Terms of Use

How these Terms work

These Terms, the FRND Privacy Policy, and Community Guidelines (“Platform Policies”) will be read together. The Platform Policies set out the rules you are required to follow while using the Platform.

We reserve the right to modify, amend or change our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy or Community Guidelines at any time. We will annually remind users of any changes made to any of the terms under the Platform Policies. We will also indicate the effective dates of these changes under each policy, as and when they happen. Users will be notified via in-app updates that they must acknowledge before they can continue availing our Services. Your continued use of the Services will indicate your acceptance of the updated Terms and you will be legally bound by the updated Terms.

Changes to services

Our Platform is dynamic and may change rapidly. As such, we may change the services we provide at our discretion. We may temporarily or permanently stop providing Services or any features to you generally.

We may remove or add functionalities to our Platform and Services without any notice. However, if we make a change where your consent is required, we will make sure to ask for it. Please be sure to keep visiting this page from time to time to stay updated on our latest changes and developments.

Who may use our services

Our Platform helps you stay in touch with your friends in your preferred regional language (“Service/Services”).

To use our Services, you must register on our Platform by entering your phone number and the One-Time-Password sent by us via SMS to your phone number. You may use our Services only if you are capable of forming a binding agreement with us and are legally permitted to use our Services. If you are accepting these Terms on behalf of a company or any legal persons, then you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind such an entity to these Terms and effectively “you” and “your” shall refer to the company.

Privacy Policy

To effectively provide and introduce any new Services to you, we collect certain information such as your phone number, your gender and your name from you, as well as voice data through call recordings between users. We may further request and store additional information. The FRND Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share and store the information collected. The FRND Privacy Policy also details your rights under law and how you may control the data you provide us.

Purchase and usage of Coins and Gifts

You can acquire coins (“Coins”) using payment methods provided by us on the Platform. You can use these Coins to play games on the Platform, licence virtual gifts/digital goods (such as stickers, gifs, banners etc.) to gift them to other users or customise your profile. Coins/Gifts are not treated as individual goods to be purchased by users but as licenced access to items issued by the Platform. Do note that Coins/Gifts cannot be exchanged for cash, legal tender, or any form of credit and cannot be used for trading on the internet. You are solely responsible for the Coins/Gifts you purchase on the Platform and you agree that we will have no liability or responsibility with respect to such Coins/Gifts.

Purchasing Coins

The price of the Coins will be displayed at the point of sale, and will be inclusive of applicable taxes.

You will be responsible for the payment of any Coins acquired by you. Once your payment has been made, your user account will be credited with the number of Coins acquired by you. We cannot provide a refund once a successful payment has been made.

Usage of Coins

• Coins can only be used on our Platform and as a part of our Services, and cannot be combined or used in conjunction with other promotions, coupons, discounts, or special offers, except those designated by us.
• No Coins may be assigned or transferred to any other user of the Platform or any third party. The sale, barter, assignment, or other disposal of any Coins, other than by us, is expressly prohibited.
• Any violation of the Terms, or applicable laws, including any fraudulent activities, may result in termination of your account on the Platform, forfeiture of the Coins from your account, and/or you may be subject to liability for damages, litigation, and transaction costs.
• Accrued Coins do not constitute property and are not transferable upon death or otherwise, including by operation of law.
• Coins and Gifts associated with your account will be extinguished once you delete your account from our Platform.

Purchasing Gifts

• Gifts constitute a limited licence to certain digital products and services. The number of Coins using which you can acquire each Gift will be displayed on our Platform. We have the right to revise this at our sole discretion.
• Gifts cannot be converted into or exchanged for Coins or cash or be refunded or reimbursed by us for any reason.
• Gifts exchanged or received by any user do not constitute property and are not transferable upon death or otherwise, including by operation of law.
• We may replace previously exchanged copies of Gifts, if we determine in our sole discretion that the Gifts exchanged or received by a user are corrupted or otherwise damaged. We will not charge additional fees for reissuing a corrupted or otherwise damaged Gift.
• You are not permitted to use any Gift or Coin in lieu of receipt of any goods or services from any user on the Platform or otherwise.

Games and rewards

Any games and rewards on the Platform are made available as promotional activities for our users. As a promotional feature, such games and rewards are offered on an as-is, where-is basis, without any guarantees regarding availability or error-free operation, and we make no warranties or representations regarding them. Games on our platform cannot be played with real money. All rewards are provided free of charge and cannot be exchanged for cash, transferred into real currency, or used as the basis for any monetary claims against us.

