Community Standards Last update 1 year ago

Introduction

We’re cultivating a space for a community that wants to play a part in changing how the world works together. We’ve built a global network of writers, designers, producers, videographers, business owners, and professionals across hundreds of industries, who use Freelancing.am every day to create something they believe in. We’re inspired by each and every one of our community members. We value their perspectives, beliefs, and views—they are what makes Freelancing.am so dynamic.

In order to maintain a respectful, inclusive, and safe environment for everyone, we’ve created a set of community standards to serve as a moral compass for behavior on our platform. These standards help define what is acceptable in the Freelancing.am community and marketplace, both in face-to-face interactions and online communications. They aren’t tied to any law, but are used to govern our platform policies. They reflect our attitudes, expectations, and social norms. Our community standards are rooted in our core values — respect, safety, acceptance, support, and open-mindedness.

Just like our community, these standards will continue to grow, evolve, and change. We have embedded examples in the community standards for unacceptable activities on Freelancing.am. Please note that these are intended to be examples only and not a complete list.

We encourage our community to use our reporting tools when encountering anything that is unacceptable. We want to create the best experience for all community members, and ask that you respect and follow these guidelines.

Integrity and Authenticity

In order to maintain a safe, respectful, fair, and trustworthy marketplace, Freelancing.am is taking proactive steps to prevent any abusive practices that may undermine the integrity of our platform or the authenticity of our users.

Any activity aimed to deliberately manipulate the platform tools and features will lead to permanent suspension of user accounts involved in such behavior.

Account Integrity

Multiple Accounts

In order to buy and/or sell services on Freelancing.am you may have only one account. Creating multiple accounts on Freelancing.am can be misleading to other users and is considered a manipulation of our system. Any violation of this policy can lead to permanent suspension of the account(s) involved in this activity.

It is prohibited to open multiple accounts on Freelancing.am in order to (including but not limited to):

· Gain a competitive advantage

· Harass/mislead other users through messaging and/or ordering systems

· Engage in any fraudulent activity

· Abuse the Freelancing.am Referral program

· Bypass a restriction—or permanent suspension—of a previous account

· Violate Freelancing.am’s Terms of Service and/or our Community Standards in any other way and/or manipulate the system

Do not share your authentic credentials (personal email, payment information, phone number) that could be used to create multiple accounts on your behalf.

Fake Identity

We do not allow accounts to pose as another person or entity in a misleading manner.

It is prohibited to:

· Use a fake name, gender, photo, or any fictional or false biographical details in your user profile

· Present a fake document(s) if asked to verify your identity

· Use AI-generated imagery/video to create or verify an account on Freelancing.am, with the purpose of impersonating another person—or misrepresenting yourself

· Impersonate other people by creating or using an account that deliberately misrepresents your identity, with the intention to mislead or deceive others

· Use automated programs and tools to misrepresent your actual location

· Create a Freelancing.am profile with your personal information/credentials for anyone other than yourself

Do not share your authentic credentials (personal email, payment information, phone number) that could be used to create fake accounts on your behalf. Freelancing.am reserves the right to permanently suspend accounts which represent a fake identity.

Misrepresentation

Misrepresentation is defined as fraudulent, negligent, or innocent misstatements, or an incomplete statement of a material fact.

It is prohibited to:

· Write misleading content in your profile description, skills section, professional background, and/or education

· Include a Freelancing.am seller badge, seller level, or any reference to a star-rating in your Gig images, seller intro video, profile picture, or any other Gig components

· Copy Gig descriptions, packages, and/or other content from another user’s Gig listing or their profile page

· Raise the price of your Gig service in personal messages before or after purchase. Bait-and-switch marketing is not permitted

· Have someone else represent you in your Gig, without clearly stating who they are. Post content you do not have the right to use in a Gig description and/or profile

Inauthentic Behavior

Spam

We define spam on Freelancing.am as a messaging activity that is unwanted, repeatedly occurring, and disruptive to the recipient’s experience. Spam can take many forms ranging from unwanted offers to commercially-motivated solicitations that aim to drive traffic or attention to websites, products, and services outside of Freelancing.am.

