Updated in November 2023

Community Guidelines

Introduction

These Community Guidelines (“ Guidelines ”) govern “Your” use of our ‘JOSH’ website/mobile application  (“Platform”)  that is operated by VerSe Innovation Pvt. Ltd.  (“VerSe” or “Our” or “our” or “Josh”)  a private company established under the laws of India having its registered office at Helios Business Park,11th Floor, Wing E, Helios Business Park, Outer Ring Road, Kadubeesanahalli, Bengaluru- 560103, Karnataka, India. The terminologies "You", "Your", "User" and "Users" shall be read in context and shall refer to you.

This document is published in accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology Act of 2000 read along with its relevant rules including Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

A. YOUR ACCEPTANCE

Please read these Guidelines carefully before viewing or posting Content on this Platform.  By viewing or posting any Content on this Platform, You agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of these Guidelines.

These Guidelines shall form an integral part of the Terms of Service. You are bound by the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and these Community Guidelines when you begin your use of the Platform.

The Platform facilitates the aggregation of Content from various sources. VerSe merely provides access to various types of content as an intermediary. For the purpose of this policy, any reference to VerSe shall include its affiliates, business partners, parent company, subsidiaries, and sister concerns.

Our mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more accessible and connected. Every day, people come to our Platform to share their stories, see the world through the eyes of others and connect with friends and causes. The conversations that happen on the Platform reflect the diversity of a community of more than one billion people.

We want people to feel safe when using our Platform. For that reason, we've developed a set of Community Guidelines, outlined below. These policies will help you understand what type of content is allowed on the Platform, and what type of content may be reported to us and removed. Because of the diversity of our global community, please bear in mind that something that may be disagreeable or disturbing to you may not violate our Community Guidelines.

VerSe operates the Platform as an Intermediary under the IT Act.

For the purpose of this Policy/ Agreement (“Policy”),  Content shall mean any material including but not limited to text, images, audio, video displayed, broadcasted, published, hosted and communicated to the public on the Platform. For clarity, Content shall also include comments and hyperlinks.

When you use the Platform, You agree to all terms of this Policy, Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If you disagree with any of these terms, please stop using the Platform.

B. CONTENT ON THIS PLATFORM

VerSe is merely an intermediary and a technology provider recognized under the provisions of the Information Technology Act of 2000 read along with its Rules. The content posted on the Platform may be sourced from content providers or posted by users. VerSe holds no control with respect to the content and does not warrant the correctness, validity or legality of the content. VerSe expressly disclaims all warranties and shall not be liable for any violations under civil or criminal law.

As the content on the Platform is not owned by VerSe, it is not responsible for any content posted or available on the Platform.

You agree to post content in good faith only for lawful and non-commercial purposes including education, entertainment, criticism, or spreading information.

You must not access or post content through any unauthorized means, including but not limited to, by using an automated device, script, bot, spider, crawler or scraper.

Don’t post any content with bad intentions or use unauthorized means to post content on the Platform.

You agree that the content posted by you is legal and does not violate any applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies, guidelines and/or norms applicable to the Content in countries where the Content is published, communicated to the public, or distributed by VerSe. You confirm that you are authorized to post the content on the platform. VerSe is not obligated to publish any information or content on the Platform and can remove any Content in its sole discretion, with or without notice to users.

The Content and behavior policies help ensure a positive experience for our users. To be eligible to appear and remain on the Platform Your content should follow the best practices as per our policies and content should not be:

 1.   Hate Speech and Discrimination

Treat others on the Platform with dignity, respect, and a sense of empathy. We encourage valid and well-intentioned expressions of healthy disagreement on the platform. We do not allow any forms of hateful, personal attacks, ad hominem speech, or uncivil disagreement that are intended to harm another user or cause them mental stress or suffering. Examples of hateful or discriminatory speech include comments that encourage violence, racially or ethnically objectionable, or disparage anyone based on their national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disabilities, or diseases. We also prohibit content that could encourage other users to share such content. You are not permitted to use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. You also may not alter your username, display name, or profile bio in such a manner as to appear as if you are engaging in abusive behavior, or which could be reasonably construed as causing harassment to other user(s) or expressing hate.

Certain content  do not to be post, uploaded, stream or shared:

• Content that includes names, symbols, logos, maps, flags, slogans or other objects related to hate and Discrimination.
• Content that promotes, supports, or advertises reformation therapy related to religious practices.
• Content promoting violence, hatred, segregation or discrimination.
• Content that supports hateful ideology against religion, caste, misogyny, LGBTQ or among others.

2.   Religiously Offensive Content

You must always be respectful of the religious faith and beliefs of others regardless of whether or not they share the same views or beliefs as you. You must not publish anything which is hurtful to the sentiments of others, or which insults their religion or customs.