Please independently verify that your participation in games on the Platform is permitted under local laws applicable to you. We do not provide games in any geography where it may be unlawful for us to do so. We have the right to cancel, suspend or void your rewards if we identify that you are participating from a prohibited location.

Participation in the game or receipt of rewards does not permit any of the following:

You are prohibited from engaging in cheating, fraud, collusion, or any unfair gaming practices on the Platform. If we determine or suspect that any individual has engaged in such activities, we reserve the right to revoke, suspend, or invalidate any rewards already granted or pending, as well as to suspend or terminate the accounts of those users on the Platform.

Your commitments

By using our Services, you agree and acknowledge the following:

a. No impersonation or false information to be provided

While you do not have to use your actual name on our Platform, you are required to input your correct phone number, gender and age to use our Services. You will not falsely represent yourself as another person or representative of another person on the Platform, or as someone younger/older than your correct age at the time of registering as a user on FRND. You will not use our Platform to deceive others or spread false information, misinformation or content which misleads users about its origin.

b. Device security

We have implemented measures to ensure that our Platform is secure. However, there is no guarantee that our Platform is immune to hacking and virus attacks. You shall not use automated means or bots to access the Platform or collect user information. You will also not allow multiple accounts to be linked to your profile through any means, including but not limited to your phone number, PAN number, IP address, UPI ID, bank account details, etc. You will be responsible for all content posted by any account linked through these means.

c. Content removal and termination

If any of our users report your content which violates the Terms, Community Guidelines, and applicable laws in force, we may remove such content from our Platform. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and block you from re-registering with us if your content violates the Terms.

Some activities that can lead to permanent termination of a user account include the following. Please note that this is an indicative list:

The following activities may attract temporary suspension or incentivisation that is subject to reversal if FRND deems it necessary or appropriate:

FRND reserves the right to assess the severity of the act or omission committed by the user and take a decision to permanently terminate or temporarily suspend/disincentivise a user’s account. Typically, we adhere to the following timeline once we notice a violation:

• We immediately notify the user of suspicious activity and nudge them to rectify it / not engage in it again.
• In case the violation is repeated, we block the account for 24 hours.
• A subsequent repetition invites a block for 48 hours.
• If repeated behaviour persists, we permanently block the account and the user cannot access it anymore.

d. Respecting the rights and privacy of other users

You must respect the rights and privacy of others. You will not share any content that belongs to another person without their permission, or otherwise use the Platform in any manner which violates or infringes any person’s intellectual property rights including any patent, trademark, copyright, or privacy rights or publicity rights.

You will not post content that invades the privacy of another person or harasses users based on their gender, race, religion, caste, or ethnicity. You will not create or share content that promotes hatred or incites violence between different groups.

e. Respecting FRND’s intellectual property rights

FRND owns all rights to the Platform, including all related brands, content, software, features, and technology. You agree to respect FRND’s intellectual property rights including any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights, and not do, attempt to do, or encourage others to do the following:

f. Platform not to be used for anything unlawful or illegal

You shall not use our Platform to share any content which is:

g. Content rights and liabilities

We will not be liable or responsible for the consequences of any transactions made or entered into by you with other users of the Platform on the Platform.

You may delete your account at any point. However, your content may continue to appear on the Platform if it has been shared with others. To learn more about how we use information please read the FRND Privacy Policy.

h. Third-party materials and services

The Platform may display content, features, or materials from third parties and allow access to third-party services. Your use of any third-party materials or services is governed by the respective third party’s terms. FRND is not responsible for any aspect of the third-party materials or services, including their content, accuracy, quality, or availability. We do not endorse or assume liability for any third-party materials or services available through the Platform, including any third-party links or materials posted by other users of the Platform.

i. Intermediary status and no liability

We are an intermediary as defined under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. These Terms are published in accordance with the provisions of Rule 3(1)(a) of those Rules, which require publishing of the rules and regulations, FRND Privacy Policy, and FRND Terms of Use for accessing and using our Platform. Our role is limited to providing a platform for users to upload, share and display content, created or shared by you and other users.

