Terms and Conditions of Use and Sale

Definitions

• “User”: any person using the Service, as a Guest or a Member.
• “Guest”: a User who joined with a nickname only, without creating an account.
• “Member”: a User who created an account with an email address and a password.
• “Premium Member”: a Member who has subscribed to Chat5 Premium.
• “Room”: a written chat space for up to 5 Users, assigned automatically. “Private Room”: a Room created by a Premium Member and accessible by invitation only.
• “Content”: any message, nickname, discussion topic, reaction, drawing made in a game or other item posted by a User.

The Service

Chat5 is a written chat service between adults, in small groups of 5 people brought together at random, in the language of their choice. It also offers private messaging (only Premium Members can start a conversation; any User, including guests, can reply to a Premium Member who writes to them, as long as one of the two participants is Premium), room games and an optional subscription (Premium). Basic access is free and may be funded by advertising.

Chat5 is a text-only service: it does not allow the exchange of photos, videos, files or voice messages. Game drawings are made on a shared board and are only kept for the duration of the game.

Chat5 is not a dating service. The Publisher does not organise any in-person meetings, does not verify Users' identities and does not guarantee the truthfulness of what they say.

Access requirements

The Service is strictly reserved for people aged 18 or over. By accessing it, you declare that you are at least 18 (or the age of majority if higher in your country), that you have full legal capacity to accept these Terms and that the law of your country allows you to use such a service.

Any false statement is your sole responsibility. The Publisher may at any time ask for proof of your age and immediately suspend access for a User suspected of being a minor. If you think a minor is using the Service, please report it.

Members: you undertake to provide a valid email address that belongs to you and to keep your password confidential. The account is personal and non-transferable; any action taken from your account is deemed to have been taken by you. Inform the Publisher without delay of any fraudulent use.

Equipment, Internet connection and related costs are your responsibility.

Freedom of expression and rules of conduct

Chat5 is a space for free discussion between adults: any topic may be discussed, including news, politics, religion or sexuality, as long as the exchanges remain respectful. Casual language, slang and swear words are tolerated, provided they are not meant to hurt someone.

The following are strictly prohibited, in Rooms as well as in private messages, nicknames and topics:

• threats, incitement to violence, suicide or self-harm, and glorification of terrorism or crimes against humanity;
• harassment, including sexual harassment, intimidation and pestering someone who does not want it;
• hateful or discriminatory remarks (racist, antisemitic, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist…), insults and defamation targeting a person;
• any content involving or sexualising minors, and any attempt to contact a minor;
• unwanted sexual advances, soliciting, prostitution and the promotion of pornographic content;
• disclosing personal information about others (real identity, address, phone number, photos…);
• impersonation, in particular of the Publisher, a moderator or another User;
• scams, phishing, requests for money, advertising, spam, flooding and mass messaging;
• promoting or selling illegal goods or services (drugs, weapons, counterfeits…);
• infringing the rights of third parties, in particular their privacy or intellectual property rights;
• circumventing the Service's protections (filter, bans, limits), using bots or scripts, and any attempt at unauthorised access or disruption of the Service.

For your safety, links, email addresses and phone numbers are blocked automatically. Never share your contact details and be careful before meeting someone you only know online.

The Community Guidelines, available at the bottom of every page, set out these rules in more detail and form an integral part of these Terms.

Moderation

Automatic filter: before being posted, messages, topics and nicknames are analysed automatically, without human intervention. Links, email addresses, phone numbers and certain threatening or hateful expressions are blocked; for other rude words, a simple warning asks you to confirm sending. This filter does not catch everything and may, rarely, block a harmless message: simply rephrase it.

User tools: anyone can block or report another User. A User reported by 3 members of the same Room is automatically removed from it. The Room administrator (the member present the longest, or the owner of a Private Room) can remove a participant. A User inactive for 10 minutes automatically leaves the Room.

