in the app and, where we have it, to the e-mail address of your account. You can reach us at team@popverdict.com or, once signed in, through Settings → Send feedback. Any notice you give us, including a cancellation or a withdrawal, may be sent by e-mail; no signature or letter is needed.

If you downloaded Popverdict from the Apple App Store, this section also applies. This agreement is between you and us, not Apple. Apple is not responsible for the app or its content and has no obligation to provide maintenance or support. To the extent the law allows, Apple has no warranty obligation beyond refunding the purchase price where one applies. We, not Apple, deal with any claim relating to the app, including product liability, legal compliance and intellectual property claims. You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a United States government embargo and are not on a United States list of prohibited or restricted parties. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of this section and may enforce it.

Colours and Parliament plans are bought in the Popverdict app for iPhone, iPad and Android, through Apple or Google; they are not sold on the website. They are described, with their prices, renewal, cancellation, your right of withdrawal and our money-back promise, on the Subscriptions and refunds page, which forms part of these Terms.