Terms of Service

1. Definitions

In these Terms, the following capitalised terms have the meanings set out below:

• Account: your registered KnotReels user account.
• Agreement: these Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, and Copyright & DMCA Policy.
• Boost: a paid promotional action a viewer can purchase to elevate a piece of Content within discovery surfaces, as further described in Section 9.
• Content: any video, image, audio, text, metadata, comment, message, or other material uploaded to, posted on, or transmitted through the Service.
• Creator: a User who uploads Content and is eligible to receive Tips, rental revenue, shop revenue, or other earnings on the Service.
• Creator Tier: a performance-based loyalty level (Starter, Verified, Established, or Partner) that determines the platform fee applied to a Creator's rental, shop, and paid-content earnings, as set out in Section 9.
• Credits: a non-monetary, non-refundable (subject to Section 12) digital licence used to access certain paid features, defined in Section 8.
• DSA: Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act).
• OSA: the United Kingdom Online Safety Act 2023.
• Service: the KnotReels website, applications, APIs, and related features and services we provide.
• Tip: a voluntary monetary gift sent by a viewer to a Creator using Credits.
• User: any person accessing or using the Service, including viewers, Creators, and visitors.
• User Content: Content uploaded, posted, streamed, or otherwise made available on the Service by a User.

2. Eligibility & Age

2.1 Minimum age. You must be at least 13 years old to register for or use the Service. In jurisdictions where Article 8 of the GDPR (or equivalent local law) requires a higher minimum age for digital services, you must meet that higher minimum (for example, 16 in Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and certain other EU Member States; we determine the applicable age based on your stated country of residence).

2.2 Date of birth. When you register, we collect your date of birth. We rely on you to provide accurate information. Providing a false date of birth is a material breach of these Terms and grounds for immediate termination.

2.3 Users under 18. If you are under 18 (or under the age of majority where you live), you may use the Service only with the verified consent of a parent or legal guardian. We operate a verifiable parental-consent process by email; the parent or guardian must read and agree to these Terms on your behalf and confirm they accept legal responsibility for your use of the Service. Without verified parental consent, accounts identified as belonging to a minor will be restricted or removed.

2.4 Mature content. Content rated Mature (e.g. content containing strong language, violence, or other adult themes) is only accessible to Users we have a reasonable basis to believe are 18 or over, based on the age information you have provided. We reserve the right to introduce additional age-assurance measures (including third-party age verification) at any time, in particular to comply with the OSA, the EU DSA, the UK Age-Appropriate Design Code, COPPA (US), and other applicable laws.

2.5 Capacity to contract. By using the Service you represent that you have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract under the laws of your country.

2.6 Sanctions and prohibited regions. You may not use the Service if you are located in, or are a national or resident of, any country, territory, or region subject to comprehensive UK, EU, US, or UN sanctions (including, without limitation, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, the Crimea region, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and other sanctioned regions of Ukraine). You may not use the Service if you appear on any UK HM Treasury, EU consolidated, or US OFAC sanctions list.

3. Account Registration & Security

3.1 You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when creating your Account and keep that information up to date.

3.2 You are solely responsible for safeguarding your password and for all activity under your Account. You must notify us immediately at security@knotreels.com of any unauthorised access or suspected compromise.

3.3 You may not (a) share, sell, rent, or transfer your Account, (b) create more than one Account without our permission, (c) create an Account on behalf of another person without their explicit authorisation, or (d) create an Account using automated means.

3.4 We may suspend or close Accounts that breach these Terms, in line with Section 16.

4. Acceptable Use Policy

4.1 General. You must use the Service lawfully and in good faith and must comply with our Community Guidelines. You are solely responsible for what you upload and what you do.

