Let’s understand the agreement we’re entering into

We’ll let you know about changes in our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy in two ways. First, we’ll update them on this site. You can check here any time to see the current versions. Second, we’ll send an in-app notification to you the first time you use the app after we’ve made the change.

Vendors. We buy a lot of services from third parties (you can learn more about them in our Privacy Policy). If our vendors run into a problem and stop providing their services, #open may lose some capabilities or may stop working. Again, this could be a temporary glitch, or it could be permanent. If this happens, we’ll let you know as soon as we can so that you can decide whether you'd like to move, store, or discard your information.

If you feel that your safety has been compromised as a result of your use of #open, please contact your local authorities and report the incident to us by emailing support@hashtagopen.com or contacting our support via the in-app messaging system. In addition, unmatch anybody who makes you feel unsafe, and report that person appropriately as soon as you can, if you can.

We cannot and do not guarantee that you will not be harmed in real-world interactions with other community members, and we cannot and do not guarantee that we will be able to do anything to deal with anyone you may report to us.

Governments and Law Enforcement. Governments and law enforcement have a lot of power, including the power to make us give them information that we have about you and your use of #open. Sometimes they even have the power to get that information without us being able to tell you about it in advance. When we can, though, we will notify you of any inquiry, subpoena, or warrant from a law enforcement or government agency that asks for information about you or your use of #open.

Our rules are at the core of our community. It’s the way we self-govern and support each other to do the right thing. We summarize this with the idea of playing NICE:

Negotiate: Communicate your intentions, expectations, and desires with clarity and honesty.

Include: Treat yourself and your fellow players with respect. Be welcoming and accepting of others.

Consent: Always obtain affirmative, enthusiastic consent. Please don’t send unsolicited NSFW pictures to others, or display them publicly on your profile.

Experience: Be open to new experiences and the experiences of others. Allow yourself and others to explore without shame or judgement.

Your use of #open is subject to the Community Rules, set out below.

Be lawful

Make sure that any information you post complies with all applicable laws. This includes laws governing privacy, obscenity, intellectual property, and spam. Don’t post, link to, or otherwise publish any content about illegal activities such as making or buying drugs or illegal weapons.

Be discreet

At least, be somewhat discreet: the information in your profile is public—that is, any member of the #open community (which is, potentially, anybody in the world) can see it. So, for your profile, don’t use language or pictures that a reasonable person would find to be offensive, malicious, threatening, abusive, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful. And, please, please don’t use language or pictures depicting harm to humans or animals.

#open lets you privately chat with other community members. Subject to being NICE (as described above) and being safe, what you say in private is up to you. But for the public stuff, at a minimum, avoid anything that a reasonable person would find NSFW.

Be courteous

When you are chatting with someone, just like in real life, always be courteous. Spend some time getting to know them before talking about things that are private or intimate; if someone tells you you’ve gone over the line, apologize and back off.

Be responsible

Don’t promote discrimination, racism, bestiality, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual or animal by publishing any original content or by linking to exploitive, violent or otherwise unlawful content.

Be fair

Don't post, link to, or otherwise publish content which contains videos, stills, photographs, audio photographs, or images of another person without their permission.

NSFW Rules

Never send unsolicited NSFW content to another individual or a group without prior consent. Get to know the context, ask for consent, then send an image that matches the expectation that has been set.

NSFW content is not acceptable in public settings on #open, including the publicly viewable portions of your profile.

If your content is flagged as inappropriate, we will review it in light of our community standards. If it breaks the rules, we will delete it.

We recognize the power to delete things gives us a lot of control. Understand that we do not take it lightly. We need this power (a) to help us keep the tone of the #open community as it should be, and (b) to help protect ourselves from possible legal damages based on content you might post.

Written, photographic or any multimedia content is a way of self identifying. It’s self-expression and it’s a core part of our community experience.

Because of this, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information that any user presents. We can’t check user content for accuracy or completeness, and we are not going to try. So, be mindful that what you read, watch, or listen to is provided on an "as is" basis.

Intellectual property—copyrights, trademarks, etc.—can be really complicated. In some cases, we can get into trouble for stuff that you post. So here are the rules about posting stuff:

When you post something that you create yourself (your "content"), you retain the intellectual property and other rights to it. What you’re doing by uploading your content to the app is giving us a limited license to it, which means giving us the right to publish it within the community (and only within the community). This means that you’re allowing us to share your content when you ask us to do so. For example, the photos you upload as profile pictures will be published to enable other users to view your profile.

When you post something that you yourself didn’t create ("third-party content"), you are telling us (a) that you have the right to post it to the app and to have it used within the app just like your content; and (b) if we get sued for having it on the app, you will pay to defend the lawsuit and pay any damages we might get stuck with.

