CANDIDCOMMENT™ TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE
Effective Date: 1 August 2026
Operator: CandidComment™, a Virginia Sole Proprietorship (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”)
Service: The CandidComment™ website, mobile applications, and related online features (collectively, the “Service”)
1. Acceptance of These Terms
These Terms and Conditions of Use (these “Terms”) form a binding legal agreement between you (“you,” “your,” or “User”) and the Company governing your access to and use of the Service. By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the Service.
We may revise these Terms as provided in Section 18. Your continued use of the Service after revised Terms become effective constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.
2. Definitions
“Content” means any text, comment, post, image, video, audio, link, profile information, or other material submitted to, transmitted through, or displayed on the Service.
“User Content” means Content that you or another User submits to or through the Service.
“Minor” means, consistent with Virginia Code § 59.1-577.1, any natural person younger than sixteen (16) years of age.
“Child” means, consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and Virginia Code § 59.1-575, any natural person younger than thirteen (13) years of age.
3. Eligibility and Age Requirements
3.1 Minimum Age. The Service is a social media platform and is not directed to children. You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to create an account or use the Service. We do not knowingly permit any Child under the age of thirteen (13) to register for, access, or use the Service or to provide any personal information. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a Child in a manner inconsistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6506) and its implementing Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 312), we will delete that information as described in our Privacy Policy.
3.2 Age Screening for Minors. As required by Virginia Code § 59.1-577.1, we use commercially reasonable methods, including a neutral age-screening mechanism, to determine whether a User is a Minor (younger than sixteen). Information collected for the purpose of determining a User’s age is used only for age determination and to provide age-appropriate experiences, and is not used for any other purpose.
3.3 Daily Time Limit for Minors. For any User determined to be a Minor, we limit use of the Service to one (1) hour per day, per application or service, unless a parent or legal guardian provides verifiable parental consent to increase or decrease that daily limit. A parent or legal guardian may submit or modify such consent through the mechanism described in our Privacy Policy.
3.4 Device Signals. We treat a User as a Minor where the User’s device communicates or signals that the User is, or is to be treated as, a Minor, including through a browser plug-in, privacy setting, device setting, or other recognized mechanism.
3.5 Representations of Age. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that the age and date-of-birth information you provide is true and accurate, and that you are not barred from using the Service under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia or the United States. If you are between thirteen (13) and seventeen (17) years of age, you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf.
3.6 No Additional Parental Access. Nothing in these Terms requires the Company to give any parent or legal guardian who grants verifiable parental consent any additional or special access to, or control over, the data or account of a Minor, except as required by applicable law.
4. Account Registration and Security
4.1 Registration. To access certain features, you must register for an account and provide accurate, current, and complete information. You agree to keep your account information updated.
4.2 Credentials. You are responsible for safeguarding your password and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security.
4.3 One Account. You may not maintain more than one account without our prior written consent, impersonate any person or entity, or register an account on behalf of anyone other than yourself except as expressly permitted for a parent or legal guardian acting for a Minor.
5. Acceptable Use and Prohibited Conduct
You agree that you will not, and will not attempt to, use the Service to:
post, transmit, or share Content that is unlawful, defamatory, libelous, fraudulent, obscene, pornographic, harassing, threatening, hateful, or that incites violence;
post sexually explicit material involving, or otherwise sexualize, any Minor, or engage in any grooming, solicitation, or exploitation of a Minor;
infringe or violate the intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights of any person;
impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
transmit any virus, malware, or other harmful code, or interfere with, disrupt, or overburden the Service or its infrastructure;
engage in unauthorized data collection, scraping, harvesting, or use of automated means to access the Service without our prior written consent;
use the Service to send unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, spam, or chain communications;
attempt to gain unauthorized access to any account, computer system, or network connected to the Service; or
use the Service in violation of any applicable federal, state, or local law or regulation.
We reserve the right, but assume no obligation, to monitor, review, remove, or restrict access to any User Content, and to investigate and take appropriate action against any User who violates these Terms.
6. User Content and License
6.1 Ownership. You retain ownership of the intellectual property rights you hold in your User Content. We do not claim ownership of your User Content.
6.2 License to Us. By submitting User Content to the Service, you grant the Company a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, reproduce, display, adapt, publish, and distribute that User Content solely for the purposes of operating, providing, promoting, and improving the Service. This license ends when your User Content is deleted from the Service, except to the extent your User Content has been shared with others who have not deleted it, or where retention is required by law.
