Terms & Conditions

1. Acceptance and Use of the Platform

By accessing or using the Platform, You acknowledge that You have read, understood and agreed to these Terms of Use, together with the Privacy Policy and other applicable policies of SMACY. You agree to use the Platform only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms.

2. Registration and User Information

Where registration is required, You agree to provide accurate and complete information and to keep such information updated. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Your account credentials and for all activities carried out through Your account.

3. Electronic Communications

By using the Platform and providing Your contact details, You consent to receive communications from SMACY periodically and as required. SMACY may communicate with You by email or by other electronic or otherwise lawful means using the information provided by You.

4. Use of Service

The technology and software underlying the Platform and the Services are the property of SMPL. The User agrees not to copy, modify, transfer, distribute or reverse engineer the technology or software underlying the Platform or Services. Users shall comply with all copyright notices, information and restrictions contained in content accessed through the Service.

Users shall not falsify or delete author attributions, legal notices, proprietary designations or labels identifying the origin or source of images or other material made available on the Website. SMACY may contain links to third-party websites, resources and advertisers. SMACY is not responsible for the availability or contents of such external resources.

5. Subscription Fees and Payments

Services or parts of the Services may be made available to the User upon subscription. Even if certain Services are currently offered free of charge, SMPL reserves the right to introduce subscription fees in the future. Any applicable fee will be communicated before the User is required to subscribe to the relevant paid Service.

All applicable fees, charges and taxes shall be paid by the User. Additional charges, such as telecommunications, data or service-provider fees, may also apply and shall be the User's responsibility.

6. Grant of License

Subject to strict and full compliance with this User Agreement, SMPL grants You a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and limited personal license to download, install and use the Platform on compatible devices owned or controlled by You, and to access and use the Content only through the Platform.

The Platform may include the software application in object code, scripts, interfaces, graphics, displays, text, documentation, associated data and information, and updates, modifications or enhancements that may be provided by SMPL.

7. Content License

Content may be owned or licensed by third parties to SMPL. Subject to Your strict and full compliance with these Terms, SMPL grants You, for the territory of India, a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and revocable license to use the Content strictly for private, personal and non-commercial viewing, streaming or temporary downloading on a compatible device.

Except for the rights expressly granted herein, no other rights are granted to You with respect to the Platform or the Content, whether by implication, estoppel or otherwise.

8. User Obligations and Prohibited Activities

1. You shall not use the Platform for any purpose prohibited by these Terms and are responsible for all of Your activity in connection with the Platform.
2. You are permitted to use the Platform for accessing Content and for sharing Content created by You or Content that You are authorized to post.
3. The use, access and availability of the facilities of the Platform shall be governed by these Terms and the Privacy Policy, and You shall act in accordance with those documents.
4. You shall comply with all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations and, where You represent a business, any advertising, marketing, privacy or other applicable self-regulatory codes.
5. You shall not illegally download or save Content, circumvent technological measures used to prevent unauthorized access or copying, alter or modify the Platform, reformat or frame any portion of the Website, or use the Platform for an illegal or unauthorized purpose.
6. You shall not collect or harvest personal data or other information about Users through spidering, scraping or similar methods.
7. You shall not post advertisements, promotions, solicitations, spam or communications designed to obtain another User's password, account or private information.
8. You shall not deliberately impersonate another person or misrepresent Your affiliation with any person or entity.
9. You shall not rent, sell, transfer, lease or offer to sell or transfer access to the Platform or any SMPL account, or permit third parties to use Your account credentials.
10. You shall not resell or commercially exploit the Platform or its Content, or download or copy account information for the benefit of Yourself or any third party.

Prohibited Content

You shall not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share content that belongs to another person and to which You do not have rights; is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of privacy, insulting or harassing; encourages money laundering or gambling; is harmful to children; infringes patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights; violates applicable law; deceives or misleads users; impersonates another person; threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India or public order; contains malicious software or code; is patently false or misleading; damages or degrades the Platform; contains unauthorized advertising, promotions or solicitation; seeks sensitive personal information from another User; or constitutes spam or unauthorized advertising.

