HUGH Terms of Service

First, the legal stuff

In order to provide our Services (as defined below) through our apps, services, features, software, or website, we need to obtain your express agreement to our Terms of Service (“Terms”). You agree to our Terms by registering, installing, accessing, or using our apps, services, features, software, or website.

Please read the agreement carefully. By using our app, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by the terms of service set forth in the Agreement and the Privacy Policy (accessible at /privacy-policy). If you do not wish to be bound by this Agreement and the Privacy Policy, you are not authorised to use our app.

Welcome to HUGH, an app managed and operated by TalkLife Ltd. TalkLife Ltd (“TalkLife”, “we”, “our”, “us”) offers visitors (“you” or “your”) to HUGH the ability to: (1) create personal questions and receive coaching from friends and the public; and (2) coach, comment, discuss, and review results. This agreement (the “Agreement”) sets forth the terms of service which govern your use of the HUGH app (“our app”). It is TalkLife Ltd. (collectively, "TalkLife," "we," "our," or "us") that provides the services described below to you (collectively, "Services").

Your Access to HUGH

Your Access

Without advance notice and at any time, we may, for violations of this agreement or for any other reason we choose: (1) suspend your access to HUGH, (2) suspend or terminate Your Account, and/or (3) remove any of your User Content from HUGH. We reserve the right to monitor HUGH, and your use of the Service means you agree to such monitoring. At the same time, we do not guarantee we will monitor at all.

Connecting You With Other People

We provide ways for you to communicate with other HUGH members through our peer to peer community. At HUGH you can share the ups and downs of life in a safe environment. We started TalkLife, the operator and manager of HUGH, with the belief in social connection and the power of evidenced-based peer to peer support. If you are in danger or require emergency support, please don’t hesitate to contact emergency services. HUGH is not to be used if you are in danger or a crisis situation.

Please note that information we hold and information that you share may be passed to your employer, the appropriate authorities or regulators where: this is required or requested by the authorities or by law; we have concerns that any individual is likely to cause harm to themselves or other people; or there is an actual or suspected case of cyber bullying and we are requested by appropriate authorities to provide such information or cooperate with their investigation.

Posting and Commenting

At HUGH, you can post whatever is on your mind as long as it stays within our Guidelines For Use. Members from around the world will then share advice or react and if they can, offer peer support. You can also support others through a peer-based community. At times, HUGH volunteers or admins will post or comment in a non-clinical capacity. You will use HUGH for entertainment or informational purposes only. You will not make critical decisions based on feedback from the HUGH community or experts in the HUGH community;

HUGH is Not Intended To Replace Professional Support

We firmly believe in the power of peer support, however, in lots of situations peer support is not appropriate and should not be used as a replacement for professional support or information from your GP/medical professional.

Personal Use

Our app is for your personal use only and should not be used by you directly or indirectly in connection with any academic, commercial or governmental endeavour. We may at times promote third-party platforms or clinical interventions in line with our clinical governance.

Ways To Improve Our Services

We analyze how you make use of HUGH, in order to improve all aspects of our Services described here. TalkLife uses the information it has and also works with partners, research partners, service providers, and affiliated companies to do this.

Safety And Security

We work to protect the safety and security of HUGH by appropriately dealing with abusive people and activity and violations of our Terms. We prohibit misuse of our Services, harmful conduct towards others, graphic or explicit content and violations of our Terms and policies, and address situations where we may be able to help support or protect our community. We develop automated systems to improve our ability to detect and remove abusive people and activity that may harm our community and the safety and security of our Services. If we learn of people or activity like this, we will take appropriate action by removing such people or activity or contacting law enforcement. We share information with other affiliated companies when we learn of misuse or harmful conduct by someone using our Services.

Enabling Global Access To Our Services

To operate our global Service, we need to store and distribute content and information on servers and systems around the world, including outside your country of residence. This infrastructure may be owned or operated by our service providers.

Crisis Support

HUGH is not a crisis support service and we cannot support users who are suicidal. If someone is in need of immediate support we urge them to contact the emergency services or one of the resources listed in our help centre. We are unable to provide crisis support through HUGH. As such we do not allow posts that actively discuss suicide attempts or methodologies. We prominently provide resources on where to seek crisis support help in our ‘I need help’ section in app. We also provide pop up signposting to users when they have drafted content that suggests they’re in crisis.

