ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
Cognitiva Systems Inc.
Effective Date: 15 April 2026
Last Updated: 15 April 2026
1. INTRODUCTION
This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs your use of Cognitiva Systems Inc.'s ("Cognitiva," "we," "us," or "our") services, including CognitivaOS platform, Intelligence Platform APIs, and related services (collectively, "Services").
Incorporation into Terms of Use:
This AUP is incorporated by reference into our Terms of Use. Violation of this AUP constitutes a material breach of the Terms of Use and may result in suspension or termination of your account.
Purpose:
This AUP protects Cognitiva, our users, and the broader internet community from abusive, harmful, or illegal conduct.
2. SCOPE
2.1 Who This Applies To
This AUP applies to:
- All users of CognitivaOS platform
- All users of Intelligence Platform APIs
- All visitors to cognitiva.systems
- Anyone accessing our Services in any capacity
2.2 Your Responsibility
You are responsible for:
- Your own conduct and content
- Conduct of anyone using your account or API keys
- Ensuring authorized users comply with this AUP
- Monitoring for violations by your team members
- Promptly addressing violations when identified
3. PROHIBITED CONTENT
You may NOT use our Services to create, upload, transmit, distribute, store, or facilitate the distribution of content that:
3.1 Illegal Content
Prohibited:
✗ Violates any applicable law or regulation
✗ Promotes or facilitates illegal activity
✗ Infringes intellectual property rights (copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret)
✗ Violates privacy, publicity, or data protection rights
✗ Constitutes illegal gambling or unauthorized securities trading
✗ Facilitates the sale of illegal goods or services
Examples:
- Pirated software, movies, music
- Counterfeit goods
- Illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia
- Stolen credentials or payment card data
- Pyramid schemes or illegal MLMs
3.2 Harmful or Dangerous Content
Prohibited:
✗ Promotes violence, terrorism, or extremism
✗ Depicts or encourages self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders
✗ Contains instructions for creating weapons or explosives
✗ Facilitates human trafficking or exploitation
✗ Promotes dangerous challenges or stunts
Examples:
- Terrorist recruitment materials
- Bomb-making instructions
- Self-harm communities
- Human trafficking solicitation
3.3 Child Safety
Absolute Zero Tolerance:
✗ Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
✗ Content sexualizing minors
✗ Facilitating child exploitation
✗ Grooming behaviors toward minors
✗ Age-inappropriate content marketed to children
Immediate Actions:
- Account terminated immediately
- Content reported to National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
- Reported to law enforcement
- Preservation of evidence for investigation
No Exceptions: This policy is strictly enforced with zero tolerance.
3.4 Hate Speech and Harassment
Prohibited:
✗ Content promoting hatred based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, age, or other protected characteristics
✗ Harassment, bullying, or intimidation
✗ Doxing (publishing private information without consent)
✗ Threats of violence or harm
✗ Coordinated harassment campaigns
✗ Impersonation for harassment purposes
Examples:
- Racist, sexist, or homophobic content
- Targeted harassment campaigns
- Publishing someone's home address maliciously
- Death threats or violent threats
- Hate group recruitment
Context Matters:
- Educational, documentary, or counter-speech content may be permitted
- Reporting on hate speech is different from promoting it
- Satire must be clearly labeled and not reasonably mistaken for genuine hate
3.5 Sexual Content
Prohibited:
✗ Non-consensual intimate imagery (revenge porn)
✗ Content sexualizing minors (any age under 18)
✗ Solicitation of prostitution or sexual services
✗ Bestiality
✗ Content promoting sexual violence
✗ Deepfakes or AI-generated sexual content without consent
Generally Prohibited (Platform Not Designed For):
- Adult sexual content (our platform is for business/marketing campaigns, not adult content)
- Pornography
- Sexually explicit content
Limited Exceptions:
- Educational or medical content (with appropriate warnings)
- Artistic/literary content (context-dependent)
- Campaign content promoting sexual health products (if compliant with advertising laws)
3.6 Graphic Violence and Gore
Prohibited:
✗ Gratuitous violence or gore
✗ Animal abuse
✗ Videos of real-world violence shared for shock value
✗ Content glorifying violence
Permitted with Context:
- News reporting (with content warnings)
- Documentary content
- Educational content (medical, historical)
- Fictional depictions (clearly labeled)
3.7 Misinformation and Fraud
Prohibited:
✗ Scams, fraud, or deceptive practices
✗ Phishing attempts
