AIM250America's Instant Messenger

AIM250 Terms of Service

DRAFT — must be reviewed by a licensed attorney before publication. Generated as a starting point.

Effective date: [EFFECTIVE DATE]

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and [COMPANY/LEGAL ENTITY] ("AIM250," "we," "us," or "our") governing your use of the AIM250 mobile application ("AIM250," "America's Instant Messenger," or the "App"). AIM250 is a United States–only, 17+ social messaging app themed around America's 250th anniversary.

By creating an account or using the App, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the App.

> Please read these Terms carefully. They include important provisions, such as a disclaimer of warranties, a limitation of liability, and — where enforceable — an arbitration agreement and class-action waiver (Section 16). These dispute-resolution provisions, in particular, must be reviewed and finalized by a licensed attorney before publication.

1. Eligibility

To use AIM250, you represent and agree that:

You are at least 17 years old.
You are located in, and using the App from, the United States. AIM250 is offered only in the U.S.; we use IP-based checks and VPN/proxy detection to enforce this and may block or terminate access that appears to evade U.S.-only eligibility.
You will maintain one account (no duplicate or multiple accounts, except as we expressly permit).
The information you provide (including your phone number and profile details) is accurate and current.
You are not barred from using the App under applicable law and are not on any prohibited or sanctioned-party list.

We may refuse, suspend, or terminate accounts that do not meet these requirements.

2. Your Account and Phone Verification

AIM250 uses phone-number sign-in with a one-time SMS code (OTP). There are no passwords.
You are responsible for the phone number and device associated with your account and for activity that occurs through your account.
Keep control of your device and phone number. If you lose or replace your device, you may permanently lose your end-to-end-encrypted buddy-chat history, because the keys needed to decrypt it exist only on that device and there is currently no key backup (see Section 8).
Notify us promptly at support@americasinstantmessenger.com if you believe your account or phone number has been compromised.

3. SMS / Messaging Consent

By providing your phone number and requesting a sign-in code, you consent to receive SMS text messages from us or our SMS provider (Twilio) for account verification and security purposes. Message and data rates may apply, and message frequency varies. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. You can stop receiving codes by not requesting them; doing so may prevent you from signing in. Standard carrier terms apply.

4. The Service

AIM250 lets you message and connect with friends ("patriots") through several surfaces:

1:1 Buddy Chat — end-to-end encrypted direct messages (see Section 8).
Backyard Party — friends-only group chat (optionally anonymous within the group). Not E2EE; monitored.
Town Square — friends-only feed. Not E2EE; monitored.
Outposts — communities. Not E2EE; monitored.

Features include profiles (public username; private first/last name visible only to mutual friends), avatars, presence and away messages, reactions, GIFs (via GIPHY), photo sharing (with EXIF/GPS metadata stripped on-device), delete-for-everyone, clear-thread, mute/read state, friend requests with mutual accept, reporting, and push notifications.

We may add, change, or remove features at any time.

5. Acceptable Use and Community Guidelines

You agree not to use AIM250 to create, send, post, or share content, or engage in conduct, that:

Is illegal or facilitates illegal activity.
Involves child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any sexual content involving minors — strictly and absolutely prohibited and reported to authorities as required by law (including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, NCMEC, where applicable).
Harasses, bullies, threatens, stalks, or intimidates any person.
Promotes or incites violence, terrorism, self-harm, or harm to others.
Is hateful or attacks people based on protected characteristics.
Is sexually explicit in a manner that violates store rules or our guidelines, or constitutes non-consensual intimate imagery.
Doxxes or shares others' private information without consent.
Is fraudulent, deceptive, spammy, or involves phishing, malware, or scams.
Impersonates another person or entity, or misrepresents your affiliation.
Infringes others' intellectual property or other rights.
Attempts to circumvent U.S.-only eligibility (e.g., via VPN/proxy) or any security or moderation measure.
Interferes with the App's operation, attempts to reverse engineer it (except as law permits), scrapes data, or accesses it via unauthorized means.

