Terms of Service

Opinions is a social debating platform. You publish opinions, other people vote Agree or Disagree, and everyone explains why. These Terms explain the rules for using it.

Opinions is operated by [ADMIN: legal entity or sole trader name], trading as Opinions, at [ADMIN: legal address]. Full details are on our Contact & Legal Information page.

By creating an account or using Opinions you agree to these Terms, our Community Guidelines, and acknowledge our Privacy Notice. If you do not agree, please don’t use Opinions.

Eligibility

You must be able to form a binding agreement and must not have been banned from Opinions previously.

Minimum age

You must be at least 16 years old to use Opinions. We ask for your date of birth at sign-up. It is stored privately and never shown on your profile.

Creating an account

You can sign up with an email and password or a supported third-party sign-in such as Google or Apple. Information you give us must be accurate.

Email verification

We may ask you to verify your email address now or later, for example to recover your account or if we detect unusual activity.

Usernames

Usernames must not impersonate others, mislead, infringe trademarks or contain abuse. We may reclaim or change a username that breaks these rules.

Account security

Keep your password secret and use one you don’t use elsewhere. Tell us promptly if you think your account has been compromised.

Responsibility for activity

You are responsible for activity on your account unless it results from our failure to keep the service secure.

No impersonation

You must not pretend to be another person or organisation in a way that is misleading. Clearly labelled parody is covered in the Community Guidelines.

Multiple and fake accounts

One account per person. Creating fake accounts, or extra accounts to vote, evade enforcement or manipulate discussion, is not allowed.

Public profiles

Your display name, username, bio, picture, interests, published opinions, arguments and certain activity stats are public to other members. Your email and date of birth are not.

Publishing opinions

You can publish an opinion with a topic and a time limit. While it is open, members can vote and discuss it. When it closes, voting locks and the final result is shown.

Comments and replies

Members can post arguments and reply to each other. Your stance on a reply reflects your vote on the original opinion.

Agree / Disagree

You can vote Agree or Disagree. Percentages stay hidden until you vote, and you can change your vote while voting is open. Individual votes are not publicly attributed to you; only totals are shown.

Following users and topics

You can choose interests and topics. If we add following of users or topics, these Terms will apply to that feature too.

Search

You can search public opinions, topics and profiles. Search results are only as accurate as the content people post.

Recommendations and personalised feeds

The For You feed uses the interests you choose and your activity on Opinions to suggest debates. Other feeds, such as Hot and Active, are not personalised in the same way.

Content ranking

We rank content using signals such as recency, activity, votes and relevance to your interests. Ranking is not an endorsement and is never based on whether we agree with a view.

User-generated content

Opinions, arguments, replies, profile details and images you post are your content.

Ownership

You keep ownership of your content.

Licence you grant Opinions

You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, store, display, reproduce, format and distribute your content within Opinions so that others can read, vote on and reply to it.

Scope of the licence

The licence is only for operating, improving, securing and promoting Opinions. We will not sell your content to third parties.

Ending the licence

When you delete content or your account, the licence ends for that content, except where it has been shared or quoted by others, where we must keep it for legal or safety reasons, or for routine backup copies that are deleted over time.

Deleted accounts and past discussions

To keep conversations readable, replies by other people stay in place. Where your content had replies, it may be shown as “Comment deleted” rather than removed entirely.

Responsibility for your content

You are responsible for what you post and must have the right to post it.

You must not post, share or do any of the following. More detail is in the Community Guidelines.

• Illegal content — anything that is illegal under UK law.
• Harassment and threats — targeting people with abuse, intimidation or threats of harm.
• Hate and abuse — attacking people for protected characteristics, or stirring up hatred.
• Doxxing and privacy violations — sharing someone’s private information without consent.
• Impersonation — misleadingly posing as someone else.
• Fraud and scams — deceiving people for money, data or access.
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse — zero tolerance; we report to the relevant authorities.
• Terrorism and violent extremism — promoting, supporting or glorifying terrorism.
• Illegal goods and services — selling or facilitating them.
• Non-consensual intimate content — sharing or threatening to share it.
• Serious self-harm or suicide content — encouraging or assisting it.
• Spam and platform manipulation — repetitive, deceptive or artificial activity.
• Bots and automated activity — automated posting, voting or accounts without our written permission.
• Intellectual property infringement — posting others’ work without the right to.

