Terms, Policies & Community Standards

1.Terms of Service

1.1 Acceptance

By creating or using a Journals account, you agree to these Terms, the Community Guidelines, Privacy Policy, Copyright Policy and other policies that apply to the service. If you do not agree with these terms, do not use Journals.

1.2 Age Requirement

Journals is available to people aged 12 and above. Users aged 12–17 may use Journals subject to the additional protections and restrictions that apply to minors. Being permitted to create an account does not mean that a minor is treated as an adult for data-protection purposes.

Where applicable law requires verifiable parental or guardian consent before a minor's personal data can be processed, Journals will seek that consent before or at account creation for users who identify as being under 18, using a verification method reasonably capable of confirming the identity of the parent or guardian (such as a confirmed guardian email or another government-recognized identity or age-verification method available in India). Until such consent is verified, accounts identified as belonging to a minor may operate in a restricted mode.

Accounts of users aged 12–17 default to additional protections, including: private profile visibility by default; direct messages restricted to approved connections; no targeted advertising or behavioral tracking for advertising purposes; and no processing of a minor's data for purposes that could cause significant harm to the minor's well-being, including detrimental tracking, monitoring or targeted profiling. A parent or verified guardian may contact support@aspinora.in to review, restrict or request deletion of a minor's account.

1.3 Account Rules

You are responsible for:

• Providing accurate information where required.
• Keeping your account credentials secure.
• Using only accounts you are authorized to use.
• Complying with applicable laws.

You must not create accounts to evade a suspension, impersonate another person, deceive users or abuse the service.

1.4 Your Content

You retain ownership of original content you create and publish on Journals. By submitting content, you grant Journals a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, format, display, distribute and otherwise process that content only as reasonably necessary to operate, maintain, secure, moderate and provide the service. This license does not transfer ownership of your work to Journals.

1.5 Prohibited Uses

You must not use Journals to:

• Violate another person's rights.
• Upload prohibited sexual or exploitative content.
• Sexually exploit or sexualize minors.
• Harass, threaten or target people.
• Distribute non-consensual intimate material.
• Infringe copyright or other intellectual-property rights.
• Scam, defraud or deceive users.
• Expose private personal information without authorization.
• Distribute malicious software or abuse security systems.
• Evade moderation or account restrictions.
• Interfere with the normal operation of Journals.

1.6 Service Availability

Journals may change, suspend or discontinue features when reasonably necessary for maintenance, security, legal compliance, safety or other operational reasons.

2.Privacy Policy

2.1 Information You Provide

Depending on the features you use, Journals may process account and authentication information; usernames, profiles and biographies; profile images; content; comments, replies, likes, saves and follows; messages; reports; appeals and support communications.

2.2 Information Generated Through Use

Journals may process activity and interaction information, technical and device information needed to operate and secure the service, logs, security information and information relating to moderation and reports.

2.3 How Information Is Used

Information may be used to provide and operate Journals, authenticate users, store and display content, personalize relevant features, maintain security, prevent abuse and fraud, investigate reports, provide support, comply with legal obligations and improve reliability.

2.4 Public Information

Information you intentionally publish publicly, including public profiles and published works, may be visible to other users and potentially accessible through the internet. Do not publish information you want to keep private.

2.5 Cookies and Similar Technologies

Journals and its service providers may use cookies, local storage or similar technologies, grouped into the following categories:

• Essential — required for login, security and core functionality; cannot be disabled without affecting the service.
• Functional — remember preferences such as reading mode, layout and language.
• Analytics — help Journals understand usage patterns and improve reliability; used only in aggregate or pseudonymized form where feasible.

Where analytics or non-essential cookies are used, Journals will provide a mechanism to accept or decline them. A dedicated Cookie Policy listing specific cookies, their purpose, duration and any third-party vendors will be published and linked from this page as those integrations are finalized.

2.6 Security, Retention and Deletion

Journals uses reasonable technical and organizational safeguards appropriate to the service, but no internet service can guarantee absolute security. Information may be retained as reasonably necessary for security, legal obligations, dispute resolution, fraud prevention and backups. Deleting an account or content may not immediately remove every copy from backups, caches or systems where retention is necessary.

2.7 Children, Legal Requests and Privacy Rights

Journals provides additional protections for users under 18 and does not permit sexual exploitation or sexualization of minors. Information may be disclosed where required or permitted by applicable law, lawful governmental requests, court orders or other valid processes. Depending on applicable law and your circumstances, you may have rights concerning access, correction, deletion, withdrawal of consent or other processing of personal data.

Privacy requests can be directed to support@aspinora.in.

