Terms of Service

Welcome to SQUIDS — a global platform where ideas surface. SQUIDS is operated via squids.co.za and all associated applications, services, features, and technologies (collectively referred to as the "Platform"). SQUIDS is a social platform built around questions, ideas, and open conversation. People use it to ask, debate, share opinions, and engage with others across the world.

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between SQUIDS, its owners, operators, employees, contractors, licensors, affiliates, and successors ("SQUIDS", "we", "us", or "our") and you, the individual using the Platform ("you", "your", or "User"). These Terms apply in full to all use of the Platform regardless of how you access it.

These Terms are primarily governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa. SQUIDS is committed to compliance with all applicable legislation in the jurisdictions from which its global users access the Platform. The primary legislation applicable to your use of SQUIDS includes, but is not limited to, the following:

South Africa (Primary Jurisdiction)

• The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 — specifically Section 14, which enshrines the Right to Privacy as a fundamental constitutional right and provides the foundation for all data protection obligations.
• Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013) ("POPIA") — the principal data protection statute governing how SQUIDS processes personal information. This is our primary data protection obligation and takes precedence in all matters of conflict.
• Regulations Relating to the Protection of Personal Information, 2018 — the subordinate regulations to POPIA, prescribing specific procedural requirements.
• Consumer Protection Act, 2008 (Act No. 68 of 2008) ("CPA") — governs direct marketing, promotional notifications, and consumer rights on the Platform.
• Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002) ("ECTA") — governs electronic contracting, digital communications, and platform operations.
• Cybercrimes Act, 2020 (Act No. 19 of 2020) — defines criminal offences relevant to unlawful access, data breaches, and cybercriminal conduct on the Platform.
• Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act ("PEPUDA") — applicable to hate speech and discriminatory content.

United Kingdom

• UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) — applies to UK-based users and to any processing of personal data of persons located in the United Kingdom.
• Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) — operates alongside the UK GDPR and governs supplementary data protection requirements.
• Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA) — the major UK reform act whose provisions are actively coming into force throughout 2026. SQUIDS will maintain compliance as provisions take effect.
• Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR) — specifically applicable to cookie placement and electronic direct marketing directed at UK users.

Australia

• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) — governs the handling of personal information of Australian users, including the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in Schedule 1.
• Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) — the major reform act introducing significant changes to Australian privacy law. SQUIDS complies with its operative provisions.
• Spam Act 2003 (Cth) — applicable if SQUIDS sends commercial electronic messages to Australian users.

United States

• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) — applicable to the online collection of personal information from children under 13 years of age in the United States. SQUIDS does not permit users under the age of 16 under any circumstances, which exceeds the minimum COPPA threshold.

You consent to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of South African courts for any disputes primarily arising from your use of the Platform. Where applicable law in your jurisdiction provides mandatory rights that cannot be contracted out of, those rights are preserved.

• Account — a registered SQUIDS user profile created through the registration process.
• Content — all text, images, media, links, comments, replies, questions, and other material posted, shared, or transmitted on the Platform.
• User Content — Content submitted, posted, or shared by a registered user.
• Platform — squids.co.za and all associated services, applications, APIs, and features operated by SQUIDS.
• Affiliates — related entities, commercial partners, advertisers, and service providers operating in connection with SQUIDS.
• Moderation Action — any action taken by SQUIDS in response to a violation, including content removal, muting, suspension, or permanent ban.
• Personal Information — as defined under POPIA: information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person (and where applicable, an existing juristic person).
• Community — a group, topic space, or channel created within the Platform around a shared subject or interest.

SQUIDS is a platform intended for adults and mature users. Access to SQUIDS is strictly limited to individuals who meet all of the following requirements at the time of registration and throughout their use of the Platform.

You must be at least 16 years of age to create an account or use any feature of SQUIDS. Unlike some platforms, we do not offer any pathway for users under the age of 16 to access SQUIDS — not with parental consent, not with guardian supervision, and not through any other mechanism. This minimum age is firm and absolute. If you are under 16, you are not permitted to use this Platform under any circumstances whatsoever.

In addition, users between the ages of 16 and 17 should be aware that certain content on the Platform may be intended for adult audiences, and SQUIDS strongly encourages all users in that age bracket to exercise appropriate judgement. You must be at least 18 years of age to engage with any features of the Platform that are designated as adult-only, if and when such features are introduced.

