Welcome to 9chat!

Your use of 9chat is subject to these Terms of Service (these "Terms"). Thank you for reviewing these Terms – we hope you enjoy using 9chat. If you have any questions about, or if you wish to send us any notices in relation to, these Terms, please contact us by going to “Me” -> “Settings” -> “Help & Feedback” from within 9chat or by visiting help.9chat.com. Compliance with these Terms

These Terms apply to you if you are a user of 9chat anywhere in the world, except if you belong in any of the following categories: (a) a user of 9chat or 9chat in the People’s Republic of China; (b) a citizen of the People’s Republic of China using 9chat or 9chat anywhere in the world; or (c) a Chinese-incorporated company using 9chat or 9chat anywhere in the world. If you belong to any of these categories, please refer to the Terms of Service (PRC Users) for the terms that apply to you.** For the purposes of these Terms, a reference to “People’s Republic of China” does not include a reference to Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau. If you are a user of 9chat or 9chat and are located in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau, and are not in categories (b) or (c) above, these Terms apply to you.

Please review these Terms and our policies and instructions to understand how you can and cannot use 9chat. You must comply with these Terms in your use of 9chat and only use 9chat as permitted by applicable laws and regulations, wherever you may be when you use them. In some countries, there are restrictions on your use of 9chat – it is your responsibility to ensure that you are legally allowed to use 9chat where you are located, and certain 9chat functionalities may not be available in some countries.

By using 9chat, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use 9chat.

If you are under the age of 13, you must not use 9chat. If you are between the ages of 13 and 18 (or the relevant age in your jurisdiction where you are considered a minor), your parent or guardian must agree to these Terms (both for themselves and on your behalf) before you can use 9chat.

If you are using 9chat on behalf of a company, partnership, association, government or other organisation (your “Organisation”), you warrant that you are authorised to do so and that you are authorised to bind your Organisation to these Terms. In such circumstances, “you” will include your Organisation.

We may translate these Terms into multiple languages. If there is any difference between the English version and any other language version of these Terms, the English version will apply (to the extent permitted by applicable laws and regulations).

For the purposes of these Terms, any reference in these Terms to "9chat" refers to 9chat and all 9chat-related services provided by or on behalf of us or our affiliate companies from time to time, including the following services:

(i) if you are a user located within the European Economic Area or Switzerland (“European Union” or “EU”), Tencent International Services Europe BV, a Dutch company located at 26.04 on the 26th floor of Amstelplein 54, 1096 BC Amsterdam, the Netherlands; or (ii) if you are a user located outside the EU, Tencent International Service Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean company located at 10 Anson Road, #21-07 International Plaza, Singapore 079903, (in each case, “we”, “our” and “us”).

We may specify in certain of our 9chat service-specific terms that you are contracting with one of our affiliate companies (instead of Tencent International Services Europe BV or Tencent International Service Pte. Ltd., as applicable) in relation to your use of the relevant 9chat service or feature to which the relevant service-specific terms apply. Where this is the case, the relevant contracting entity will be identified in the relevant 9chat service-specific terms, and these Terms (including those relevant service-specific terms) will apply between you and that identified contracting entity in relation to your use of the relevant 9chat service or feature.

We offer a diverse range of services and features within 9chat, so there are additional terms and policies that may be applicable to your use of all or part of 9chat (the "Additional Terms"). We will notify you of the Additional Terms from time to time, including as set out in this section and otherwise from time to time within 9chat. These Additional Terms all form part of and are incorporated into these Terms.

9chat Privacy Policy – which sets out how we collect, store and use your personal information, as well as our policy on the use of tracking technologies.

9chat Acceptable Use Policy – which sets out rules of good behaviour applicable to your use of 9chat.

Copyright Policy – which sets out how we deal with intellectual property rights-related complaints in accordance with the DMCA.

Some of our services and features have Additional Terms specific to their use. You must comply with such Additional Terms (as well as these Terms) in your use of such services and features. Such service-specific Additional Terms include:

Sticker Licence Agreement – governing your use of Stickers (as defined in such agreement) within 9chat.

9chat Developers Platform Use Agreement – governing your use of the 9chat Developers Platform.

9chat e-Commerce Agreement and/or 9chat Official Account Admin Platform Merchant Function Agreement – governing your use of 9chat's e-commerce services.

9chat Official Account Admin Platform User Agreement – governing your use of the 9chat Official Account Admin Platform.

9chat Out Terms of Service – governing your use of 9chat Out. 9chat Pay System User Service Agreement – governing your use of 9chat Pay.