Your HUGH Account

Registration. To participate in HUGH, you must create an account that includes a valid email address, username and password (“Your Account”).

You Are Responsible. You are responsible for everything you post in all areas, including to your profile, comments, and replies, which are publicly accessible;

Stick to the Guidelines. You will at all times while using our app comply with our Guidelines for Use (which will be made available to you on our site and our app and may be updated by us from time to time) and will ensure that any post or other communication is compliant with these Guidelines for Use. You can read them here.

Don’t share your personal content. You will not share phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses or other personal information on the public areas of our site or our app.

Identifiable Information. HUGH is a pseudo-anonymous platform. Please do not create a username using your full name, or a name which other users may be able to use to identify you. Please also avoid uploading identifiable images as your profile picture.

Account Removals. We reserve the right to remove content and/or delete your account at our discretion, including if you violate any of the terms of this Agreement.

Age Restrictions and Verification

HUGH is not intended for individuals under the age of 16. Users under 16 must not create an account or use our Services. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 16, and if we become aware of such use, we may terminate the account and block the device.

In some regions, we may be required by law to verify your age before allowing access to our Services or certain features. These checks are carried out by a trusted third-party provider on our behalf. By completing an age verification check, you agree to the processing of your information for this purpose in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

If you believe an age verification decision has been made incorrectly, you may appeal through our Complaints Page.

HUGH Rules and Community Guidelines

Your participation on HUGH

You agree to follow our Community Guidelines, which form part of these Terms of Service. The Community Guidelines explain in more detail what behaviour is expected on HUGH and what content is prohibited. They are intended to keep people safe, protect members, keep HUGH running, and encourage personal responsibility for what you do on HUGH.

• You will not distribute or post spam or other unauthorised commercial communication on or through our site or our app;
• You will not impersonate anyone else on our site or our app or use another person’s account to gain access to our site or our app;
• You won’t post inappropriate content, including graphic self-harm, suicidal means or descriptions of suicidal actions, graphic images containing self-harm or other explicit content.
• You will not use HUGH as a dating service.
• You will not bully, threaten or harass any user or our site or our app;
• You will not post content that contains profanity or explicit images (including nudity or violence) or incites hatred or violence;
• You will not mess with HUGH and you agree not to interrupt the serving of HUGH;
• You will not upload viruses or other malicious code;
• You will not use HUGH to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious or discriminatory;
• If you notice any user acting in violation of these rules please report this immediately to our system administrators at support@talklife.co

We reserve the right to remove content and/or delete your account at our discretion, including if you violate any of the terms of this Agreement.

Illegal Content

We do not permit illegal content on HUGH. This includes, but is not limited to, content that promotes violence, exploitation, or other unlawful activity. A more detailed list of prohibited content can be found in our Community Guidelines. We may remove illegal content where identified and take further action where necessary. Users can report illegal content directly in-app using our reporting tools, or raise any complaints regarding illegal content through our Complaints Page.

Protection of Children

We are committed to protecting children and young people on HUGH. Our team follows policies and training designed to safeguard children and ensure their safety online. In certain regions, we may be required by law to carry out age assessments to help keep children safe. If you believe an age assessment has been made incorrectly, you can appeal this decision through our Complaints Page.

Monitoring

We reserve the right to monitor our peer to peer support app, including any communications made via our app, to ensure compliance with the terms of this Agreement and in accordance with applicable terms of our Privacy Policy. You agree, however, that unless required by law we do not have any obligation to engage in such monitoring and our liability to you is only as set forth under the section of this Agreement entitled “Disclaimer, Warranties and Liability”. We will not systematically monitor any private message or communication on our app but reserve the right to do so where required by law or requested to do so by a relevant regulator or other authority. By using our app, you acknowledge and consent to our monitoring as described in this Agreement. You expressly agree to waive any rights of confidentiality that you may have in, and to, your communications (if any) when using our app and you agree that you have no expectation of privacy in any of those communications.

