Using Republic
Republic provides profiles, posts, conversations, and account services. These Terms govern your access to Republic and your relationship with the people operating the service. They form an agreement when you affirmatively accept them. The Community Guidelines set the standards for participation. The Privacy Policy explains data practices; acknowledging it is separate from accepting this agreement.
Eligibility and Account Responsibility
You must be at least 13 and meet any higher minimum age required where you live or for your Discord account. If you are below the age of legal adulthood, a parent or guardian must review and permit your participation where required by law. Do not use someone else's age or identity to qualify. Republic does not offer an under-13 account or a parental-consent exception to its minimum age. Ineligible accounts may be restricted.
You remain responsible for the accounts you operate and the material you submit. You may use a chosen name or pseudonym, but must not mislead people about who you represent, fabricate credentials or affiliations, obtain money or sensitive information through false authority, or use an account identity to excuse fraud, threats, harassment, or abuse. Republic badges do not confer professional qualifications, government recognition, or authority to bind Republic's operators.
Discord, Account Switching, and Security
Every participating account must have a verified connection to a personal Discord account. One personal Discord connection can own up to five Republic accounts. Accounts retain separate profiles, posts, preferences, and moderation histories. Switching accounts does not permit evading a restriction. Discord sign-in verifies control of the connected Discord account; it does not verify a legal name, age, citizenship, or ownership of submitted material.
Keep your Discord account secure and comply with Discord's terms. Republic does not need your Discord password. Use delegated access for permitted account collaboration instead of sharing credentials. Saved sessions can expire or be revoked, and renewed verification may be required. Report a compromised account through the account-recovery or legal request channels. Recovery can require reliable ownership evidence; knowing a public handle is not enough.
Your Content and Republic's Permission to Operate
You retain the rights you hold in your writing, artwork, media, and other submissions. Posting does not transfer ownership to Republic. You grant the operators a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free permission to store, reproduce, format, display, transmit, and distribute your submissions to operate Republic, respect your selected audience, provide accessible or technical formats, and carry out moderation.
This permission does not authorize selling your ownership or using restricted communications as public promotional material. It lasts only as needed to provide the service and complete the deletion, backup, legal-preservation, and safety processes described in the Privacy Policy. Replies, quotes, and reposts do not give other users independent ownership or unrestricted commercial reuse of your work.
Permission to Submit Material
Submit material only when you own the necessary rights, have permission, or have another lawful basis to share it. Obtain the permissions needed for other people's images, creative work, and protected information. Credit alone does not replace permission. Parody, quotation, and fair use depend on context and are not blanket exemptions. Do not upload unlawful material or knowingly make false copyright or safety complaints. Copyright notices and counter-notices have separate requirements, and repeat infringement can lead to account restrictions.
Conduct and Technical Access
Follow the Community Guidelines across profiles, posts, replies, reposts, media, links, and all other use of Republic. Pornography, explicit sexual acts, sexualized nudity, and material made primarily for sexual gratification are prohibited, including illustrated and generated material. Consent, a warning, or limited delivery does not create an exception. Child sexual exploitation, grooming, sexual content involving minors, and nonconsensual intimate material are prohibited. Do not threaten people, disclose private information, engage in prohibited hateful conduct, encourage self-harm, manipulate participation, or deceive people about elections, emergencies, or safety.
Do not compromise accounts or systems, bypass permissions or rate limits, collect private data without authorization, distribute malicious code, fabricate engagement, sell account access, or use replacement accounts to evade enforcement. Do not scrape restricted material or interfere with other users. Report security concerns privately through the legal request channel without exploiting them further or publishing personal data.
Moderation, Notices, and Appeals
Republic may investigate reports and credible safety concerns, limit features, label or hide content, remove material, suspend access, or close accounts to enforce these Terms, protect people, comply with law, or address security risks. Decisions consider the content and relevant context. A technical association alone is not proof of misconduct. Relevant evidence may be preserved, and authorities may be notified where legally required or necessary to address a serious threat.
Account notices and Account Standing explain restrictions and available review where appropriate. Details can be withheld to protect another person's information, an investigation, security, or legal obligations. Essential notices appear on Republic and may also be sent through Discord when permitted. Discord delivery depends on account settings, platform restrictions, and connectivity; check on-platform notices even if a Discord alert does not arrive.
Appeal a mistaken moderation decision through its appeal tools or the legal request channel. The outcome depends on the facts and applicable law. Republic is not an emergency response service; contact the appropriate emergency authority for immediate danger.
Leaving Republic and Deleting an Account
Use account privacy controls to request an export or deletion, and edit your profile or privacy choices through the relevant account controls. A deletion request promptly removes the account from ordinary participation and schedules erasure of live account data. Limited records can be retained for safety, rights claims, legal duties, or a documented preservation hold. Deletion cannot retrieve copies other people lawfully saved, third-party caches, or Discord's records. The Privacy Policy explains retention and request channels.
Availability, Reliance, and Responsibility for Losses
Republic is provided as available. We work to operate it reliably but do not promise uninterrupted access, permanent storage, error-free content, or successful delivery of every notification. User submissions are not legal, financial, medical, or official government advice. External services and linked websites have their own terms. To the extent applicable law permits, the operators exclude implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement. Nonwaivable consumer protections and warranties remain in force.
To the extent permitted by law, the operators are not responsible for indirect or consequential losses caused by user content, events described in posts, unavailable third-party services, or interruptions outside reasonable control. Applicable law determines responsibility. These Terms do not exclude liability for fraud, deliberate misconduct, death or personal injury where exclusion is prohibited, or other nonwaivable duties. You remain responsible for unlawful contributions, subject to applicable protections. These Terms impose no mandatory arbitration, class-action waiver, or chosen governing jurisdiction.
Changes and Legal Rights
Published Terms have a version and effective date. Material changes are announced in advance and ordinarily allow at least 14 days before taking effect; any longer legally required period takes priority. When a material version takes effect, ordinary participation requires affirmative acceptance. You may decline and still use privacy, export, deletion, contact, or appeal channels. Editorial corrections retain the acceptance group and do not ordinarily require renewed agreement. A Terms update cannot replace separate consent required for data processing.
Use the Legal & Safety Center for legal, privacy, or contractual concerns. You retain rights to complain to a competent authority and to use available courts and remedies. Mandatory consumer and privacy laws override conflicting provisions. If a provision is unenforceable, the remainder continues to the extent lawful. Delayed enforcement does not automatically waive a rule. An account title, affiliation, or community appointment does not authorize anyone to bind Republic's operators.