4.2 Strictly prohibited content and conduct. You must not upload, post, transmit, link to, request, or otherwise make available any of the following on the Service:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any sexualised content involving anyone who is, or appears to be, under 18. This is a zero-tolerance, immediate-ban, law-enforcement-referral matter.
• Non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) (including so-called “revenge porn” and AI-generated intimate deepfakes of real people).
• Terrorism, violent extremism, or content glorifying or inciting terrorist acts, including content prohibited by the UK Terrorism Act 2006, the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation (Reg. 2021/784), and equivalent laws.
• Content that incites violence, threatens others, or facilitates serious harm or self-harm.
• Hate speech, harassment, bullying, or content that targets a person or group based on a protected characteristic.
• Material that infringes intellectual property (copyright, trademark, design, patent, trade secret) or publicity, image, or moral rights.
• Content that violates privacy, including doxing, sharing personal data without consent, or unlawfully obtained recordings.
• Fraud, scams, deceptive schemes, fake celebrity endorsements, phishing, or counterfeit goods.
• Content that facilitates illegal activity, including the sale of regulated or illegal goods, weapons, or controlled substances.
• Spam, bulk unsolicited communications, artificial engagement, fake reviews, or vote manipulation.
• Malware, viruses, scripts, or any code designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access to any system.
• Synthetic, AI-generated, or manipulated media that is passed off as authentic in a misleading way (deepfakes, manipulated political content, misinformation designed to deceive). All synthetic and significantly altered Content must be disclosed using the in-product flag.

4.3 Technical misuse. You must not (a) reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Service except to the limited extent permitted by mandatory law; (b) circumvent any access controls, rate limits, paywalls, or security mechanisms; (c) scrape, harvest, or systematically copy Content, metadata, or User data, except via APIs we expressly authorise and only on the terms of those APIs; (d) use Content from the Service to train, fine-tune, or evaluate any artificial intelligence or machine-learning model without our and the relevant Creator's express prior written consent; (e) interfere with the proper operation of the Service, place unreasonable load on our infrastructure, or assist others in doing any of the above.

4.4 Enforcement. We may, at our discretion and without prior notice, remove or restrict Content, suspend monetisation, withhold payouts, or suspend or terminate your Account if we reasonably consider you have breached this Section 4 or applicable law. Where the law requires, we will provide a statement of reasons and an internal appeal route (Section 14).

5. Your Content & Licence to KnotReels

5.1 Ownership. You own 100% of the User Content you create and upload. KnotReels claims no ownership of, or intellectual-property right in, your User Content.

5.2 Licence to KnotReels. You grant KnotReels a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable (only to our service providers acting on our behalf, such as hosting, transcoding, and CDN providers) licence to host, store, reproduce, transmit, transcode, adapt (technically only — for example, to produce different resolutions, formats, or thumbnails), publicly perform, publicly display, and otherwise distribute your User Content within and through the Service for the sole purposes of (a) operating, providing, and securing the Service, (b) showing your User Content to other Users in line with your privacy and audience settings, (c) promoting your User Content within the Service (including in carousels, recommendations, and search), and (d) complying with our legal and regulatory obligations.

5.3 Limited promotional use of excerpts. You also grant us a limited licence to use short excerpts (up to 30 seconds) of your User Content, your username, and your profile picture to promote KnotReels itself (for example, in social-media posts, email campaigns, or app-store listings). You may opt out of this promotional use at any time by contacting legal@knotreels.com and we will discontinue future use within a reasonable time.

5.4 Termination of licence. The licences in 5.2 and 5.3 end when you delete the relevant User Content or your Account, except for: (i) copies retained in routine encrypted backups for a limited rolling period, (ii) copies we are required to retain for legal or regulatory reasons (such as evidence of safety incidents or financial-crime investigations), and (iii) copies that other Users have downloaded or shared in a manner permitted by the Service before deletion. We will not actively re-publish deleted Content.

5.5 No external commercial exploitation. Except for the limited promotional use described in 5.3, we will not distribute, sell, license, or syndicate your User Content to third parties outside the Service, and we will not use your User Content to train, fine-tune, or evaluate any artificial-intelligence or machine-learning model without your separate, express, written consent.

5.6 Your warranties about User Content. You represent and warrant that (a) you own or have all necessary rights, licences, consents, and permissions to upload your User Content and grant the licences in this Section 5, (b) you have obtained appropriate releases from every identifiable person shown or audible in your Content, (c) your User Content does not infringe any third-party right and complies with Section 4 and all applicable laws, and (d) any AI-generated, manipulated, or sponsored elements are accurately disclosed.

6. AI, Scraping & Reverse Engineering

6.1 KnotReels does not train generative AI models on User Content. We expressly reserve all rights under Article 4(3) of the EU DSM Directive and the equivalent UK text-and-data-mining provisions, and we opt out of any text-or-data-mining exception (other than for non-commercial scientific research) for all Content on the Service.