✗ Impersonation of others (individuals, brands, organizations)
✗ Fake reviews or testimonials
✗ Misleading health claims (miracle cures, anti-vaccine misinformation)
✗ Financial misinformation (pump-and-dump schemes)
✗ Election misinformation (voter suppression, false voting procedures)
Examples:
- Advance fee scams (Nigerian prince emails)
- Fake celebrity endorsements
- Misleading before/after photos
- False claims about product efficacy
- Impersonating government agencies
Fact-Checking:
- We do not fact-check general opinions or political speech
- We act on clear fraud, scams, and dangerous health misinformation
- When in doubt, we may add warning labels rather than remove content
3.8 Spam and Manipulation
Prohibited:
✗ Unsolicited commercial messages (spam)
✗ Mass messaging without recipient consent
✗ Deceptive affiliate marketing
✗ Artificially inflating engagement metrics
✗ Fake accounts or bot networks
✗ Review manipulation
✗ Astroturfing (fake grassroots campaigns)
Examples:
- Buying fake followers or engagement
- Creating multiple accounts to amplify messaging
- Paying for fake reviews
- Email spam campaigns
- Automated messaging bots
4. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES
4.1 Technical Abuse
Prohibited:
✗ Hacking, cracking, or unauthorized access attempts
✗ Circumventing security measures
✗ Reverse engineering platform code or APIs
✗ Automated scraping or data harvesting (without permission)
✗ Denial of service (DoS) attacks
✗ Malware distribution (viruses, trojans, ransomware, spyware)
✗ Exploiting software vulnerabilities
✗ Password cracking or brute force attacks
✗ SQL injection or code injection attacks
✗ Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks
Examples:
- Port scanning our infrastructure
- Attempting SQL injection in forms
- Distributing keyloggers
- Automated account creation to bypass rate limits
- Scraping user data without authorization
Security Research Exception:
- Responsible disclosure welcomed (security@cognitiva.systems)
- Coordinated vulnerability disclosure program
- Do NOT exploit vulnerabilities
- Do NOT access others' data
- Report findings privately before public disclosure
4.2 Account Abuse
Prohibited:
✗ Creating multiple accounts to evade restrictions
✗ Sharing accounts with unauthorized users
✗ Selling, renting, or transferring accounts
✗ Using false identity to create accounts
✗ Creating accounts for minors under 18
✗ Creating accounts for banned users
✗ Automating account actions beyond permitted API use
Examples:
- Creating alt accounts after ban
- Using fake email addresses for multiple accounts
- Sharing API keys publicly
- Selling access to platform
4.3 Payment Abuse
Prohibited:
✗ Fraudulent payment methods (stolen cards, fake checks)
✗ Chargeback fraud (false disputes)
✗ Payment for prohibited content or activities
✗ Money laundering
✗ Evading payment obligations
✗ Exploiting payment system vulnerabilities
Examples:
- Using stolen credit cards
- Filing false chargeback claims after receiving service
- Structuring payments to evade detection
- Using platform to launder money
4.4 Intellectual Property Violations
Prohibited:
✗ Copyright infringement (using others' content without permission)
✗ Trademark infringement (using others' brands misleadingly)
✗ Counterfeiting or selling fake goods
✗ Stealing trade secrets
✗ Violating open source licenses
✗ Piracy or facilitating piracy
Examples:
- Using copyrighted images without license
- Claiming others' work as your own
- Selling counterfeit products
- Using trademarked logos to mislead
DMCA Compliance:
- We respond to valid DMCA takedown notices
- Counter-notification process available
- Contact: dmca@cognitiva.systems
4.5 Platform Manipulation
Prohibited:
✗ Gaming or manipulating AI systems
✗ Adversarial attacks on ML models
✗ Poisoning training data
✗ Exploiting rating or matching algorithms
✗ Creating fake signals to manipulate recommendations
✗ Coordinating to manipulate platform outcomes
Examples:
- Submitting fake campaign data to skew AI predictions
- Creating fake creator profiles with inflated metrics
- Coordinated rating manipulation
- Model extraction attacks
- Adversarial examples to fool compliance detection
4.6 Competitive Intelligence
Prohibited:
✗ Benchmarking our Services against competitors (without permission)
✗ Reverse engineering for competitive purposes
✗ Using platform to build competing products
✗ Extracting proprietary data or insights for competitors
✗ Recruiting our employees while using Services
Permitted:
- General competitive research (public information)
- Using our Services for your legitimate business
- Switching to competitors (after proper account termination)
4.7 Regulatory Violations
Prohibited:
✗ Violating export control laws
✗ Transacting with sanctioned entities or countries
✗ Money services without proper licensing
✗ Violating industry-specific regulations (HIPAA, FINRA, etc.)