3.     Terrorism and Extremism

You must not threaten or promote any dangerous activities on the Platform. In particular, you must not use the Platform to incite terrorism, secession, acts of violence against a person or property or which threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign nations, or insults another nation. You must not post any content that promotes or encourages users to take actions on behalf of a terrorist or anti-national organization, or recruits and disseminates information for, or furthers the objectives of, such organizations. You must also not garner support or approval for the commission of violent acts during lawful protests or create violence-inducing terror and conspiracy networks on the platform.

4.   Violent and Graphic Content

• Human

You must not use the Platform to make any direct or indirect threats of physical harm against another person. This includes any threat relating to theft, vandalism, wrongful confinement, or bodily, mental or financial harm. The Platform does not permit its users to post content which involves references to mass murder, violent events, or specific means of violence, in particular where vulnerable communities or groups are the primary targets or victims, or which depicts or glorifies any such actions. The Platform does not permit the glorification of violence in any manner including but not limited to celebrating events that have caused physical harm to or hurt the sentiments of any person or group. You must refrain from posting content which depicts torture, injury, mental suffering, death, bodily harm, abduction, kidnapping or other forms of violent content.We allow content but with some limitations to help people raise awareness about issues.

You should not post, share, upload or stream:

• Videos pertaining to people or dead bodies other than those in medical settings.
•  Videos and photos show the violence among each other.
• Content that shows the violent death of a person.

  ➢ Animal

You should not post any content that is shocking, sadistic, or excessively graphic of the slaughtering of real animals, dismembered, mutilated, burned animal remains or animal cruelty.

You should not post, share, upload or stream:

Videos representing humans killing animals if there is no explicit manufacturing, food consumption or food preparation.

• Images or videos representing animal-to-animal fights in which there is dismemberment of the non-regenerating body in a wild manner.
• Videos or Images showing human torture or abuse against live animals.
• Dismembered, burned, mutilated, or charred animal remains.

5.  Minor Safety

The safety of minors, which includes any person under the age of 18 years, is a major concern here at Josh and the platform seriously commits to protecting the same. So, Josh prohibits any sexual or suggestive content involving minors or someone who appears to be a minor. This includes child sexual abuse imagery, child pornography, and any other content, including fantasy content (e.g. stories, “loli”/anime cartoons), that depicts, encourages or promotes pedophilia, child sexual exploitation, or otherwise sexualizes minors or someone who appears to be a minor. Depending on the context, this can in some cases include depictions of minors that are fully clothed and not engaged in overtly sexual acts. We do not allow sexually explicit or gratifying content on our Platform, including animated content of this nature. Sexualized content carries many risks, such as triggering legal penalties in some jurisdictions and causing harm to our users through sharing non-consensual imagery (for example, revenge porn). Also, overtly sexual content can be offensive within certain cultures. We do allow exceptions around nudity and sexually explicit content for educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic purposes. If you are unsure about a piece of content involving a minor or someone who appears to be a minor, do not post it.

Certain content do not post, share, upload or stream:

• Content that contains minors in a sexualized way or otherwise sexualizes the minor.
• Content that encourages child abuse imagery including nudity, or sexual activity with minors.
• Content representing a minor undressing.

6.  Adult Nudity and Sexual Content

Josh do not allow content pertaining to nudity, pornography or any other sexually explicit content on the platform. The platform also does not allow content that either supports any sort of non-consensual sexual act, or shares any non-consensual sexual act, intimate imagery or adult sexual solicitation. Nudity and sexual content also include any kind of content that contains overtly revealing breasts, genitals, anus or buttocks or any behavior that is aimed at mimicking, displaying or implying sexual act. We allow content that is posted for Education, Documentary, public awareness or for artistic purposes.

7.  Cyberbullying and Harassment

Users should feel safe to express themselves without fear of being shamed, humiliated, bullied, or harassed. We deeply understand the psychological distress that abusive content can have on individuals, and we do not tolerate abusive content or behavior on our platform. Content aimed at degrading or shaming an individual’s personal activity shall be removed from the platform. Users need to report any content that is aimed at harassing another person or intending to degrade or shame any individual.

8. Suicide and Self-Harm

Content containing suicide, self-harm or encouraging participation in dangerous activities is not allowed on the platform. Content that depicts self-harm, glorifies self-injury or suicide as well as posts that even state instructions as to how to commit suicide or self-harm in any means is prohibited. Content indulged in providing support to those undergoing serious issues is allowed.

9.  Invasion of Privacy

Josh expects users to be respectful towards the privacy of others. You must refrain from publishing, sharing, or encouraging the publication of any personal information of another person or which is invasive of their privacy. Content that discloses someone’s personal data or sensitive personal information, including contact information, address, financial information, Aadhar Number, passport information or threatening someone to disclose or use such information are strictly prohibited and not allowed.  