6.2 Automated extraction of Content, user-generated data, or platform metadata for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, evaluating, or operating any AI model is strictly prohibited, whether or not robots.txt is respected.

6.3 You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of any Service software except to the limited extent permitted by mandatory applicable law (such as section 296A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988).

7. Our Intellectual Property

7.1 The Service, including its software, design, UI, graphics, logos, trade marks, audio branding, and the KnotReels name, is owned by or licensed to KnotReels Ltd and is protected by copyright, trade-mark, database, and other intellectual-property laws.

7.2 We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Service for its intended purpose, subject to these Terms.

7.3 “KnotReels” and our logos are trade marks of KnotReels Ltd. You may not use them without our prior written consent, except to factually identify the Service.

8. Credits

8.1 Nature of Credits. Credits are a digital licence to use certain paid features of the Service (such as sending Tips, renting episodes, buying paid Content, or sending Boosts). Credits are not money, are not e-money, are not a deposit or stored-value account, are not transferable between Users, and have no cash value outside the Service. You do not have a claim against KnotReels for the face value of unspent Credits except as expressly provided in these Terms or required by mandatory law.

8.2 Exchange rate. One (1) Credit equals $0.10 USD. We sell Credits in fixed packages (currently 10, 25, 50, and 100 Credits at $1.00, $2.50, $5.00, and $10.00 USD respectively). Pricing, packages, and the exchange rate may change with notice.

8.3 Currency. Credits are sold in US Dollars. Your card issuer or payment provider is responsible for any currency conversion and any associated fees, which are outside our control.

8.4 No expiry. Credits do not currently expire. We reserve the right to introduce a reasonable expiry period in the future, in which case we will give you at least 180 days' notice before any expiry takes effect, and we will not retroactively expire previously purchased Credits without that notice.

8.5 Use of Credits. Credits are debited at the time you choose to use them (e.g. when you confirm a Tip, rent an episode, send a Boost, or buy a paid Content unlock). Once a Credit has been used, the underlying digital service has been delivered and the transaction is final, save for the limited refund rights in Section 12.

8.6 Limits. A single transaction may not exceed the limits we publish in product (currently a maximum of 10,000 Credits per Tip and 1,000 Credits per Credit purchase). We may adjust limits to comply with anti-fraud, AML, or regulatory requirements.

8.7 Account closure. If you close your Account, any unspent Credits in your viewer balance will be forfeited unless you have requested and been granted a refund under Section 12 first. We will warn you of this during the account-closure flow.

8.8 No secondary market. You may not sell, exchange, or transfer Credits, in whole or in part, to any third party, and you may not advertise or facilitate any secondary market in Credits or KnotReels Accounts. Any such activity will result in immediate forfeiture of the relevant Credits and Account suspension.

9. Tips, Rentals, Shop, Boosts & Creator Tiers

9.1 Tips. Viewers may send voluntary Tips to Creators using Credits. Creators receive 100% of every Tip, with no platform fee deducted by KnotReels. Tip earnings remain subject to: (i) payment processor fees on the underlying Credit purchase, (ii) chargebacks and refunds (which may be clawed back), (iii) applicable taxes, (iv) any KYC, sanctions, or fraud holds, and (v) the minimum payout threshold in 9.7.

9.2 Rentals, paid Content, and shop sales. Creators may set prices in Credits for rentals (24-hour viewing windows), exclusive paid Content unlocks, and items sold in their Creator Shop (digital downloads and physical merchandise). KnotReels takes a platform fee from the gross sale price (not including shipping for physical goods, which is paid 100% to the Creator), based on the Creator's tier under 9.3.

9.3 Creator Tiers. Each Creator's platform fee on rentals, paid Content, shop sales, and Boost redistributions is determined by their lifetime performance:

• Starter (default): platform fee 20% / Creator receives 80%.
• Verified (5,000 lifetime views or 5,000 Credits earned): 15% / 85%.
• Established (50,000 lifetime views or 20,000 Credits earned): 12% / 88%.
• Partner (200,000 lifetime views or 100,000 Credits earned): 10% / 90%.

Tiers only progress upward. If you reach a higher tier you keep it, and your tier never decreases due to inactivity or refunds. We may adjust tier thresholds with at least 30 days' notice.

