Legal

Cognation Terms of Service

DRAFT v0.1, 2026-10-14. NOT YET REVIEWED BY A LAWYER. Plain-English working draft approved in outline by Alexa (via Head Hancho). A lawyer will tighten it after launch. Don't treat it as final legal text.

Last updated: [DATE AT PUBLISH]

1. What Cognation is

Cognation is one home for community and progress. It has separate Personal and Professional spaces, PAGES (a directory), NEWS, and other features. These terms are the rules for using it. By creating an account or using Cognation, you agree to them.

2. Who can use Cognation

  • You must be 13 or older. Cognation is not for children under 13.
  • At signup we ask for your birthdate. We ask the same way for everyone and don't hint at the "right" answer.
  • If the birthdate shows you're under 13, signup stops. We don't save anything from that attempt.
  • Some features have higher ages. For example, offering your skills as a business on Professional Tower is for users 16 and up.

3. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 13

  • We close the account and delete its data.
  • We keep only a one-way, keyed fingerprint of the email address. It can't be turned back into the email. We use it only to stop the same email from signing up again.
  • We act only on clear information, such as the person saying their age or a credible report. We never decide someone's age from how they look, and we never use face scanning.

4. Reporting

Every profile and post has a Report option. Choices include:

  • Harmful
  • Untruthful
  • Misrated (wrong content rating)
  • This person may be under 13

We review reports and may remove content, limit features, or close accounts. Please report in good faith. Misusing reports to target people is itself against these terms.

5. Your account

  • Give true information, keep your login private, and tell us if you think someone else is using your account.
  • One person per account unless a feature says otherwise.
  • You're responsible for what happens under your account.

6. Your content

  • You own what you post. You give Cognation permission to host, show, and share it inside Cognation so the service works. That permission ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies we must keep for a short time for backups, safety, or the law.
  • Don't post anything you don't have the right to share.

7. House rules

Don't:

  • harass, threaten, or exploit anyone, especially minors
  • post content that's illegal, sexually explicit involving minors, or rated above what a space allows
  • pretend to be someone else or mislead people about who you are
  • spam, scrape, or break or get around Cognation's security
  • use Cognation to collect other people's data without permission

NEWS uses content ratings (G, PG, PG-13, R, and MA/NC-17). Teen editions stay within G to PG.

8. Demo accounts

Some accounts are demo seed accounts we run to show how Cognation works. They always carry a visible Demo badge. They aren't real people.

9. Feeds

Cognation feeds are transparent and don't rank posts by engagement. We'll tell you how each feed is ordered, for example newest first. We don't secretly boost or bury posts.

10. Personal and Professional spaces

Your Personal and Professional networks stay separate. We don't automatically link them.

11. Calling and PAGES

When you tap a number in PAGES, Cognation may place an internet (IP) call if the business uses Cognation. Otherwise your phone's normal dialer is used. Normal carrier charges may apply to carrier calls.

12. Ending things

You can delete your account at any time. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms or put others at risk.

13. Disclaimers and limits

Cognation is provided "as is." We work hard to keep it running and safe, but we can't promise it will always be available or error-free. [LIABILITY LIMITS: TO BE WRITTEN BY COUNSEL.]

14. Changes

If we change these terms in a meaningful way, we'll tell you in the app before the change takes effect.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms: [CONTACT PATH: PLACEHOLDER. NO LIVE ADDRESS YET]

--- *Flags for counsel: governing law and venue, dispute process, liability caps, age-assurance wording, report/takedown process, IP-calling and emergency-calling disclaimers.*