Do not:

· Abuse our communication tools to send unsolicited or deceptive messages

· Distribute malware, phishing, or other potentially harmful content through Freelancing.am communication tools

· Use any artificial tools and/or automated processes (through software, scripts, bots, or any other means) to send mass messages

· Contact Freelancing.am users with offers, questions, suggestions, or anything unrelated to their Gigs, requests, or orders

· Ask other users to guide you on how to start selling on Freelancing.am through Freelancing.am communication tools

· Send direct messages to promote your services or specific Gigs to buyers

· Ask for donations or free work

Not only does this activity undermine the integrity of our platform, it also violates the privacy of our members and is potentially harmful. If you encounter spam, please report it.

Feedback Manipulation

Reviews provided by buyers are an essential part of Freelancing.am’s rating system. They convey the quality of services provided by sellers, their professional skills and experience, and overall buyer satisfaction. Therefore, it is important that reviews be authentic and reliable messages to maintain a trusted and credible marketplace.

Do not:

· Manipulate the review system in any way to represent deceitful information about the seller and/or their service, either as a buyer or a seller

· Purposely provide deceitful, unsolicited feedback

· Purchase or sell a service with the sole intent to falsely increase ratings and/or levels

· Pressure a buyer to edit or remove feedback or a review from the platform

· Pressure a buyer to add a 5-star review or give more positive feedback than they are already willing to provide

· Withhold the delivery of service or any information required to complete the service with the intent to gain favorable reviews

· Pressure a seller to deliver free extras or make changes not included in the ordered service by threatening to leave negative feedback

Any attempt to manipulate reviews is prohibited and may result in a permanent suspension of all related accounts. This includes either direct or indirect manipulation of feedback by contributing false, misleading, or inauthentic content, placing orders determined to have been arranged or strategically placed to artificially boost seller ratings, or by abusing the platform by making purchases from multiple accounts.

Should you suspect feedback manipulation or any other violations of these policies, please report it.

Reporting Abuse

On Freelancing.am, we value each and every one of our community members and aim to maintain a respectful, inclusive, and safe environment for everyone. We encourage our community to use our reporting tools when encountering anything that is unacceptable.

However, we ask you not to misuse these tools in ways that result in unfounded complaints.

Do not:

· Abuse Freelancing.am reporting tools, complaints to Customer Support, and appeals processes by making groundless, targeted, litigious, or frivolous reports

· Send multiple reports on the same issue without allowing for a response from our Trust and Safety team

Freelancing.am reserves the right to withdraw multiple invalid reports and flag accounts involved in such activity.

Referral Abuse

With the Freelancing.am Referral program, you can earn rewards for yourself and your friends who sign up to Freelancing.am per your invitation. Referral program abuse might occur when a group of accounts created for the sole purpose of system manipulation, refers to each other to gain a referral bonus.

Do not:

· Create fake accounts in order to gain referral credit

· Attempt to manipulate or exploit the current referral program

Freelancing.am reserves the right to permanently suspend accounts which are involved in violation of Referral program rules.

Manipulation

Any improper behavior aiming to manipulate Freelancing.am platform tools and systems does not align with Freelancing.am values and harms the entire Freelancing.am community. To create a fair and respectable marketplace, we ask that you do not attempt to subvert our policies which have been put in place to protect platform and marketplace trust and quality.

This includes, but is not limited to:

· Excessive cancellations practice

· Using the delivery button to send an incomplete, partial, or empty delivery

· Sending multiple requests on the same issue without allowing for a response from our Customer Support team

Any attempts to access the platform through unauthorized methods, affect and manipulate the Freelancing.am ranking system, send artificial web traffic to Gigs, offer to sell/buy Freelancing.am accounts, scrape data from the platform, or undermine the security and integrity of our marketplace in any way are strictly prohibited.

Illegal and Prohibited Services

Freelancing.am is an open marketplace where users can offer or request a great variety of services. However, for a number of reasons, we prohibit certain types of services on Freelancing.am. Some services can pose unwanted risks for our users like privacy or financial risks; others are simply not in line with our values and policies.