9. Intellectual Property and Platform Security

You shall not alter or remove trademarks, copyrights or other proprietary or legal notices appearing on the Platform or Content. You shall not use SMPL trademarks, logos or proprietary graphics without express written permission. You shall not use scraping or similar techniques to copy, republish, distribute or exploit Content except through features provided by the Platform.

You shall not copy, adapt, reverse engineer, reassemble, decompile or attempt to discover source or object code of any part of the Platform. You shall not transmit viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, malware, bots, harmful code or other components that may disrupt the Platform or its connected networks. You shall not attempt to breach security measures, access unauthorized data, scan or test vulnerabilities, hack servers or systems, overload or crash the Platform, or interfere with other Users' use of the Platform.

10. Third-Party Content and Advertisements

1. You agree to receive advertisements through use of the Platform. The Platform may provide access to third-party Content and/or websites not owned or controlled by SMPL. SMPL is not responsible for third-party Content, applications, services, advertisements or links contained in the Platform.
2. The Platform may provide access to third-party games, quizzes and other activities requiring skill, for which prizes may be awarded by the concerned third party. SMPL does not own or control such activities and does not undertake liability for declaring results or awarding prizes.
3. If You have complaints or concerns regarding third-party Content or activities, You agree to report them through the applicable self-report or grievance redressal mechanism and acknowledge that SMPL will handle such complaints in accordance with applicable law.
4. You shall not copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, publicly display, encode, translate, transmit, download or distribute the Platform or any Content, including by mirroring, to another computer, server, website or other medium for publication, distribution or commercial enterprise.
5. You may use general information about the Platform expressly permitted by SMPL only for personal, non-commercial and informational purposes, provided that proprietary notices are retained, no unauthorized copying or broadcasting occurs, no modification is made, and no additional representation or warranty is made regarding such Content.

11. Term and Termination

1. This Agreement and any posted revision shall remain in full force and effect while You use the Platform, and certain provisions may continue to apply after termination.
2. You may terminate this Agreement by uninstalling or deleting the Platform at any time. Certain details may nevertheless be maintained by SMPL for archival, product improvement or legal purposes.
3. SMPL may terminate this Agreement or delete Your profile if You breach any provision of the Agreement or if SMPL is required to do so by law.
4. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination shall continue to apply, including ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
5. Termination may include removal of access and barring further use of the Platform. Upon termination, Your right to use the Platform automatically ends. SMPL may retain and use content or data for as long as required or permitted under applicable law.

12. Government Requests and Disclosure

You understand that SMPL may disclose information, including the identity of persons providing information or materials on the Platform, when necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or valid governmental request. This may include disclosure in connection with investigations of alleged illegal activity or in response to a lawful court order. SMPL may disclose information to law-enforcement or government officials where it believes such disclosure is necessary or appropriate in connection with the investigation or resolution of possible crimes.

13. Representations and Warranties

1. The Platform and the Content are provided by SMPL on an "as is" and "as available" basis. SMPL and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees and agents disclaim express or implied warranties, including implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, to the extent permitted by law.
2. You agree that Your use of the Platform shall be at Your sole risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, SMPL disclaims warranties in connection with use of the Platform.
3. SMPL does not guarantee that the Platform will be free from loss, destruction, damage, unauthorized access, corruption, attack, interruption, bugs, viruses, Trojan horses or other harmful components, or that Content will be error-free or complete.
4. SMPL does not endorse or assume responsibility for products or services advertised or offered by third parties through the Platform or for transactions between You and third-party providers.
5. SMPL does not guarantee that use of, or results from use of, the Platform or its Content will be accurate, timely, reliable, uninterrupted or without errors. SMPL may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of the Platform without prior notice.
6. You acknowledge that You may encounter offensive, indecent or objectionable content while using the Platform. SMPL is not responsible for unauthorized use of personal information by others arising from such use, to the extent permitted by law.