We operate a zero-tolerance policy for illegal content, CSAM, credible threats, and severe abuse. Violations may result in immediate content removal and account termination, and may be reported to law enforcement.

6. Privacy of Surfaces (What Is and Isn't Private)

1:1 Buddy Chat is end-to-end encrypted. We store only ciphertext and cannot read these messages. See Section 8 for important caveats.
Backyard Party, Town Square, and Outposts are NOT end-to-end encrypted. They are server-readable and safety-monitored: content may be stored, scanned by automated systems and/or reviewed by human moderators, and removed or acted upon for safety and rule enforcement. Do not treat these surfaces as private. Optional anonymity in Backyard Party hides your identity from other group members where offered but does not make content private to us or exempt from moderation.

By using monitored surfaces, you consent to this monitoring and moderation.

7. User-Generated Content

7.1 Your responsibility

You are solely responsible for the content you create, send, post, or share ("User Content"). You represent that you have the rights necessary to share it and that it complies with these Terms and applicable law.

7.2 License you grant us

To operate the App, you grant [COMPANY/LEGAL ENTITY] a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, transmit, display, and distribute your User Content solely as needed to provide, secure, and improve the App and its features (for example, delivering your messages and media to your intended recipients, operating monitored surfaces, and performing safety moderation).

> For end-to-end-encrypted 1:1 buddy chats, this license is necessarily limited to storing and transmitting ciphertext — we cannot access, read, display, or use the plaintext of those messages.

This license ends when your User Content is deleted, except for content already shared with others, content retained in routine backups until they cycle out, and content we must retain for legal, safety, or security reasons.

7.3 Feedback

If you send us suggestions or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free license to use it without obligation to you.

8. End-to-End Encryption — How It Works and Its Limits

AIM250 uses standard public-key cryptography (Curve25519 / NaCl) to end-to-end encrypt 1:1 buddy chats. Your private keys never leave your device, and our servers store only ciphertext.

You acknowledge and agree that:

No security is perfect. We do not warrant or guarantee that the encryption (or the App generally) is unbreakable, error-free, or immune from compromise, bugs, or attack. We make no claim of "perfect" or "unbreakable" encryption.
Not forward-secret (currently). The current implementation is not forward-secret, which can affect the confidentiality of past messages if a long-term key is later compromised.
No key backup; lost device = lost history. There is currently no key backup. If you lose, reset, or replace your device, you will permanently lose your buddy-chat history, and we cannot recover it.
Endpoint security is your responsibility. E2EE protects messages in transit and at rest on our servers, but cannot protect content on a compromised, lost, or shared device, or content the recipient chooses to copy, screenshot, or forward.

These limitations do not apply to monitored surfaces, which are not end-to-end encrypted (Section 6).

9. Moderation, Reporting, Suspension, and Termination

Reporting & blocking. You can report content and users and block/mute users in the App. We encourage you to report violations.
Our actions. We may, with or without notice, review, remove, restrict, or disable access to content on monitored surfaces; limit features; and suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, that create legal or safety risk, or as required by law. We aim to act on valid reports of violating content promptly (see our objectionable-content commitment in the store disclosures).
No obligation to monitor. Except as described for monitored surfaces, we are not obligated to monitor content, but we may do so.
Your termination. You may stop using the App and delete your account at any time in Settings → Account → Delete Account (see Section 10).
Effect of termination. On termination, your right to use the App ends. Sections that by their nature should survive (e.g., 7.2 license limits, 8, 11–17) survive termination.

10. Account & Data Deletion

You can delete your account and associated data from within the App: Settings → Account → Delete Account. Deletion is generally permanent and irreversible, removes your profile, stored encryption public keys, push tokens, your content on monitored surfaces, and your stored buddy-chat ciphertext, and is described in detail in our Privacy Policy (Account & Data Deletion). Some content may persist in others' copies, in routine backups until they cycle out, or where we must retain it for legal, safety, or security reasons.