Please note that examples included below are not an exhaustive list. We may update what is considered an illegal or prohibited service from time to time. We may also take action in response to a violation of the intent of this policy—if we encounter a new threat or harm that is not explicitly outlined below.

Illegal Services

We require our users to abide by all applicable laws and regulations. Users may not offer or request services related to illegal activity, or ones that promote, approve, or enable any unlawful behavior. Freelancing.am reserves the right to permanently suspend user accounts involved in violation of this policy.

To protect our community, Freelancing.am is committed to enforce its policies against any illegal activity and behavior on the platform. Should you see an item that appears to violate these policies, please report it.

Please note that Freelancing.am reserves the right to report illegal activity to law enforcement authorities.

Prohibited Services

Services with the potential to cause harm to our users

In order to protect the Freelancing.am community, we do not allow any services or activities which could intentionally or unintentionally harm our users, other individuals, property, or animals. This includes both physical harm, significant risk of societal harm, endangerment of individuals’ rights and freedoms, etc.

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for services that are meant to cause harm, including but not limited to:

· Promoting prohibited or potentially dangerous goods (firearms, ammunition, drugs, and controlled substances), or encouraging others to make, use, or trade these goods

· Any level of sexual exploitation, abuse, or human trafficking

· Providing fake or misleading documents, including the creation of—or any kind of modification to—official documents such as IDs, passports, driver’s licenses, bank statements, death or birth certificates, etc.

· Content which is related to glorification and/or incitement to violence, or any other criminal and harmful behavior towards an individual, group, or animals

· The intention to create or promote the spread of fake news and disinformation

· Providing licensed professional services without the required certifications and/or qualifications, ex. legal counsel, financial or tax advice, etc.

· Attempts to hack or crack any system (accounts, profiles, networks, etc.) with the intent to obtain unauthorized access to sensitive personal and/or financial information of individuals, entities, or governmental institutions

· Creating or contributing to any information security hazard for individuals, entities, governmental institutions (DDOS attacks, doxxing, impersonation, distribution of malware, phishing and other hacking techniques, etc.)

User accounts involved in violation of this policy will be permanently suspended.

Services that can pose financial risks for our users

Freelancing.am cares about the financial safety of our users and takes security of their private financial information very seriously. Services that may put our users at risk of exposing their sensitive financial information are strictly prohibited.

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for the services that require getting access to other user’s sensitive financial information, such as:

· Opening, managing, or implementing changes to a financial account of any kind

· Providing a loan, buying or selling currency or cryptocurrency, or trading binary options, or any other financial instruments

· Mining cryptocurrency

· Removing negative remarks from the credit score or credit history of a person, entity, or government institution, or any other credit repair related services

· Trading signals, indicators, or pre-made trading strategies

Services that infringe third parties’ terms of service

A third party is a company or a person, other than Freelancing.am, that is indirectly involved in the services you offer or request. As a valued member of the Freelancing.am community, we ask you to respect the broader Internet community and follow the terms of service (TOS) of other platforms and companies.

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for services that violate or might potentially violate a third party’s terms of service.

Before creating a Gig, we encourage all sellers to review the terms of service of any third party involved in the service. And we encourage buyers to avoid requesting services or ordering Gigs that could be in violation of a third party’s terms of service. Freelancing.am reserves the right to take relevant actions against users who infringe the terms of service of any third party.

Services which violate intellectual property rights

In accordance with various laws—and our commitment to protect the work of our creative community, Freelancing.am does not permit any service that violates the intellectual property (IP) rights of individuals and/or businesses, and will take measures against those who provide or request such services, and so help to protect our creative community.

Read more about services that violate intellectual property rights.

Misleading or Deceptive Services

To protect our community from any form of fraudulent activity, Freelancing.am prohibits services which are intended to mislead, manipulate, or deliver deceiving or inauthentic content.

