Communi is built on trust and respect. These Guidelines set out what is and is not acceptable on the platform, how we enforce them, and how to challenge a decision you think is wrong.

They apply in addition to the Communi Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Refunds & Cancellations Policy and Affiliate Program Terms.

Communi is operated by Daom Limited (New Zealand company no. 9403442), 25 Broderick Road, Johnsonville, Wellington 6037, New Zealand.

1. General principles

• Act respectfully, lawfully and in good faith.
• You are responsible for the content you post, share or transmit.
• Comply with the law that applies to you.
• We may remove content or restrict accounts where these Guidelines are breached. We will tell you what we did and why, unless we are legally prevented from doing so or telling you would put someone at risk.

2. Prohibited conduct

• Harassment and bullying — harassment, abuse, threats, stalking, doxxing, intimidation, hateful conduct.
• Discrimination and hate speech — content promoting racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia or other discrimination.
• Violence and exploitation — content promoting or glorifying violence, terrorism, self-harm, child exploitation or crime.
• Fraud and misrepresentation — impersonating Communi staff, misrepresenting affiliation, false information, scams, pyramid schemes.
• Spam and deception — mass unsolicited messaging, phishing, misleading links.
• Circumvention — bypassing our systems, restrictions, payment flows or moderation tools.
• Unauthorised promotion — advertising or soliciting outside approved affiliate or partnership channels.
• Illegal activity — money laundering, unlicensed gambling, tax evasion, drug trafficking or other unlawful purposes.
• Technical abuse — hacking, exploiting vulnerabilities, reverse engineering, interfering with our systems.
• Platform misuse — manipulating reviews, ratings or engagement metrics; abusing free trials; fake or duplicate accounts.

3. Content standards

All content must comply with the law and these Guidelines. You may only upload content you have the rights to. Content that infringes intellectual property, privacy, confidentiality or publicity rights is prohibited, as is pirated or stolen content.

Objectionable publications. New Zealand law makes it an offence to possess or distribute an objectionable publication under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. We remove this content immediately on becoming aware of it, report it where required, and cooperate with the Department of Internal Affairs, including complying with any takedown notice.

4. Reporting content — and our response

There is a "Report" option on every post, comment, message and profile on Communi. You can also email reports@communi.com.

4.1 Harmful digital communications

If you believe content is unlawful, or breaches one of the communication principles in the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 and has caused you harm, you can send us a notice of complaint. Under s 24(3) of that Act your notice must include:

• your name, phone number, physical address and email address;
• what the content is and why you consider it unlawful or harmful;
• enough information for us to find the content; and
• whether you consent to us giving your identifying information to the author.

What we do, and when:

1. Within 48 hours of receiving a valid notice, we give the author a copy of your complaint (with your identifying details removed if you have not consented to their release) and tell them they have 48 hours to send a counter-notice.
2. If the author does not respond, or sends an invalid counter-notice, we take the content down as soon as practicable and within 48 hours of notifying them.
3. If the author consents to removal, we take it down as soon as practicable.
4. If the author refuses consent, we leave the content in place and tell you their decision — and, if they consent, give you their identifying information. You can then take the matter to the Approved Agency (currently Netsafe, netsafe.org.nz, 0508 638 723) or apply to the District Court.
5. If we cannot contact the author after reasonable steps, we take the content down within 48 hours of receiving your notice.

We will not disclose personal information about a complainant or an author except by order of a District Court or High Court Judge, as required by s 24(5).

4.2 Copyright complaints

If you believe content infringes your copyright, send a notice to copyright@communi.com with:

• your name and contact details;
• identification of the work you own;
• identification of the infringing content and where it is on Communi;
• a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised; and
• a statement that the information is correct and you are the rights owner or authorised to act.

On receiving a valid notice we will remove or disable access to the content as soon as reasonably practicable, tell the person who posted it, and give them a chance to respond. If they provide a valid counter-notice we may restore the content and give you their response. Accounts that repeatedly infringe will be terminated. This process reflects ss 92B–92C of the Copyright Act 1994.

4.3 Everything else

For other breaches of these Guidelines, report through the platform or to reports@communi.com. We review reports in good faith and will tell you the outcome.

5. Privacy

• Respect other people's privacy. Do not collect, disclose or misuse someone's personal information without their consent.
• Scraping, crawling or harvesting data from Communi is prohibited.
• Do not share someone else's sensitive information — identity documents, addresses, private messages — without their consent.
• Attempting to gain unauthorised access to accounts, databases or systems will result in termination and may be reported to NZ Police.

Group owners. If you run a group, you handle personal information about your members and you are a separate "agency" under the Privacy Act 2020 with your own obligations under it. Communi provides the platform; it does not take on your compliance obligations for you.

6. Accounts and access

Accounts are personal and non-transferable. Keep your credentials secure. Selling, renting or transferring an account without our permission is prohibited.

Suspension and termination.