✗ Facilitating tax evasion
✗ Violating advertising regulations (FTC, FDA, etc.)
Examples:
- Selling to customers in sanctioned countries (Iran, North Korea)
- Operating as unlicensed money transmitter
- HIPAA-covered entities using platform without BAA
- False advertising claims
- Multilevel marketing without disclosures
5. SPECIFIC USE CASE RESTRICTIONS
5.1 Creator/Influencer Campaigns
Prohibited:
✗ Campaigns promoting illegal products or services
✗ Misleading endorsements (FTC violations)
✗ Undisclosed sponsored content
✗ Fake influencer profiles
✗ Bot-driven engagement
✗ Campaigns targeting children inappropriately
Required:
✓ FTC disclosure compliance (#ad, #sponsored)
✓ Honest representation of creator metrics
✓ Age-appropriate content for audience
✓ Compliance with platform rules (Instagram, TikTok, etc.)
5.2 Data and AI Usage
Prohibited:
✗ Using AI for prohibited purposes (surveillance, social scoring, etc.)
✗ Training models on others' proprietary data without permission
✗ Using platform data to identify individuals (re-identification)
✗ Biased or discriminatory AI use
✗ Using AI outputs to harm individuals
Required:
✓ Ethical AI use
✓ Respect data privacy
✓ Human oversight for consequential decisions
✓ Transparency about AI use where required
5.3 API Use
Prohibited:
✗ Exceeding rate limits intentionally
✗ Sharing API keys
✗ Using APIs for prohibited content or activities
✗ Reverse engineering API to extract models
✗ Caching to avoid per-request charges
✗ Reselling API access without authorization
Required:
✓ Respect rate limits
✓ Keep API keys secure
✓ Attribution where required
✓ Pay for usage honestly
6. MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT
6.1 Our Monitoring
We may monitor for violations through:
- Automated systems (content filters, anomaly detection)
- User reports
- Security systems
- Compliance reviews
- Third-party reports (DMCA, law enforcement, etc.)
We do NOT:
- Read every message or piece of content
- Proactively review all campaign content
- Act as arbiter of truth or fact-checker for opinions
Privacy:
- Monitoring respects Privacy Policy
- No human review unless violation suspected
- Security and Trust & Safety teams access content only as needed
6.2 User Reporting
How to Report Violations:
Email: abuse@cognitiva.systems
Subject Line: "AUP Violation Report"
Include:
- URL or description of violating content
- Nature of violation (which AUP section)
- Your contact information (for follow-up)
- Any supporting evidence
Anonymous Reports: Accepted, but follow-up limited
Response Time:
- Urgent (child safety, imminent harm): Within 1 hour
- High priority (harassment, illegal content): Within 24 hours
- Standard: Within 5 business days
6.3 Investigation Process
When violation suspected:
- Initial Review: Automated or manual assessment
- Investigation: Gather facts, review evidence
- Decision: Violation confirmed or dismissed
- Action: Warning, content removal, suspension, or termination
- Notification: User notified of decision (except where prohibited by law)
- Appeal: User may appeal (see Section 6.5)
Factors Considered:
- Severity of violation
- Intent (accidental vs. deliberate)
- History of violations
- Harm caused
- Responsiveness to warnings
6.4 Enforcement Actions
Progressive Discipline (Typical):
1st Offense (Minor):
- Warning issued
- Content removed
- Education on AUP
2nd Offense (Minor) or 1st Offense (Moderate):
- Temporary suspension (24-72 hours)
- Content removed
- Warning of termination risk
3rd Offense or 1st Offense (Severe):
- Account termination
- No refund
- May include legal action
Immediate Termination (No Warning):
- Child safety violations
- Terrorism or violent extremism
- Severe illegal activity
- Security threats
- Repeat offenders after termination
Other Actions:
- Feature restrictions (limit certain capabilities)
- Rate limiting (slow down API access)
- Content removal (without account action)
- Reporting to authorities (when legally required)
6.5 Appeals Process