Additional country-specific terms

If you are a citizen or a habitual resident of the following countries, the following country-specific Additional Terms will also apply to your use of 9chat:

Subject to the next paragraph and except as otherwise expressly specified within these Terms or any Additional Terms – to the extent that any Additional Terms conflict with these Terms, the relevant Additional Terms will apply to the extent of the conflict.

We may make changes to these Terms (and any applicable Additional Terms) over time (for example, to reflect technical improvements and changes to 9chat (for example, to address a security threat) or applicable laws and regulations (for example, to reflect applicable consumer rights)), so please come back and review these Terms regularly. Where we consider that such changes are reasonably material, we will (where reasonably practicable) notify you (via http://www.9chat.com, direct communication to you, on this page or the relevant page for the relevant additional terms or policy, or other means), prior to such changes becoming effective. By continuing to use 9chat after we make any changes to these Terms, you are agreeing to be bound by the revised Terms.

As 9chat and user experiences are constantly evolving, we may from time to time:

add, change or remove features or services from 9chat (including in relation to whether a feature or service is free of charge or not); and/or suspend, discontinue or terminate 9chat altogether.

You agree that we may take any such actions at any time. Where we consider that any changes to 9chat or any services or features accessible within 9chat are reasonably material, we will (where reasonably practicable) notify you (via http://www.9 chats.com, direct communication to you, on this page or the relevant page for the relevant additional terms or policy, or other means), prior to such changes becoming effective.

You need to create an account with us in order to access and use 9chat. Any account that you open with us is personal to you and you are prohibited from gifting, lending, transferring or otherwise permitting any other person to access or use your account. Your account name, user ID and other identifiers you adopt within 9chat remains our property and we can disable, reclaim and reuse these once your account is terminated or deactivated for whatever reason by either you or us.

You are responsible for: (a) safeguarding your account details, including any passwords used to access your account and 9chat, and (b) all use of 9chat under your account, including any purchases made and/or payment obligations arising under your account. You must promptly notify us by going to "Me" -> "Settings" -> "Help & Feedback" from within the 9chat app or by visiting http://help.9chat.com if you know or suspect that your password or account has been compromised. We will regard all use of your account on 9chat as being by you, except where we have received a valid and –properly received notification to us regarding your account or password being compromised.

We may allow you to register for and login to 9chat using sign-on functionalities provided by third party platforms, such as Facebook or Google. You agree to comply with the relevant third party platform's terms and conditions applicable to your use of such functionalities (in addition to these Terms).

You may, from time to time, make payments to us or third parties as part of your use of 9chat (including for the provision of 9chat or provision of certain additional features within 9chat). We may set out further terms applying to such payments (including in relation to refunds (if any), billing arrangements and any consequences of failing to make timely payments). You must comply with all such terms in relation to your payments to us. You agree that you are solely responsible for all fees and taxes associated with any such payments. and that pricing and availability of Items and products are subject to change at any time.

We may from time to time make available payment methods to you for automatic, recurring or subscription-based charges. Where we do so, you agree that (subject to applicable laws and regulations):

such purchases or payments are generally made by you on an advance basis. Unless the purchase was on a subscription basis, we will notify you prior to any automatic renewals;

you authorise us to: (a) save your chosen payment method's information (e.g. credit card information) on our systems; and (b) bill your chosen payment method for the relevant time-periods as chosen by or notified to you;

if any payment made via your chosen payment method is rejected, denied or returned unpaid for any reason: (a) we may not provide you with, or suspend our provision of, the relevant 9chat product or service until payment is properly processed; and (b) you are liable to us for any fees, costs, expenses or other amounts we incur arising from such rejection, denial or return (and we may automatically charge you for such amounts); and we will provide you with further instructions within 9chat regarding how you may update or cancel the relevant payment method. We may change any fees that we charge for 9chat (or any parts of 9chat) at any time upon publication within 9chat. If you do not accept such change to the fees, we may be unable to provide 9chat (or the relevant part of 9chat) to you.

SUBJECT TO MANDATORY APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS OR AS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED BY US IN THESE TERMS OR FOR A PARTICULAR ITEM OR SERVICE WITHIN 9chat, IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WE BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE A REFUND FOR ANY PAYMENTS MADE BY YOU TO US IN RELATION TO ANY ITEMS OR SERVICE WITHIN 9chat (WHETHER USED OR UNUSED).