Although we monitor the use of our app, HUGH may contain explicit material uploaded by users. Please exercise caution when using HUGH for yourself or if authorising the usage for others. We are not responsible for any direct or indirect exposure to explicit images or comments.

We reserve the right to remove any communication or post which is not in compliance with our Guidelines for Use or otherwise may in our absolute discretion be found to be inappropriate or offensive by any of our users.

If you get questions that make you feel uncomfortable, please ignore them or report them to the system administrators. Please do not engage in conversations with people that make you feel uncomfortable in any way.

If you are harassed in any way, please report it to our system administrators or other appropriate authorities immediately.

Please note that if we become aware of any incidents of cyber bullying or consider that any individual is likely to cause harm to themselves or other people we may report such incidents to the appropriate authorities or social workers at our sole discretion.

Harm To HUGH Or Our Users. You must not (or assist others to) directly, indirectly, through automated or other means access, use, copy, adapt, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, sublicense, transfer, display, perform, or otherwise exploit our Services in impermissible or unauthorized manners, or in ways that burden, impair, or harm us, our Services, systems, our users, or others, including that you must not directly or through automated means: (a) reverse engineer, alter, modify, create derivative works from, decompile, or extract code from our Services; (b) send, store, or transmit viruses or other harmful computer code through or onto our Services; (c) gain or attempt to gain unauthorized access to our Services or systems; (d) interfere with or disrupt the safety, security, or performance of our Services; (e) create accounts for our Services through unauthorized or automated means; (f) collect the information of or about our users in any impermissible or unauthorized manner; (g) sell, resell, rent, or charge for our Services in an unauthorized manner; (h) distribute or make our Services available over a network where they could be used by multiple devices at the same time, except as authorized through tools we have expressly provided via our Services; or (i) create software or APIs that function substantially the same as our Services and offer them for use by third parties in an unauthorized manner.

Keeping Your Account Secure. You are responsible for keeping your device and your HUGH account safe and secure, and you must notify us promptly of any unauthorized use or security breach of your account or our Services.

Use of Proactive Tools. To help keep HUGH safe, we may use proactive technologies alongside human moderation. These tools help us detect harmful or illegal content more effectively.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). You accept that we may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to help maintain the safety, integrity, and accessibility of HUGH. For example, AI may assist with moderating content and translating posts into different languages. These systems operate in accordance with our Community Guidelines and Privacy Policy, and are used solely to support a safe and inclusive experience. While we aim for accuracy, we cannot guarantee that AI outputs will always be correct or error-free.

A Few More Legalities

Fees

The use of our app is currently free of charge for personal use if your employer has signed up for HUGH. However, where any telephony or data charges are incurred in relation to our app, for example for the purpose of password retrievals or to communicate with friends and family that don’t have HUGH installed, when you make requests these will be your responsibility and we will not be responsible for the costs of such telephony and data charges. These costs may be charged by your mobile phone carrier and will be solely at your cost based on your contract or arrangement with such mobile phone carrier.

Communication

In accordance with our Privacy Policy, we may contact you via email or through our app directly to your device regarding administrative issues, including improvements to our site and our app, for example, in relation to the iPhone app, website, or social integration. In addition, TalkLife may send you emails with content from the HUGH community, such as our newsletters. In general, by using HUGH and agreeing to these terms, you are agreeing to be contacted by TalkLife via email with general communications. We won’t abuse this right and will endeavour to provide you with valuable information, however, in accordance with our Privacy Policy you may opt out of receiving such communications at any point by clicking on the “unsubscribe” links in any of our emails.

Copyright and Trademark Ownership

As between you and us, you own all the content you post on our app, and give us a perpetual, royalty-free, freely sub-licensable right and license throughout the world to collect, reproduce, publish, distribute, display, transmit, modify, translate and otherwise use your posted content on our site and our app, and for our own internal purposes. Aggregated and compiled content available through our site or our app is the property of TalkLife or its licensors and may be protected by English and/or international copyright laws. The collection, arrangement and assembly of all content is the exclusive property of TalkLife and protected by English and/or international copyright laws. We grant you permission to share this information via provided utilities (i.e. Facebook), electronically copy, and print copies of content for personal use only. Any other use, including the reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, or display of the content is strictly prohibited. If you use material other than as permitted by the terms of this Agreement, you may be liable for infringement, misappropriation or other causes of action to the fullest extent of the law.