You must also be legally capable of entering into a binding agreement under the laws of your country of residence. You must not have previously had an account on SQUIDS that was terminated for a violation of these Terms or our Community Guidelines. Creating a new account to circumvent a prior ban is itself a violation of these Terms and will result in immediate termination of the new account.

To access the full features of SQUIDS, you are required to create an account. When you register, you agree to provide information that is accurate, current, and truthful. You may not register using someone else's identity, a false name, or misleading details. Your username and display name must not impersonate another person, brand, or public figure.

You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials, including your password. You accept full responsibility for all activity that takes place under your account, whether or not you authorised it. If you become aware of any unauthorised access to your account, you must notify us immediately at support@squids.co.za. SQUIDS shall not be liable for losses or damages arising from your failure to keep your credentials secure.

You may only hold one active account. Operating multiple accounts — particularly where one has been suspended or banned — is a violation of these Terms and will result in all associated accounts being terminated. SQUIDS reserves the right to merge, deactivate, or remove duplicate accounts at its sole discretion.

SQUIDS is a global social platform built around the idea that ideas should surface freely. The Platform enables users to ask questions, post opinions, share content, engage in debates, comment on posts, follow topics and other users, and participate in communities organised around shared interests. SQUIDS is a space for text-based social interaction and public discourse — a place where ideas surface.

The Platform provides social networking features, community tools, notifications, activity feeds, content discovery mechanisms, and user interaction tools including voting, following, and topic subscription. SQUIDS does not currently offer private messaging or inboxing features between users. Any peer-to-peer communication takes place through public or semi-public posts and comments on the Platform.

SQUIDS reserves the right to introduce, modify, limit, suspend, or permanently discontinue any feature or service at any time and without prior notice. New features, including potential future services such as premium tiers, direct messaging, or additional content formats, will be subject to updated or supplementary terms where applicable.

The SQUIDS Platform user interface is provided exclusively in English. Navigation, settings, menus, buttons, notifications, and all system-generated text are in English only. SQUIDS does not currently offer multi-language UI support, and there is no planned timeline for the introduction of such support.

Users are welcome to post content in any language they choose, including South African languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sesotho, Setswana, and others, as well as any other language used globally. SQUIDS does not restrict the language of user-generated content. However, content moderation is conducted primarily in English, which means that posts in languages other than English may experience delays in moderation review where translation is required.

SQUIDS does not support right-to-left text rendering at the interface level. Users who post content in languages that are conventionally written from right to left — such as Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, or Farsi — should note that such text will be displayed from left to right within the SQUIDS interface. SQUIDS does not accept liability for any display anomalies, readability issues, or meaning distortions arising from this limitation. Users post content in non-LTR languages at their own discretion and with full awareness of this technical constraint.

You retain ownership of the original content you create and post on SQUIDS. However, by submitting, uploading, or posting any content to the Platform, you grant SQUIDS a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable licence to host, store, display, reproduce, distribute, adapt, and promote that content for the purposes of operating, improving, and publicising the Platform. This licence exists for as long as your content remains on the Platform and, where necessary for legal or technical purposes, for a reasonable period thereafter.

You are solely and fully responsible for all content you submit to SQUIDS. By posting content, you represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to post that content, that it does not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights, and that it does not violate any applicable law. SQUIDS does not pre-screen content before publication but reserves the right to remove any content at any time and for any reason, including but not limited to violations of these Terms or our Community Guidelines.

SQUIDS will not be held liable for the content posted by users. The views and opinions expressed by users on the Platform are entirely their own and do not represent the views of SQUIDS, its employees, or its affiliates. Reading content on SQUIDS is done at the user's own risk. SQUIDS does not endorse, verify, or take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, legality, or appropriateness of any user-generated content appearing on the Platform.

SQUIDS does not operate an AI chatbot or any interactive AI assistant feature for users. There is no AI-powered conversational tool available on the Platform for users to interact with. Any reference to AI in the context of SQUIDS relates solely to internal operational and content processing purposes.

SQUIDS does not endorse AI-generated media, AI-generated text posts, or synthetically produced content of any kind. While we do not automatically prohibit all AI-generated content, you must clearly disclose when content has been substantially generated by an AI tool if there is a reasonable likelihood that other users could be misled about its origin. Failure to disclose AI origins where disclosure is reasonably required constitutes a violation of these Terms.

