Terms & Conditions

Community Lounge (the “Platform”, “we”, “us”) operates a hybrid social-and-video service available via web. The service combines short-form text posts, long-form video uploads, conversations, creator subscriptions, and paid interactions in a single feed. These Terms are a binding agreement between you (the “User”) and Community Lounge.

The Platform currently offers the following features. Features may evolve, be added, removed, or paywalled over time at our discretion.

2.1 Account & Identity

• Email + password registration and JWT-based sign-in.
• Editable profile (display name, bio up to 280 characters, avatar, banner).
• Avatar and banner uploads stored securely via our object-storage provider.
• Public username + display name visible to all users.

2.2 Posting & Sharing

• Text posts up to 280 characters with optional image media.
• Video posts with title, description, video URL or upload (up to 120 MB), and a custom thumbnail.
• Hashtag indexing — every #tag is clickable and resolves to a dedicated tag feed.
• Quote posts — embed an existing post inside your own post (X-style).
• Edit and delete your own posts at any time, with a visible (edited) marker for transparency.

2.3 Discovery & Feed

• For You feed mixing text and video chronologically across the network.
• Following feed limited to creators you follow.
• Explore page (video grid sorted by recency).
• Subscriptions page (videos from creators you follow).
• Trending hashtags computed from recent posts.
• Full-text search across posts and videos.
• Hashtag pages (/tag/<name>) with post count and full feed.

2.4 Engagement

• Like, repost, comment, and bookmark on any post or video.
• Threaded replies — reply to comments and to replies.
• Follow / unfollow other users.
• Direct messages (1:1 conversations) with read receipts and unread counters.
• Real-time notifications for likes, comments, replies, reposts, follows, tips, super chats, memberships, and gifted memberships.
• In-app live updates via Server-Sent Events with polling fallback.

2.5 Library

• Bookmarks — privately save any post or video for later.
• Playlists — create, edit, and delete public or private collections of videos.
• Notifications page with mark-all-read.

2.6 Creator Tools

• Verification badge — apply for the blue check once you reach 5,000 followers, 1,000 likes received, 10,000 total views, and 3,000 watch hours.
• Monetization eligibility check requiring verification + 10,000 followers + 50,000 views + 1,000 likes + 4,000 watch hours + a verified U.S. state ID confirming you are 18 or older.
• U.S. state ID upload analyzed by AI vision for age and authenticity.
• Set your own monthly membership price and gifted-membership price.
• Real-time earnings dashboard, transaction history, and 10%-fee withdrawal flow.

2.7 Payments (powered by Stripe)

• Tips — one-time payments to a creator.
• Super Chats — one-time paid messages highlighted on a video page.
• Memberships — 30-day paid status purchased by viewers.
• Gifted Memberships — purchase a 30-day membership for another user.
• Stripe Checkout handles all card data; we never see card numbers.

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. To enable monetization (receive money) you must be at least 18 years old, located in a U.S. state, and pass our AI-based ID verification. Accounts found to misstate age or jurisdiction will be suspended and any pending earnings forfeited.

You retain all ownership of the text, images, video, and other content you post. By uploading, you grant Community Lounge a worldwide, royalty-free, sub-licensable license to host, store, reproduce, transmit, stream, transcode, display, and distribute that content for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving the Platform. This license ends when you delete the content, except for backups retained for a reasonable period.

• All payments are processed by Stripe in U.S. dollars.
• Creators set their own membership and gifted-membership prices within Platform-defined minimums and maximums.
• Tips have a $1 minimum; super chats have a $2 minimum.
• Funds received are credited to the creator's available balance within seconds of Stripe confirming payment.
• Withdrawals are processed on demand. Community Lounge retains a 10% platform fee on every withdrawal; the remaining 90% is paid out to the creator.
• Refunds are at the sole discretion of the Platform and Stripe. Charge-backs may result in account suspension and balance clawbacks.
• We may withhold funds suspected of being earned through fraud, prohibited content, or violation of these Terms.

You agree not to use the Platform to do anything illegal, harmful, deceptive, or that violates our Community Guidelines. Detailed prohibitions live in those Guidelines and are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

We may suspend or terminate any account, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe the account has violated these Terms, the Community Guidelines, or applicable law. On termination, your access ends, your earnings balance may be frozen pending review, and we may retain content as required by law or to assist law enforcement.

The Platform’s name, logo, brand, code, and design are owned by Community Lounge. You may not copy, reverse-engineer, or create derivative works of the Platform without written permission. Reports of copyright infringement may be sent to copyright@communitylounge.app.

The Platform is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Community Lounge is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, lost profits, or lost data arising from your use of the service. Our aggregate liability to you in any 12-month period is capped at the greater of $100 USD or the fees you paid us in that period.

We may update these Terms at any time. Material changes will be announced in-product and via email when available. Continuing to use the Platform after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Delaware.

Questions about these Terms? Email legal@communitylounge.app.