Do not post media (images, text, video, audio, or other) on our app unless you have full ownership/rights in such media or are otherwise legally permitted to do so.

You may not copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of the software for HUGH’ application experience, or any part thereof.

Other than the personal use licensed above, you may not reproduce any content in any form without first obtaining written permission.

All trademarks, logos, service marks and trade names are proprietary to TalkLife or third parties who have granted TalkLife the right or license to use such intellectual property. TalkLife does not grant, by implication or otherwise, any license or right to use any trademark, service mark, trade name or logo displayed without our prior written consent.

Links to Other Sites

Our tools may include links to other websites and third-party services. These linked sites and services are not under HUGH’ control, and we do not warrant, represent, or assume any responsibility or liability for the third-party services and for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information, software, or other materials found on or downloaded from these sites, or from any sites accessed through those links.

Transactions with Others

TalkLife may enable third parties to ask questions or may otherwise describe certain third party services. You agree that any such content shall not be considered an endorsement by us of such products or services, and that we shall not be liable for: (i) your interactions with any entity and/or individual on or through our tools, including but not limited to interactions involving the payment and delivery of goods and services, or (ii) any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings. Any such dealings are solely between you and such entity and/or individual. You agree that TalkLife is not responsible for any damage or loss incurred as a result of any such dealings.

Disclaimer, Warranties and Liability

You acknowledge and agree that your use of our app are at your sole risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither TalkLife nor its officers, directors, employees, agents, successors or affiliates will be liable to any user of our site or our app or any other person or entity for any:

(a) indirect, special, incidental, punitive, consequential or exemplary damages;

(b) loss of profits;

(c) loss of data; or

(d) loss of use,
in each case, arising out of the use or inability to use our app, even if TalkLife has been advised of the possibility of such damages, except where liability cannot be excluded in accordance with applicable law.

For any direct losses you or any other person may suffer in connection with your use or inability to use our app our liability will be limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law to £100.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, TalkLife disclaims any implied warranties of fitness for any particular purpose regarding our app.

Please note that HUGH does not provide professional support or counselling. Our support team and mentors are not medically qualified and you should not rely on their advice regarding any medical or related matter. If you think you may require professional or medical assistance please make sure that you contact appropriately authorised medical professionals. Although our support team and mentors may suggest or provide details of medical professionals these are just individual suggestions and you should make sure that you independently verify the suitability of such professionals for your particular needs. TalkLife will accept no liability for advice provided by any medical professionals.

We cannot always foresee or anticipate technical or other difficulties. These difficulties may result in loss of data, settings, or other service interruptions. For this reason, you agree that TalkLife services, including the services of our third-party service providers, are provided “as-is” and we do not guarantee the availability of the Talklife services or that any of the features or services will not be interrupted or will be error free.

Modifications

TalkLife shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, add, or remove any terms or conditions of this Agreement. When we post changes to this Agreement, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page and the revised Agreement will come into effect on the date it was posted to our site or our app or as otherwise notified by us. If we make any material changes to this Agreement, we will notify you by prominently posting notice of the changes on our sites and/or our app and, where appropriate, notifying you by email. We recommend that you check this page from time to time to inform yourself of any changes in this Agreement. By continuing to use our app after we have posted revised terms of service, you acknowledge that you have consented to the revised Agreement.

Disputes; Venue

You agree that this Agreement is governed by the laws of England without regard to any conflict of law provisions. You agree to personal jurisdiction by and venue in the courts of England. However, nothing in this Agreement shall prevent you from bringing claims in your own jurisdiction where this is permitted by mandatory law provisions in your country.

Notices

Except as otherwise stated, any notice to us shall be given by email to support@talklife.co and any notice to you shall be given to the e-mail address that you provided us during the registration process. Notice shall be considered given the next business day after an e-mail has been sent.

Complaints

We want HUGH to be safe and supportive for everyone. If you have a concern or wish to raise a complaint about content, another user, or how we apply our policies, please visit our Complaints Page for details on how to do this.