2.8 Data Storage and Cross-Border Transfer

Journals uses third-party infrastructure providers, including database and file-storage providers, to operate the service. Depending on the provider and region selected for each service, personal data or content may be stored, processed or backed up on servers located outside India. Where information is transferred outside India, Journals will do so consistently with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and any country-specific restrictions notified by the Central Government from time to time, and will use providers that maintain reasonable security safeguards for the data they hold.

2.9 Data Retention Schedule

Except where a longer period is required by law, contractual obligation or an active dispute, Journals aims to apply the following indicative retention periods. These figures are illustrative and may be revised as the service and its legal obligations develop:

3.Community Guidelines

Journals is intended for creative expression and discussion. Freedom of expression does not permit content that violates the safety, privacy or legal rights of others.

3.1 Respect Others

Do not repeatedly target, humiliate, intimidate or harass another person.

3.2 Mature Literary Themes

Mature themes may appear in genuine literary, artistic, educational, journalistic or narrative works where the content is not otherwise prohibited. Creative or fictional context does not override rules concerning pornography, sexual exploitation of minors, non-consensual intimate material, harassment or other prohibited conduct.

3.3 Pornography and Explicit Sexual Content

Pornography is prohibited. For these policies, pornography means content whose primary purpose is sexual stimulation or explicit sexual gratification rather than legitimate creative, literary, artistic, educational or journalistic expression.

3.4 Sexual Content Involving Minors

Any sexualization, sexual exploitation or sexual depiction of anyone under 18 is prohibited. This applies to real people, fictional characters, generated characters, manipulated media and attempts to evade the rule through labels, disclaimers or fictional framing.

3.5 Other Prohibited Conduct

Do not use Journals for sexual harassment or solicitation, non-consensual intimate material, targeted harassment, hate-based abuse, credible threats, meaningful facilitation of violence, self-harm encouragement, serious illegal activity, privacy violations, scams, spam, malicious technical content or deceptive impersonation.

4.Comments and Replies

Comments and replies must follow the same core safety rules as published works. Do not use comments to harass or bully, sexually harass or solicit users, post prohibited sexual content, target minors sexually, threaten people, spread hateful abuse, expose private information, scam users, spam or deliberately disrupt discussions. Constructive disagreement and criticism are permitted when they remain within these rules.

5.Profiles and Portfolios

Profiles and portfolios must not be used to impersonate another person, harass or target others, promote prohibited sexual content, sexually exploit or sexualize minors, operate scams, distribute spam, publish unauthorized private information or deliberately mislead users about identity or affiliation.

6.Messaging and Message Requests

Private messages are subject to the same safety standards as public content. Prohibited messaging includes harassment, unwanted sexual content or solicitation, sexual content involving minors, serious threats, hate-based abuse, scams, fraud, spam and unauthorized disclosure of private information. Users may report messages that violate these policies.

7.AI-Assisted and AI-Generated Content

AI-assisted and AI-generated writing, images or other content may be used where the feature permits it. AI does not create an exception to these policies. AI-generated or manipulated content must not be used to sexually exploit or sexualize minors, create non-consensual intimate material, impersonate people deceptively, harass or threaten people, commit fraud, violate copyright or bypass safety restrictions.

7.1 Disclosure of AI-Assisted Work

Where a work is substantially generated by AI rather than merely lightly assisted (for example, AI-drafted chapters or paragraphs rather than spelling or grammar suggestions), the author must label it as AI-assisted using the tagging feature provided, so that readers can make an informed choice about what they are reading.

7.2 Use of Content to Improve Journals' AI Features

Journals may use published content to develop, test and improve its own on-platform writing and moderation features, such as formatting assistance, safety classifiers or recommendation systems, only as permitted by the license in Section 1.4. Where Journals offers an AI feature that trains on user content beyond what is reasonably necessary to operate the service, users will be given a setting to opt out of that specific use for their own content.

8.Copyright and Intellectual Property

Only publish work that you created yourself or that you have the necessary rights or permission to use. Do not copy and publish another person's stories, novels, poems, articles, artwork, photographs, illustrations, videos, audio, translations or substantially similar adaptations without appropriate rights or permission.

Copyright Reports

If you believe content on Journals infringes your copyright, report what work you claim ownership of, where the allegedly infringing content appears, why you believe you have the relevant rights, how you can be contacted and any other information reasonably necessary to investigate the claim. False or abusive reports may result in enforcement. Repeated or serious infringement may result in removal, restrictions, suspension or termination.