SQUIDS reserves the right, at its sole and absolute discretion and without any prior warning or notice, to remove any post that it determines to be AI-generated, regardless of whether that content is otherwise in compliance with these Terms. You accept this right fully and unconditionally. No right of compensation, appeal, or reinstatement of removed AI content is guaranteed, though you remain entitled to appeal moderation decisions generally as set out in the Community Guidelines.

You may not use AI tools to mass-produce content, generate spam, impersonate real persons or organisations, manufacture synthetic disinformation, or produce any content that violates these Terms or our Community Guidelines. The use of AI to produce content intended to mislead, deceive, or cause harm to any individual or group is expressly prohibited and may result in an immediate permanent ban.

SQUIDS is a platform that strongly values and embraces free speech. We believe that open discourse, including discourse on controversial, uncomfortable, or divisive topics, is fundamentally important. We do not remove content simply because it is provocative, offensive to some, or politically unpopular. However, free speech on SQUIDS is not without limits, and those limits are defined both by applicable law and by our commitment to user safety.

The following conduct is strictly prohibited on SQUIDS and will result in immediate moderation action, up to and including permanent account termination. These prohibitions apply to all content posted on the Platform, including posts, comments, usernames, profile information, and any other form of expression.

• Posting, sharing, or distributing illegal content of any kind under applicable South African law or the laws of the user's jurisdiction of residence.
• Posting hate speech or content that promotes hatred, violence, or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, or any other protected characteristic, as prohibited under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (PEPUDA).
• Threatening, harassing, bullying, or intimidating any user or any other person, whether on the Platform or through use of information obtained from the Platform.
• Uploading, distributing, or linking to child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This is a criminal offence under South African law and internationally. Any such content will be immediately reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Film and Publication Board (FPB), and relevant international authorities without exception.
• Impersonating any other user, public figure, organisation, business, or SQUIDS staff member.
• Posting content that constitutes direct incitement to violence or self-harm.
• Spreading knowingly false health or safety information of a nature that could endanger the public.
• Using the Platform to conduct or solicit criminal activity of any kind, including the solicitation of illegal drugs, weapons, hitmen, or any other unlawful service or product. We will report such requests to law enforcement.
• Distributing malware, viruses, spyware, ransomware, or any other harmful code through the Platform.
• Using automated scripts, bots, or other tools to scrape, crawl, or extract data from the Platform without written authorisation from SQUIDS.
• Using ad-blocking software, extensions, or any other tool or method designed to suppress, hide, bypass, or remove advertisements displayed on the Platform. SQUIDS is an ad-supported service and you agree not to interfere with its advertising functionality.
• Decompiling, reverse engineering, disassembling, reproducing, distributing, or commercially exploiting any part of the SQUIDS Platform code, application, API, or proprietary technology. This includes sharing extracted source code or application assets with third parties.

Posts that appear to be scams or fraudulent solicitations will generally not be removed on free speech grounds alone, and SQUIDS does not accept liability for users who act on content posted by others that turns out to be fraudulent. However, if a post constitutes a clear and direct illegal act under applicable South African law, or involves a prohibited category of conduct listed above, it remains subject to removal.

SQUIDS reserves the right to take any moderation action it deems appropriate in response to violations of these Terms or our Community Guidelines, at its sole and absolute discretion. Moderation actions are not limited to those expressly listed in these Terms and may be adapted to fit the circumstances of any given situation.

SQUIDS may ban a user — temporarily or permanently — for any of the following reasons, among others: violating these Terms or our Community Guidelines; posting illegal content; harassing or bullying other users; attempting to hack, penetrate, or disrupt the Platform or its infrastructure; attempting to gain unauthorised access to any private content, account, or system within SQUIDS; sharing or distributing the application's source code; using ad-blocking tools on the Platform; and any other conduct that SQUIDS reasonably determines to be harmful to the Platform, its users, or its commercial operation. Attempted violations carry the same consequences as completed violations in this regard — we do not require actual harm to be caused before taking action.

SQUIDS also reserves the right to permanently disband any Community — regardless of its size, age, or membership — if that Community is found to be consistently violating these Terms or our Community Guidelines, or if SQUIDS determines that the Community is being used to organise or promote prohibited conduct. Community disbandment may occur without advance notice.