6.3 Your Representations. You represent and warrant that: (i) you own or have the necessary rights to submit your User Content and to grant the license in Section 6.2; and (ii) your User Content does not violate these Terms or any applicable law.
6.4 Responsibility for Content. You are solely responsible for your User Content and the consequences of posting it. We are not responsible for, and do not endorse, any User Content.
7. Intellectual Property; Trademarks
The Service, including its design, text, graphics, software, and the “CandidComment™” name and marks, is owned by the Company or its licensors and is protected by Virginia, United States, and international intellectual property laws. Except for your User Content and as expressly permitted by these Terms, you may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from any part of the Service without our prior written consent. “CandidComment™” and associated logos are trademarks of the Company; nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use them.
8. Copyright Policy; DMCA Notice and Takedown
We respect the intellectual property rights of others and comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512.
8.1 Notification of Claimed Infringement. If you believe that Content on the Service infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to our Designated Copyright Agent that includes: (i) a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorized agent; (ii) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; (iii) identification of the material claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to locate it; (iv) your contact information; (v) a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (vi) a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
Designated Copyright Agent: Dave Briggman, Owner, CandidComment™, 7556 Mountain Valley Road, Keezletown, Virginia 22832, Email: admin@candidcomment.com.
8.2 Counter-Notification. If your Content was removed and you believe it was removed in error, you may submit a counter-notification containing the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g).
8.3 Repeat Infringers. We will, in appropriate circumstances, terminate the accounts of Users who are repeat infringers.
9. Third-Party Links and Content
The Service may contain links to third-party websites, services, or Content that we do not own or control. We are not responsible for the content, policies, or practices of any third party, and your use of any third-party service is at your own risk and subject to that third party’s terms.
10. Interactive Service; No Endorsement
The Service is an interactive computer service that publishes information provided by Users. Consistent with 47 U.S.C. § 230, the Company is not the publisher or speaker of User Content, and we are not liable for User Content provided by others. Any decision to monitor, screen, edit, remove, or restrict Content is undertaken in good faith and does not create any obligation to do so or any liability for Content we do not remove.
11. Suspension and Termination
11.1 By You. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time.
11.2 By Us. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms or applicable law, or to protect the Service, other Users, or the public.
11.3 Effect of Termination. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases. Sections that by their nature should survive termination, including Sections 6.2 (as limited), 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, will survive.
12. Disclaimers of Warranties
THE SERVICE AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY CONTENT IS ACCURATE OR RELIABLE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
13. Limitation of Liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY OR ITS OFFICERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE COMPANY’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US, IF ANY, IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (II) ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
14. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company and its officers, members, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or in any way connected with: (i) your access to or use of the Service; (ii) your User Content; or (iii) your violation of these Terms or of any law or the rights of any third party.
15. Dispute Resolution
15.1 Informal Resolution. Before filing any claim, you agree to first contact us at admin@candidcomment.com and attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for at least thirty (30) days after written notice.
15.2 Governing Law. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, and by applicable federal law.
15.3 Exclusive Venue. You and the Company agree that any suit, action, or proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be brought and maintained exclusively in the General District Court of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County, the Circuit Court of Rockingham County, or the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia at Harrisonburg, according to their respective jurisdictional limits. You and the Company irrevocably consent to the personal jurisdiction of, and to venue in, those courts, and waive any objection based on inconvenient forum. Nothing in this provision limits the Company’s right to seek injunctive or equitable relief, or removes any matter over which those courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction.
15.4 Waiver of Jury Trial. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you and the Company waive any right to a trial by jury in any proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service.
15.5 Class-Action Waiver. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you and the Company agree that any claim will be brought only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding.
15.6 Limitations Period. Any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim accrues, to the extent permitted by law, or it is permanently barred.
16. Changes to the Service
We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service or any feature at any time, with or without notice. We are not liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Service.
17. General Provisions
17.1 Entire Agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and the Company regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements.
17.2 Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
17.3 No Waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
17.4 Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
17.5 Notices. We may provide notices to you through the Service or to the contact information associated with your account. You may provide notices to us at the address in Section 19.
18. Changes to These Terms
We may revise these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will post the revised Terms with an updated Effective Date and, where required by law, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Service after the revised Terms take effect constitutes acceptance.
19. Contact Information
CandidComment™, 7556 Mountain Valley Road, Keezletown, Virginia 22832, admin@candidcomment.com.