For our part, #open and the content on the service (whether provided by you or us) are protected by certain rights. These include all patents, copyrights, database rights, performer’s property rights, moral rights, trademarks and service marks, business names and domain names, goodwill and the right to sue for passing off (that is, selling counterfeit goods) or unfair competition, rights in designs and all other intellectual property and proprietary rights. You need to respect those rights. If you aren’t sure about what to do in some situation, ask us at support@hashtagopen.com.

Any community content you read, view or hear on #open can only be used for your own personal, non-commercial use. We believe that all creative content deserves respect. Read something life-changing on #open and want to spread the word? Reach out to the creator of the content to request their permission, and give acknowledgment where appropriate.

If you believe that any user content published on #open is problematic in any way (for example, you think it is untrue, offensive, unlawful, misleading or otherwise fails to comply with these Terms of Service), you can notify us by emailing us at support@hashtagopen.com or by reporting the offending profile in the app.

We will promptly review the content in question and decide if it is necessary to remove it. As of now, we don’t have an automatic system to provide feedback on how we respond to notifications of problematic content, so we have to do it manually. Please know that we indeed review notifications and will let you know as soon as we practically can how we responded to it.

No. This is a community for people to learn about themselves, learn about others, and connect meaningfully. It’s not about selling stuff. Our "no advertising" rule includes offers to sell or to buy anything, including pictures, physical stuff, or services.

To be very clear, this community is not a place to buy or sell porn, not a place to buy or sell toys, and not a place to buy or sell sex-work services. If we learn that somebody is trying to use #open for those kinds of purposes, we reserve the right to delete their content and suspend their account.

Yes.

First, and at a minimum, we can and will suspend or delete the accounts of people who break the rules.

More generally, our community is not some never-never land outside the reach of the normal laws that apply in the real world. Just like in the real world, you can be sued or prosecuted if you break the law by, for example, defaming someone, threatening someone, or proposing illegal transactions (such as selling illegal drugs or conspiring to commit a crime).

Also, be aware that even though we will do our best to keep the conversations and postings on the service private, they are not "secret" – law enforcement has the right and the power when investigating possible crimes to make us provide them with copies of the information we have about you.

Putting it simply, you are responsible for your actions. You are therefore liable for the actions you choose to take.

Different states and countries have different laws and sometimes interpret contracts like this one a little differently. By using #open, you agree that these terms are to be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Connecticut in the United States of America, without regard to the "choice of law" rules of that state. That means that the laws of Connecticut govern, even if Connecticut might, in some cases, be willing to have other laws apply.

We hope that we do not get to a point where you are so unhappy with what we’ve done that you want to pursue a formal case against us. But to deal with that possibility, you agree, as part of using the #open application and service, to resolve any disputes you may have with us by arbitration instead of a lawsuit in court. The Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply to these Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy.

There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. But an arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court (including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages), and must follow the terms of these Terms of Service and the terms of our Privacy Policy in the same way a court would.

The arbitration will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its rules, including the AAA's Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes. The AAA's rules are available on their website or by calling 1-800-778-7879. Payment of all filing, administration and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA's rules.

We will not seek attorneys' fees and costs in arbitration unless the arbitrator determines that the claims you raised are frivolous. You may choose to have the arbitration conducted by telephone, based on written submissions, or in person in Hartford, Connecticut, although you and we may agree to hold the arbitration at another location if we both so choose.

We each agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration, we each waive any right to a jury trial. We also both agree that you or we may bring suit in court to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights.

You can always reach us by emailing us at support@hashtagopen.com or, if you're a member of the #open community, by sending a message to #open team in the app.

In case you need it, here's our postal address:

All #open data is stored on computers at one or more U.S.-based Google Cloud data centers.

You can delete your account at any time by scrolling to the bottom of the Profile tab in the app, and selecting Delete Account.

As soon as you delete your account, we will either (a) delete or (b) anonymize all data we have collected about you. When we anonymize data, we will remove things like your name, phone number, email addresses, and pictures, but keep other data for research and analysis to help us make the app better and for scientific purposes. But there are two key exceptions: (1) where the law requires us to keep the data, and (2) where our legitimate interest in preventing fraud and protecting the safety of our users requires us to keep it.

If you are a fee-paying subscriber, you will also need to unsubscribe from #open via your iTunes / Apple App Store account or Google Play account to ensure that your account is fully terminated.

Cookies are a type of tracking technology that we use on the #open website to help run our services.

You can find more details in our Privacy Policy.

We rely on a number of third party services to help run the #open app and community. You can view all of these services and learn more about how and why we use them in our Privacy Policy.