Community Guidelines

The Community Guidelines form part of these Terms.

Reporting content

You can report opinions, arguments, replies and profiles. See Reporting & Complaints.

Moderation

We review reports using automated tools and human review. Moderation is about conduct and legality, not about whether we agree with a lawful view. See Moderation & Appeals.

Actions we may take

• Content removal — content that breaks the rules may be removed and replaced with a notice.
• Visibility restrictions — content may be shown less widely where appropriate.
• Warnings — a formal notice that a rule has been broken.
• Temporary suspensions — loss of access for a period.
• Permanent suspensions — a ban from Opinions.
• Account termination — closing the account.

Appeals

You can ask for a decision to be reviewed again. Appeals are limited to keep the system fair.

Repeat violations

Repeated breaches lead to stronger action.

Emergency action

Where there is a risk of serious harm, we may act immediately and without notice.

Cooperation with lawful authorities

We may share information with law enforcement or regulators where the law requires it or where there is a genuine risk to someone’s life or safety.

Platform integrity

Don’t interfere with how Opinions works for other people.

Manipulating votes or engagement

No coordinated voting, vote buying, fake accounts or artificial engagement.

Bypassing suspensions

Creating new accounts or otherwise evading a suspension or ban is not allowed.

Scraping and automated access

No scraping, crawling or bulk collection without our written permission.

Platform security

Don’t try to access accounts, data or systems you are not authorised to access.

Reverse engineering and attacks

No reverse engineering except where the law permits it, and no attacks such as denial-of-service, malware or exploiting vulnerabilities. If you find a security issue, please tell us at [ADMIN: legal / security email].

What we own

The Opinions software, design and content we create belong to us or our licensors.

Trademarks, logos and branding

The Opinions name, logo, icon and the OPI character are our brand assets. Don’t use them in a way that suggests endorsement without permission.

Feedback

If you send ideas or feedback, we may use them without obligation to you.

Third-party websites and services

Links or sign-in options from third parties are governed by their own terms.

Availability

We aim to keep Opinions available but cannot promise it will always be uninterrupted or error-free.

Service changes

We may add, change or remove features. If a change significantly affects you, we will try to tell you in advance.

Beta and experimental features

Opinions is in early development. Some features are experimental and may change or be withdrawn.

AI-assisted features

We use an AI model to help review reported content against our Community Guidelines. Decisions can be appealed and reviewed by a person. If we introduce other AI-assisted features, we’ll explain them.

Accuracy of AI-generated content

AI output can be wrong. It should not be relied on as fact or as legal, medical or financial advice.

Opinions are not facts

Content on Opinions is what users think. We don’t guarantee it is accurate, complete or up to date.

No endorsement

Publishing, ranking or displaying content does not mean Opinions endorses it.

Your responsibility

Use your own judgement, and seek professional advice before making important decisions.

Limitation of liability

Opinions is currently provided free of charge. We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking these Terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable, for business losses, or for content posted by other users, except as required by law.

What we don’t limit

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited under UK law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

Consumer rights

Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

Closing your account

You can delete your account at any time from Settings. See Account & Data Rights.

Closure by Opinions

We may suspend or close your account if you seriously or repeatedly break these Terms, if the law requires it, or if we stop providing the service. Where appropriate we will tell you why and how to appeal.

After termination

You lose access to your account. Some information may be kept for legal, safety or fraud-prevention reasons, as described in the Privacy Notice.

We may update these Terms as Opinions develops, the law changes, or we add features.

How we tell you

For significant changes we will give notice in the app or by email before they take effect. Continuing to use Opinions after that means you accept the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales [ADMIN: confirm governing law].

You can bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.

If you have a complaint, please see Reporting & Complaints or email us using the Contact button on your profile. Legal notices can be sent to [ADMIN: legal email].

Effective date: [ADMIN: effective date]. Version: 0.1 (draft).