10.   Misinformation and Fake News

We don't allow audio, video, or image content that's been manipulated to deceive, defraud, or mislead by means of creating a representation of actions or events that verifiably didn't take place. This includes if such content would cause a reasonable person to have a fundamentally different understanding or impression, such that it might cause significant harm to groups or individuals, or significantly undermine participation or trust in electoral or civic processes. Users must refrain from using artificial or manipulative ways to generate traffic or to increase their followers or views, comments as well as shares.

11.  Identity Theft and Impersonation

Do not impersonate or pose as another person, brand, or organization to deceives or misleads users about the origin of the content. You are encouraged to voluntarily verify yourself and ensure that all the details provided in your profile are accurate and do not, in any manner, constitute misrepresentation.

12.  Vulgar language & profanity

We do not allow content that is excessively gruesome or shocking, especially that promotes or glorifies abject violence or suffering. We do allow exceptions for certain circumstances, for example, content that is newsworthy or meant to raise awareness about issues. When we identify a genuine risk of violence or threat to public safety, we ban the account and work with relevant legal authorities as necessary and when appropriate.

13.  Malicious Programmes

Do not knowingly post or share information, that is unverified or false or misleading but may be perceived as factual. We have a zero-tolerance policy for morphed or manipulated media, including photoshopped pictures or doctored videos. We do not condone content which may affect citizen-centric processes. We also do not permit any content which may interfere with the results of political elections. You must, to the extent possible, make sure that the content that you post on the Platform is authentic and from a reliable and verifiable source.

14.  Illegal activities and regulated goods

We prohibit the trade, sale, promotion, and use of certain regulated goods, as well as the depiction or promotion of criminal activities. Some content may be removed if it relates to activities or goods that are illegal or regulated in the majority of the region or world, even if the activities or goods in question are legal in the jurisdiction of posting. We allow exceptions for content that provides value to the public, such as educational, scientific, artistic, and newsworthy content. Any content promoting or selling weapons, firearms, explosives, illegal goods or services, regulated goods, drugs, controlled substances, soliciting or selling sexual services is not allowed on the platform and is strictly prohibited.

Content that is related to or encourages money laundering or gambling is strictly prohibited.

Content containing computer viruses, malware, or any other kind of computer code aimed at restricting the functionality of a computer resource is not allowed to be uploaded on the Platform. Please ensure that the content posted by you is not illegal, immoral or unethical.

15.  Intellectual Property (Copyright and Trademark Infringement)

You acknowledge, confirm and agree that all intellectual property rights in the content you post vest with you or you have a valid license to post, display, reproduce, make copies, broadcast and communicate to the public such Content on the Platform.You acknowledge, confirm and agree that all intellectual property rights in the Platform, whether registered or unregistered, including but not limited to its software, interface, webpages, database, name and logo vest in VerSe. You shall not claim any right in any of the aforementioned forms of intellectual property.

You own the content posted by you. VerSe owns all the rights in the Platform.

When you post content on the Platform, you grant VerSe a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, transferable, irrevocable, royalty-free, unlimited license to use, commercially use,  cache, store, publish, display, distribute, and store such Content, including underlying works in the content, posted by you. You agree, understand and confirm that you are liable to pay any license fee, royalty, or any other consideration applicable to the content posted by you.

You grant VerSe a right to use the content posted by you on the Platform.

Other than as expressly set forth in this Policy, you shall not copy, modify, publish, transmit, upload, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in this Section), create derivative works based on, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content, software, materials, or Services in whole or in part.

Do not use any content posted on the Platform for unauthorized purposes.

If you remove any Content from the Platform or terminate your use of the Platform, VerSe may keep and use your Content on its sole discretion and for any lawful purpose. VerSe and its users may retain and continue to use, store, any of your content even after the date of termination of your use.

VerSe retains the right to use content even after you remove it from the Platform.

16. Deepfake

We do not allow deepfake content (including images, videos, audios, gifs, and URLs hosting deepfake content) to be posted, uploaded, streamed or shared on our Platform as it might cause harm to individuals or groups, create widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, cause serious harm or significantly undermine participation or trust in electoral or civic processes. Users must refrain from using deepfake content to boost traffic, increase followers, or gain views, comments, and shares.

Deepfake content is defined as manipulated, synthetic or falsified audio or visual media that seem authentic, and which feature people that appear to say or do something they have never said or done, produced using artificial intelligence techniques. Deepfakes can best be understood as a subset of a broader category of AI-generated 'synthetic media', which not only includes video and audio but also photos and text.