9.4 Boosts. A Boost costs 5 Credits and helps elevate a Creator's post within discovery surfaces. To prevent abuse, a post must accumulate at least 10 Boosts (50 Credits in total) before any Boost revenue is shared with the Creator; once that threshold is met, Boost revenue is split 50% to the Creator and 50% to KnotReels. Below the threshold, KnotReels retains 100% of Boost revenue to cover moderation, abuse-prevention, and infrastructure costs.

9.5 Contests. From time to time we run promotional contests (such as “The Reel Deal”) with monetary prizes (currently in GBP). Each contest has its own published rules which form part of the Agreement for participants in that contest. Prize awards are conditional on (a) the winner meeting eligibility, (b) successful KYC and sanctions checks, and (c) compliance with these Terms.

9.6 Pricing changes. We may change Tier fee percentages, Boost mechanics, contest rules, or other monetisation parameters at any time, on at least 30 days' notice for changes that materially reduce a Creator's revenue share.

9.7 Minimum payout. The current minimum payout threshold is 1,000 Credits ($100 USD). We may vary the minimum threshold from time to time, including for regulatory or fraud-prevention reasons. Earnings below the threshold remain in your Creator wallet until the threshold is reached or you close your Account.

9.8 No employment relationship. Nothing in this Agreement creates an employer-employee relationship, partnership, joint venture, or agency between KnotReels and any Creator. Creators are independent third parties responsible for their own businesses.

10. Payouts, KYC & AML

10.1 Payment processor. Creator payouts are processed by Stripe Payments Europe, Limited and its affiliates (“Stripe”), our payment processor, under Stripe's Connected Account Agreement and Stripe's Privacy Policy. By accepting payouts you also accept Stripe's terms.

10.2 Identity verification (KYC). To receive payouts you must complete identity verification through Stripe Connect. You agree to provide accurate, truthful, and complete information including your legal name, date of birth, residential address, government-issued identification, tax identification number where required (e.g. SSN, EIN, NINO, UTR, VAT number), and bank-account details. You authorise KnotReels and Stripe to perform identity, sanctions, PEP, fraud, and AML checks on you and on the funds being paid out.

10.3 Enhanced verification. Stripe and KnotReels may require enhanced verification at higher earnings thresholds (typically once you reach $1,000 in cumulative payouts in any calendar month, or earlier where regulation requires).

10.4 Payout schedule. Eligible payouts are processed in weekly batches, normally on Mondays at approximately 02:00 UTC, subject to Stripe banking-network timing. Funds typically arrive within 3 to 5 business days of the payout being initiated.

10.5 Currency. Payouts are made in USD by default and may be made in GBP or EUR for eligible Creators where we make those currencies available. Currency conversion (where applicable) is performed by Stripe at its prevailing rates and fees, which we do not control.

10.6 Failed payouts. If a payout fails because of incorrect bank details, account closure, or rejection by your bank, we will retry once and then notify you. Repeated payout failures may result in suspension of payout privileges until you correct the issue.

10.7 Holds, clawbacks, and reversals. We may place a hold on, deduct from, or claw back amounts in your Creator wallet (including amounts already paid out) to cover (a) chargebacks, refunds, or payment-method reversals on the underlying Credit purchases, (b) suspected fraud, money laundering, or breaches of these Terms, (c) court orders, regulator requests, or law-enforcement action, and (d) errors in calculating earnings.

10.8 Prohibited payout practices. You must not (a) self-tip, (b) coordinate fake or circular transactions, (c) create multiple Accounts to bypass thresholds or KYC, (d) use the Service to launder money, (e) accept payment for prohibited Content, or (f) cause chargebacks in bad faith. We may permanently forfeit pending earnings derived from any of these activities.

10.9 Status as a payment intermediary. KnotReels acts as a payment-collection intermediary on behalf of Creators for sales of paid Content, rentals, and shop items, and as a forwarding agent for Tips. KnotReels is not a bank, e-money issuer, or payment institution; regulated payment services are provided by Stripe.

11. Tax & VAT

11.1 Creator tax. You are solely responsible for determining, reporting, and paying any income tax, VAT, sales tax, GST, social-security charges, or other levies due on your earnings from the Service, in any country where you have a tax obligation.

