Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

Welcome to AskEveryone. By accessing or using our website, mobile application, or services (collectively, the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Service.

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. Your continued use of the Service after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms. We will provide notice of material changes by posting the updated Terms with a new "Last Updated" date.

2. Description of Service

AskEveryone is a platform that allows users to respond to weekly questions and view aggregate insights from the community. Our Service includes:

• Weekly curated questions on various topics
• Text and voice response submission
• Aggregate statistics and sentiment analysis of responses
• Email newsletters and notifications
• Community insights and synthesis of perspectives

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time without prior notice.

3. Eligibility

The minimum age to use AskEveryone depends on where you live:

• United States: You must be at least 13 years old
• European Union/EEA: You must be at least 16 years old (or the age of digital consent in your country, which ranges from 13-16)
• United Kingdom: You must be at least 13 years old
• Other countries: You must meet the minimum age for digital services in your country, or 13 years old, whichever is higher

If you are old enough to use the Service but under 18 (or the age of majority in your country), you must have your parent or legal guardian's permission.

By using the Service, you represent and warrant that:

• You meet the minimum age requirement for your location
• You have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms
• You will comply with these Terms and all applicable laws and regulations
• You have not been previously suspended or removed from the Service

4. Account Registration and Security

4.1 Account Creation

You can respond to public questions without creating an account. For certain features (such as responding to creator questions as a returning audience member), you may create an account using Google or Apple OAuth authentication. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during the registration process.

4.2 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to:

• Keep your login credentials secure and confidential
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized access or use of your account
• Not share your account with others
• Not create multiple accounts to circumvent our one-response-per-question limit

4.3 Account Termination

You may delete your account at any time by contacting us at support@askeveryone.io. We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms or engage in prohibited conduct.

5. User Content and Conduct

5.1 Your Responses

When you submit a response to a question, you grant AskEveryone a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, display, and distribute your response in connection with the Service, including:

• Displaying your response (without identifying information) publicly on the platform
• Including your response in aggregate statistics and analysis
• Creating syntheses and insights from multiple responses
• Using AI/ML models to analyze sentiment and themes
• Sharing anonymized or aggregated data for research purposes

5.2 Response Limitations

You agree to the following limitations on your responses:

• One response per user per question
• Text responses must be between 10 and 5,000 characters
• Voice recordings must not exceed 5 minutes or 5MB in file size
• Responses must be relevant to the question asked

5.3 Prohibited Content

You agree not to submit content that:

• Is illegal, fraudulent, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable
• Contains hate speech, threats, or harassment targeted at individuals or groups
• Infringes on intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or other rights of third parties
• Contains viruses, malware, or other harmful code
• Includes unsolicited advertising, spam, or promotional materials
• Impersonates any person or entity or misrepresents your affiliation
• Contains personal information of others without their consent
• Encourages illegal activity or violence
• Is intended to manipulate or game the system (duplicate accounts, bots, etc.)

5.4 Voice Recording Consent

By submitting a voice recording, you:

• Confirm you are the person speaking in the recording
• Consent to transcription of your voice using in-browser AI technology (your audio is not sent to third-party services for transcription)
• Consent to analysis and potential use of your voice data for research while maintaining anonymity
• Grant us the rights described in Section 5.1 for both the audio and transcription

5.5 Content Moderation

We reserve the right to review, flag, remove, or refuse to display any content that violates these Terms or that we determine, in our sole discretion, is inappropriate or harmful. We may use automated tools and human review for content moderation.

6. Intellectual Property Rights

6.1 Our Intellectual Property

The Service, including its design, features, text, graphics, logos, and software, is owned by AskEveryone and protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not:

• Copy, modify, or create derivative works of the Service
• Reverse engineer or attempt to extract source code
• Remove or alter any copyright, trademark, or proprietary notices
• Use our trademarks or branding without written permission
• Frame or mirror any part of the Service

6.2 Your Intellectual Property

You retain ownership of the responses you submit. However, by submitting a response, you grant us the license described in Section 5.1. This license survives termination of your account or these Terms.

7. Privacy and Data Protection

Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Please review our Privacy Policy to understand how we collect, use, and protect your information.

