Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

Boughly is a product operated by Babu & Booshik LLC, a California limited liability company ("Babu & Booshik," "we," "us," or "our"). By accessing or using Boughly ("the Platform"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Platform. We reserve the right to update these Terms at any time, and continued use constitutes acceptance of any changes.

2. Account & Eligibility

• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.
• Users under 18 must have parental/guardian consent.
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials.
• You may not create accounts for the purpose of violating these Terms or circumventing enforcement actions.
• By accessing Mature content, you represent that you are at least 18 years old and legally permitted to access such material in your jurisdiction.

3. Content Ownership & License

You retain ownership of all stories, text, images, and other content you create on Boughly ("Your Content"). By publishing content on the Platform, you grant Boughly a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display, distribute, and promote Your Content within the Platform and its marketing materials.

You may remove Your Content at any time by unpublishing or deleting it. This terminates the license, except where copies have already been made by readers in accordance with normal Platform use.

4. Content Guidelines

All published content must comply with our Community Guidelines. The following content is prohibited:

• Hate speech or harassment — content targeting individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or religion.
• Sexually explicit content involving minors — any sexual content depicting or suggesting minors, in any context, is strictly prohibited and may be reported to NCMEC.
• On-page graphic sexual content — explicit on-page sexual content is not permitted at any rating tier, regardless of consent or context. See the Mature Tier definition for the line between “fade to black” (allowed) and explicit description (not allowed).
• Glorification of violence or self-harm — content that promotes, encourages, or instructs real-world violence, suicide, or self-harm.
• Copyright infringement — reproducing copyrighted material without authorization. Authors are responsible for ensuring their content does not infringe third-party intellectual property rights.
• Spam or misleading content — deceptive stories designed to mislead, phish, or distribute malware.
• Impersonation — falsely representing yourself as another person, organization, or brand.
• Illegal activity — content that promotes illegal activities or provides instructions for committing crimes.

5. Content Rating & Disclosures

Authors are required to accurately rate their content:

• General — suitable for all audiences. No graphic violence, no strong language, no sexual content.
• Teen (13+) — mild violence, infrequent strong language, romantic and sexual tension without explicit description.
• Mature (18+) — strong language without limit, graphic violence, dark adult themes, sexual situations handled non-graphically (“fade to black”). On-page graphic sexual content is not permitted; see Section 4 and the Mature Tier definition.

Deliberately misrating content to bypass filters is a violation of these Terms.

Platform Availability

Certain Mature (18+) content may only be available through the Boughly web platform and may not be accessible through iOS or Android applications due to platform policies, regional restrictions, or compliance requirements.

AI Content Disclosure

Stories created with the assistance of AI tools (text generation, image generation, AI-assisted plotting) must be disclosed during the publish flow at the appropriate level (None / AI-edited / AI-generated). Undisclosed AI content that is later identified may be flagged or removed.

6. Moderation & Enforcement

Boughly reserves the right to moderate all published content. Moderation actions include:

• Flag — content is flagged for review. The author is notified and given an opportunity to make corrections.
• Unpublish — content is removed from public listings. The author retains access and can edit the content to address the issue before requesting republication.
• Remove — content is permanently removed from the Platform for severe or repeated violations.
• Account suspension or ban — for severe or repeated violations, accounts may be temporarily suspended or permanently banned.

Authors are notified of moderation actions and the specific violation. Appeals can be submitted by emailing support@boughly.com.

7. Reader Conduct

• Readers must not use the reporting system to harass authors or submit false reports.
• Readers must not attempt to circumvent content ratings or age gates.
• Readers must not scrape, copy, or redistribute authors' content without authorization.

8. Intellectual Property & DMCA

Boughly respects intellectual property rights. If you believe content on the Platform infringes your copyright, please review our DMCA Policy for the full takedown and counter-notification process, including the contact information for our Designated Copyright Agent registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Repeat-infringer policy. Consistent with 17 U.S.C. § 512(i), accounts that accumulate three substantiated DMCA strikes (as defined in our DMCA Policy) within any rolling 12-month period may be terminated. Strikes that are successfully counter-noticed do not count toward this threshold. Egregious or willful infringement may result in immediate termination regardless of strike count.

9. Limitation of Liability

Boughly is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We are not liable for any damages arising from your use of the Platform, including but not limited to loss of data or content. Authors are solely responsible for the content they publish.

10. Arbitration & Class-Action Waiver

Binding Individual Arbitration. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Platform (each, a “Dispute”) shall be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules then in effect, except that either party may instead bring an individual action in small-claims court in the claimant's county of residence if the Dispute qualifies. The arbitration shall be conducted in English by a single arbitrator, seated in Los Angeles County, California or held remotely as the AAA permits. The arbitrator may award any relief a court of competent jurisdiction could award on an individual basis, subject to these Terms.

Class-Action Waiver. You and Boughly agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, mass, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.

30-Day Opt-Out. You may opt out of this Arbitration & Class-Action Waiver section by sending written notice to support@boughly.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms (or within 30 days of any material amendment to this section), including your full name, account email, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out of arbitration. Opting out will not affect any other provisions of these Terms.

Severability. If any portion of this Section is held invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of this Section and these Terms shall continue in full force and effect; provided that if the Class-Action Waiver is held unenforceable as to a particular Dispute, that Dispute shall be severed from arbitration and litigated in court, while all other Disputes remain subject to arbitration.

11. Governing Law & Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Except as otherwise provided in Section 10 (Arbitration & Class-Action Waiver), you and Boughly agree that the state and federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Platform, and each party consents to the personal jurisdiction of, and venue in, those courts.

12. Sanctions & Export Compliance

You represent that (a) you are not located in any country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated by the U.S. Government as a “terrorist-supporting” country, and (b) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties (including the U.S. Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals list). You agree to comply with all applicable export-control and sanctions laws and regulations in your use of the Platform.

13. Termination

You may delete your account at any time. Boughly may terminate or suspend your account for violations of these Terms. Upon termination, published content is removed from the Platform, though cached copies may persist briefly. Boughly may retain certain records following account deletion or termination as reasonably necessary for legal and regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, security, and dispute resolution.

14. Contact

For questions about these Terms, moderation decisions, copyright concerns, or account issues, contact us at support@boughly.com.