These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the AlignMates mobile application, website, communities, communication features, and related services (collectively, the "Services").
AlignMates is currently an independently developed service operated by Asim Nasar Siddiqui, an individual based in India ("AlignMates," "we," "us," or "our").
By accessing, creating an account on, or using AlignMates, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, and any additional rules displayed within particular features or communities.
If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use AlignMates.
1. Eligibility
You must be 18 years of age or older to create or maintain an AlignMates account.
By using AlignMates, you represent that:
- you are at least 18 years old;
- you are legally capable of agreeing to these Terms;
- you are not prohibited by applicable law from using the Services; and
- any information you provide to us is not intentionally false or misleading.
If we reasonably believe that an account belongs to a person under 18, we may restrict, suspend, or terminate the account and take other appropriate action.
2. Your AlignMates Account
You are responsible for activity occurring through your account and for maintaining reasonable security over your device and account access.
You must not:
- sell or transfer your account without our permission;
- obtain or use another person's account without authorization;
- create accounts for abusive, deceptive, fraudulent, or unlawful purposes;
- evade an account restriction, suspension, or ban;
- assist another person in circumventing enforcement measures.
AlignMates uses usernames and MoodMojis to support pseudonymous social interaction.
A username or MoodMoji does not mean that the person behind an account has been independently verified by AlignMates.
You should use reasonable judgment when communicating with people you meet through the Services.
3. Pseudonymous and Anonymous Participation
AlignMates is designed so that users generally do not need to publicly reveal their real-world identity.
However, AlignMates does not guarantee absolute, technical, legal, or untraceable anonymity.
Other users may also choose not to disclose their real identities, and information they provide about themselves may not always be accurate.
You are responsible for deciding what information you disclose and whom you choose to trust.
4. Your Content
"User Content" means content you create, upload, publish, send, submit, or otherwise make available through AlignMates, including:
- posts;
- Audio Posts;
- comments;
- images;
- videos;
- polls;
- links;
- community content;
- profile information;
- messages;
- voice notes;
- captions;
- reports and submissions;
- other material you provide.
You retain ownership
As between you and AlignMates, you retain ownership of the User Content you create, subject to rights belonging to other people or entities.
You are responsible for ensuring that you have the rights necessary to submit your User Content.
Licence to operate AlignMates
By submitting User Content, you grant AlignMates a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, process, transmit, display, format, adapt as technically necessary, and make your User Content available for the purpose of operating, providing, securing, moderating, and improving the Services.
This licence allows us, for example, to:
- display a post to other users;
- resize an uploaded image;
- transcode a video;
- store media;
- deliver a private message to its recipient;
- display content inside a community;
- create technical copies required for caching or backups;
- provide content through infrastructure providers acting on our behalf.
This licence does not transfer ownership of your User Content to AlignMates.
When you delete content or your account, this licence ends to the extent the content is removed from our active systems, except where copies reasonably need to remain for:
- backups;
- security;
- fraud or abuse prevention;
- moderation records;
- legal compliance;
- dispute resolution;
- content already received or independently retained by other users;
- other purposes permitted by applicable law.
5. Responsibility for Your Content
You are responsible for your User Content and the consequences of publishing or sending it.
You represent that you have the necessary rights, permissions, and authority to submit the content you provide.
Do not upload content merely because you found it online.
If your User Content contains another person's:
- photograph;
- private information;
- copyrighted work;
- trademark;
- recording;
- confidential information;
- other protected material,
you are responsible for having any authorization required by applicable law.
6. Public Content
Content posted publicly or within accessible communities may be viewed by other people.
Other users may independently:
- screenshot it;
- copy it;
- record it;
- quote it;
- share it;
- save it;
- reproduce it outside AlignMates.
Removing content from AlignMates cannot guarantee removal of copies independently created by other people.
Consider this before sharing sensitive or highly personal information.
7. Private Communications
AlignMates may provide private messaging, voice notes, images, video, calls, View Once media, Listen Once media, and related communication functionality.
Features labelled "private," "View Once," or "Listen Once" are intended to control how content is presented through normal AlignMates functionality.
They do not guarantee that another person cannot capture, copy, record, photograph, reproduce, or retain the information using another device or method outside our control.
You are responsible for exercising judgment when communicating privately.
8. Communities
AlignMates allows users to create, join, participate in, and manage communities.
Community creators or administrators may establish additional rules for their communities, provided those rules do not conflict with:
- these Terms;
- AlignMates Community Guidelines;
- platform-wide safety rules;
- applicable law.
Community administrators may have moderation powers over content or participation within their communities.