All banning and moderation decisions are final as a general matter but may be appealed through the process set out in the Community Guidelines. Where a ban is issued for legal compliance reasons or by order of a competent court or authority, no appeal is available. SQUIDS will report conduct constituting a criminal offence under South African or applicable international law to the relevant law enforcement authorities, including SAPS and, where applicable, international counterparts.

All Platform elements — including but not limited to the SQUIDS name, logo, visual identity, colour scheme, interface design, software, algorithms, and all proprietary technology underlying the Platform — are the exclusive intellectual property of SQUIDS or its licensors and are protected under applicable South African and international intellectual property law.

You are expressly prohibited from copying, reproducing, distributing, or creating derivative works from any Platform elements without prior written authorisation from SQUIDS. You may not reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Platform's code or application. You may not use SQUIDS trademarks, trade dress, or branding in any manner without our explicit written consent. Any commercial exploitation of the Platform or its content without authorisation is a violation of these Terms and may attract civil and criminal liability under applicable law.

SQUIDS is an advertising-supported platform. As SQUIDS grows, advertisements will be displayed within the Platform interface. These advertisements may be served by SQUIDS directly or by third-party advertising partners. By using SQUIDS, you accept that advertisements are a part of the experience and you consent to their display. All advertisements will be identified as such in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

As stated in Section 10, you are expressly prohibited from using any ad-blocking software, browser extensions, application patches, or any other technical means to suppress, remove, or bypass advertisements on SQUIDS. Interfering with the Platform's advertising functionality constitutes a material breach of these Terms and may result in suspension or permanent termination of your account. SQUIDS relies on advertising revenue to fund its operations and provide the Platform free of charge to users, and circumvention of that revenue directly undermines this.

SQUIDS makes no representations about the accuracy, completeness, or legality of any advertisement displayed on the Platform. Advertiser claims are the sole responsibility of the advertisers concerned. SQUIDS shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on advertising content.

You may not manipulate advertising systems, generate fraudulent engagement with advertisements, use bots or automation to interact with sponsored content, or engage in click-farming of any kind. Violations may result in account termination and may be referred to law enforcement authorities.

SQUIDS may link to, integrate with, or incorporate services provided by third-party companies, including but not limited to analytics providers, cloud infrastructure providers, and content delivery networks. We are not responsible for the practices, content, availability, or reliability of any third-party service, website, or platform. Your interactions with third parties are governed by their own terms and privacy policies, and SQUIDS bears no responsibility or liability for those interactions or their consequences.

We encourage you to review the terms and privacy policies of any third-party service before engaging with it. Where third-party services process your personal information, they do so as independent data controllers or processors and are subject to applicable privacy law in their own right.

SQUIDS does not currently operate a private messaging or inbox feature. All interactions between users take place through public or community-facing posts and comments. As a result, SQUIDS is not in a position to mediate, investigate, or provide assistance in respect of any matter that arises from private communications between users conducted outside the Platform or through any workaround mechanism.

If you have been scammed, defrauded, or otherwise harmed through interactions with another user of SQUIDS, you should report the matter to your local law enforcement authority and to your banking institution if financial fraud is involved. SQUIDS will cooperate with law enforcement investigations to the extent required by applicable law, including by providing account information in response to valid legal process. However, SQUIDS does not accept liability for scams, fraudulent conduct, or deception perpetrated by users of the Platform.

SQUIDS embraces free speech and therefore does not remove posts merely on the basis that they resemble or could be interpreted as potentially fraudulent solicitations. Posts that do not constitute a direct and clear illegal act under South African law — such as scam-adjacent posts that fall short of provable criminal solicitation — are generally not removed as a matter of first resort. Users are urged to exercise caution and critical judgement when engaging with content on the Platform, particularly content that involves financial or commercial proposals. Reading content on SQUIDS and acting upon it is done entirely at your own risk.

The Platform is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. SQUIDS makes no warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind — whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise — regarding the Platform, its content, its reliability, its continuity, or its fitness for any particular purpose. We do not guarantee that the Platform will be available at all times, that it will be free from errors, or that any defects will be corrected.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable South African law and any other applicable legislation, SQUIDS, its owners, directors, employees, contractors, affiliates, and partners shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, or special damages of any nature, including but not limited to loss of profits, loss of business opportunity, loss of data, damage to reputation, or psychological harm arising from your use of or inability to use the Platform.