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for any services intended to mislead or deceive others, including:

Deepfakes

Any video, photo, or audio recording that has been substantially modified by altering its sequence or composition, or by modifying the original audio in a way that fundamentally changes the original media’s understanding, meaning, or context (including those created with the help of generative AI tools and programs).

Due to the high risk of spreading misinformation, non-consensual content, and illegal activity through deepfake techniques, Freelancing.am does not allow any creation of deepfakes on the platform.

Fake reviews

Any (positive, neutral, or negative) review—written, video, or otherwise—that is not an honest and impartial opinion or that does not reflect a genuine experience of a product, service, or business.

User accounts involved in violation of this policy will be permanently suspended.

Fake engagement or traffic

Any forms of artificial engagement through bots, click farms, or other illegitimate techniques intended to increase followers, views, likes, fans, or traffic. Such techniques are in direct violation of third parties’ terms of service and practices, and undermine the integrity and confidence of our platform.

Promising financial or personal benefits

Any promise of financial or personal outcomes which are not in a seller’s control, including any unreasonable or overstated claims of what a buyer may achieve by acquiring a seller’s services.

This includes but is not limited to guarantees or promises related to:

· Restoring buyer’s access to online accounts (ex. Amazon, Facebook, eBay, etc.)

· Specific monetary earnings or specific profit/return rate on an investment

· Wins, higher levels, in-game currency, or profits in any game or app

· Results related to healing or treating medical issues or promises of mind control

Homework and academic services

Freelancing.am’s marketplace is open for sellers to offer any creative and productive service they wish to propose. With that being said we ask to refrain from offering or asking for any academic work. Taking part in doing someone else’s academic work (which will likely be submitted as the student’s own work) or requesting academic work to be done for you, is unethical since it violates most schools’ Honor Codes and may constitute copyright infringement. Freelancing.am does not allow these types of fraudulent activities and it will not be permitted on our platform.

Do not post, offer, or ask for writing of homework, academic papers, bibliography, letters of recommendation, college applications, etc.

Services that involve sharing personal information of third parties

Freelancing.am takes proactive measures aimed to protect privacy rights. In order to ensure this policy, we ask that the information provided within relevant services will be unique to each order, and will contain business data only.

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for any services that breach third-party rights and lead to spamming individuals, such as:

· Any sharing of personal data of individuals, ex. email addresses, phone numbers, etc.

· Premade lists containing personal data of individuals

· Scraping social media platforms to obtain information about others

· Any service that shares confidential personal information, ex. social security numbers, identification cards, credit cards, physical addresses, etc.

Medical-related services

In order to protect the Freelancing.am community, we do not allow services that are meant to provide any medical treatment, medical advice, or medical or pharmaceutical supplies. This refers to both the physical and mental health of the users.

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for any medical-related services, such as:

· Any medical treatment, advice on a medical condition, or pharmaceutical advice

· Any kind of medical drugs or pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, or pharmaceutical supply

· Providing documentation or other evidence meant to fraudulently deceive others about one’s medical status, ex. fraudulent test results, etc.

· Offering to heal, prevent or treat cancer, diabetes, eating disorders, depression, COVID-19, any other disease or medical condition, including emotional therapy

· Creating medical, scientific, or informative content exclusively on COVID-19 that may be used for spreading misinformation

· Creating fake news or promoting of the spread of fake news regarding COVID-19

Services Outside the Freelancing.am Catalog

The Freelancing.am catalog is live and reflects rapid changes happening in the digital environment. We are continually working to make sure our platform provides services that are currently in demand. To this end, we might—from time to time—restructure our catalog and cease to offer certain services. If you are providing one of the discontinued services, we will let you know if your Gig has been removed. This can be a good opportunity to refresh your offerings and provide services that buyers are looking for.

Objectionable Content and User Safety

Adult Content and Sexual Activity

Explicit content meant to be sexually gratifying is not allowed on Freelancing.am. If detected or reported, sexually explicit content will be blocked and participants could be banned from the marketplace. Gigs and deliveries portraying violent, graphic, or humiliating fetishes are also not allowed.

