Terms of Use

1 Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Use ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User," "you," or "your") and Quadz ("we," "our," or "us") governing your access to and use of the Quadz mobile application, website, and all related services (collectively, the "Service").

By downloading, registering, or using Quadz in any manner, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Community Guidelines (collectively, the "Agreement").

2 Eligibility & Verification

To use Quadz, you must satisfy all of the following at the time of registration and throughout your use of the Service:

• Be at least 16 years of age. Users between 16 and 18 may use the Service only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, where required by applicable law.
• Be a currently enrolled student at a college or university listed in our verified institutions database.
• Possess a valid, active official college email address issued by your institution (e.g., name@college.edu.in).
• Not be previously banned or permanently suspended from the platform.
• Not be using the Service for any unlawful purpose or in any way that could damage, disable, or impair the platform.

Quadz reserves the right to request additional verification at any time. Failure to comply may result in suspension or termination of your account.

3 Account Registration

When registering, you agree to the following:

• Provide accurate and truthful information during the registration and verification process.
• Use your own official college email — using another person's email or a non-institutional email constitutes fraud and is grounds for immediate permanent ban.
• Mromptly update your information if it changes (e.g., if you transfer colleges or your email domain changes).
• Maintain the confidentiality of your account. You are solely responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.
• Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

4 Anonymous Handles

Quadz operates on a controlled anonymity model. When you register, you select an anonymous handle that serves as your public identity on the platform. The following rules apply:

• Your handle must not impersonate a real person (classmate, faculty, public figure) in a misleading way. Parody handles for public figures are permitted only if clearly identifiable as parody.
• Your handle must not contain slurs, hate speech, profanity, sexual content, or any language that violates our Community Guidelines.
• Your handle must be unique — no two active users may have the same handle.
• You may change your handle a maximum of 2 times per 30-day period. Previous handles are reserved for 30 days after change.
• Quadz reserves the right to force-change handles that violate these rules or are reported and found to be problematic, without prior notice.

5 Quad Types & Access

The Service provides three types of Quads, each with distinct access rules:

Access to any Quad is contingent on maintaining active verification status. If your verification expires or is revoked, your access to all Quads is suspended until re-verification is completed.

6 User Conduct & Content Rules

When using Quadz, you agree to conduct yourself in accordance with the following standards:

• Be respectful: Engage with other users courteously, even during disagreements. Constructive criticism is welcome; personal attacks are not.
• Be honest: Do not intentionally spread false information. If you're sharing an opinion, make it clear it's an opinion. If sharing news, cite sources where possible.
• Be relevant: Post content appropriate to the Quad you're in. Private Quad content should relate to that college; Global Quad content should have broad relevance.
• Be original: Do not repost others' content without attribution. Do not copy-paste large blocks of text from external sources without context or credit.
• Report, don't retaliate: If you encounter violating content, use the in-app report function. Do not engage in counter-harassment or public callouts.
• Respect boundaries: Do not repeatedly tag, mention, or reply to a user who has indicated they do not wish to interact with you.

7 Prohibited Content

The following categories of content are strictly prohibited on Quadz. This list is non-exhaustive — our Community Guidelines provide additional detail:

• Personal Attacks & Bullying: Targeted harassment, intimidation, or repeated hostile behavior toward any individual or group.
• Doxing: Sharing or threatening to share another user's real identity, personal details, contact information, or location.
• Hate Speech: Content that promotes discrimination, hostility, or violence based on race, religion, caste, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any protected characteristic.
• Misinformation: Deliberately false or misleading content presented as fact, including fake news, manipulated images, or deceptive claims.
• Impersonation: Pretending to be another person, institution, or authority figure with intent to deceive.
• Spam & Self-Promotion: Repetitive, low-substance posts; unsolicited advertising; promotional content for external products, services, or businesses.
• Illegal Content: Content that promotes, facilitates, or encourages illegal activity, including drug use, gambling, fraud, or piracy.
• Violence & Harm: Content that depicts, encourages, or glorifies violence, self-harm, suicide, or harm to animals.
• Sexually Explicit Material: Pornography, explicit sexual descriptions, or non-consensual intimate imagery of any kind.
• Platform Manipulation: Coordinated inauthentic behavior, bot usage, vote manipulation, or any attempt to artificially inflate or suppress content.

8 Enforcement & Violations

Quadz enforces these Terms and Community Guidelines through a combination of AI-powered moderation and human review. Violations are addressed according to the following escalation framework:

Quadz reserves the right to skip escalation levels for egregious violations. All enforcement actions are logged, and users are notified of actions taken against their account (except where doing so would compromise a safety investigation).

9 Intellectual Property

Quadz's IP: The Quadz name, logo, app design, UI/UX elements, source code, algorithms, and all other proprietary elements of the Service are owned by Quadz and protected by applicable intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works from any part of the Service without our express written permission.

Your Content: By posting content on Quadz, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to store, display, and distribute your content solely for the purpose of operating the Service (e.g., showing your post to other users in the relevant Quad). This license terminates when your content is deleted or your account is terminated.

• You retain full ownership of the content you create.
• We do not license your content to third parties for their own use.
• We do not use your content to train AI models (see Section 10).

10 AI Moderation & Appeals

Quadz uses agentic AI systems to assist with content moderation. The following terms apply:

• AI as First Responder: AI systems may automatically flag, hide, or remove content that appears to violate our rules. These decisions are preliminary and subject to human review.
• Human Oversight: All content removals and account suspensions that result in restricted access or bans are reviewed by a human moderator before being finalized, except in critical safety cases.
• No AI Training on Your Data: Your posts, replies, and other content are not used to train any AI model, whether internal or third-party.
• False Positives: We acknowledge that AI moderation may occasionally make errors. If your content was incorrectly flagged, the appeals process (below) is designed to resolve this quickly.

11 Disclaimers & Limitation of Liability

The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Specifically:

• We do not guarantee that the Service will be available at all times, uninterrupted, error-free, or secure.
• We do not endorse, verify, or take responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of any content posted by users. Content represents the views of the anonymous handle that posted it, not Quadz.
• We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service, including but not limited to loss of data, reputation, or opportunity.
• Quadz is not affiliated with any educational institution. The presence of a college name or email domain on our platform does not imply endorsement, partnership, or association with that institution.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability to you for any claim arising from these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the amount you have paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim (which is currently zero, as the Service is free).

12 Termination

By You: You may delete your account at any time through the app's account settings. Upon deletion, your personal data is removed per our Privacy Policy, and your public posts are anonymized.

By Quadz: We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice, including but not limited to:

• Violation of these Terms or Community Guidelines.
• Fraudulent verification or use of a non-institutional email.
• Creating multiple accounts.
• Engaging in platform manipulation or coordinated inauthentic behavior.
• Extended inactivity (accounts inactive for more than 12 months may be deactivated).
• Legal or regulatory requirements.

13 Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms of Use from time to time. When we make changes:

• We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.
• For material changes (changes that significantly affect your rights or obligations), we will provide at least 15 days' advance notice via in-app notification or email.
• For minor changes (clarifications, formatting, corrections), we may update without prior notice.
• Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

If you do not agree with the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service and delete your account before the new Terms take effect.

14 Governing Law & Contact

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising from these Terms or the Service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Maharashtra, India.

Before initiating any legal proceedings, you agree to attempt to resolve any dispute with us through good-faith negotiation for a period of at least 30 days.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Quadz regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements or understandings, whether written or oral.