14. Privacy

SMPL may collect certain personal information and data while You access, avail of or use the Platform. Such information is collected for the functionality and operation of the Platform and in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

15. Disclaimer

THE PLATFORM, ITS FEATURES AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", "AS AVAILABLE" AND "WITH ALL FAULTS".

16. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold SMPL, its business associates, affiliates, and their officers, directors and employees harmless from and against damages, liabilities, costs and expenses, including attorney's fees and expenses, arising out of or resulting directly or indirectly from Your use of the Platform in a manner inconsistent with these Terms. Notwithstanding reasonable efforts, SMPL and its business associates and affiliates cannot take responsibility for or control all Content made available through the Platform.

17. No Liability

1. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, SMPL and its business associates and affiliates shall not be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, special or consequential damages, including loss of profits or confidential or other information, business interruption, personal injury or loss of privacy, arising out of or in any way related to use or inability to use the Platform or arising from acts of God or acts of third parties.
2. SMPL and its business associates and affiliates shall not be liable for direct or indirect damages arising from data provided by the User or violation of third-party rights arising from use or inability to use the Platform, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

18. Law, Jurisdiction and Arbitration

1. The construction of these Terms shall be determined in accordance with laws and rules in force in India and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Chennai, except where applicable law provides otherwise.
2. Disputes arising out of or in relation to these Terms shall be referred to arbitration before a sole arbitrator. If the parties fail to agree on the appointment of a sole arbitrator within the time stipulated under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the parties shall approach the competent court under the Act for appointment. The place of arbitration shall be Chennai and the proceedings shall be conducted in English. The arbitrator's award shall be final and binding on both parties, subject to applicable law.

19. Severability

If any provision in these Terms becomes invalid, illegal or is adjudged unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed severed from these Terms and the remaining provisions shall continue in effect to the extent permitted by law.

20. Waiver

The failure of SMPL to enforce any provision of these Terms at any time shall not be construed as a waiver of its rights, powers, privileges or remedies. All rights and remedies are cumulative and are not exclusive of one another.

21. Force Majeure and Acts of Third Parties

The performance of any part of this User Agreement by SMPL and its affiliates shall be excused on account of Force Majeure events, including but not limited to acts of God, public enemy, epidemics declared as pandemics, revolt, strikes, riot, terrorist attack, fire, flood, war, typhoon, government regulations or orders, or other causes beyond the reasonable control of SMPL. This also includes acts of third parties beyond the control of SMPL, including hacking, data theft, unauthorized access, impersonation, fraud or misrepresentation.

22. Survival

These Terms, and any modifications, alterations or amendments, shall remain in force and effect while You use the Platform. Provisions that by their nature survive termination, including intellectual property, confidential information, representations and warranties, liability, indemnity and other applicable provisions, shall continue to apply after termination.

23. Notices and Grievance Redressal Mechanism

SMPL is not responsible for Content or advertisements accessible through the App or Platform. SMPL reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to remove or disable access to Content claimed to infringe third-party rights and/or terminate accounts of Users who may infringe the intellectual property or other rights of SMPL and/or third parties.

Grievances or concerns regarding violations of the User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines should be addressed to the Grievance Officer through email.

Self-report: You can report offending content using the report content feature within the application or Platform.

Grievance Officer: In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and rules made thereunder, grievances may be submitted to the Grievance Officer at grievance.officer@smacynews.in. The complaint should provide the username of the relevant account holder, the specific content or video of concern, and the reasons for the takedown request. The complaint should contain the information necessary for SMPL to dispose of the complaint. Notices may be submitted by email or by other lawful means to the address notified by SMPL.

24. Intellectual Property Infringement

This Platform works to ensure that listings and Content do not infringe copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights of third parties. Persons or companies holding intellectual property rights, including copyright, trademark or patent rights, may identify and request removal of allegedly infringing products, listings or materials through the applicable grievance or takedown mechanism.