If you believe that we have charged you in error, and subject to applicable laws and regulations: (a) you must contact us within 30 days of the date of the relevant charge; and (b) no refunds will be given for any erroneous charges after such 30 days period. We may process payments from you in 9chat via a third party service, and we may provide your relevant Information to such third parties to process your payments. You agree to comply with that relevant third party's terms and conditions in relation to the payment processing service, as further set out in the "Third Party Content and Services" section below.

When you submit, upload, transmit or display any data, information, media or other content in connection with your use of 9chat (“Your Content”), you understand and agree that:

you will continue to own and be responsible for Your Content; we will not sell Your Content to any third party;

you are giving us and our affiliate companies a perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use Your Content (with no fees or charges payable by us to you) for the purposes of providing, promoting, developing and trying to improve 9chat and our other services, including new services that we may provide in the future. All such use will, to the extent Your Content contains Personal Information, be in accordance with our 9chat Privacy Policy. As part of this licence, we and our affiliate companies may, subject to the our 9chat Privacy Policy, copy, reproduce, host, store, process, adapt, modify, translate, perform, distribute and publish Your Content worldwide in all media and by all distribution methods, including those that are developed in the future;

you grant other 9chat users a non-exclusive licence to access and use Your Content within 9chat, in accordance with these Terms and 9chat's functionalities;

we may share Your Content with third parties that we work with to help provide, promote, develop and improve 9chat in accordance with the 9chat Privacy Policy;

we may use the name that you submit in connection with Your Content (whether that be your account name, real name or otherwise); and you will comply with these Terms, including our 9chat Acceptable Use Policy, in your submission of Your Content.

In addition, you agree that we and our affiliate companies (subject to these Terms, our 9chat Privacy Policy and applicable laws and regulations):

are allowed to retain and continue to use Your Content after you stop using 9chat;

may be required to retain or disclose Your Content: (a) in order to comply with applicable laws or regulations; (b) in order to comply with a court order, subpoena or other legal process; (c) in order to respond to a lawful request by a government authority, law enforcement agency or similar body (whether situated in your jurisdiction or elsewhere); or (d) where we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with applicable laws or regulations, in each case whether such applicable law or regulation, legal process or government body is of your jurisdiction or elsewhere; may be required to retain or disclose Your Content in order to enforce these Terms or to protect any rights, property or safety of ours, our affiliate companies or other users of 9chat.

You understand that even if you seek to delete Your Content from 9chat, it may as a technical and administrative matter take some time or not be possible to achieve this – for example, we may not be able to prevent any third party from storing or using any of Your Content that you have made public via 9chat. Further information on your rights in relation to Your Content are set out in our 9chat Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to block or remove Your Content for any reason, including as is in our opinion appropriate, as required by applicable laws and regulations or in accordance with the Copyright Policy. We reserve the right to artificially manipulate the visibility, status, or rank of Your Content on 9chat.

You are solely responsible for Your Content. We are not responsible for maintaining a backup of Your Content - we recommend that you keep a back-up copy of it at all times.

You must at all times ensure that: (a) you have the rights required to copy, process, transmit, access, publish, display and use Your Content, and to grant us and other third parties the rights as set out in these Terms; and (b) Your Content (and our use of Your Content in accordance with these Terms) does not infringe or violate any applicable laws or regulations or the rights of any person.

We comply with the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act applicable to Internet service providers (17 U.S.C. §512, as amended) (the "DMCA"). If you have an intellectual property rights-related complaint about any content posted in 9chat, please follow the instructions set out in our Copyright Policy.

We are not responsible for and we do not endorse, support or guarantee the lawfulness, accuracy or reliability of any content submitted to, transmitted or displayed by or linked by 9chat, including content provided by users of 9chat or by our advertisers. You acknowledge and agree that by using 9chat, you may be exposed to content which is inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, offensive or unlawful. Any reliance on or use of any content on or accessible from 9chat by you is at your own risk. Your use of 9chat does not give you any rights in or to any content you may access or obtain in connection with your use of 9chat.

We also do not guarantee the quality, reliability or suitability of any third party services, programs (including any Mini Programs as made available on the 9chat Mini Programs Platform) or websites provided, made available, advertised or linked through 9chat (including any of 9chat's associated platforms or services) and we will bear no responsibility for your use of or relationship with any such third parties services, programs or websites, including any payment obligations or fees that you may incur in your use of such third party services or websites.

