Terms of Service

1. Definitions

• "Member" means a person who has created an account on the Service.
• "Content" means any text, images, photographs, voice recordings, or other material a Member submits to or through the Service, including profile information, prompts, messages, and verification documents.
• "Verification Document" means a current Australian driver's licence, passport, or proof of age card, an NDIS plan letter or plan number, a Centrelink Disability Support Pension letter, or a Companion Card, submitted as evidence that you are a genuine, real person. A Verification Document is used only to confirm your identity — it is not used, and is not required, to prove that you have a disability or receive any particular payment or scheme benefit. We review a Verification Document for apparent authenticity only (does it look genuine, does the name match) — we do not, and cannot, cross-check it against the National Disability Insurance Agency, Services Australia, or any other government system, as no such verification service is available to us.
• "Disability/NDIS Community Membership" is self-identified by you at sign-up and is not independently verified by us — see clause 2.
• "Match" means a mutual expression of interest between two Members that unlocks messaging and photo visibility between them.

2. Eligibility

To use the Service, you must:

• be at least 18 years of age;
• submit a genuine Verification Document proving you are a real person;
• self-identify, in good faith, as part of the NDIS/disability community — we do not require or request any documentary proof of disability, and rely entirely on your own representation;
• have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract in your jurisdiction;
• not be prohibited from using the Service under the law of Australia or any other applicable jurisdiction, including as a result of a prior suspension or removal from the Service; and
• not be a registered sex offender under the law of any jurisdiction.

We rely entirely on your representations as to eligibility, including your self-identification as part of the NDIS/disability community, and on our own review of your Verification Document for apparent authenticity. This review does not amount to, and must not be relied upon as, an independent confirmation of your identity, disability, benefit, or scheme status by us, the National Disability Insurance Agency, Services Australia, or any other body. Providing false information, including a false Verification Document or a bad-faith self-identification, is a material breach of these Terms and grounds for immediate termination and may constitute a criminal offence under applicable law. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss or harm arising from another Member's misrepresentation of their eligibility, including where that misrepresentation was not detected by our review process.

3. Account registration and security

You must provide accurate information when creating an account and keep it up to date. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account, whether or not authorised by you. Notify us immediately at support@somebody.dev if you suspect unauthorised access to your account. One person may hold only one account.

4. Verification process

Before a profile becomes visible to other Members, we review it — including your submitted Verification Document — using a combination of manual review by our team and AI-assisted checks. Both review methods are held to the same standard and carry equal weight; the method used for a given profile is not disclosed to other Members. This process verifies that you are a genuine person; your status as part of the NDIS/disability community is self-identified under clause 2 and is not independently verified by us. We may, at our sole discretion, approve, reject, or request further information for any profile, and are not obliged to give reasons for a rejection beyond a general category. Your Verification Document is deleted from our systems once verification is complete, whether approved or, subject to clause 9, rejected. See our Privacy Policy for how this document is handled while under review.

5. Nature of the service

The Service is an online platform for Members to discover, connect, and communicate with other Members for the purpose of dating and/or friendship. We do not guarantee that you will find a match, form a relationship, or have any particular experience using the Service. We do not conduct criminal background checks on Members. Verification (clause 4) is limited to a document-authenticity check confirming a Member is a real person — it is not a cross-check against any government database, not a check or confirmation of disability, benefit, or scheme status (which is self-identified, not verified), not a character reference, not a safety guarantee, and not a statement as to any Member's intentions, conduct, or trustworthiness.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and will not permit any other person to:

• impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity, age, or affiliation;
• upload Content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit involving a minor, or otherwise objectionable;
• harass, threaten, stalk, or abuse another Member;
• solicit money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, banking details, or any other financial benefit from another Member, or direct another Member off the Service specifically to circumvent our safety features;
• use the Service for any commercial purpose, including advertising or solicitation, without our prior written consent;
• scrape, harvest, or otherwise collect data from the Service or its Members, including by automated means;
• attempt to circumvent, disable, or interfere with any security-related feature of the Service, including the photo-privacy or verification mechanisms;
• upload any Content that infringes another person's intellectual property or privacy rights; or
• use the Service in any way that violates applicable law, including the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) and the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

7. Content and licence

You retain ownership of the Content you submit. By submitting Content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable licence to host, store, reproduce, and display that Content solely for the purpose of operating, providing, and improving the Service (for example, displaying your profile to other Members, or generating a blurred version of your photos). This licence ends when you delete the relevant Content or your account, except to the extent Content has already been shared with another Member (for example, a message already delivered) or retention is required by law.