11.2 Information reporting. We may be required by law to collect tax information from you and report your earnings to tax authorities (for example, IRS Form 1099-K in the United States, the UK's digital-platform reporting rules under Schedule 23 to the Finance Act 2011 and the OECD model rules, and EU DAC7). You agree to provide the information we reasonably request to meet those obligations, and you agree we may withhold payouts until you do.

11.3 Buyer VAT. Where required by law, we will charge applicable VAT, GST, or sales tax on Credit purchases and other paid features. Where Credits are charged in USD without tax inclusive at checkout, this is because tax is not currently required to be collected by us in your jurisdiction; this may change as we expand tax-collection coverage, with notice.

11.4 Withholding. Where the law requires us (or Stripe) to withhold tax from payouts, we will withhold the required amount and the net amount paid to you will be reduced accordingly.

12. Refunds & Consumer Cancellation Rights

12.1 Refund policy. Credit purchases and paid transactions are generally final once the relevant digital service has been performed. We will, however, consider refund requests for accidental purchases, unused Credits, technical issues, or other dissatisfaction reasons in line with our published refund policy and your statutory rights.

12.2 How to request a refund. Submit a refund request via your account settings or by emailing support@knotreels.com within 30 days of the original purchase. Refunds are reviewed and approved by our team, normally within 5 business days. Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method.

12.3 Statutory cancellation right (UK and EU consumers). If you are a consumer based in the UK or in the European Economic Area, you have a statutory 14-day right to cancel a purchase of Credits under the UK's Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and the EU Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU.

Important loss of cancellation right for digital content: when you click “Buy” for Credits, you are asked to confirm: (a) that you want immediate access to the Credits before the 14-day period ends, and (b) that you acknowledge you will lose your right to cancel any individual Credit once you have spent it on a Tip, rental, paid Content unlock, Boost, or shop purchase. By confirming, you give that consent and acknowledgement. You keep a 14-day right to cancel in respect of any unspent Credits from that purchase.

12.4 How to exercise your cancellation right. To exercise your statutory right to cancel an unspent Credit purchase within 14 days, email support@knotreels.com with a clear statement of cancellation, your order details, and your account email. You may use the model cancellation form published on our website. We will refund the unspent portion to the original payment method within 14 days of receiving your cancellation.

12.5 Chargebacks. If you initiate a chargeback instead of contacting us first, we may suspend your Account and your access to any Credits or paid Content pending investigation. Bad-faith chargebacks (where you have used the digital service) may be referred to debt-collection or fraud authorities.

12.6 Refunds and Creator earnings. If a Credit purchase is refunded, charged back, or reversed after the related Credits have already been spent on a Creator, we may claw back the corresponding earnings from that Creator's wallet under Section 10.7.

12.7 Subscriptions. Paid subscription plans (such as Creator Pro) renew automatically on a monthly basis until cancelled. You can cancel a subscription at any time from your account settings, with cancellation taking effect at the end of the current paid period. EU and UK consumers retain their statutory rights described above.

13. Sponsored Content & Advertising Disclosure

13.1 If your Content includes any paid promotion, sponsorship, gifting, brand partnership, affiliate link, or other commercial relationship, you must mark it as such using the in-product paid-promotion flag and any platform labelling we provide. This is in addition to any disclosures required by your local advertising authority (for example, ASA/CAP Code in the UK, FTC Endorsement Guides in the US, EU UCP Directive, AVMS Directive Article 6a).

13.2 If your Content is, or contains, significantly altered or AI-generated material, you must flag it using our synthetic-media disclosure tool, in line with the EU AI Act and equivalent rules elsewhere.

13.3 You are solely responsible for the accuracy of, and any liability arising from, sponsored Content, endorsements, or claims made about goods or services.

14. Reporting Illegal & Harmful Content (OSA / DSA)

14.1 In-product reporting. Every post and user profile has a “Report” button. You can use this to flag Content that you believe is illegal, infringing, harmful, or otherwise breaks these Terms, our Community Guidelines, or applicable law (including categories prescribed under the UK Online Safety Act 2023, the EU Digital Services Act, the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation, and equivalent laws).