Do not post, offer or ask for:

· Nude or adult related images, or videos

· Sex or sexual partners

· Sex chats or conversation

· Nonconsensual images, including sextortion

· Child/or child-like sex

· Sexual violence or denigration

· Sexually charged modeling

· The execution of fetish scenarios

· Content that depicts explicit sexual activity, unless the conditions for “documentary exception,” as listed below, exist

Freelancing.am will act quickly to block transactions that feature child nudity and will flag the offending account for review.

Documentary Exception

Freelancing.am will allow nudity when the primary purpose is educational, scientific, or artistic, and it isn't gratuitous. For example, a video edit ordered by a midwife depicting proper breastfeeding technique would be appropriate, while creating a video with clips from the same film but used out of context for the purpose of sexual gratification, would not. Out-of-context nudity from indigenous communities, protests, medical procedures, childbirth, artistic performances, breastfeeding or like, may not meet our documentary exception.

Hate Speech and Discrimination

Hate Speech

Freelancing.am defines hate speech as content which is intended to incite violence or hatred against a person or group of people, based on their real or perceived characteristics, which may include race, skin color, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender identity, marital status, religion, age, or disability.

Hate speech may also appear in the form of threatening, derogatory, and dehumanizing language, usage of ethnic or racial slurs, or as content that glorifies or supports hateful narratives and behavior.

Freelancing.am is committed to moving swiftly and decisively to investigate conduct that has been flagged and/or reported to us as hate speech, and will respond in a manner that is consistent with both our Terms of Service and the values of the company. We take hate speech violations very seriously, and may exercise broad discretion when taking action against any users or content that violate this policy.

Do not:

· Use violent and/or dehumanizing speech against a person or group of people based on their real or perceived race, ethnicity, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, marital status, religion, age, or disability

· Use ethnic or racial slurs

· Use hate speech towards another community member(s), group of people, Freelancing.am’s Customer Support representatives, or Freelancing.am as a company

· Offer, agree to provide, or ask for content related to hate speech

· Express support or glorify hate groups, its members, their actions, or any of their shared ideologies

· Upload or share any content on the Freelancing.am platform (including but not limited to a profile page, Gig description, forum thread, message, brief, etc.) which depicts hate imagery, including hate symbols related to these groups like swastikas, hand symbols, or numbers known to reference hateful or discriminatory ideologies

We do allow users to offer or ask for related content that is intended to contribute to:

· The research or raise awareness of hate speech

· The prevention of hate speech practices

Discrimination

Freelancing.am considers any unfair or unequal treatment of a person or group of people based on real or perceived characteristics, such as race, skin color, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender identity, marital status, religion, age, or disability, to be discrimination.

Similarly, if individual traits or characteristics unrelated to the service influence preferential treatment that potentially deprives others of opportunities on the platform, this preference could also be seen as discriminatory.

Do not:

· Express unwillingness to interact and/or work with a person or a group of people based on real or perceived characteristics, such as race, skin color, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender identity, marital status, religion, age, or disability

· Offer, agree to provide, or ask for any content that expresses or supports discriminatory ideas, groups who espouse these ideas, members of such groups, or any actions which share and glorify such ideologies

Should you encounter behavior or content that appears to violate this policy, please report it. Freelancing.am will investigate claims of discrimination on a case-by-case basis, and accounts involved in violation of this policy might be permanently suspended.

Harassment and Abusive Conduct

Freelancing.am prohibits any and all behavior and/or communication on the platform that is inappropriate and could be considered harassment. This includes, but is not limited to:

· Bullying

· Sexual advances

· Offensive comments/conduct

· Discrimination based on real or perceived characteristics, including race, skin color, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender identity, marital status, religion, age, or disability .

When communicating on Freelancing.am, do not:

· Solicit any sexual interaction

· Ask inappropriate personal questions

· Make sexual advances or sexual innuendos

· Use profane, lewd, or derogatory terms

· Use offensive or culturally inappropriate/insensitive language

· Distribute harassing or disturbing materials

Additionally, sellers are strictly prohibited from disclosing buyers' data, including any personal data, to third parties (unless agreed otherwise with the buyer). Any breach of confidentiality or privacy may lead to the permanent suspension of accounts involved.