Users engage in conversation and information exchange between each other (content) and while FRND reserves the right to review and remove any such content, we do not review all content posted on the Platform. We are not responsible for the consequences of such actions (whether online or offline) or for services and features offered by others, even if you access them through our Services. Each user is solely responsible for the content they submit, whether shared publicly or privately. Users may report any content or accounts that violate our Terms through the reporting mechanisms provided on the Platform and in these Terms.

Our responsibility for anything that happens on our Platform is strictly governed by the laws of India and is limited to that extent. You agree that we will not be responsible for any loss of profits, revenues, information, or data, or consequential, special, indirect, exemplary, punitive, or incidental damages arising to you or any other person related to these Terms, even if we know they are possible. This includes when we delete your content, information, or account.

j. You will not attempt to disrupt or jeopardise FRND services

We have developed a community-driven platform. Therefore, you agree to not interfere with, or use non-public areas of our Platform, Services, and our technical delivery system. You will not introduce any trojans, viruses, any other malicious software or any other computer code, file or program, or any bots, or scrape our Platform for any user information. You will not create new accounts after we have disabled your account, use unauthorised applications to access the Platform, request login details from other users, or trade in account access.

Additionally, you will not probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system, security or authentication measures implemented by us. If you tamper or attempt to tamper with our technological design and architecture, we will terminate your user profile and ban you from using our services. We may further report such actions to the appropriate law enforcement authorities and proceed against you with legal actions.

Broadcast

As part of the FRND platform we provide the Broadcast feature, which allows you to broadcast real-time videos and audio of yourself on the platform. Other users can participate in live videos and audio broadcast by you, thus allowing for real-time communication.

All content uploaded using the Broadcast feature is subject to the FRND Terms of Use, Community Guidelines, Privacy Policy and other applicable laws at the time being in force. We reserve the right to immediately remove any content uploaded using this feature which is in violation of these Terms.

We may, from time to time, add, remove or alter the functionality of the Broadcast feature. We may also discontinue the Broadcast feature from the FRND platform at any time. We do not warrant that the Broadcast feature will be error-free or always available, that it will always function without disruptions, or that any content posted by other users using the Broadcast feature will be accurate. We provide the Broadcast feature for you to interact on a real-time basis with other users, but you shall not misuse the feature to upload content that is prohibited under the FRND Terms and Privacy Policy. We do not warrant the continued availability of this feature.

Permissions you give to us

You accept these Terms and give us certain permissions so that we can serve you better. Permissions you grant to us are:

Automatic downloads and updates

We are constantly updating our Platform and Services offered. To use our Platform, you may need to download the FRND mobile application to your mobile device and update it from time to time. Applications and software are constantly updated for your use and you will need to install the latest version of the FRND mobile application to your mobile device each time such an update is generated.

Voice data

In addition to collecting information such as your phone number, your gender and your name, we also collect voice data through call recordings between users. This enables us to strengthen our content moderation efforts on the platform and further improve our services by using the data for training AI models to enhance user experience. To know more about how we collect consent for this exercise and how we keep your voice data safe, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

What happens if we disagree

Grievance redressal and reporting

As part of our commitment to the privacy and safety of our users, we continue to work alongside the government authorities in order to keep our users safe. We have put together a robust Grievance Redressal Mechanism in place to help resolve any concerns or complaints raised by you with respect to FRND.

Various mechanisms for grievance redressal are given below:

• You can report user profiles and raise complaints for content that violates our Terms. You can select the appropriate reason and click on the report option.
• You can send an email to care@frnd.app with your concern or complaint.

Limitation of liability

We do not assume any liability with respect to any loss or damage, arising directly or indirectly due to any inaccuracy or incompleteness of any information or a breach of any warranty or guarantee due to the actions of any user of the Platform.

The Platform and Services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without any representation or warranties, express or implied, except otherwise specified in writing. We do not warrant the quality of the Services or the Platform including its uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free provision, continued compatibility on any device, or correction of any errors.

In no event shall we, or any of our affiliates, successors, and assigns, and each of their respective investors, directors, officers, employees, agents, service providers, and suppliers be liable for any special, incidental, punitive, direct, indirect or consequential damages suffered as a consequence of a breach of the Terms by another user or arising out of the use of or the reliance on any of the Services or the Platform.