14.2 Urgent / illegal content channel. For urgent reports of suspected child sexual abuse material, terrorist content, threats to life, or non-consensual intimate imagery, email safety@knotreels.com. We monitor this inbox on an expedited basis and refer appropriate matters to law enforcement, the UK Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and other competent bodies as required.

14.3 Statement of reasons. Where we restrict, remove, demonetise, or otherwise act against Content or an Account, we will provide an electronic statement of reasons in line with Article 17 DSA, including the legal or contractual basis, the facts relied on, and the available redress route.

14.4 Internal complaint-handling. If your Content has been removed or your Account restricted, you may appeal to us through the in-product appeal flow within 6 months of the decision. Appeals are reviewed by suitably trained human reviewers and we will notify you of the outcome and the reasons.

14.5 Out-of-court dispute settlement. EU users who are unhappy with the outcome of an internal appeal may, in addition to any judicial remedy, refer the matter to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under Article 21 DSA. UK users may use the Online Safety Act's complaint-handling procedures and, where applicable, refer matters to Ofcom.

15. Copyright & DMCA

15.1 KnotReels respects intellectual-property rights and complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (US, 17 U.S.C. § 512), the EU Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC and 2019/790), and equivalent rights in the UK and elsewhere.

15.2 To submit a copyright complaint, follow the process set out in our Copyright & DMCA Policy. Notices that do not contain the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) may not be actionable.

15.3 Counter-notification. If your Content was taken down and you believe the takedown was wrong, you may submit a DMCA counter-notice as described in the Copyright & DMCA Policy.

15.4 Repeat-infringer policy. We will, in appropriate circumstances and in our discretion, terminate the Accounts of Users who are repeat copyright infringers.

16. Account Suspension & Termination

16.1 Termination by you. You may close your Account at any time from your account settings. Closure does not entitle you to a refund of unspent Credits except as set out in Section 12.

16.2 Suspension by us. We may suspend or limit your Account, monetisation, or specific features without prior notice if (a) we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms or any applicable law, (b) we are required to do so by a regulator, court, or competent authority, (c) we detect suspected fraud, financial-crime, or security risk, or (d) you fail to complete required KYC, AML, or sanctions checks.

16.3 Termination by us. We may terminate your Account on notice for material breach that you do not cure within 14 days, or immediately for serious breach (including prohibited Content, fraud, or repeated infringement).

16.4 Effect of termination. On termination, (a) your right to use the Service ends, (b) any unspent Credits are forfeited unless refunded under Section 12, (c) Sections 5.4, 7, 9, 10.7, 10.8, 11, 12.5, 12.6, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, and any other clause that by its nature should survive, will survive, and (d) earned but unpaid Creator earnings remain payable subject to Sections 10 and 16.5.

16.5 Forfeiture for serious breach. If your Account is terminated for serious breach (including prohibited Content under Section 4.2, fraud, or laundering), pending earnings derived from the breach may be forfeited and refunded to affected Users or paid to designated charities, in our reasonable discretion and to the extent permitted by law.

17. Modifications to the Service

17.1 We are continually improving the Service and may add, change, withdraw, or discontinue features at any time. Where a change materially reduces functionality you have paid for, we will give you reasonable notice and (where appropriate) a pro-rata refund in line with your statutory rights.

17.2 We may carry out routine maintenance and emergency maintenance and will try to minimise disruption.

18. Disclaimers

18.1 Except as expressly set out in these Terms, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all express and implied warranties (including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and uninterrupted or error-free operation), other than the implied terms that cannot be excluded under the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 or equivalent consumer-protection law in your country.

18.2 We do not warrant any third-party Content and we are not responsible for User Content. Reliance on User Content is at your own risk.

19. Limitation of Liability

19.1 Liabilities we never exclude. Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by our negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by us; (c) any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded, including (where you are a UK consumer) liability under sections 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or (where applicable) under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982; and (d) any other liability that cannot be limited under your local consumer-protection law.

19.2 Excluded losses. Subject to 19.1, we will not be liable to you for any: (a) loss of profits, revenue, or anticipated savings; (b) loss of data (other than as required by data-protection law); (c) loss of goodwill or reputation; (d) loss of opportunity or contracts; or (e) indirect, incidental, special, or consequential losses, in each case whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise.