Community administrators are generally independent users of AlignMates and are not employees, representatives, partners, or agents of AlignMates merely because they operate a community.
AlignMates may override community-level decisions when necessary to enforce platform-wide rules, protect users, comply with law, or maintain the Services.
We may restrict, remove, rename, transfer administrative control of, or disable a community where reasonably necessary for safety, enforcement, legal, security, abandonment, impersonation, or operational reasons.
9. Prohibited Content and Conduct
You must not use AlignMates to create, host, display, upload, publish, transmit, store, update, or share content or engage in conduct that violates applicable law or these Terms.
Without limiting the foregoing, you must not use AlignMates for content or conduct that:
- belongs to another person and that you do not have the right to use;
- infringes copyright, trademark, patent, privacy, publicity, or other proprietary rights;
- is unlawful;
- contains child sexual abuse or exploitation material;
- sexually exploits or endangers minors;
- is obscene or unlawful pornographic material;
- unlawfully invades another person's privacy, including bodily privacy;
- threatens, stalks, harasses, intimidates, or abuses another person;
- unlawfully discriminates against or targets people based on protected characteristics;
- impersonates another person or deceptively misrepresents the origin of a communication;
- intentionally publishes materially false information for unlawful harassment, financial gain, fraud, or injury;
- facilitates fraud, scams, phishing, money laundering, or other unlawful financial activity;
- promotes or facilitates unlawful gambling;
- makes credible threats of violence or facilitates unlawful violent conduct;
- violates India's sovereignty, integrity, defence, security, public order, or other restrictions imposed by applicable law;
- distributes malware, viruses, malicious code, or attempts to compromise computer systems;
- doxxes another person or publishes private identifying information without lawful justification;
- facilitates unauthorized access to accounts, devices, networks, or systems;
- attempts to interfere with or disrupt AlignMates or another user's use of it;
- uses automated systems, scraping tools, bots, crawlers, or scripts in a manner that materially interferes with the Services or violates restrictions we reasonably implement;
- artificially manipulates engagement or platform functionality;
- creates multiple accounts to evade moderation or restrictions;
- coordinates harassment or abuse;
- encourages another person to violate these Terms.
Additional restrictions may appear in our Community Guidelines.
10. Sexual Content and Exploitation
AlignMates may restrict or remove sexually explicit content depending on applicable law and our Community Guidelines.
We have particularly strict rules concerning exploitation.
You must never use AlignMates to:
- sexually exploit a minor;
- solicit sexual content from a minor;
- distribute child sexual abuse material;
- distribute intimate or sexual imagery without the person's consent;
- threaten to distribute intimate imagery;
- engage in sexual extortion;
- facilitate trafficking or sexual exploitation.
Accounts involved in such conduct may be immediately restricted, preserved for investigation where legally appropriate, and reported to competent authorities where required or permitted by law.
11. Harassment, Threats and Personal Information
Disagreement, criticism, and difficult conversations are not automatically prohibited.
However, AlignMates may act against conduct involving serious or repeated:
- targeted harassment;
- threats;
- stalking;
- unwanted sexual conduct;
- intimidation;
- coordinated abuse;
- disclosure of private identifying information;
- attempts to force another user to reveal their offline identity.
Pseudonymity must not be used as a shield for abuse.
12. Safety Is a Shared Responsibility
We provide tools such as:
- reporting;
- blocking;
- community moderation;
- account restrictions;
- content moderation.
However, AlignMates cannot guarantee that all objectionable, unlawful, harmful, misleading, or offensive material will be detected before another user sees it.
The presence of moderation tools should not be interpreted as a guarantee that every user, post, community, or communication is safe, genuine, accurate, or trustworthy.
13. Reporting and Moderation
Users may report content, accounts, and other activity through available reporting tools.
We may review reported material and relevant context to determine whether action is appropriate.
Depending on the circumstances, we may:
- take no action;
- issue a warning;
- reduce access to particular functionality;
- remove content;
- restrict content visibility;
- restrict messaging or community functionality;
- suspend an account;
- permanently terminate an account;
- restrict associated accounts or devices;
- prevent re-registration;
- preserve relevant information;
- refer matters to appropriate authorities where required or permitted.
Enforcement is contextual
We do not promise that every reported violation will automatically result in permanent suspension.
Enforcement may depend on factors such as:
- severity;
- context;
- intent;
- previous violations;
- risk to other users;
- applicable law;
- technical evidence;
- the reliability of available information.
Serious violations may result in immediate action without prior warning.
We may also take reasonable measures against attempts to evade enforcement.