Moderation by the Publisher: reports are reviewed by the moderation team. In case of breach of these Terms or of the law, the Publisher may, depending on the seriousness, remove Content, warn, remove from a Room, temporarily suspend or permanently ban a User, including by blocking the IP addresses used. Serious breaches (threats, content involving minors, manifestly illegal content) are sanctioned immediately and without notice. In addition, any User removed from more than 3 rooms within 30 days is automatically banned for 30 days (account and IP address).

Each suspension or ban is reasoned: its reason and duration are shown to the User concerned when they try to connect, unless the law or an authority prevents it. You can challenge a decision by writing to [email protected] within 6 months: it will be reviewed by a different person where possible.

The Publisher is under no general obligation to monitor Content. When it becomes aware of information giving rise to a suspicion of an offence threatening a person's life or safety, it informs the competent authorities. It provides judicial and administrative authorities, upon request, with the data it holds.

Your Content

You are solely responsible for the Content you post and its consequences. You guarantee that it complies with the law and the rights of third parties.

You keep your rights to your Content. You grant the Publisher, free of charge and worldwide, the non-exclusive right to store, reproduce and display it to the other Users concerned, solely to operate and moderate the Service, and for the time needed for these purposes. The Publisher does not use your Content for commercial purposes.

The Service is not an archiving service: Rooms and their messages are ephemeral and private messages are deleted after 24 hours without Premium (see the Privacy Policy). Do not rely on the Service to keep any information.

You indemnify the Publisher against any claim, action or judgment by third parties (including reasonable legal fees) resulting from your Content or your breach of these Terms.

Role and liability of the Publisher

For Content posted by Users, the Publisher acts as a hosting service within the meaning of Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services (DSA). It does not create, select or modify such Content and is not liable for it, unless, after gaining actual knowledge of it, in particular through a report, it fails to act promptly to remove manifestly illegal Content or disable access to it.

The Publisher is not a party to exchanges between Users. It cannot be held liable for the statements, behaviour, meetings, transactions or disputes between Users, on or off the Service.

The Service is provided as is and as available. The Publisher uses reasonable means to ensure access and security, but does not guarantee that it will be uninterrupted, error-free or compatible with all devices. It may interrupt it for maintenance, change it or close all or part of the Service. In the event of permanent closure, Premium Members are informed at least 30 days in advance and refunded pro rata for the paid and unused period.

To the extent permitted by law, the Publisher is not liable for indirect damage, or for damage caused by force majeure, by a third party or another User, or by use of the Service contrary to these Terms. These provisions do not limit the Publisher's liability for gross negligence, wilful misconduct or personal injury, and do not deprive consumers of their statutory rights.

Advertisements and third-party sites that may be accessible from the Service are the sole responsibility of their advertisers and publishers.

Chat5 Premium subscription

The seller is OBSCURUM INK. The Premium subscription is reserved for Members. While active, it gives access to the benefits described on the Premium page: starting private conversations with any User, friends and invitations, invitation-only Private Room, kept private messages, no ads, priority for “Next room” and a Premium badge. The Publisher may change these benefits; any substantial change is announced in advance.

Price: €4.99 per month including VAT on chat5.fun (or $4.99 depending on your region). In the apps, the price shown by the App Store or Google Play, including taxes, applies; it may differ. There is no free trial. Any price change is notified at least 30 days in advance and only applies to the following period: you can cancel before then.

Subscribing on the website: card payment is processed by Stripe Payments Europe Ltd.; the Publisher never has access to your bank details. The contract is concluded when payment is confirmed, and you receive a confirmation by email.

Term: the subscription is monthly, payable in advance and renewed automatically every month until cancelled.

Cancellation: you can cancel at any time, in a few clicks, from the Premium page (“Manage or cancel my subscription”). Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period already paid, until which you keep your benefits; the month started is not refunded, except where the right of withdrawal is exercised or the law provides otherwise.