19.3 Aggregate cap. Subject to 19.1, our total aggregate liability to you under or in connection with the Agreement (whether in contract, tort, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise) is limited to the greater of:

• (a) the platform fees we actually retained from your Creator earnings during the 12 months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim; or
• (b) the amount you paid us for the relevant Service in the 12 months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim; or
• (c) £100 (or the equivalent in your local currency).

19.4 Consumer reasonableness. We have set these limits because the Service is provided to a wide range of Users at a low or zero direct cost. The limits are intended to be reasonable in light of that. They do not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.

20. Indemnity

20.1 If you use the Service in a business capacity (including as a professional Creator earning revenue through the Service), you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless KnotReels Ltd, its directors, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from and against all third-party claims, demands, losses, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to (a) your User Content, (b) your breach of these Terms or applicable law, (c) your infringement of any third-party right, or (d) your use of the Service for commercial purposes.

20.2 If you are using the Service as a consumer (i.e. for purposes wholly or mainly outside your trade, business, craft or profession), this Section 20 does not apply to you, and your liability to us is limited to that arising under general law (including, in the UK, the Consumer Rights Act 2015).

21. Force Majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance to the extent caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, labour disputes, pandemic, internet or telecommunications outages, failures of cloud, hosting, payment, or AI service providers, or cyber-attacks. We will use reasonable efforts to resume normal operations as soon as practicable.

22. Privacy & Data Protection

22.1 Our processing of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy. We comply with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, the EU GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), Canadian PIPEDA, and other applicable data-protection laws.

22.2 Where required by law, we have appointed a representative in the European Union under Article 27 GDPR / Article 13 DSA. Their contact details are published in our Privacy Policy.

23. Notices & Communications

23.1 Notices to you. We will give you notice under these Terms by email to the address on your Account, by in-product notification, or by posting on the Service. Notices are effective when sent.

23.2 Notices to us. Send legal notices in writing to legal@knotreels.com and (where required by law for service of court documents) by post to: KnotReels Ltd, 27 Bargates, Leominster, Herefordshire, United Kingdom, HR6 8EY.

23.3 Marketing. Marketing emails are sent only with your consent (where required) and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in the email or in your account settings.

24. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

24.1 These Terms and any non-contractual obligations arising out of them are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

24.2 The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms, except as set out in 24.3.

24.3 Consumer carve-out. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, or another jurisdiction that provides mandatory consumer-protection rights, (a) the choice of law in 24.1 does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory laws of the country in which you are habitually resident, and (b) you may bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence as well as in the courts of England and Wales.

25. Dispute Resolution & ADR

25.1 Informal resolution first. We'd like to resolve disputes informally where possible. Please contact legal@knotreels.com first and give us a reasonable chance to put things right.

25.2 EU consumers — ODR platform. If you are an EU consumer, you may also use the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. We are not currently obliged to use, and do not currently participate in, any specific ADR scheme, but we will consider proposals for alternative dispute resolution in good faith.

25.3 UK consumers. UK consumers may seek free advice from Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk) and may pursue matters through the small-claims procedure of the County Court (England & Wales) or equivalent in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

25.4 Time limits. Without prejudice to any longer period required by mandatory law, you must bring any claim in connection with the Service within two (2) years of the events giving rise to the claim, after which the claim is barred.

26. General

26.1 Entire agreement. The Agreement is the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service, and supersedes prior versions and any contemporaneous communications regarding it (other than fraudulent statements, which are not excluded).

26.2 Severability. If any provision is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force, and the invalid provision will be replaced with one that, as far as possible, achieves the same economic effect.

26.3 No waiver. Our failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right or provision.

26.4 Assignment. You may not assign or transfer the Agreement or any rights or obligations under it without our prior written consent. We may assign the Agreement on notice, including to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

26.5 No third-party rights. A person who is not a party to the Agreement has no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of its terms, except for our directors, officers, and employees in respect of Sections 19 and 20.

26.6 Independent contractors. Nothing in the Agreement creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship.

26.7 Survival. Sections 5.4, 5.6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12.5, 12.6, 16.4, 16.5, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and any other clause that by its nature should survive, survive termination of the Agreement.

26.8 Language. The Agreement is concluded in English. Where we make translations available, the English version prevails in the event of conflict, except where mandatory local consumer law requires otherwise.