In the event any exclusion contained herein is held to be invalid for any reason and we or any of our affiliate entities, officers, directors or employees become liable for loss or damage, then any such liability shall be limited to not exceeding the charges or amounts paid to us for use of the Platform or the Services in the month preceding the date of the claim.

Assignment

The rights and obligations under these Terms are granted only to you and shall not be assigned to any third party without our consent. However, we are permitted to assign our rights and obligations under these Terms to others. This can happen when, for example, the Company or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets. In such a case your information would be transferred or become subject to a different Privacy Policy, and we will notify you in advance.

Termination and suspension

You may terminate these Terms by deleting your account from the Platform. FRND reserves the right to restrict or suspend access, terminate usage rights or remove or disable access to non-compliant information, or take other appropriate action impacting your access to the Platform if you fail to comply with these Terms or any other Platform Policies, violate applicable laws, for reasons beyond our control, or for any other reason. In cases where non-compliance with Platform Policies relates to the transmitting, updating, sharing or in any other way disseminating information in contravention of any applicable laws, you will be liable to penalty or any other punishment prescribed in the violated law. We reserve the right to determine, in our sole discretion, what constitutes a violation. Further, we will also ensure we report to appropriate authorities any violations relating to the commission of an offence under laws such as the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (46 of 2023) or the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (32 of 2012), which require mandatory reporting.

We reserve the right to terminate these Terms, cease providing any or all Services, or impose additional limits on your Platform usage. We may also deactivate accounts due to prolonged inactivity and reclaim usernames. While we will endeavour to provide reasonable notice before taking such actions, this may not be possible in all circumstances.

For violations of our Terms and Privacy Policy, we will notify you of any restriction, suspension, or termination and provide an opportunity to appeal our decision. The notice sent to you will read in the following manner:

Once the Platform acts against the content/account of the user, the user shall be provided a reasonable time period to appeal the Platform’s decision and request reinstatement of the account or information. Before doing so, we advise users to peruse relevant sections of our Community Guidelines. If the belief that the decision was erroneous persists, we urge users to appeal our decision by filling out our appeals form linked to the takedown/suspension/termination notification.

Regardless of which party terminates these Terms, provisions relating to intellectual property rights, liability limitations, indemnification, and dispute resolution shall continue to remain in effect.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless us, and our subsidiaries, affiliates and agents and their respective officers, directors, employees, successors and assigns from and against any claim, proceeding, loss, damage, liability, cost, demand or expense (including but not limited to attorney’s fees) of any kind arising out of:

• Your access to or use of the Platform and Services.
• Any breach by you of your obligations under this Agreement.
• Your violation of the rights of any third party, including any infringement of intellectual property, or of any privacy or consumer protection right.
• Any violation of law or contractual obligation and any claims, demands, notices pursuant to such violation.
• Your negligence or wilful misconduct.

This obligation will survive the termination of our Terms.

Unsolicited material

We always appreciate feedback or other suggestions. We may use the same without any restrictions or obligation to compensate you for them, and are under no obligation to keep them confidential.

Prohibition of child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE)

1. Zero-tolerance policy

Our platform strictly prohibits any activity or behaviour that involves the sexual abuse, exploitation, or endangerment of children. This includes but is not limited to any conduct violating the POCSO Act, 2012, the IT Act, 2000, and other applicable Indian laws.

2. Reporting and compliance

• Any user encountering such activity must report it immediately using the in-app reporting feature or by contacting our Grievance Officer (contact details above).
• We actively cooperate with Indian law enforcement agencies, including the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and Interpol, for investigations related to CSAE.
• In compliance with the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, we will act against any information within 24 hours and preserve necessary records for legal authorities.

3. Enforcement and actions

• Any user found violating Platform Policies will face immediate account suspension, permanent ban, and legal action under relevant Indian laws.
• We may also report such users to relevant authorities, including the Cyber Crime Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) and law enforcement agencies.

4. Protection and safety measures

• We use AI-based detection and human moderation to prevent the circulation of CSAM.
• Our app has age verification to protect minors from exploitation.

5. Contact and reporting

General

• If any aspect of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest will remain in effect.
• Any amendment or waiver to our Terms must be in writing and signed by us.
• If we fail to enforce any aspect of these Terms, including reporting any illegal or impermissible actions to appropriate law enforcement authorities or blocking or suspending your profile, such failure to enforce our rights will not be a waiver by us.
• We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you.