Josh reserves the right to remove or restrict account access for Users whom we have reason to believe have uploaded Deepfake content on the Platform. In evaluating such acts, We may share information with subject matter experts or law enforcement.

C. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

You represent, covenant and warrant that the content posted by you does not violate any term of this Policy or any law in force in the territory in which you are posting the content or any law in force in the territory in which content can be displayed, broadcasted, published, used, communicated to public, reproduced or copied.

You further represent, covenant and warrant that you own or have a valid license to post the content, including underlying works in the content, on the platform and fulfill your obligations under this Policy.

You confirm that your post is legal and you have a right to post it.

VerSe makes no warranties under this Policy. And VerSe expressly disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to:

• express or implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement with respect to the Platform(s) or any other aspect;
• Warranties with respect to any and all content;
• warranties as to the quality or performance of the Platform(s), services, and technology including but not limited to the availability of any advertisement; and
• warranties that the Platform(s) and/or the services offered by it will be uninterrupted, timely, or error-free.

VerSe makes no warranties with respect to the Platform.

D. INDEMNITY

You will indemnify and hold VerSe and its affiliates, business partners, and their directors, officers and employees, harmless, including costs and attorneys' fees, harmless from any claim or demand made by any third party arising out of or in connection with the Content posted by you, any violation of this policy by you, or any other illegal act done by you.

If VerSe is sued because of anything you do on the Platform, you have to pay the costs.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, VerSe and/or its affiliates shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, or any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from (a) Your access to or use of or inability to access or use the platform; (b) any conduct or content of any third party on the platform, including without limitation, any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third parties; or (c) unauthorized access, use or alteration of your transmissions or content. In no event shall VerSe's aggregate liability for all claims relating to the platform exceeds ₹ 5000(₹ five thousand only).

E. OUR LIABILITY IS LIMITED

This limitation of liability is part of the basis of the bargain between you and VerSe and shall apply to all claims of liability (e.g. warranty, tort, negligence, contract, law) and even if VerSe or its affiliates have been told of the possibility of any such damage, and even if these remedies fail their essential purpose.

F. NOTICE AND GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL MECHANISMS

Notice is specifically given that VerSe is not responsible for the Content or Advertisements accessible through the Platform. VerSe reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove and/or disable access to Content claimed to infringe third-party rights and/or terminate the accounts of the Users of the Platform who may infringe upon the intellectual property or other rights of VerSe and/or other third parties.

• Grievance Redressal Mechanism

VerSe has implemented the following mechanism for dealing with grievances:

Grievances or concerns regarding violations of Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Community Guidelines must be addressed to the “Resident Grievance Officer”. The Resident Grievance Officer can be reached by email at grievance.officer@myjosh.in  or by mail as per detailed in the below table. The complaint must contain such information as is necessary in order for VerSe to dispose of the complaint.

You may contact:

Scope	Name/ Title	Email-Id
For Grievance redressal	Grievance Officer: Mr. Nagraj	grievance.officer@myjosh.in
For Law Enforcement Coordination	Nodal Officer: Mr. Ramanujan N   C	nodal.officer@myjosh.in
For Regulatory Compliance	Compliance Officer	compliance.officer@myjosh.in

Any person/entity who is aggrieved by the content or advertisement published on the Platform may file a complaint against such content or advertisement. The legal heir, agent or attorney of the aggrieved person/entity may also file a complaint against such content or article. If the complaint does not fall under the ambit of a crime, then an unrelated person/entity, who has no interest in or is not aggrieved by the content or the advertisement cannot file a valid complaint against the content or the advertisement.If you are an agent or attorney of the aggrieved party, then you are required to submit documentary proof, establishing your right to file a complaint on behalf of the aggrieved party. Alternatively, by writing to us at:

Ver Se Innovation Private Limited

11th  Floor, Wing E, Helios Business Park,

Outer Ring Road, Kadubeesanahalli,

 Bengaluru- 560103, Karnataka, India

A complaint or other issue faced by a user of our product may be submitted through email at the below address. The complaint should provide: (i) the username of the relevant account holder (ii) specific content/video that is of concern and (iii) reason(s) for such a takedown request.

The complaint must contain such information as is necessary in order for JOSH to dispose of the complaint. All notices to JOSH hereunder shall be in writing and shall be duly given if delivered personally or sent by registered mail, return receipt requested, or facsimile to the above address or emailed.

I have read and understood the terms of this User Agreement and I hereby, out of my free will, unconditionally accept to be bound by the same.

If you have any grievances or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, you may contact JOSH’S Grievance Officer by email or mail. You may send your grievances to the email address grievance.officer@myjosh.in   with the subject  “Privacy Grievance” . You may also contact the Grievance Officer at the above methods via email or by writing a letter.