You represent that you own or have the necessary rights to any Content you submit, and that it does not infringe the rights of any third party.

8. Photo privacy mechanism

Photos you upload are displayed to other Members only in a blurred form generated on our server, and are shown unblurred only to a Member with whom you have a confirmed mutual Match. This is a product feature operated on a best-efforts basis; while we take reasonable technical steps to prevent circumvention, we do not warrant that it is infallible against determined misuse (for example, a Match screenshotting or otherwise redistributing an unblurred photo after it is shared with them, which is a breach of these Terms by that Member but outside our control).

9. Reporting, blocking, and moderation

You can report or block another Member at any time. Reports are reviewed by our team, and we aim to review each one within 48 hours. Messages may additionally be screened by an automated, AI-assisted process for indicators of scam or abusive content; a flag from that process does not delay or block delivery of the message, and is used solely to prioritise our own review. We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice, remove Content, suspend, or terminate any account we reasonably believe breaches these Terms, poses a safety risk to another Member, or is otherwise harmful to the Service or its Members.

10. Fees

The Service is currently free to join and use. We reserve the right to introduce paid features or subscription tiers in the future. If we do, we will give you reasonable notice before any change that affects you, and continuing to use a free feature will never retroactively require payment for its past use.

11. Third-party services and AI processing

The Service relies on third-party infrastructure providers to operate, including hosting, database, and file storage (Supabase), transactional email delivery (Resend), and AI-assisted verification and content moderation (Anthropic). These providers process Content and personal information on our behalf, under their own terms and applicable data processing arrangements, solely to deliver the functionality described in these Terms and our Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for outages or failures originating from these third-party providers, though we will make reasonable efforts to restore Service functionality promptly.

12. Intellectual property

Except for Member Content, all intellectual property in the Service — including its name, logo, design, software, and underlying technology — belongs to us or our licensors. Nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use our trademarks, branding, or intellectual property except as necessary to use the Service as intended.

13. Disclaimer of warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any defect will be corrected. Nothing in this clause excludes, restricts, or modifies any consumer guarantee under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded.

14. Assumption of risk and safety

The Service facilitates introductions between Members; it does not supervise, participate in, or take any responsibility for what happens between Members, including any in-person meeting. You are solely responsible for your own safety and conduct in your interactions with other Members, online and in person. We strongly recommend meeting new connections in a public place, telling a friend, family member, or support person where you'll be and who you're meeting, and arranging your own transport. We are not liable for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any Member, including any injury, loss, or damage arising from your interaction with another Member.

15. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, and subject to clause 13, we exclude all liability (whether in contract, tort including negligence, or otherwise) for any indirect, special, incidental, or consequential loss or damage arising from or in connection with the Service or these Terms, including loss of profits, data, or goodwill. Where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, our total aggregate liability to you is limited, at our option, to resupplying the Service or the amount you have paid us (if any) in the twelve months preceding the claim.

16. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claim, loss, liability, or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your breach of these Terms, your Content, or your interaction with another Member, except to the extent caused by our own negligence or wilful misconduct.

17. Suspension and termination

You may delete your account at any time from Account → Sign out. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, the Community Guidelines, or applicable law, or if continued access poses a risk to another Member or the Service. Clauses which by their nature should survive termination (including clauses 12, 13, 15, 16, and 19) survive termination of these Terms.

18. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes to the Service or applicable law. We will update the "last updated" date above and, for material changes, take reasonable steps to notify Members before the change takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

19. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Western Australia, Australia, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You and we each irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that jurisdiction. Before commencing formal proceedings, both parties agree to first attempt to resolve any dispute informally by contacting support@somebody.dev.

20. General

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms without our consent; we may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.

21. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to support@somebody.dev.