Terms of use

The following terms and conditions apply to your use of the Guardian Soulmates Website (the "Soulmates Website") provided by Guardian News & Media Limited ("Guardian" or "we" or "us"):

a. the terms of use which are specific to the Soulmates Website and which are set out below;

b. the privacy policy specific to the Soulmates Website which is available at https://soulmates.theguardian.com/privacy

c. the general terms and conditions of the Guardian website (www.theguardian.com) which are available at: http://www.theguardian.com/help/terms-of-service; and

d. the general privacy policy of the Guardian website which is available at: http://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy.
You should read the general terms and conditions and the privacy policy as they contain important terms which relate to your use of the Soulmates Website.
Please note that the Guardian Soulmates service is also available via the Guardian Soulmates mobile app (the “Soulmates App”), references to the “Soulmates Service” in these terms and conditions will include the Soulmates Service available on both the Soulmates App and the Soulmates Website.
We may change or add additional terms to the terms of use specific to the Soulmates Website: (i) if we alter the existing services we provide; (ii) if we add new services to the Soulmates Website or (iii) if we need to for security, regulatory or legal reasons. We will give you reasonable notice in advance of implementing such changes by making a posting on the Soulmates Website. Where the changes are significant we may also choose to email our registered users with the new details. Any changes to the terms of use will not affect your right to cancel your Soulmates Website account with us or to remove your details from the Soulmates Service.
By using the Soulmates Website you are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions.

Eligibility

The Soulmates Website is for adult members to communicate with each other online and it is not suitable for individuals under 18 years of age. By using the Soulmates Website, you confirm that: (i) you are at least 18 years old; and (ii) you are not married.
If you have an unspent conviction, or are subject to any court order, relating to assault, violence, sexual misconduct or harassment you must not use the Soulmates Website.

Your information and content

You are solely responsible for:

a. any content or information you contribute to the Soulmates Website;

b. the information and content you post, transmit, publish or otherwise make available through the Soulmates Website; and

c. your interactions with other users of the Soulmates Website.
Your Soulmates Website account is for your personal use only and you must not have more than one profile at any time. You must not authorise others to use your account, and you may not assign or otherwise transfer your account to any other person or entity. You are responsible for keeping your username and password confidential and acknowledge that Guardian is not responsible for third party access to your account that results from the sharing by you or the theft or misappropriation of your user name and password.
Your safety is important to us, so we may review some messages sent between members for content which is in breach of these terms and reserve the right to delete inappropriate content.
You must not publish on your profile any personal contact information, including your address, email address, telephone number, instant messaging contact details or website URL. You may not disclose if you are a subscriber or not in your profile. In addition, you must not include your personal contact information or social network details in messages to members who have not previously contacted you, or when responding to non-subscriber one line replies. Guardian reserves the right to remove contact details from messages you send on the Soulmates Service.
Guardian reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor the information or content you make available via the Soulmates Service. We have the right to remove any such content if we reasonably consider that it may be unlawful, in breach of these terms or if we are reasonably requested to do so by any third party.
Unless you delete your Soulmates Service messages, we will store them in your inbox for 180 days after the last message was sent
By submitting, providing, transmitting or otherwise making available information and content via the Soulmates Website, you are granting us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence of any rights, including intellectual property rights, in such information and content, to publish or republish and otherwise used any such content in any format on the Soulmates Service, Guardian's digital information network theguardian.com and observer.co.uk whether such website is accessed by the Internet, digital television,mobile phone, tablet or any other platform or medium, or device.
Your profile (which includes your profile photo) will not be used for promotional purposes in connection with the Soulmates Service unless you give your consent to your profile being used in this way. From time to time we send promotional emails to members featuring selected profiles. We also show pictures of Soulmates members in promotions such as on the front page of the theguardian.com or in the classified pages of the Guardian Guide and The Observer. You can choose not to be featured on those pages by updating your preferences via the 'Your Account' page.