14. Moderation Decisions
AlignMates may make moderation and enforcement decisions using available information and reasonable judgment.
No moderation system is perfect.
We may occasionally:
- fail to detect prohibited content;
- remove permitted content by mistake;
- suspend an account incorrectly;
- reverse or modify a previous decision.
Where appropriate and available, users may contact us to seek review of an enforcement decision.
Nothing in these Terms removes any grievance or appeal rights provided by applicable law.
15. Intellectual Property Belonging to AlignMates
The Services themselves, including our software, source code, application design, branding, logos, original graphics, MoodMoji designs where owned by us, website design, and other material created by or for AlignMates, are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws.
Except where expressly permitted, you may not:
- copy or redistribute our software;
- reverse engineer it except where applicable law expressly permits;
- use AlignMates branding in a misleading manner;
- falsely imply endorsement or affiliation;
- reproduce proprietary visual assets for commercial purposes;
- circumvent technical restrictions.
These provisions do not give AlignMates ownership of User Content merely because it appears within the Services.
16. Copyright and Intellectual-Property Complaints
If you believe content on AlignMates infringes rights you own, you may contact us at:
Please provide enough information for us to understand the complaint, including where reasonably applicable:
- identification of the protected work or right;
- identification of the allegedly infringing content;
- the relevant post, account, or community;
- an explanation of your claim;
- your contact information;
- supporting documentation where appropriate.
We may remove or restrict content where reasonably appropriate or required by law.
Repeated infringement may lead to account restrictions or termination.
17. Feedback and Suggestions
We welcome suggestions and product feedback.
If you voluntarily provide ideas, suggestions, feature requests, improvements, or other feedback relating to AlignMates, you grant us permission to use that feedback without requiring payment or creating an obligation to implement it.
This does not give us ownership of unrelated intellectual property or content merely because you communicate with us.
18. Third-Party Services and Links
AlignMates may contain links to, integrations with, or functionality provided by third parties.
We do not control third-party websites or services and are not responsible for their:
- content;
- availability;
- security;
- privacy practices;
- products;
- conduct.
Your use of third-party services may be governed by separate terms and privacy policies.
19. Information Provided by Other Users
AlignMates hosts user-generated content.
Unless expressly stated otherwise, statements made by users:
- are not statements by AlignMates;
- are not endorsed by AlignMates;
- may be inaccurate;
- may be misleading;
- may be offensive;
- may be incomplete.
You should independently assess information before relying on it.
20. No Professional or Emergency Service
AlignMates is a social platform.
Content provided by users should not be treated as professional:
- medical advice;
- mental-health treatment;
- legal advice;
- financial advice;
- emergency assistance.
AlignMates is not an emergency-response service and should not be relied upon to contact emergency responders or protect someone from immediate danger.
21. Availability and Changes to the Services
AlignMates is independently developed and may evolve over time.
We may:
- add features;
- modify features;
- remove features;
- conduct tests;
- change interfaces;
- limit functionality;
- discontinue portions of the Services.
We do not guarantee that every feature will always remain available or operate without interruption.
Where reasonably possible, we may provide notice before materially discontinuing important functionality, but emergency, legal, security, or technical circumstances may require action without advance notice.
22. Beta and Experimental Features
Some features may be described as experimental, beta, preview, early access, or otherwise under development.
Such features may:
- change significantly;
- contain errors;
- temporarily fail;
- be withdrawn.
Use experimental functionality accordingly.
23. Suspension and Termination
You may stop using AlignMates at any time and may delete your account using available account controls.
We may restrict, suspend, or terminate access where reasonably necessary because of:
- violation of these Terms;
- violation of Community Guidelines;
- unlawful conduct;
- serious safety concerns;
- repeated abuse;
- fraud;
- spam;
- ban evasion;
- security risks;
- valid legal requirements;
- material interference with the Services;
- operational discontinuation of the Services.
Serious circumstances may justify immediate action without advance notice.
Where appropriate, lesser violations may instead result in warnings or temporary restrictions.
Termination does not prevent us from retaining information where reasonably necessary and permitted by our Privacy Policy or applicable law.
24. No Guarantee Regarding Other Users
AlignMates does not guarantee:
- the identity of another user;
- that another user's statements are truthful;
- that another user will behave lawfully;
- that interactions will lead to friendship;
- compatibility between users;
- that communities will remain active;
- that another user will keep information confidential.
You decide whether and how to interact with other users.
25. Disclaimer of Warranties
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, AlignMates and the Services are provided on an "as available" and "as is" basis.