9.Reporting and Grievance System

Users can report content, accounts, comments or messages that violate these policies. Because Journals stores creative works at a granular level (story, volume, part, chapter and individual paragraph), a report may be filed against a whole work or against a specific paragraph or comment identified by its unique ID, so that the reviewed unit matches what is actually problematic. Report categories may include sexual or pornographic content, sexual content involving minors, non-consensual intimate content, harassment, hate, threats, self-harm encouragement, illegal activity, privacy violations, copyright infringement, scams, spam, impersonation, malicious content and other policy violations. Reports must not be used to harass, silence, retaliate against or manipulate another user. Knowingly false or malicious reporting may result in enforcement.

10.Content Moderation and Enforcement

Journals may review content or activity when necessary to enforce these policies, investigate reports, protect users, maintain platform security or comply with law. Depending on the circumstances, Journals may take no action, provide a warning, remove or restrict content, limit features, restrict visibility, suspend an account, terminate an account or preserve or disclose information where legally required or permitted. Serious violations may result in immediate suspension or termination.

Where a violation is limited to a specific paragraph or comment, Journals may act at that level — for example, redacting or hiding the individual paragraph or comment by its unique ID — rather than removing an entire chapter, volume or story, unless the surrounding work is also implicated. The author is notified of paragraph-level actions and may appeal them under Section 11.

11.Account Restrictions and Termination

Journals may restrict or terminate accounts for serious or repeated violations, including sexual exploitation of minors, serious threats, severe harassment, repeated copyright infringement, fraud, security abuse, ban evasion, deliberate platform manipulation or other serious violations. Where appropriate, users may have an opportunity to appeal an enforcement action.

12.Account Deletion

You may request deletion of your account where the relevant account feature permits it. Some information may remain for a limited period where necessary for legal compliance, fraud prevention, security, dispute resolution, backups or enforcement records. Public copies or copies saved by other users may also remain outside Journals' control.

13.Child and Teen Safety

Journals aims to provide a safer environment for users aged 12–17. Sexual exploitation of minors, sexual solicitation of minors, sexualized content involving minors, grooming, coercion of minors into sexual or intimate activity and non-consensual intimate material involving minors are strictly prohibited. Where required by law, serious child-safety matters may be reported to appropriate authorities or handled through lawful processes.

14.Safety in Creative Writing

Journals supports fiction, poetry, personal writing, storytelling and other forms of creative expression. A fictional setting does not automatically make prohibited conduct acceptable. Creative work may contain difficult subjects, mature themes, conflict, fictional violence or other serious topics where the presentation remains within these policies. Content that becomes pornography, sexual exploitation, sexualization of minors, targeted harassment, serious threats or meaningful facilitation of harm remains prohibited regardless of whether it is fictional.

15.Third-Party Services and Links

Journals may rely on third-party services for authentication, hosting, storage, analytics, communications, security or other operations. Third-party websites and services may have their own terms and privacy policies. Journals is not responsible for the content or practices of third-party services that it does not control.

16.Platform Integrity and Security

You must not bypass security controls, access another person's account without authorization, exploit vulnerabilities for unauthorized access, interfere with platform infrastructure, overload or intentionally disrupt the service, use automation to abuse platform features or circumvent moderation and enforcement systems. Security vulnerabilities may be reported responsibly through the appropriate support or security channel.

17.Legal Compliance

Journals operates subject to applicable law. Relevant Indian legal frameworks may include, as applicable:

• Information Technology Act, 2000.
• Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as amended.
• Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
• Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, as applicable.
• Copyright Act, 1957.
• Other applicable laws and regulations.

Where laws or regulations change, Journals may update these policies accordingly.

18.Grievance Redressal

For complaints, policy concerns, copyright matters, privacy concerns or other grievances, contact support@aspinora.in. Please provide enough information to identify the issue and allow it to be reviewed. Journals may request additional information where reasonably necessary.

19.Changes to These Policies

Journals may update these policies to reflect changes to the service, changes in law, new safety risks, new features or improvements to moderation and privacy practices. Material changes may be communicated through appropriate notices. The latest version published by Journals will apply from its stated effective date.

20.Governing Law and Disputes

These policies are intended to operate in accordance with applicable Indian law. Any dispute will be handled according to applicable law and any valid dispute-resolution process communicated by Journals.

21.User Responsibilities

By using Journals, you are responsible for the content you publish, the rights you have to publish it, how you interact with other users, respecting privacy and intellectual-property rights, complying with these policies and applicable law, and reporting serious violations honestly.

22.Payments and Monetization

Journals does not currently process payments, subscriptions, tipping or any other form of monetization. If commerce features are introduced in the future, Journals will publish updated terms covering pricing, billing, refunds, chargebacks, applicable taxes and payment-provider obligations, and those terms will take effect before the relevant features go live.

23.Quick Guide

24.Final Principle

Write privately. Publish beautifully. Share your world.

Creative freedom and community safety are intended to exist together. Users are encouraged to express themselves while respecting the rights, privacy, safety and dignity of others.