Terms of Service

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Last Updated March 4, 2024

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Welcome to Elevate!

These Terms of Use (or "TOS") govern your use of Elevate, except where we expressly state that separate terms (and not these) apply, and provide information about the Elevate Service (the "Service"), outlined below. When you create an Elevate account or use Elevate, you agree to these terms. These Terms of Use constitute an agreement between you and Elevate.

ARBITRATION NOTICE: YOU AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND US WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND YOU WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION. WE EXPLAIN SOME EXCEPTIONS AND HOW YOU CAN OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION BELOW.

The Elevate Service

We agree to provide you with the Elevate Service. The Service includes all of the Elevate products, features, applications, services, technologies, and software that we provide to advance Elevate’s mission: To elevate what is good. The Service is made up of the following aspects:

Offering personalized opportunities to create, connect, communicate, discover and share. This includes building quality relationships with people who share the same interests, and helping you connect with those who are interested in a positive experience.

Elevate intentionally cultivates a positive, inclusive, and safe environment. We use all the information we have-including your information-to try to keep our platform safe and secure. We also may share information about misuse or harmful content with law enforcement. 

Connecting you with brands, products, and services that you may care about. We use data from Elevate, as well as from third-party partners, to show you ads, offers, and other sponsored content that we believe will be meaningful to you. 

Research and innovation.

We use the information we have to continuously improve our Service to contribute to the well-being of all our users.

How Our Service Is Managed

Elevate is a free service to use. By using the app, you acknowledge that we can show you ads that businesses and organizations pay us to promote. We use your personal data, such as information from your profile, activity and interests, to show you ads that are more relevant to you. We DO NOT share or sell your personal data with advertisers. 

Advertisers tell us their intended audience and we match that audience with the most relevant ads. We do provide advertisers with reports about the performance of their ads to help them understand how people are interacting with their content on and off Elevate. This includes general demographic data and interest information that matches the advertisers' goals.

We DO NOT share information that directly identifies you (information such as your name or email address that by itself can be used to contact you or identifies who you are) unless you give us specific permission.

You may see branded content on Elevate posted by account holders who promote products or services based on a commercial relationship with the business partner mentioned in their content. 

Users can subscribe to opt-out of advertising. This service removes all direct, paid advertising from Elevate’s advertisers. It does not include any commercial posts published by users. 

Users can also opt-in to see how other users answered questions where you didn’t agree, or disagreements. 

Your Commitments

In return for our commitment to provide the Service, we require you to make the below commitments to us.

Who Can Use Elevate. We want our Service to be as open and inclusive as possible, but we also want it to be safe, secure, and in accordance with the law. So, we need you to commit to a few restrictions in order to be part of the Elevate community.

You must be at least 13 years old.

You must not be prohibited from receiving any aspect of our Service under applicable laws or engaging in payments related Services if you are on an applicable denied party listing.

We must not have previously disabled your account for violation of law or any of our policies.

You must not be a convicted sex offender.

How You Can't Use Elevate. Providing a safe and open Service for a broad community requires that we all do our part.

You can't impersonate others or provide inaccurate information.

You do have to disclose your identity on Elevate and must provide us with accurate and up to date information (including registration information), which may include providing personal data. Also, you may not impersonate someone or something you aren't, and you can't create an account for someone else unless you have their express permission.

You can't do anything unlawful, misleading, or fraudulent or for an illegal or unauthorized purpose.

You can't violate (or help or encourage others to violate) these Terms or our policies, including in particular the Elevate Community Guidelines, Elevate Platform Terms and Developer Policies, and Music Guidelines.

You can't do anything to interfere with or impair the intended operation of the Service.

This includes misusing any reporting, dispute, or appeals channel, such as by making fraudulent or groundless reports or appeals.

You can't attempt to create accounts or access or collect information in unauthorized ways.

This includes creating accounts or collecting information in an automated way without our express permission.

You can’t sell, license, or purchase any account or data obtained from us or our Service.

This includes attempts to buy, sell, or transfer any aspect of your account (including your username); solicit, collect, or use login credentials or badges of other users; or request or collect Elevate usernames, passwords, or misappropriate access tokens.

You can't post someone else’s private or confidential information without permission or do anything that violates someone else's rights, including intellectual property rights (e.g., copyright infringement, trademark infringement, counterfeit, or pirated goods).

You may use someone else's works under exceptions or limitations to copyright and related rights under applicable law. You represent you own or have obtained all necessary rights to the content you post or share. Learn more, including how to report content that you think infringes your intellectual property rights, here.

You can't use a domain name or URL in your username without our prior written

You can’t modify, translate, create derivative works of, or reverse engineer our products or their components.

Permissions You Give to Us. As part of our agreement, you also give us permissions that we need to provide the Service.

We do not claim ownership of your content, but you grant us a license to use it.