In-app purchases: the subscription is billed by Apple or Google under their own terms. Cancellation and refund requests are made from your Apple or Google account settings. Your Premium is linked to your Chat5 account, whichever platform you used to buy it.

Right of withdrawal: you have 14 days from subscribing to withdraw, without giving any reason (Article L. 221-18 of the French Consumer Code). By subscribing, you expressly request that Premium be activated immediately, before this period ends. If you withdraw, you are refunded within 14 days, using the same payment method, minus the amount corresponding to the service provided until your request (Article L. 221-25).

To withdraw, send a clear statement to [email protected] from your account's email address, for example: “To OBSCURUM INK, 19 rue des Boucheries Saint-Ouen, 76000 Rouen, France, [email protected]: I hereby give notice that I withdraw from the Chat5 Premium subscription contract taken out on [date]. Account email: [email]. Name: [name]. Date: [date].”

Failed payment: if payment fails, new attempts are made; if it is not settled, Premium ends.

Legal guarantees: you benefit from the legal guarantee of conformity for digital content and services (Articles L. 224-25-12 et seq. of the French Consumer Code).

Complaints and mediation: send any complaint to [email protected]. If no solution is found within one month, you may refer the matter free of charge to the consumer mediator: MÉDIATION CONSOMMATION DÉVELOPPEMENT, Centre d'Affaires Stéphanois, Immeuble l'Horizon – Esplanade de France, 3 rue J. Constant Milleret, 42000 Saint-Étienne, France; online mediation requests at https://www.medconsodev.eu.

Suspension and end of use

You can stop using the Service and delete your account at any time from Settings (“Delete” tab), after confirming your password: deletion is immediate and permanent. If you can no longer sign in, write to [email protected] from your account's email address: it will be deleted within 30 days. A Premium subscription taken out on the website is cancelled automatically when the account is deleted, with no refund for the current period (except where the right of withdrawal is exercised); a subscription taken out in an app must first be cancelled from your Apple or Google account. Data the law requires us to keep is retained for the periods set out in the Privacy Policy.

In case of breach of these Terms, the Publisher may suspend or delete your account, immediately for a serious breach, otherwise after an unheeded warning. Deletion of a Premium account for a serious breach does not give rise to a refund of the current period. Creating a new account or using another connection to circumvent a sanction is prohibited. Premium grants no immunity: a Premium User is subject to the same rules as everyone else and may be removed, suspended or banned, including automatically, without refund or pro rata for the current period, without prejudice to your right of withdrawal and your statutory rights. You may cancel your subscription at any time; if your access is suspended, write to [email protected].

Personal data and cookies

The processing of your personal data is described in the Privacy Policy, and the use of cookies and trackers in the Cookie Policy.

Changes to the Terms

The Publisher may change these Terms to reflect changes in the law, the Service or its practices. Any significant change is announced at least 15 days before it takes effect, in the Service or by email. If you refuse it, you can stop using the Service and cancel your subscription; continuing to use it after that date constitutes acceptance. The applicable version is the one online at the time of your use.

General provisions

If any clause of these Terms is held invalid, the others remain in force. The Publisher's failure to enforce a clause does not constitute a waiver of its right to do so later.

The Service's computer records (logs, timestamps, messages kept for moderation) are evidence between the parties, unless proven otherwise.

These Terms and the Service's other legal information (legal notice, privacy policy, cookie policy) are written in French. Their translations are provided for information only: in the event of any discrepancy, difficulty of interpretation or dispute, only the French version is authoritative.

Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by French law. If you are a consumer residing in another European Union country, you keep the protection of the mandatory provisions of the law of your country of residence.

In the event of a dispute, first send a written complaint to [email protected] to seek an amicable solution, then, where applicable, to the consumer mediator. Failing that, the consumer may bring proceedings before the court of the place where they lived when the contract was concluded or the harmful event occurred, or of the Publisher's registered office. For non-consumers, the courts within the jurisdiction of the Rouen Court of Appeal have exclusive jurisdiction.