We do not guarantee that the Services will:
- always be uninterrupted;
- always be error-free;
- always be secure;
- meet every user's expectations;
- preserve every item of information indefinitely;
- identify every harmful user or item of content.
Nothing in these Terms excludes warranties or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.
26. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the operator of AlignMates will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential losses arising from or relating to your use of the Services where such liability may lawfully be excluded.
This may include, where legally permissible:
- loss of data;
- loss of opportunity;
- lost profits;
- reputational loss;
- losses caused by another user's conduct;
- losses resulting from information voluntarily disclosed to another user;
- loss caused by third-party services outside our control.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where doing so would be prohibited by applicable law, including any non-waivable rights available under applicable consumer law.
India's Consumer Protection Act recognizes the concept of an "unfair contract," so overbroad exclusions are not automatically made enforceable merely by putting them into Terms.
27. Your Responsibility for Claims Caused by Your Conduct
To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to be responsible for losses, liabilities, or reasonable costs arising from third-party claims caused by:
- User Content you did not have the right to submit;
- your intentional violation of applicable law;
- fraud or malicious activity conducted through your account;
- infringement of another person's intellectual-property rights;
- serious violation of these Terms.
We will not interpret this section to require you to indemnify AlignMates for losses caused solely by our own unlawful conduct.
28. Legal Requests and Compliance
We may preserve, restrict, remove, or disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, valid legal process, court orders, or legally authorized government requests.
Nothing in these Terms requires us to comply with a request that is not legally binding.
29. Privacy
Our collection and processing of information is described separately in the AlignMates Privacy Policy.
The Privacy Policy forms part of the rules governing your use of AlignMates.
If a feature requires a separate permission or consent under applicable law, acceptance of these Terms alone does not replace that requirement.
30. Changes to These Terms
We may modify these Terms to reflect:
- changes to the Services;
- new features;
- safety requirements;
- legal or regulatory changes;
- operational requirements.
When updated, the Last Updated date will change.
Where reasonably appropriate or legally required, we may notify users through the app, website, notification, or another appropriate mechanism.
If applicable law requires specific consent to a change, continued use alone will not replace that required consent.
If you do not agree with revised Terms, you should stop using AlignMates.
31. Governing Law and Disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of India, subject to mandatory rights or laws that may apply regardless of this provision.
Before commencing formal proceedings, you and AlignMates are encouraged to attempt in good faith to resolve a dispute by contacting:
Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking urgent legal relief where necessary.
Subject to applicable law and any non-waivable consumer rights, disputes relating to these Terms shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent courts at:
New Delhi, Delhi, India
We would not add mandatory arbitration simply to sound more legally sophisticated. Arbitration can itself become expensive for a solo founder, and consumer-law enforceability needs care. India's Arbitration and Conciliation Act recognizes arbitration agreements, but that does not mean mandatory arbitration is automatically the best clause for this service.
32. Grievance Redressal
Users and affected persons may submit grievances concerning content, accounts, moderation, privacy, safety, or use of the Services.
Grievance Officer
Name: Asim Nasar Siddiqui
Role: Founder, Operator & Grievance Officer — AlignMates
Location: India
Email: alignmates@gmail.com
Please provide sufficient information to understand the grievance, such as:
- your AlignMates username where applicable;
- the relevant account or community;
- the relevant content;
- links or identifiers where available;
- screenshots where useful;
- a description of the issue.
We may request additional information reasonably necessary to investigate or verify the complaint.
AlignMates will process grievances within the time periods required by applicable law.
Where applicable under Indian law, a person dissatisfied with an eligible decision of the Grievance Officer, or whose grievance has not been addressed within the required period, may use the applicable Grievance Appellate Committee process. The current IT Rules provide for such appeals.
33. Entire Agreement
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, and any feature-specific rules expressly incorporated into them, constitute the agreement governing your use of AlignMates.
34. Severability
If a court or other competent authority determines that part of these Terms is invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to apply to the extent permitted by law.
35. No Waiver
If we do not immediately enforce a provision of these Terms, that does not necessarily mean we permanently waive the right to enforce it later.
36. Assignment
You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to another person without our permission where such restriction is permitted by law.
If operation of AlignMates is later transferred to a company, purchaser, successor, or other lawful operator, these Terms and rights relating to operation of the Services may be transferred accordingly, subject to applicable law.
This is useful because if AlignMates Private Limited or another legal entity is later created, today's Terms should not make moving the service into that entity unnecessarily difficult.
37. Contact
For questions regarding these Terms:
AlignMates
Independently operated by Asim Nasar Siddiqui
India
Email: alignmates@gmail.com