Nothing is changing about your rights in your content. We do not claim ownership of your content that you post on or through the Service and you are free to share your content with anyone else, wherever you want. However, we need certain legal permissions from you (known as a “license”) to provide the Service. When you share, post, or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights (like photos or videos) on or in connection with our Service, you hereby grant to us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings). This license will end when your content is deleted from our systems. You can delete content individually or all at once by deleting your account. Permission to use your username, profile picture, and information about your relationships and actions with accounts, ads, and sponsored content.

You give us permission to show your username, profile picture, and information about your actions (such as likes) or relationships (such as follows) next to or in connection with accounts, ads, offers, and other sponsored content that you follow or engage with that are displayed on Elevate, without any compensation to you. For example, we may show that you liked a sponsored post created by a brand that has paid us to display its ads on Elevate. As with actions on other content and follows of other accounts, actions on sponsored content and follows of sponsored accounts can be seen only by people who have permission to see that content or follow. We will also respect your ad settings. You can learn more here about your ad settings.

You agree that we can download and install updates to the Service on your device.

Additional Rights We Retain

If you select a username or similar identifier for your account, we may change it if we believe it is appropriate or necessary (for example, if it infringes someone's intellectual property or impersonates another user).

If you use content covered by intellectual property rights that we have and make available in our Service (for example, images, designs, videos, or sounds we provide that you add to content you create or share), we retain all rights to our content (but not yours).

You can only use our intellectual property and trademarks or similar marks as expressly permitted by our Brand Guidelines or with our prior written permission.

You must obtain written permission from us or under an open-source license to modify, create derivative works of, decompile, or otherwise attempt to extract source code from us.

Content Removal and Disabling or Terminating Your Account

We can remove any content or information you share on the Service if we believe that it violates these Terms of Use, our policies (including our Elevate Community Guidelines), or we are permitted or required to do so by law. We can refuse to provide or stop providing all or part of the Service to you (including terminating or disabling your access to Elevate) immediately to protect our community or services, or if you create risk or legal exposure for us, violate these Terms of Use or our policies (including our Elevate Community Guidelines), if you repeatedly infringe other people's intellectual property rights, or where we are permitted or required to do so by law. We can also terminate or change the Service, remove or block content or information shared on our Service, or stop providing all or part of the Service if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impacts on us. If you believe your account has been terminated in error, or you want to disable or permanently delete your account, consult our Help Center. When you request to delete content or your account, the deletion process will automatically begin no more than 30 days after your request. It may take up to 90 days to delete content after the deletion process begins. While the deletion process for such content is being undertaken, the content is no longer visible to other users, but remains subject to these Terms of Use and our Data Policy. After the content is deleted, it may take us up to another 90 days to remove it from backups and disaster recovery systems.

Content will not be deleted within 90 days of the account deletion or content deletion process beginning in the following situations:

where your content has been used by others in accordance with this license and they have not deleted it (in which case this license will continue to apply until that content is deleted); or

where deletion within 90 days is not possible due to technical limitations of our systems, in which case, we will complete the deletion as soon as technically feasible; or

where deletion would restrict our ability to:

investigate or identify illegal activity or violations of

our terms and policies (for example, to identify or investigate misuse of our products or systems);

protect the safety and security of our products, systems, and users;

comply with a legal obligation, such as the preservation of evidence; or

comply with a request of a judicial or administrative authority, law enforcement, or a government agency;

in which case, the content will be retained for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it has been retained (the exact duration will vary on a case-by-case basis).

If you delete or we disable your account, these Terms shall terminate as an agreement between you and us, but this section and the section below called "Our Agreement and What Happens if We Disagree" will still apply even after your account is terminated, disabled, or deleted.

Our Agreement and What Happens if We Disagree

Our Agreement.

Your use of music on the Service is also subject to our Music Guidelines, and your use of our API is subject to our Elevate Platform Terms and Developer Policies. If you use certain other features or related services, you will be provided with an opportunity to agree to additional terms that will also become a part of our agreement. For example, if you use payment features, you will be asked to agree to the Community Payment Terms. If any of those terms conflict with this agreement, those other terms will govern.

If any aspect of this agreement is unenforceable, the rest will remain in effect.

Any amendment or waiver to our agreement must be in writing and signed by us. If we fail to enforce any aspect of this agreement, it will not be a waiver.

We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you.

Who Has Rights Under this Agreement.

Our past, present, and future affiliates and agents, including Elevate LLC, can invoke our rights under this agreement in the event they become involved in a dispute. Otherwise, this agreement does not give rights to any third parties.

You cannot transfer your rights or obligations under this agreement without our consent.

Our rights and obligations can be assigned to others. For example, this could occur if our ownership changes (as in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets) or by law.

Who Is Responsible if Something Happens.

