When you own an app, you want people to use it as intended. Your terms and conditions are crucial to ensuring that users know how you expect them to use the app and behave while using it. In this article, we explain the clauses you can include in your terms and conditions to promote acceptable use of your app.
Prohibited Behaviour
You may include a clause prohibiting users from doing certain things while using your app.
Common examples of prohibited behaviours include the following:
- any unlawful acts, including harassing or stalking other users;
- hacking or interfering with the app in any way;
- infecting the app with any viruses;
- encouraging others to use the app to undertake illegal activity;
- attempting to access the app or circumvent the computer security systems;
- breaching the app terms and conditions or additional terms that you have set out in your app; or
- breaching any other third-party rights.
Prohibited Content
The terms and conditions of your app should address the content that users cannot upload or publish via your app. This includes:
- content that infringes third-party rights or other rights;
- content that spams other users;
- defamatory or offensive behaviour or content;
- threatening or violent behaviour or content; or
- hate speech or harassment.
Additional Prohibitions
Depending on your app’s nature and function, your terms may also include additional requirements. For example, you may seek to prohibit commercial use of your app. If your app is a marketplace, you should have in place a set of obligations around how users can interact in the app. Additionally, you may choose to address the type of content that is permissible.
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Imposing Age Limits for User Access
Depending on the app’s function, you may want to restrict users of a certain age from accessing certain content. For example, you may restrict users to those over 18 years old because the app contains mature content. However, you may not have complete control over defining age restrictions for your users. This is because external parties, such as Apple, have been known to intervene and increase the age limit where there have been concerns about content.
Key Takeaways
The terms and conditions of your app should address any behaviours or content you want to prohibit from your app. Doing so clearly communicates your expectations to users and helps to avoid potential issues arising from misuse of your app. For example, you may prohibit certain behaviours, such as users harassing others. Additionally, you may prohibit specific content from being uploaded onto your app, such as spam. For some apps, you may also restrict the age limit of your users, for instance, if the app contains mature content.
If you would like to discuss your app with one of our experienced IT lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 1300 544 755 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Inserting clauses that prohibit users from engaging in certain behaviours and uploading inappropriate content in your app will help protect your users and prevent disputes from arising from your app. For instance, without explicitly prohibiting a user from harassing other users on your app, you may be unable to act on the harassing content.
The behaviours you should prohibit users from engaging in on your app will vary depending on the specific nature of your app. However, some common examples include harassing or stalking other users, hacking or interfering with the app, infecting the app with viruses and encouraging other users to use the app for illegal activities.
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