11. Intellectual Property

The App, including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, the AIM250 name and branding, and all related intellectual property (excluding User Content and third-party content), is owned by [COMPANY/LEGAL ENTITY] or its licensors and is protected by law. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the App for its intended personal, non-commercial purpose, subject to these Terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works except as expressly permitted.

12. Third-Party Services and Content

The App relies on and integrates third-party services, including Supabase (hosting/database/auth/storage), Twilio (SMS), GIPHY (GIF search and content), vpnapi.io (IP geolocation / VPN detection), and Expo (push notifications). Third-party content (such as GIFs) is provided by those services and is subject to their terms and policies. We are not responsible for third-party services or content, and your use of them may be governed by their own terms. AIM250 is not endorsed by or affiliated with any government entity, despite its patriotic, America-250th theme.

13. Disclaimers of Warranties

THE APP AND ALL CONTENT AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE APP WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT MESSAGES OR DATA WILL ALWAYS BE DELIVERED, STORED, OR RETAINED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT ANY ENCRYPTION IS UNBREAKABLE OR THAT THE APP IS COMPLETELY SECURE. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions, so some of the above may not apply to you.

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, [COMPANY/LEGAL ENTITY] AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR LOST MESSAGE HISTORY (INCLUDING DUE TO LOST/REPLACED DEVICES OR LACK OF KEY BACKUP), ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE APP, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE APP WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (a) the amount you paid us, if any, in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) USD $100. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

15. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless [COMPANY/LEGAL ENTITY] and its officers, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from: (a) your User Content; (b) your use of the App; (c) your violation of these Terms or applicable law; or (d) your violation of any third party's rights.

16. Dispute Resolution; Arbitration; Class-Action Waiver

> ⚠️ ATTORNEY REVIEW REQUIRED. Arbitration and class-action-waiver clauses are heavily regulated and vary by state and over time. The provisions below are a placeholder/starting point only and must be reviewed, tailored, and finalized by a licensed attorney (including opt-out mechanics, mass/bulk-arbitration handling, small-claims carve-outs, and consumer-protection requirements) before publication.

Informal resolution first. Before filing any claim, you agree to contact us at support@americasinstantmessenger.com and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least [30/60] days.
Binding arbitration. Except for claims that qualify for small-claims court and certain injunctive/IP claims, you and [COMPANY/LEGAL ENTITY] agree that disputes will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by [ARBITRATION PROVIDER] under its rules, rather than in court.
Class-action waiver. You and we agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, or representative proceeding.
Opt-out. You may opt out of arbitration by notifying us at support@americasinstantmessenger.com within [30] days of first accepting these Terms. [Specify opt-out method and effect.]
Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of [STATE] and applicable U.S. federal law, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Where arbitration does not apply, venue lies in the state or federal courts located in [COUNTY/STATE].

17. Copyright / DMCA

We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content on monitored surfaces infringes your copyright, send a notice with the information required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) (17 U.S.C. § 512) to our designated agent:

DMCA / Copyright Agent: [COPYRIGHT AGENT NAME]
Email: [PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL]
Mail: [MAILING ADDRESS]

We may remove allegedly infringing content and terminate repeat infringers. (Note: we cannot access end-to-end-encrypted buddy-chat content.)

18. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the Effective date and provide notice within the App or by other reasonable means. Your continued use after an update means you accept the revised Terms. If you do not agree, stop using the App and delete your account.

19. Miscellaneous

Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the App.
Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.
No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
Apple/Google app-store terms. Your use is also subject to the applicable app store's terms; the app stores are not parties to these Terms and are not responsible for the App.

20. Contact

Support: support@americasinstantmessenger.com
Privacy/legal contact: [PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL]
Mailing address: [MAILING ADDRESS]
Company / legal entity: [COMPANY/LEGAL ENTITY]

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