Terms of Service

Last updated: 30 June 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a contract between you and rategale ("rategale", "we", "us") governing your use of our websites, mobile apps and services (the "Platform"). By creating an account or using rategale, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

Please also read our [Privacy Policy](/legal/privacy), [Community Guidelines](/legal/community-guidelines), [Cookie Policy](/legal/cookies) and [Copyright Policy](/legal/copyright), which are part of these Terms.

1. Who can use rategale

You must be at least 13 years old. If you are 13–17, you confirm that your parent or guardian is aware of your use. You must provide accurate information, keep your password secure, and you are responsible for activity on your account. You may not use rategale if you are barred under applicable law or have been previously removed for violations.

2. Your account

• Your username is generated automatically and can be changed (the first change is

free; later changes are limited to once every 30 days).

• Certain actions (writing reviews, changing email/phone, disabling 2FA, deleting your

account) may require additional verification, such as a verified phone number or re-entering your password.

• You can deactivate your account (reversible for 180 days) or delete it (a 30-day

grace period applies before permanent deletion). See §12.

3. What rategale is

rategale combines three connected functions:

1. Business reviews — you rate and review businesses. Each review opens a private

conversation with the business, who may respond; outsiders can see both your review and the business's conduct.

1. Social — you post, share, react, comment, follow and message other users.
2. User-to-user ratings — you may rate other users on defined attributes. These

ratings are subject to cooldowns, weighting of new accounts, anti-abuse measures and transparency rules.

4. Your content and your responsibilities

• You own your content. You keep the rights to the content you create.
• Licence to us. To operate the Platform, you grant rategale a worldwide,

non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt (e.g. resize and transcode), publish and display your content for the purpose of running and promoting the service, consistent with your visibility settings. This licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for content that must remain for the integrity of the service (see §5).

• Your warranties. You confirm you have the rights to the content you post and

that it does not violate the law, these Terms, the [Community Guidelines](/legal/community-guidelines) or anyone's rights.

• Reviews must be genuine. Reviews must reflect a real, honest experience. Fake,

incentivized-without-disclosure, or manipulated reviews and ratings are prohibited.

5. Reviews and ratings — special rules

• Reviews are permanent. Because the public review record must stay honest and

complete, published reviews and reposts are not deleted even if you delete your account; they remain attributed to a "Deleted account". You can still edit within allowed windows and request changes through the defined flows.

• Businesses cannot pay to remove honest reviews. Businesses may respond, open

disputes and request corrections through structured flows, and may flag content for moderation — but cannot delete genuine negative reviews.

• No abuse of ratings. Review bombing, coordinated rating attacks, retaliation,

and rating to harass are prohibited and may result in content removal and account action.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• break the law or the [Community Guidelines](/legal/community-guidelines);
• post illegal, harmful, hateful, harassing, deceptive, or infringing content;
• impersonate others or misrepresent your affiliation;
• create fake accounts, manipulate engagement, or operate bots without permission;
• scrape, harvest, or access the Platform by unauthorized means;
• interfere with, overload, or attempt to breach the security of the Platform;
• upload malware or attempt to reverse-engineer the service except as permitted by law.

7. Businesses, claiming and verification

If you create or claim a business profile, you confirm you are authorized to act for that business. Business profiles must complete identity verification (KYC) to unlock active features. Verified businesses may receive a badge. You are responsible for the accuracy of business information and for your team members' actions under your business account.

8. Advertising and paid features

• Year 1 is growth mode: the Platform is free for users and businesses, with

advertising (ad campaigns and featured listings) as the only paid feature.

• Advertising uses a prepaid wallet: businesses load a balance, and ad spend is

deducted from it. Amounts are in the currency shown at purchase. Ad creatives are reviewed before they run.

• Premium subscriptions may be introduced later; we will give notice before any

paid features become required.

9. Intellectual property

The Platform itself — software, design, logos, trademarks and content we provide — is owned by rategale or its licensors and is protected by law. These Terms do not give you any rights in our brand or software except to use the Platform as intended.

10. Moderation and enforcement

We may remove or restrict content and take action on accounts that violate the law, these Terms or the [Community Guidelines](/legal/community-guidelines), including hiding content, restricting features, suspension or termination. Where appropriate we tell you the reason and offer an appeal. Some actions are automated based on community reports, with human review. Reviews and ratings have their own report-and-threshold processes.

11. Suspension and termination

You may stop using rategale at any time and delete your account. We may suspend or terminate your access if you seriously or repeatedly violate these Terms, if required by law, or to protect users and the Platform. Provisions that by nature should survive (e.g. content licences for permanent reviews, liability limits, dispute terms) survive termination.

12. Account lifecycle

• Deactivation: hides your profile and content; reversible within 180 days.
• Deletion: a 30-day grace period applies; you can cancel via an emailed link.

After that, personal data is deleted or anonymized, subject to the permanent-review rule in §5 and legally required retention.

13. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available". Reviews, ratings and user-generated content reflect the views of users, not rategale, and we do not guarantee their accuracy. To the extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties and do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service.

14. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, rategale is not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for loss of data, profits or goodwill. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law (including for death, personal injury or gross negligence/wilful misconduct, and your mandatory consumer rights).

15. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to cover reasonable losses we incur from your violation of these Terms or the law, or from content you post, except where the loss is due to our own fault.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We will update the "Last updated" date and, for material changes, give additional notice. Continued use after changes means you accept them.

17. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of [country/jurisdiction — to be confirmed in the Imprint], without prejudice to the mandatory consumer-protection rights of the country where you live. Disputes will be handled by the competent courts of that jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory local rules.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [support@rategale.com]. Our legal entity and address are in the [Imprint](/legal/imprint).