SQUIDS shall not be liable for content posted by other users, for harm arising from AI-generated content posted by users, for the consequences of scams or fraud perpetrated by other users, for any loss arising from reliance on user-generated content, or for any inaccuracy in content accessible through the Platform. You acknowledge and accept that SQUIDS is a platform for user expression and that SQUIDS does not verify, endorse, or take responsibility for anything posted by its users.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless SQUIDS and its officers, directors, employees, affiliates, contractors, and agents from and against any and all claims, demands, damages, losses, costs, and expenses — including reasonable legal fees — arising out of or in connection with your use of the Platform, content you post, any violation of these Terms or our Community Guidelines, any violation of any applicable law or regulation, or any infringement of any third-party rights. This indemnity obligation survives the termination of your account and your cessation of use of the Platform.

Your use of SQUIDS is governed in part by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference into these Terms and forms part of the binding agreement between you and SQUIDS. Our Privacy Policy is primarily compliant with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), and additionally considers obligations under the UK GDPR, the UK Data Protection Act 2018, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and its 2024 amendments, and the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). It explains in detail how we collect, store, use, share, and protect your personal information, and outlines your rights as a data subject.

Under the Cybercrimes Act, 2020 (Act No. 19 of 2020), any attempt to unlawfully access computer systems, distribute malicious software, or engage in cyber fraud or harassment constitutes a criminal offence in South Africa. By using SQUIDS, you agree not to access or attempt to access any account, system, or data within the Platform other than your own authorised account. Any attempt to hack, probe, exploit, or otherwise penetrate the Platform's security systems — whether successful or not — constitutes a violation of these Terms and a criminal offence, and will be reported to the SAPS Cybercrime Unit and, where applicable, international law enforcement authorities.

You agree not to scrape the Platform's data using automated tools, bots, or scripts without written authorisation. You agree not to distribute, sell, or misuse any data obtained from the Platform. Any security vulnerability discovered on the Platform should be reported responsibly to legal@squids.co.za and must not be exploited.

SQUIDS may suspend or permanently terminate your account at any time, with or without prior notice, for reasons including but not limited to: violations of these Terms or the Community Guidelines; conduct that is harmful, illegal, or threatening; security risks or fraudulent activity; attempts to hack or penetrate the Platform; requirements of applicable law or court orders; and any other operational or commercial reason at SQUIDS's sole discretion. Upon termination, your right to access the Platform ceases immediately. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including the intellectual property provisions, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution clauses — shall remain in force after termination.

You may close your account at any time through the account settings. Closing your account does not eliminate your obligations under these Terms for conduct that occurred during your use of the Platform. SQUIDS reserves the right to retain data following account closure in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable legal obligations.

We may retain your personal data following account closure or termination to the extent required or permitted by applicable South African law, including POPIA, for purposes of dispute resolution, fraud prevention, compliance with legal obligations, and the improvement of the Platform. The specific retention periods applicable to different categories of data are set out in our Privacy Policy at Section 11. Your rights to request deletion of your personal data, where applicable, are also described there.

SQUIDS may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date on this page and, where reasonably practicable, notify active users by way of in-app notification or email. Your continued use of the Platform following any such update constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. We recommend reviewing these Terms periodically. The current version will always be available at policies.squids.co.za/terms.

SQUIDS shall not be liable for any delay, failure, interruption, or degradation in the performance of its obligations under these Terms arising from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to power outages, internet infrastructure failures, cyberattacks, acts of government or regulatory authority, natural disasters, pandemics, civil unrest, or industrial action. Where such circumstances arise, SQUIDS will endeavour to restore normal service as soon as reasonably practicable.

You consent to receiving notices, communications, and legal documents from SQUIDS in electronic form, including by way of in-app notification, email, or posted announcements on the Platform. This consent is given in accordance with the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (ECTA), under which electronic communications have the same legal force and effect as paper communications. You agree that providing your email address during registration constitutes a valid means of service for any formal notice from SQUIDS.

If any provision of these Terms is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, that provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect without interruption. These Terms, read together with the Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, and Cookie Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and SQUIDS with respect to your use of the Platform, and supersede all prior agreements, understandings, and representations relating to the subject matter hereof.

For all legal enquiries, formal notices, POPIA data subject requests, intellectual property matters, or questions about these Terms, please contact the SQUIDS Legal Department as follows: