Terms of Service

Last updated: May 3, 2026

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of the Popular POEM website at popularpoem.com (the “Service”) operated by Popular POEM (“we,” “us,” or “our”). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms. Our handling of personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to use this Service. By creating an account you represent that you are 18 or older. To post messages you must also complete humanness verification through our third-party provider, Didit.

2. One Account Per Person

Each real-world individual may hold only one account. During humanness verification, our provider derives a face-recognition fingerprint from your selfie and compares it against the fingerprints of all previously-verified Popular POEM accounts. If a match is found, the verification attempt is automatically declined, preventing the new account from being able to post messages. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent this rule is a violation of these Terms and may result in termination of all associated accounts.

3. Subscriptions and Billing

Posting messages requires a paid subscription. By subscribing you authorize us to charge your payment method on a recurring annual basis through our payment processor, Stripe. Subscriptions are processed by Stripe and are subject to Stripe's terms of service.

Refund policy: You have two weeks from the date of your initial subscription purchase to complete humanness verification. If you are unable to complete verification within that window, you are entitled to a full refund. To request a refund, contact us at contact@popularpoem.com before the two-week window expires. After the window has passed, or after you have successfully completed humanness verification, subscriptions are non-refundable.

You may cancel your subscription at any time through the billing portal. Cancellation stops future charges; your access continues until the end of the current billing period.

4. Gift Subscriptions

Gift codes are valid for one year from the date of purchase. Redemption grants a one-year subscription to the redeeming account. Gift codes are non-refundable once redeemed.

5. Content Policy and License

Popular POEM is a dynamic art installation. Messages you submit are processed and folded into shared poem lines. You understand and agree that:

  • Messages may contain obscenity. You will be notified if your message contains detected profanity, but it will not be blocked.
  • We do not moderate, review, or remove individual submitted messages beyond automated character and length validation.
  • By submitting a message you grant Popular POEM a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to (a) process your message and fold its contribution into the public poem lines, and (b) display the resulting public poem content indefinitely. The original message itself is destroyed immediately after processing (see Privacy Policy §3) and is not retained, displayed, or transferred.
  • You represent that your message does not violate any applicable law.

6. Platform Immunity (Section 230)

Popular POEM is an interactive computer service as defined by 47 U.S.C. § 230. We are not the publisher or speaker of any user-submitted content. We are not liable for content submitted by users, including messages that reference real individuals. Users are solely responsible for content they submit.

In jurisdictions outside the United States where comparable safe-harbor protections do not apply, we limit our role to that of a passive technical conduit for user-submitted messages. To the extent permitted by local law, we disclaim liability for the content of those messages.

7. Prohibited Conduct

You may not use the Service to:

  • Violate any applicable law or regulation
  • Use deceptive techniques (e.g., masks, prosthetics, photographs of another person, or AI-generated imagery) to defeat humanness verification, or otherwise misrepresent yourself to the verification system
  • Attempt to circumvent the one-account-per-person rule
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or scrape the Service or its infrastructure
  • Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service or its infrastructure
  • Interfere with the proper functioning of the Service
  • Use automated tools to submit messages or interact with the Service
  • Initiate fraudulent payment chargebacks or other payment disputes in bad faith
  • Share your account credentials with another person, or use another person's account credentials

8. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time if we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated these Terms. You may close your account at any time by contacting us at contact@popularpoem.com.

Account closure removes your access to the Service and triggers the deletion procedure described in our Privacy Policy §13. Public poem content into which your previous messages were folded persists indefinitely and is not affected by account closure, since it cannot be deconvolved into individual contributions.

9. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, POPULAR POEM AND ITS OPERATORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR DATA, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

The foregoing limitations do not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law, including limitations on liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, or personal injury caused by our negligence.

11. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Kansas, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions. Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Shawnee County, Kansas, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, where you are a consumer resident in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction whose consumer-protection law confers mandatory rights that cannot be waived by contract, you retain those rights and may bring claims in your local courts as required by your local law.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes by email. Continued use of the Service after non-material changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. For material changes, we will require you to affirmatively re-accept these Terms before you can continue using privileged features of the Service (posting messages, subscribing, or completing humanness verification).

13. General Provisions

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Popular POEM regarding the Service.

Waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce that or any other provision later.

Notice. We may communicate with you regarding the Service via the email address registered to your account. You are responsible for keeping that address current.

Force majeure. We are not liable for failure to perform any obligation due to causes beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, network failures, third-party service outages, or government action.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms without restriction.

Service modifications. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time, with or without notice. We will use reasonable efforts to provide notice of significant changes affecting paying subscribers.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email us at contact@popularpoem.com.