Should you encounter behavior that appears to violate this policy, please report it.

Self-Harm and Suicide

At Freelancing.am, we care deeply about the safety of our community. To that end, users should not offer, agree to provide, or ask for any content that portrays, glorifies, or promotes suicide and/or other acts of self-harm, including eating disorders.

If someone you're communicating with expresses suicidal thoughts or is engaging in any form of self-harm, we encourage you to contact local authorities immediately and report this.

If you are going through an emotionally-challenging time or struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, we urge you to seek immediate assistance.

Violence and Unlawful Behavior

Violence and Incitement

Prioritizing the safety of our community means taking all threats of violence seriously. This includes proactively mitigating any potential risk of harm to our community or those outside the platform. We will consider language and context to ascertain credible threats and take appropriate action against those who violate this policy. We may also notify law enforcement authorities in cases of imminent threat to life or safety of persons.

Incitement means encouraging or asking other people to engage in unlawful conduct. Be aware that inciting others to commit a crime may be a crime in itself, regardless of the outcome of the request. Other unlawful behaviors include the glorification of violence, which is often demonstrated through celebration, or praising/condoning violence. All of these actions are strictly prohibited on Freelancing.am.

Do not:

· Threaten violence against another community member(s), group of people, Freelancing.am employees, or Freelancing.am as a company

· Make any statements of intent to inflict physical harm towards an individual, group, or animals (ex. murders, mass shootings, animal sacrifice, spells/sorcery which intend to cause harm, etc.)

· Make any statements or share imagery that encourages or incites others to inflict such harm or advocates violence (ex. approval of genocide, support for terrorism, etc.)

· Share hate symbols like swastikas, hand symbols, or numbers known to reference violent ideologies, etc.

· Offer, agree to provide, or ask for any content that threatens, glorifies, promotes, or expresses support for acts of violence against individuals, groups, or the general public

· Urge, provoke someone (through requests or instructions) to break the law or engage in activities of questionable legality

Dangerous Organizations and Individuals

On Freelancing.am, we do not allow content or activities which are directly or indirectly affiliated with, praise, support, or represent dangerous organizations, their members, their actions, or their shared ideologies. Such organizations often use digital platforms to spread their agenda, proliferate messages of hate, and indoctrinate new members to join their cause.

This includes, but is not limited to:

· International and domestic terror organizations

· Criminal organizations and violent groups

· Extremist organizations and individuals

· Hate/conspiracy groups

Freelancing.am reserves the right to permanently suspend user accounts involved in violation of this policy.

Do not:

· Promote or glorify violence, hateful activity, dangerous propaganda, or conspiracy theories

· Express support for or glorify dangerous organizations, their members, their actions, or their shared ideologies

· Offer, agree to provide, or ask for services related to activities of dangerous groups and/or their members or shared ideologies

· Offer, agree to provide, or ask for services which promote violence, conspiracy theories, or propaganda—or supports/advocates for the activity of the above organizations

We do allow users to offer or ask for related services that are intended to contribute to:

· The research of dangerous groups and organizations

· The prevention of terror, extremists, and criminal activity

Misinformation and Fake News

Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread either accidentally or with the deliberate intent to mislead or deceive others (disinformation). Given the potential harm misinformation can cause to individuals and the general public, Freelancing.am will promptly address any efforts to spread misinformation through the platform and/or to the general public. User accounts which violate this policy will be permanently suspended from the platform.

When information is developed and presented in the form of an authentic news article or story, with the intent to mislead or disseminate propaganda, this is considered fake news.

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for services that create, promote, or distribute misinformation or fake news, including political content.

This extends to services that use generative AI tools and/or programs to create, promote, or distribute such content, and includes, but is not limited to the following for the purposes of spreading misinformation at scale:

· Deepfakes, in the form of video, photo, or audio recordings

· Automated processes (software, scripts, bots, etc.)