Our Service is provided "as is," and we can't guarantee it will be safe and secure or will work perfectly all the time. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE ALSO DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Users can report objectionable content in the system at any time and Elevate will evaluate each report on a case by case basis. The system also includes the ability to add positive and negative ratings to content, and comments. Users who consistently produce negative content or comments will be evaluated on a case by case basis. 

We also don’t control what people and others do or say, and we aren’t responsible for their (or your) actions or conduct (whether online or offline) or content (including unlawful or objectionable content). We also aren’t responsible for services and features offered by other people or companies, even if you access them through our Service.

Our responsibility for anything that happens on the Service (also called "liability") is limited as much as the law will allow. If there is an issue with our Service, we can't know what all the possible impacts might be. You agree that we won't be responsible ("liable") for any lost profits, revenues, information, or data, or consequential, special, indirect, exemplary, punitive, or incidental damages arising out of or related to these Terms, even if we know they are possible. This includes when we delete your content, information, or account. Our aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms will not exceed the greater of $100 or the amount you have paid us in the past twelve months.

You agree to defend (at our request), indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including without limitation, reasonable attorney's fees and costs, arising out of or in any way connected with these Terms or your use of the Service. You will cooperate as required by us in the defense of any claim. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, and you will not in any event settle any claim without our prior written consent.

How We Will Handle Disputes.

Except as provided below, you and we agree that any cause of action, legal claim, or dispute between you and us arising out of or related to these Terms or Elevate ("claim(s)") must be resolved by arbitration on an individual basis. Class actions and class arbitrations are not permitted; you and we may bring a claim only on your own behalf and cannot seek relief that would affect other Elevate users. If there is a final judicial determination that any particular claim (or a request for particular relief) cannot be arbitrated in accordance with this provision's limitations, then only that claim (or only that request for relief) may be brought in court. All other claims (or requests for relief) remain subject to this provision.

Instead of using arbitration, you or we can bring claims in your local "small claims" court, if the rules of that court will allow it. If you don't bring your claims in small claims court (or if you or we appeal a small claims court judgment to a court of general jurisdiction), then the claims must be resolved by binding, individual arbitration. The American Arbitration Association will administer all arbitrations under its Consumer Arbitration Rules.

You and we expressly waive a trial by jury. The following claims don't have to be arbitrated and may be brought in court: disputes related to intellectual property (like copyrights and trademarks), efforts to interfere with the Service or engage with the Service in unauthorized ways (for example, automated ways), or to stop or prevent illegal activities or activity that violates our rights or the rights of others. In addition to the above, you can bring a lawsuit in court to address a dispute under these Terms and to address an infringement of your intellectual property rights.

We can change this dispute resolution provision if we provide you thirty (30) days' prior written notice of the change. Update Notice on TOS Changes: We can change these Terms at any time and will provide notice when we do. Your continued use of the Service constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to any amended Terms, you must stop using the Service. If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us.

In the event of any conflicts between these Terms and information provided by Customer Support or other portions of our website, these Terms will take precedence, except where prohibited by law. 

We want you to elevate what is good, so we created Elevate to help you do just that. These guidelines are designed to ensure a safe and productive environment for all Elevate users. By using Elevate, you agree to follow these guidelines and help us create a positive experience for everyone.

1. **Be Kind and Respectful**: Treat others how you would like to be treated. We encourage constructive feedback and discussion, but personal attacks, harassment, hate speech, and offensive content are not allowed.

2. **Keep it Clean**: Keep your posts, comments, and profile free of explicit, offensive, or inappropriate content. This includes but is not limited to nudity, violence, and harmful or illegal activities.

3. **Respect Privacy**: Do not share personal or confidential information about yourself or others. This includes private addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and sensitive financial information.

4. **Be Authentic**: Be yourself! Elevate is about connecting with others in a genuine way. Do not impersonate or create fake accounts.

5. **Respect Intellectual Property**: Only share content that you have the right to share. This includes respecting copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights.

6. **No Spam**: Do not post repetitive, irrelevant, or promotional content. This includes advertisements, affiliate links, and other forms of solicitation.

7. **Follow the Law**: Do not use Elevate for any illegal activities. This includes but is not limited to fraud, phishing, and other scams.

8. **Report Misconduct**: If you see something that violates these guidelines, please report it to us. You can report posts, comments, or profiles directly from the app.

9. **Use Common Sense**: If something feels wrong, don't do it. Trust your instincts and help us keep Elevate a safe and positive community.

10. **Respect Elevate's Authority**: We reserve the right to remove any content or account that violates these guidelines. If you repeatedly break the rules, we may suspend or terminate your account.

Remember, Elevate is what we make it. Let's work together to create a community where everyone feels welcome and valued. Thank you for being a part of Elevate!

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Please review the updated version, and let me know if there are any further changes you'd like to make!

Revised: March 4, 2024