Restrictions on information and content

You will not post, transmit, communicate or otherwise make available information or content via the Soulmates Service, that:

a. is intended to or tends to harass, annoy, threaten or intimidate any other user of the Soulmates Service. You must immediately cease contacting any member of Soulmates Service who asks you to stop contacting them;

b. is defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, offensive or sexually explicit;

c. promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;

d. promotes or encourages illegal or unlawful activity or behaviour;

e. contains any material which infringes a third party’s intellectual property rights unless you first obtain their permission to use it on the Soulmates Service, including a third party's music, video or photograph. If you reasonably believe that material belonging to a third party has been posted on the Soulmates Service without permission you are requested to contact us with full details of the alleged infringement;

f. contains an image of another person and you do not have his or her prior permission to use such image on the Soulmates Service;

g. contains an image of a person under 18 years of age unless you are the parent or legal guardian. Images where children are not fully clothed may be considered inappropriate and may not be approved;

h. contains advertising, promotional or commercial messages. You must not contact other members or subscribers for research purposes. You must not transmit any chain letters, junk or spam email;

i. is misleading, inaccurate, false or impersonates any other person or entity. If information provided to Guardian subsequently becomes misleading, inaccurate or false, you will promptly notify Guardian of such change; or

j. is intended to solicit another member's personal contact details or solicit communication with or on behalf of a person under 18 years old;
You will not post, copy, modify or disclose or distribute:

a. any confidential information; or

b. any other material which is subject to Guardian's or a third party's intellectual property rights, and which is accessible via the Soulmates Service without first obtaining Guardian's or the relevant third party's prior written consent.
You agree to compensate us for any claim or damages (including any legal fees in relation to such claim or damages) made by a third party in respect of any matter in relation to or arising from any breach or suspected breach by you of these terms or the rights of a third party.
Guardian reserves the right to issue warnings, suspend access to your account or terminate your account if we reasonably consider that you are in breach of these terms.
You acknowledge that other members may report content or behaviour that contravenes these Terms of Use.

Risks and precautions

Guardian does not conduct criminal background checks on members of the Soulmates Website. You are solely responsible for taking all appropriate safety precautions in connection with your use of the Soulmates Website. In addition, you are strongly advised to read the Safe Dating Tips. There are risks associated with any online or offline interaction with others, including dating. Guardian does not guarantee or verify the accuracy of information provided to you by other members of the Soulmates Website and is unable to confirm that any member is who he or she claims to be.

Your conduct, reporting disputes and other issues

You must treat people you meet on Soulmates with respect and courtesy at all times.
You should promptly report to Guardian any behaviour you encounter which is in breach of these terms, including any behaviour which may be harmful, threatening, harassing or unlawful. Please use the 'Report Abuse Form'. If deemed appropriate, Guardian may suspend or delete a Soulmates Website member's profile. Guardian has the right to warn other members.
If you need to report an attack, a missing person or you consider that your safety is at risk, you should contact the police immediately and then advise us by via the 'Report Abuse Form' so we can take appropriate action.
If you wish to "block" a member, you can do this by selecting the appropriate option on their profile. "Blocking" members prevents them from being able to contact you via the Soulmates Service.
Guardian is not obliged to become involved in any domestic or private disputes between members and does not provide any arbitration or settlement service should a dispute arise between members.
In the event you have any other complaints about Soulmates, please use the contact form. We take any complaints seriously and will aim to investigate and respond as quickly as possible.