We do allow to users to offer or ask for related services that are intended to contribute to:

· The research of propaganda and misinformation techniques

· The prevention of creation and distribution of misinformation and fake news

Election Integrity and Political Content

On Freelancing.am, we are committed to fostering a community that values diversity, open discussion, and the free exchange of ideas. To uphold these principles and maintain a safe and trustworthy environment for all users, we strictly prohibit any attempts to use the Freelancing.am marketplace to undermine elections and civic integrity.

Election interference is defined as any attempt to interfere with the voting process or to destabilize and undermine public faith in free and fair elections.

Do not:

· Offer, agree to provide, or ask for services interfering with elections or other democratic processes

· Share misleading information about procedures in election processes

· Incite the disruption, destruction of procedures and/or election infrastructure, or promote violent behavior and threats

· Create fake accounts to misrepresent an affiliation—or share content that falsely represents an affiliation—to a candidate, elected official, political party, or government entity

· Use generative AI tools and/or programs to create or promote content which—in any of the above forms—is intended to undermine an election or other democratic process

We do allow users to offer or ask for related services that are intended to be represented as caricature, satire, parody, or meme.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property Claims (Copyright (DMCA), Trademark Infringement)

Freelancing.am is serious about protecting intellectual property (IP) rights and respects the IP rights of third parties. To this end, we provide necessary mechanisms for intellectual property rights protection.

Since the content uploaded to Freelancing.am’s platform by our users is User Generated Content (UGC), we created and implemented special flows to report intellectual property rights violations (copyright and trademark).

Once a report of all relevant information is received from a rights holder or authorized representative (“reporter”), we will remove or disable access to content that engages in:

· Copyright infringement

· Trademark infringement

Freelancing.am reserves the right to request additional information from a reporter—such as proof of ownership or other documentation.

Services Which Violate Intellectual Property Rights

Do not offer, agree to provide, or ask for services such as:

· Services related to copying or distribution of copyrighted material (digital piracy), such as creating torrent websites, developing platforms for streaming movies and TV shows, selling access to any streaming service account, etc.

· Services involving hacked or cracked software products (programs, apps, themes, templates, games, etc).

· Services which are aimed to intentionally remove the watermark or copyright mark without the owner’s consent or permission.

Freelancing.am reserves the right to permanently suspend accounts which are involved in infringement of intellectual property rights.

Non-Original Design Standards

Freelancing.am values individuals' hard work and creativity. As a platform that supports designers, artists, writers, and creatives around the world, it is essential that original work is presented and delivered at all times. We will take swift and serious action against any non-original work being sent and/or delivered as original work.

The following standards refer to Gig listings and delivered orders in the Graphics & Design and Photography categories on Freelancing.am:

Do not portray, sell, or deliver others' work as your own.

Unique concept and publication

· If working with existing creative elements, designers must implement these elements in a unique way to create a new design concept.

· Delivered work must be customized and unique, meaning the design has not been previously published online or offline and has been invented for the first time.

Gig images

· Any designs or photographs featured in Gig images must be the seller's original work—but can be work previously published on the designer's websites or social media.

· To use a design or photograph from an order delivered on Freelancing.am, the designer must have consent from the buyer who placed the order.

Elements that can be similar

· Generic shapes: Ex.Points, lines, squares, ellipsoids, cones, etc.

· Functional designs: Ex. A circle, a diamond, a heart, ears on a tiger, wheels on a car, green color to convey environmental responsibility, etc.

· Elements not eligible for copyright protection, such as:

· Short phrases like “Show me the money” or “Beam me up”

· Facts and theories like scientific facts or the quantum theory

· Abstract ideas, but not the way an idea is expressed. For example, the basic plot of comics can be an idea but not the way the designer expressed that idea

· Materials commonly found in a work of a particular type, ex. the presence of castles, knights, and dragons in a medieval story; certain elements and details of creative content that are customary or considered necessary to a particular genre

Stock image and template policy

Make sure to have all required licenses for using the stock image or template in your delivery.

