TERMS OF SERVICE

1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

By accessing and using CreatiVerse, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please do not use the platform.

2. ELIGIBILITY

You must be at least 18 years old or have parental consent to use this platform. By submitting content, you confirm that you are the original author and creator of all submitted work.

3. SUBSCRIPTION & PAYMENTS

There are three tiers: Free, Basic, and Elite. Subscriptions unlock additional creative features and community tools as described at checkout. Payments are processed securely via Stitch. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. Refunds are handled at the discretion of CreatiVerse management in accordance with South African consumer protection laws.

Free trial winners: While you are within your 7-day free trial window, any prize you win is conditional on activating a paid subscription. Should you win the weekly prize (or any other prize) during the free trial, you will need to activate your subscription on whichever tier you choose — Basic or Elite — before the payment will be released to you. Your prize is held for you, and is paid out as soon as your subscription is active.

4. SUBMISSIONS

You may submit poems, stories, lyrics, and other creative writing. All submissions must be your original work. Plagiarised or copyrighted material belonging to others is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate disqualification and potential account termination.

5. COMMUNITY RECOGNITION

CreatiVerse may recognise outstanding submissions through community highlights, badges and showcases. Recognition is determined based on engagement with published submissions, and all decisions are final. No correspondence will be entered into regarding selections.

Originality Audit Disclaimer: All recognised submissions are subject to originality verification. Should recognised work be proven, upon audit, to be plagiarised or AI-generated, CreatiVerse reserves the right to withdraw the recognition and remove the content from the platform.

6. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & COPYRIGHT LIABILITY

All submissions remain the sole property of the author. CreatiVerse does not claim ownership of your work. See our Privacy Policy for details on how Shuters may engage with outstanding submissions.

Your ownership warranty. Every piece of content you publish on CreatiVerse — including poems, short stories, lyrics, song lyrics, written pieces, music recordings, and background artwork — must be your own original creation, or work you hold a valid licence or written permission to publish. By publishing, you represent and warrant that: (a) you own the copyright or hold all necessary rights, licences and permissions to the work; (b) publication does not infringe any third party's copyright, trademark, moral rights, privacy, or any other legal right; (c) the work is not copied from, substantially derived from, or a modified version of another person's work without their permission; and (d) all information you provide about the work's origin is truthful and complete.

Copyright infringement is strictly prohibited. Publishing work you did not create or do not have the right to use — including copying poems, lyrics, songs, beats, artwork or any other content from other creators, websites, AI tools trained on protected works or any other source and presenting it as your own — is a serious breach of these Terms. It is your responsibility alone to ensure your submissions are original. CreatiVerse provides automated originality and copyright screening as a courtesy; screening is not a legal clearance and does not transfer any responsibility to us. You cannot rely on a "passed" screening result to publish work you know or should know is not yours.

You carry the full legal consequences. If you publish content you are not honest about, you — not CreatiVerse — are liable for every legal consequence that follows. This includes, without limitation: copyright infringement claims and litigation brought by the rightful owner under the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 (as amended) or any other applicable law; damages, statutory penalties and legal costs awarded against you; and any criminal liability arising from fraud or misrepresentation. CreatiVerse accepts no liability whatsoever for infringement committed by its members, and nothing you publish creates any liability for CreatiVerse in respect of your own dishonesty or negligence.

Indemnity. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless CreatiVerse, Shuters, and their affiliates, officers, staff and moderators from and against any and all claims, demands, lawsuits, losses, damages, settlements, penalties, legal fees and expenses of any kind arising out of or relating to content you publish, including any claim that your content infringes or misappropriates the rights of any third party. This indemnity survives the termination of your account and these Terms.

Takedown & enforcement rights. CreatiVerse operates a zero-tolerance takedown policy. We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice: remove or disable any content subject to an infringement claim or a credible report; suspend payouts, prizes, recognitions and sales associated with that content; suspend or permanently terminate the accounts of repeat or serious infringers without refund of any subscription fees; and refuse future access to the platform. Where a rights holder pursues a claim against CreatiVerse because of content you published, we will fully cooperate with that rights holder, may disclose your account information to them where legally permitted, and will recover every cost we incur from you.

Reporting infringement. If you believe content on CreatiVerse infringes your rights, contact us at support@creativerse.app with details of the work and the infringing content. We will investigate and act promptly. Knowingly filing a false infringement report is itself a breach of these Terms and may carry legal consequences.

7. BACKGROUND ARTWORK

Certain subscription plans allow you to upload your own artwork, photographs or images ("Background Art") to display behind your written submissions. By uploading Background Art — and by ticking the ownership confirmation checkbox at submission — you confirm and warrant that the Background Art is your own original creation (such as a drawing, painting, photograph or digital artwork) or that you otherwise hold all necessary rights, licences and permissions to use and display it on the platform.

Copyright Liability: You accept sole responsibility for any Background Art you upload. CreatiVerse does not verify the ownership or provenance of uploaded artwork and will not be held liable for any copyright infringement, misrepresentation or other legal claim arising from artwork you upload as a Background. Any such infringement is your responsibility alone, and you agree to indemnify CreatiVerse against any claims, losses or damages arising from your uploaded Background Art. Uploading artwork you do not own the rights to is strictly prohibited and may result in removal of the content and termination of your account.

8. PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES

Shuters may review outstanding submissions for potential publishing opportunities. No submission is guaranteed to result in a publishing contract. Any such arrangement would be subject to separate contracting and negotiation between the author and Shuters, independent of CreatiVerse.

9. ACCEPTABLE USE

You agree not to submit content that is hateful, defamatory, explicit, or otherwise unlawful. CreatiVerse reserves the right to remove any content that violates these standards without prior notice.

10. FAIR PLAY & COMPETITION INTEGRITY

CreatiVerse competitions are merit-based: likes, comments, shares and other engagement signals are only meaningful when they are genuine and freely given. To keep the playing field fair, the following are strictly prohibited:

1. Engagement collusion: entering into any pact, alliance, group or "like-for-like" arrangement with other members (whether inside or outside the platform, including via WhatsApp, Facebook or any other channel) to systematically exchange likes, comments, shares, follows or any other engagement on each other's submissions.
2. Vote-swapping and reciprocal boosting: any agreement to support or boost another member's entries on the condition or understanding that they support or boost yours.
3. Coordinated blocs: recruiting, directing or participating in a coordinated group whose purpose is to push specific entries in weekly, monthly or any other CreatiVerse competition or showcase.
4. Multiple accounts: operating more than one account to inflate engagement, or acting in concert with others who do.
5. Prize manipulation: any scheme, automated or manual, intended to distort the genuine popularity or merit of a submission.
6. Account sharing: sharing your CreatiVerse account with any other person. Each subscription covers one author only, and each author must have their own account. Examples of prohibited account sharing include: paying for an Elite subscription and having multiple authors submit from that same account; or holding a Basic subscription and alternating writers on the same username — one user writing one week's piece and another user writing the following week's piece, and so on.
7. Like boosting via multiple accounts: creating or using more than one account — including registering multiple email addresses, whether yours or otherwise — to like, comment on, or otherwise engage with your own work, or having anyone act on your behalf to inflate a submission's engagement or a writer's chances of winning a prize or recognition.

OTP verification: To stop this kind of behaviour, CreatiVerse verifies each member's cellphone number with a one-time PIN before engagement features open. One verified number means one real person and one account, so multiple accounts quietly liking your own work is both detectable and enforceable. Please don't do it.

A word on like boosting: It's simply a rotten thing to do. If your piece only "wins" because you liked it from five email addresses, you aren't winning on merit — you're taking a prize that a genuine writer earned with real readers, and you'll be caught. This behaviour is not acceptable and is strictly against these Terms.

Prize withholding: Where manipulation, collusion or fraudulent play is detected in a competition week, CreatiVerse reserves the right not to pay the weekly prize (R1,000, or R1,150 with the Elite top-up) for that week. This kind of play disadvantages other writers and their chances. In instances such as these, CreatiVerse will award an additional Editor's Sprint prize (so 2 x R500, or the Elite top-up Editor's Sprint) as opposed to the usual one in that week.

Enforcement: CreatiVerse reserves the right to investigate suspected collusion and to examine engagement patterns, account linkages and activity across the platform in doing so. Where infringement of this section is found, CreatiVerse may, at its sole discretion: remove or void the affected submissions; disqualify entries from current and future competitions; withdraw or refuse to pay out any prize already granted; suspend or permanently ban the accounts involved — including accounts acting in concert — without refund of subscription fees; and take any other action reasonably necessary to protect the integrity of the platform. All such decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

Account-sharing penalties: Anyone found guilty of sharing an account will receive a warning, and no prize winnings will be payable to any entry submitted under the shared account. A second offence will result in a permanent ban from the platform. Be fair to us, and be fair to others.

A word to would-be cheaters: If you are thinking of cheating — just don't. Our advanced systems catch you, and we will ban you. This community is important to us because it unearths brilliant talent. Everyone competes fairly, and those who don't are not welcome.

11. MUSIC ROOM

Copyright liability for uploaded music. If a musician uploads music they do not own or do not have the right to sell, CreatiVerse takes no liability whatsoever for that infringement. Any such upload is the musician's responsibility alone. CreatiVerse will report the user responsible and will fully comply with all applicable laws regarding piracy, including cooperating with rights holders and law enforcement where required. Uploading copyrighted music you did not create or are not licensed to sell is strictly prohibited and will result in removal of the content and termination of the account.

Payouts. Musician payouts are processed only once a musician's earnings balance sits at R200 or more. No exceptions will be made to this threshold.

Purchased songs. Once a member purchases a song, it is theirs to do with as they please for their own personal use. However, they may not share it with others, and they may not use it publicly — including in videos, broadcasts, performances or any commercial or public setting — without proper written consent from the artist. Public or commercial use requires the artist's prior written permission.

12. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

CreatiVerse is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the platform.

13. CHANGES TO TERMS

We reserve the right to update these Terms at any time. Continued use of the platform after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

14. CONTACT

For questions regarding these Terms, please contact us at support@creativerse.app.