Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and Friends for Humanity, Inc. (“Friends for Humanity,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They govern the standalone fae.link website, iOS app, and supporting services (together, the “Service”). They do not govern fae.so or any other Fae product.

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. These Terms affect your legal rights and include an individual arbitration agreement, class action waiver, and jury trial waiver below.

• You must be at least 13 years old. If you are below the age of majority where you live, you may use the Service only with permission from a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf.
• You must be legally allowed to use the Service and must not use it if we previously suspended or removed you unless we give written permission.
• Account, school, profile, and claim information you provide must be accurate and must not impersonate another person or violate their rights. You must keep your device and access or verification codes secure and promptly report suspected unauthorized access.
• You are responsible for activity through your account and for keeping your phone number and other account information current.

We may verify eligibility or account information and may refuse, reclaim, or disable a handle or account when reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms, protect the Service, resolve an ownership dispute, or comply with law.

The Service lets users claim public handles, receive anonymous messages, redeem one-time codes, continue chats in the iOS app, choose whether to reveal an identity in a chat, join school directories, create story content, and receive push notifications. Features may change, be limited, or be unavailable from time to time.

“Anonymous” means that the Service ordinarily does not give the recipient the sender’s account identity unless the sender chooses to reveal it. It does not mean that Friends for Humanity has no internal account or technical information, that a sender cannot identify themselves through message content, or that information can never be disclosed in response to valid legal process or a safety need.

We may provide recipients with coarse hints such as device class, approximate area, referrer, timezone, or network category. Hints are estimates, may be incomplete or wrong, and are not proof of identity. You may not use them to accuse, harass, threaten, expose, or locate another person.

A school listing or directory does not mean that the school sponsors, endorses, administers, or is affiliated with the Service unless we expressly say so.

“User Content” includes messages, profile information, images, aliases, reactions, feedback, reports, and anything else a user submits through the Service. You retain ownership of your User Content. You are solely responsible for it and represent that you have all rights and permissions needed to submit it and allow the uses described here.

You grant Friends for Humanity a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, adapt, transmit, display, and otherwise use User Content only as reasonably necessary to provide, operate, secure, moderate, and improve the Service; comply with law; enforce these Terms; and complete actions you request, such as delivering a message or creating a story card. We will not publicly use a private message in marketing without permission from an authorized person.

You understand that a recipient may save, capture, or share content they receive. We do not control copies another person makes outside the Service. Do not submit information you are not comfortable sharing with the intended recipient.

You may not use the Service to create, send, upload, or promote:

• bullying, harassment, threats, stalking, intimidation, extortion, doxxing, non-consensual exposure, impersonation, or targeted abuse;
• sexual exploitation or abuse, grooming, sexual solicitation of a minor, sexual content involving minors, or non-consensual intimate content;
• hateful or discriminatory abuse, graphic or gratuitous violence, encouragement or instructions for self-harm, or credible threats of harm;
• defamatory content, fraud, scams, spam, deceptive conduct, unauthorized advertising, phishing, credential collection, or promotion of illegal goods, services, or activity;
• content that violates another person’s privacy, publicity, copyright, trademark, or other rights; or
• malware, destructive code, or material intended to disrupt, compromise, or gain unauthorized access to a device, account, network, or the Service.

You also may not:

• scrape, crawl, index, copy, or access the Service through bots, scripts, or other automated means without written permission;
• reverse engineer, probe, test, bypass, or interfere with security, authentication, rate limits, blocks, access controls, or normal operation of the Service;
• collect information about other users without permission, misuse anonymous messaging or coarse hints to identify someone, or evade a suspension by creating or using another account;
• use the Service or its data to build a competing product or dataset without written permission; or
• violate applicable law, encourage another person to violate these Terms, or help anyone do anything prohibited in this section.

We may, but are not required to, monitor, review, investigate, preserve, limit, block, remove, or disclose User Content or account activity. We may disable handles or features, restrict delivery, suspend or terminate accounts, cooperate with appropriate authorities, or take other reasonable action to enforce these Terms, protect safety and rights, prevent abuse, or comply with law.

We may act without advance notice when we reasonably believe prompt action is needed. We do not guarantee that we will detect, prevent, or remove every harmful message or user. You remain responsible for your interactions and should use available blocking and account controls when appropriate.

The Service is not an emergency service and is not a substitute for police, emergency responders, medical care, counseling, or other professional help. If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, contact local emergency services. If you are a minor, consider also contacting a parent, guardian, school counselor, or another trusted adult.

The Service, including its software, design, names, logos, graphics, and other content we provide, is owned by Friends for Humanity or its licensors and is protected by law. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to use the Service for personal, non-commercial purposes.

If you send ideas or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free right to use them without restriction or compensation, without identifying you publicly unless you permit it.

The Service may link to or interoperate with third-party services. We do not control and are not responsible for their content, terms, availability, or practices. Your use of a third-party service is governed by its agreement with you.

If you downloaded the app from Apple, these Terms are between you and Friends for Humanity, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support and is not responsible for the Service or related claims except as required by law. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce this paragraph. You must also comply with applicable App Store terms.

We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service, and may set or change usage limits. We will provide notice when required by law, but cannot promise that any feature or content will always remain available.

You may stop using the Service at any time and may request deletion through the iOS app. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, create risk or legal exposure, or if reasonably necessary to protect the Service or others. Sections that by their nature should survive termination—including ownership, disclaimers, liability, indemnity, and disputes—will survive.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express, implied, or statutory, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free of harmful components; that content or sender hints will be complete, accurate, or available; or that harmful conduct will be detected or prevented. User Content reflects its author’s views, not ours. You use the Service and interact with other users at your own risk. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so some of this section may not apply to you.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Friends for Humanity and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, goodwill, use, or data, arising from or related to the Service, even if advised that such damages were possible.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, their total aggregate liability for all claims arising from or related to the Service or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us for the Service during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim or (b) $200 USD. These limits do not exclude liability that cannot lawfully be excluded and do not limit non-waivable consumer rights.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Friends for Humanity and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, and service providers from claims, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, costs, and reasonable legal fees arising from your User Content, your misuse of the Service, your violation of these Terms or law, or your violation of another person’s rights. We may control the defense of a covered matter, and you may not settle it without our written consent. This section does not require indemnification where prohibited by applicable law.

Informal resolution

Before starting arbitration or litigation, you and Friends for Humanity agree to try in good faith for 30 days to resolve the dispute informally. Send a written description of the dispute and requested relief to team@friendsforhumanity.com. Either party may proceed after the 30-day period ends.

Individual arbitration for U.S. residents

Except for the exceptions below, any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by final and binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures then in effect. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this agreement. The arbitrator may award the same individual remedies as a court and may decide issues about the interpretation or enforceability of this arbitration agreement. Fees will be allocated under the AAA rules and applicable law.

A hearing may take place by video, telephone, written submissions, or in the county where you live, as the AAA rules permit. Judgment on an award may be entered in a court with jurisdiction.

Exceptions and opt-out

Either party may bring an eligible individual claim in small claims court. Either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for actual or threatened infringement, unauthorized access, misuse of the Service, or an urgent safety risk. Government agencies may provide other remedies where available.

You may opt out of arbitration by emailing team@friendsforhumanity.com within 30 days after you first accept these Terms. Include your name, account phone number or handle, and a clear statement that you opt out of the fae.link arbitration agreement. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

Class and jury waivers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, disputes must be brought only in an individual capacity, not as a plaintiff or class member in a class, collective, consolidated, coordinated, mass, or representative action. If a dispute proceeds in court, each party waives any right to a jury trial. If applicable law makes part of this waiver unenforceable for a particular claim or remedy, that part will be severed and heard in court after arbitrable matters are completed.

Governing law and courts

California law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, except that the Federal Arbitration Act governs arbitration. This choice does not deprive you of non-waivable consumer protections where you live. A dispute not subject to arbitration or small claims must be brought in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco, California, and each party consents to their jurisdiction, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

We may update these Terms as the Service or law changes. We will post revised Terms here and provide additional notice when required. Continuing to use the Service after revised Terms take effect means you accept them; if you do not agree, stop using the Service.

We may assign these Terms as part of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, or by operation of law. You may not assign them without our written consent. If a provision is invalid or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the greatest lawful extent and the rest will remain effective. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement about the Service and replace earlier agreements about the same subject.

You agree that notices and communications may be provided electronically. Questions about these Terms can be sent to team@friendsforhumanity.com, or by mail to Friends for Humanity, Inc., 2261 Market Street, #85101, San Francisco, CA 94114, United States.