Membership, subscription and cancellation

You may register your profile for free and be given access to certain areas of the Soulmates Service. You will require a paid subscription to receive full access to the Soulmates Service, including the ability to send messages to other members.
Information regarding the subscription fees payable for full access to the Soulmates Service, how you can pay for your subscription and terms relating to payment can be found in our FAQs
Once you have purchased a subscription, you will be able to make use of the paid-for features and you therefore expressly agree that the Soulmates paid service will have commenced at that point. You will also be able to access these features if you sign up for a free trial (see further details below).
You have the right to cancel your subscription within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from your purchase of the subscription. If you have benefitted from a free trial, the cancellation period will expire 14 days from the beginning of your free trial.
To exercise the right to cancel a subscription purchased through the Soulmates Website during the 14 day cancellation period referred to in the paragraph above, you must inform us (Guardian News & Media Limited, PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP, subscriptions@guardiansoulmates.co.uk), of your decision to cancel by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post or an email). You may use our contact form, but it is not obligatory. If you use this option, we will communicate to you an acknowledgment of receipt of such cancellation on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.
Please note that there is a separate method for cancelling a Soulmates subscription purchased through the Guardian App – you should read the terms and conditions made available within the Soulmates App for more details.
If you cancel your subscription within the 14 day cancellation period as described above, Guardian will refund you a pro-rata amount of the subscription fee for the unused period of your subscription. However, as you agreed for the Soulmates service to commence during the cancellation period, you will still be required to pay a subscription fee for the period of your subscription until you communicated to us your cancellation, (excluding any free trial period where no payment was taken) and Guardian will therefore not refund you for that portion of your subscription. Guardian will make the refund without undue delay and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel your subscription. We will issue the refund using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of the refund. If you cancel during a free trial, you will not receive a refund as no payment will have been taken.
Guardian reserves the right to close your account (whether you are a paid subscriber or have a free account) at any time for any reason with or without notice to you. If you have paid a subscription fee for the Soulmates Service and Guardian closes your account, Guardian will give you a pro-rata refund of any subscription fee you have paid in advance.
You can close your account and terminate any paid subscription or free trial at any time for any reason by visiting the 'Your Account' page and opting to ‘Delete your account’. Apart from as described in paragraph 6 of this section (which applies where you cancel during the 14 day cancellation period), the payment of any refunds for paid subscriptions where you cancel your account are at our discretion.
Free trials: Guardian may offer members an initial free trial period. In such cases, you will get full access to the Soulmates Service for the duration of the free trial period. The free trial period will expire after the designated period irrespective of whether you have used the service during the free trial period. At the end of the free trial period, you may either cancel your subscription or Guardian will begin to take payment for your subscription on a monthly basis. The first payment will be taken on the day after the expiry of your free trial period. You also have the right to cancel at any time during the free trial period, as described above.
Free trials are not available for former subscribers. You will also not be entitled to a free trial if you have previously benefited from a free trial and cancelled it prior to paying a subscription fee.

Limitation of liability

Guardian will provide the Soulmates Service to you with reasonable skill and care. Guardian does not make any warranties or representations (neither express nor implied) with respect to the Soulmates Service or the associated services. Nothing in these terms shall exclude or limit our liability for our fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence or the negligence by us, our employees or agents. We do not warrant that the Soulmates Service will be available uninterrupted and in a fully operating condition. All content and services on the Soulmates Service are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. Any decisions or actions taken by you on the basis of the information provided on or via the Soulmates Service are at your sole discretion and risk.
Our liability in tort, contract, negligence, pre-contract or other representations or otherwise arising out of or in connection with these terms should be limited in aggregate to: (i) the net payment to us by you in any one month period; or (ii) if you do not have a paid-for subscription to the Soulmates Website, (including because you are benefitting from a free trial) £25.

General

We may in some cases use third parties to assist us in operating the Soulmates Website and to conduct some processing of your information on our behalf but this is always subject to strict contractual control and in compliance with UK data protection legislation.
If you breach these terms and we take no action against you, we will still be entitled to use our rights and remedies in any other situation where you breach these terms.
If any part of these terms is disallowed or found to be ineffective by any court or regulator, the other provisions shall continue to apply.
These terms are not intended to give rights to anyone except you and us.
These terms are governed by English law and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
Updates: October 2012 updates to "Restrictions on information and content" and "Reporting disputes and other issues".
Updates: March 2014 updates to "Membership, subscription and cancellation".
Updates: June 2014 update to "Membership, subscription and cancellation" and "your conduct, reporting disputes and other issues"
Updates: August 2014 update to “Membership, subscription and cancellation” and “Limitation of liability”.
Updates: August 2015, updates to refer to Soulmates App
Updates: May 2018, updates to reflect General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018

GUARDIAN NEWS & MEDIA LIMITED is a Private limited company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 00908396. Registered office: 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP. VAT no. GB 145 7744 45

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