Stock images

· All stock images must be from authorized agencies.

· Don’t deliver or post stock images “as is”.

· Stock images can be used in a transformative way as a part of your delivery.

Templates

· If you start your design work with a template, be sure that your final, delivered design is significantly different from the template design, with a new look and feel, a unique concept, and/or transformative use.

· You are permitted to provide a service that relies on templates found online, but this must be specified in your Gig.

· Sellers who heavily rely on templates in their design work will not be eligible for special seller programs on Freelancing.am, ex. Freelancing.am Pro.

The difference between incorporating other sellers' work in your delivery and profit arbitrage

Other sellers’ work can be used in your delivery when you have the rights to use it, and it’s used as an element of your own delivery.

It cannot be used as your own delivery when you are reselling it “as is” with no significant added value or transformative use, under the misconception that it is your original work—and in order to gain profit from price differences. That is called profit arbitrage and it is not permitted on Freelancing.am.

Examples of other sellers’ work that you can use (if you have the rights to reuse it)

· Designs as backgrounds for music videos

· Images for websites or presentations

· Music beds for explainer videos

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Generated Content

Freelancing.am embraces the use of new technology and allows content generated by users with the help of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and programs.

While user expectations are changing to accommodate the increasing prevalence of generative AI tools and programs, sellers who use them to generate content or deliver services must follow the following guidelines.

Sellers must:

· Ensure they have all necessary rights to the content they create, including copyrights

If the content created and/or delivered on Freelancing.am with the help of AI is found to infringe or violate any copyrights, applicable law, or Freelancing.am’s Community Standards, such content will be removed from the platform, and the seller’s account may be permanently suspended

· Comply with the respective tool and/or program’s terms of service and all applicable regulations, such as data protection, privacy, and consumer rights laws

· Offer customized work for each order (and not offer AI-generated content in bulk, where the same work is delivered to multiple buyers)

Both sellers and buyers are prohibited from using AI tools to spread misinformation, nonconsensual content, create deepfakes (in a form of video, photo, or audio recording), fake accounts, or generate faces of humans who do not exist for unlawful purposes.

Buyers should communicate their preference with sellers

When considering services that may or may not use generative AI tools or programs, buyers with a preference for work created and/or delivered without the use of generative AI tools or programs, should clearly communicate this preference to the seller.

If you suspect any misuse or unethical behavior related to generative AI, please report it.

These policies and guidelines will be updated to align with evolving trends and usage in generative AI. Please check back for any updates.

Minors policy

Freelancing.am’s Terms of Service require that all users be at least 18 years of age and of legal age to form a binding contract. Users under 18 and at least 13 years of age are permitted to use the site only through an account owned by their parent or legal guardian with their permission. Those under the age of 13 are not permitted to use the site.

Services Involving Minors

Some Gigs on Freelancing.am involve minors’ participation in the service.

· In cases where the minor is the primary service provider (for example, child voice over), the owner of the account must be the minor’s parent or legal guardian. When this is the case, it must be clearly stated in the Gig components and profile description.

· In cases where the minor is involved in the service creation process (for example, photography for children’s products) it must be clear from the nature of the service that participation of minors is required.

Parents or legal guardians, and sellers who work with minors when providing their services, are required to follow all local child labor laws and regulations.

Users under 18 may not take part in providing the following services on Freelancing.am: dance lessons, modeling, greeting cards & videos, and “your message on”.

No Sexually Explicit Content Featuring Minors

We do not allow sexually explicit content featuring minors or content that seeks to sexually exploit minors, including but not limited to:

· NSFW/lewd illustrations and voiceovers

· erotic stories

· lolicon (or loli), shotacon (or shota) voice overs or anime illustrations

· deepfakes

· any sexually explicit child-like imagery, including those generated by AI tools and programs

We also prohibit to depict and describe minors in a way which could be considered sexually suggestive in nature, violent, or exploitative.

Freelancing.am may use broad discretion when removing content that includes or depicts minors. User accounts involved in violation of this policy can be permanently suspend.