By using the Service, you consent to our collection and use of your data as described in the Privacy Policy, including:

• Temporary in-memory rate limiting using IP addresses for spam prevention (not stored in our database)
• In-browser transcription of voice recordings (not sent to third-party services)
• Storage of response data on third-party servers (Google Cloud), without identity linkage for public questions
• Email communications if you subscribe to our newsletter

8. Email Communications and Unsubscribe

If you subscribe to our email list, we may send you:

• Weekly question notifications
• Newsletters with insights and statistics
• Service updates and announcements
• Research opportunities

You may unsubscribe at any time by:

• Clicking the "Unsubscribe" link in any email
• Updating your preferences in your account settings
• Contacting us at support@askeveryone.io

Note: We may still send you transactional emails related to your account even if you unsubscribe from marketing emails.

9. Third-Party Services

Our Service uses third-party services, including:

• Google and Apple: For OAuth authentication (optional—you can respond to public questions without signing in)
• Google Cloud SQL: For database storage
• AI Services: For content analysis and insights generation (voice transcription is performed locally in your browser)
• Cloudflare: For bot protection (Turnstile)
• Resend: For email delivery

These third-party services have their own terms of service and privacy policies. We are not responsible for their practices or content. Your use of these services through our platform is subject to their respective terms.

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites. We do not endorse or assume responsibility for any third-party sites, products, or services.

10. Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability

10.1 Service "As Is"

We disclaim all warranties, including but not limited to:

• Merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement
• Accuracy, reliability, or completeness of content
• Uninterrupted, timely, or error-free operation
• Security of data transmission or storage
• Results obtained from using the Service

10.2 Limitation of Liability

Our total liability to you for all claims arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed $100 USD or the amount you paid us in the past 12 months, whichever is greater.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of liability. In such cases, our liability will be limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

10.3 User Content Disclaimer

We are not responsible for user-submitted content. Responses reflect the views of individual users and do not represent our views or opinions. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy of any user content.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless AskEveryone, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from:

• Your use of the Service
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your violation of any third-party rights, including intellectual property or privacy rights
• Your content or responses submitted to the Service
• Your violation of applicable laws or regulations

12. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

12.1 Informal Resolution

Before filing a claim, you agree to contact us at legal@askeveryone.io and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

12.2 Binding Arbitration

If we cannot resolve the dispute informally, any dispute arising from these Terms or the Service shall be resolved through binding arbitration in accordance with the American Arbitration Association's Commercial Arbitration Rules.

The arbitration will be conducted in English in the United States. The arbitrator's decision will be final and binding, and judgment may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

12.3 Class Action Waiver

You agree that disputes will be resolved on an individual basis only. You waive your right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.

12.4 Exceptions

Either party may seek injunctive relief or other equitable remedies in court to protect intellectual property rights or prevent unauthorized use of the Service.

13. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States and the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. For disputes not subject to arbitration, you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in California.

14. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

If you believe that content on our Service infringes your copyright, please send a DMCA notice to dmca@askeveryone.io with:

• A description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed
• The location of the infringing material on our Service
• Your contact information (address, phone, email)
• A statement of good faith belief that the use is not authorized
• A statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate
• Your physical or electronic signature

We will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include removing the content.

15. Compliance with App Store Policies

15.1 Apple App Store

If you access the Service through the Apple App Store, you acknowledge and agree that:

• These Terms are between you and AskEveryone, not Apple
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support
• Apple is not responsible for the Service or content
• Apple is not liable for any claims related to the Service
• You will comply with Apple's App Store Terms of Service

15.2 Google Play Store

If you access the Service through Google Play, you agree to comply with the Google Play Terms of Service.

16. Export Controls

You agree to comply with all applicable export and import laws and regulations. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to U.S. government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

17. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other legal notices published on the Service, constitute the entire agreement between you and AskEveryone regarding your use of the Service and supersede all prior agreements.

18. Severability and Waiver

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be deemed a waiver of such right or provision.

19. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your rights hereunder without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms without restriction. Any attempted assignment in violation of this provision is void.

20. Survival

The following sections shall survive termination of these Terms: Sections 5.1 (license to content), 6 (Intellectual Property), 10 (Disclaimers and Limitations), 11 (Indemnification), 12 (Dispute Resolution), and 13 (Governing Law).

21. Contact Information

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us:

22. Acknowledgment

BY USING THE SERVICE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THESE TERMS OF SERVICE AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THEM.