• We may suspend or terminate an account for breach of these Guidelines. Where we do, we will tell you what happened and why, unless we are legally prevented or telling you would put someone at risk.
• We may also need to suspend or terminate an account for a reason unrelated to any breach — for example a legal requirement, a security incident, or discontinuing a service. Where we do:
  • we will give you at least 30 days' notice unless the situation is urgent;
  • we will refund the unused portion of any fees you have prepaid; and
  • any money we owe you remains payable, subject to the Affiliate Program Terms.
• Immediate suspension without notice is limited to cases involving a threat to safety, suspected fraud, or unlawful content.

7. Platform security

Do not attempt to hack, probe or test the vulnerability of our systems. Do not upload or distribute malware or malicious code. Automated exploitation is prohibited.

Responsible disclosure. If you find a security vulnerability, tell us at security@communi.com before disclosing it anywhere else. We will not pursue action against anyone who reports a vulnerability in good faith, does not access or alter data beyond what is needed to demonstrate it, and gives us a reasonable time to fix it.

8. Content licence

Running the platform. When you post content on Communi, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt (for formatting and display), publish and distribute that content for the purpose of operating, maintaining and improving the Services and making it available to the people you intended to share it with. This licence lasts while the content is on Communi, plus a reasonable period afterwards for backups, archival and legal compliance.

Marketing. We will only use your content to promote Communi — in advertising, case studies, social media or sales material — with your consent. You can give or withdraw that consent in your account settings. Withdrawing it does not affect material already printed or distributed, but we will stop using it going forward.

Moral rights. Where we use your content under this clause, you consent, for the purposes of ss 94–98 of the Copyright Act 1994, to acts that would otherwise infringe your right to be identified as author and your right to object to derogatory treatment — but only to the extent reasonably necessary for the uses above. You keep ownership of your content.

Your warranty. You warrant that you have the rights to grant this licence and that your content does not infringe anyone else's rights.

9. Moderation, enforcement and appeals

What we may do. Remove or restrict content; suspend or terminate accounts; limit access to features; withhold payouts connected to the misconduct in question; investigate and cooperate with law enforcement and regulators.

How we do it. We are not obliged to monitor all content, but we may. Where we take enforcement action against you we will tell you what we did, which Guideline it relates to, and how to appeal — unless we are legally prevented from telling you, or telling you would put someone at risk.

Appeals. If you think an enforcement decision is wrong, appeal through the Support Centre within 30 days. Someone who was not involved in the original decision will review it and give you a written outcome within 10 business days. If content was removed under the harmful digital communications process in clause 4.1, the counter-notice process in that clause applies instead.

If you are still not satisfied, the Complaints & Dispute Resolution Policy sets out what else is available to you — including the Disputes Tribunal, the Commerce Commission, the Privacy Commissioner and the HDCA Approved Agency.

10. Content posted by other people

Communi hosts content created by its users. We do not verify it and we do not endorse it. We are not responsible for interactions between users, or for content posted by them, except where the law makes us responsible.

11. Your consumer rights and our liability

Your rights under New Zealand consumer law. If you are a consumer as defined in the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, you have guarantees under that Act — including that our services will be supplied with reasonable care and skill, be reasonably fit for purpose, and be supplied within a reasonable time — and rights under the Fair Trading Act 1986. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies those rights, and any part of these terms that purports to do so does not apply to you. Where a limitation or exclusion in these terms cannot lawfully apply to you, it is to be read as applying only to the maximum extent the law allows.

Business users. If you acquire our services in trade, and you and Communi are both in trade, then under s 43(2) of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and s 5D of the Fair Trading Act 1986 you and Communi agree that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and ss 9, 12A, 13 and 14(1) of the Fair Trading Act 1986 do not apply. You acknowledge this exclusion is fair and reasonable, that you had the opportunity to take legal advice, and that our pricing reflects it. This clause does not apply to the unfair contract terms provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1986, which cannot be contracted out of.

Other countries. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy available to you under the Australian Consumer Law, UK or EU consumer legislation, or any other consumer protection law of your country of residence that cannot be excluded by agreement. To the extent of any inconsistency, that law prevails.

What we are not liable for. To the extent permitted by law, Communi is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profits, loss of opportunity, loss of goodwill, or loss of data, however caused.

Cap. To the extent permitted by law, Communi's total liability to you under or in connection with these terms in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of (a) NZ$500 and (b) the total amount you paid to Communi, or that Communi paid to you in commission, in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the liability.

What the cap does not cover. Nothing in these terms limits Communi's liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for any liability under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 or Fair Trading Act 1986 that cannot lawfully be limited, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

12. Changes to these Guidelines

How we change these terms. We may change these terms. If a change is material — for example a change to fees, to commission rates, to how or when money is paid, or a reduction in what we provide — we will give you at least thirty (30) days' notice by email to your registered address and by notice in the platform before it takes effect.

Your right to leave. If you do not accept a material change, you may cancel your account before it takes effect, and we will refund any fees you have paid for a period after cancellation. Continuing to use the platform after a material change takes effect means you accept it.

Changes that need a signature. For changes that reduce money owed to you, we may require you to confirm acceptance (for example by clicking "I agree") before your next payout is processed.

13. Governing law and jurisdiction

Governing law. These terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand.

Jurisdiction. The New Zealand courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms. Nothing in this clause prevents you from bringing a claim in the Disputes Tribunal, or in any court or tribunal of your country of residence where the law of that country gives you that right.