We may review (but make no commitment to review) content (including any content posted by 9chat users) or third party programs or services made available through 9chat to determine whether or not they comply with our policies, applicable laws and regulations or are otherwise objectionable. We may remove or refuse to make available or link to certain content or third party programs or services if they infringe intellectual property rights, are obscene, defamatory or abusive, violate any rights or pose any risk to the security or performance of 9chat. There may be, from time to time, third party content, programs and/or services on 9chat that are subject to further terms from that third party – for examples, terms from the relevant third party that originally produced or created such content or service, terms in relation to promotional activities being held on 9chat, terms relating to your use of third party-provided 9chat login functionality or terms governing your use of any Mini Programs provided by a third party. You are solely responsible for reviewing and complying with any such third party terms and conditions.

We have the right to remove, at our sole discretion and without notice to you, any content, programs and/or services that are made available within 9chat (including any of 9chat's associated platforms or services), in accordance with these Terms.

9chat may include advertising or commercial content. You agree that: (a) we may integrate, display and otherwise communicate advertising or commercial content in 9chat and that (where reasonably practicable) we will identify such advertising or commercial content; and (b) as explained in more detail in our 9chat Privacy Policy, we may use targeted advertising to try to make advertising more relevant and valuable to you.

All intellectual property rights in or to 9chat and any 9chat Software (including any future updates, upgrades and new versions to all such 9chat Software), will continue to belong to us and our licensors. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, you have no right to use our intellectual property rights, including our trade marks or product names (for example, “Tencent”, “9chats” or “QQ”), logos, domain names or other distinctive brand features, without our prior written consent. Any comments or suggestions you may provide regarding 9chat are entirely voluntary and we will be free to use these comments and suggestions at our discretion (including using such comments to improve existing services or create new services) without any payment or other obligation to you.

We grant you a limited, personal, on-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferrable, royalty-free and revocable right to use 9chat and any software from us as part of or in relation to your use of 9chat (any such software being the "9chat Software"), solely in accordance with these Terms and subject to any other instructions as provided by us to you in relation to your use of 9chat and/or the 9chat Software from time to time. Please note that these terms may be supplemented by terms and conditions applicable to 9chat Software (or specific features within 9chat Software).

You may not copy, modify, create derivative works, reverse compile, reverse engineer or extract source codes from 9chat Software, and you may not sell, distribute, redistribute or sublicense 9chat or the 9chat Software, except in each case to the extent that we may not prohibit you from doing so under applicable laws or regulations or you have our prior written consent to do so. Where applicable laws or regulations entitle you to reverse compile or extract source codes from 9chat Software, you will first contact us to request the information you need.

We may from time to time provide updates to 9chat Software. Such updates may occur automatically or manually. Please note that 9chat Software may not operate properly or at all if upgrades or new versions are not installed by you. We do not guarantee that we will provide any updates for any 9chat Software, or that such updates will continue to support your device or system. All updates to the 9chat Software are part of the 9chat Software and subject to these Terms, except as otherwise specified by us.

For the purposes of these Terms, “9chats Software” includes any items, content or features (the "Items") within the 9chat Software – for example, Stickers, games or other downloadable items within 9chat, and any content accessed or used by you within 9chat. You must comply with any Additional Terms applicable to any such Items. We will notify you of any such additional terms and conditions within 9chat, within an Appendix to these Terms and/or in another manner. We may grant you a limited right to use these Items upon payment by you of "real world money" as applicable from time to time. You acknowledge that you do not own these Items and the amounts associated with such Items do not refer to any credit balance of real currency or the equivalent. We may eliminate these Items from 9chat at any time, and we have no liability to you in the event that we exercise these rights.

For the purpose of these Terms, "9chat Software" also includes any APIs we make available to you for use in connection with 9chat or the 9chat Software. You must comply with any Additional Terms applicable to such APIs.

We may in our discretion provide technical support for 9chat (whether for free or for a fee). We provide technical support without any guarantee or warranty of any kind, and subject always to these Terms.

Certain 9chat Software may contain software that are subject to “open source” licences (the “Open Source Software”). Where we use such Open Source Software, please note that:

there may be provisions in the Open Source Software's licence that expressly override these Terms, in which case such provisions shall prevail to the extent of any conflict with these Terms; and we will credit the relevant Open Source Software used in 9chat Software within an Appendix to these terms and/or within the relevant 9chat Software.

In order for us to provide 9chat to you, we may require virtual access to and/or use of your relevant device (e.g. mobile phone, tablet or desktop computer) that you use to access 9chat – for example, we may need to use your device's processor and storage to complete the relevant 9chat Software installation, or we may need to access your contact list to provide certain interactive functions within 9chat.

We will provide further information regarding how 9chat uses and accesses your device within 9chat or in another manner (e.g. via the relevant ap