If you believe action was taken in error:
Email: appeals@cognitiva.systems
Subject: "AUP Appeal - [Account ID/Email]"
Include:
- Original violation notice
- Explanation of why action was wrong
- Supporting evidence
- Commitment to comply going forward
Timeline:
- Acknowledgment: Within 48 hours
- Decision: Within 10 business days
- Complex cases: Up to 30 days
Outcomes:
- Action upheld (no change)
- Action modified (reduced penalty)
- Action reversed (account reinstated)
Not Appealable:
- Child safety violations
- Clear, severe violations
- Repeat violations after multiple warnings
7. CONSEQUENCES OF VIOLATIONS
7.1 Account Actions
Warning:
- No service interruption
- Violation documented
- Future violations escalate
Suspension:
- Temporary loss of access (24 hours to 30 days)
- Content may be removed
- No refund for suspension period
Termination:
- Permanent account closure
- All data subject to deletion per Data Retention Policy
- No refund of prepaid fees
- Prohibited from creating new accounts
7.2 Legal Consequences
We may:
- Report violations to law enforcement
- Cooperate with investigations
- Provide evidence in legal proceedings
- Seek damages for harm caused
- Pursue injunctive relief
- Report to NCMEC (child safety)
- Report to IC3 (internet crime)
You may face:
- Criminal prosecution
- Civil lawsuits (from us or third parties)
- Fines and penalties
- Imprisonment (for serious crimes)
7.3 Financial Consequences
Termination for Violations:
- No refund of subscription fees
- No refund of API usage fees
- You remain liable for unpaid fees
- We may pursue collection
Costs of Enforcement:
- You may be liable for our costs (attorney fees, investigation costs)
- DMCA violations: Statutory damages
- Fraud: Damages and restitution
8. PROHIBITED JURISDICTIONS
8.1 Sanctioned Countries
Services NOT available in:
U.S. Sanctioned Countries:
- Cuba
- Iran
- North Korea
- Syria
- Crimea region of Ukraine
- Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine
OFAC/UN Sanctions:
- Entities on OFAC SDN List
- Entities on UN Sanctions List
- Entities on EU Sanctions List
Your Certification: By using Services, you certify you are NOT:
- Located in sanctioned jurisdiction
- On any sanctions list
- Owned/controlled by sanctioned entity
- Acting on behalf of sanctioned entity
8.2 High-Risk Use Cases
Prior Written Approval Required:
If your use case involves:
- Healthcare (HIPAA-covered entities)
- Financial services (banks, payment processors)
- Government or defense
- Critical infrastructure
- Children under 13 (COPPA)
- High-risk AI systems (per EU AI Act)
Contact: compliance@cognitiva.systems before use
9. SPECIFIC PLATFORM RULES
9.1 CognitivaOS Campaigns
Campaign Content Must:
✓ Comply with target platform rules (Instagram, TikTok, etc.)
✓ Include required disclosures (FTC, local law)
✓ Be age-appropriate for audience
✓ Respect intellectual property
✓ Not contain prohibited content (Section 3)
Creator Behavior Must:
✓ Be authentic (no fake profiles)
✓ Deliver as promised
✓ Communicate professionally
✓ Follow platform community guidelines
9.2 Intelligence Platform APIs
API Use Must:
✓ Stay within rate limits
✓ Use API keys securely
✓ Provide attribution where required
✓ Not attempt to extract/reverse engineer models
✓ Not use for prohibited purposes (social scoring, surveillance)
✓ Include human oversight for consequential decisions
API Use Must NOT:
✗ Create competing AI service
✗ Resell API access
✗ Cache to avoid billing
✗ Share API keys
✗ Probe for vulnerabilities
9.3 Data Contributions
If Contributing Data (Opt-In):
✓ You must have rights to contribute
✓ Data must not contain prohibited content
✓ Data must be accurately labeled
✓ No attempt to poison or corrupt dataset
✓ Privacy-sensitive data must be properly anonymized
10. UPDATES TO THIS POLICY
10.1 Changes
We may update this AUP:
- To address new types of abuse
- To comply with legal requirements
- To clarify existing rules
- To improve enforcement
Notification:
- Material changes: 30 days advance notice via email
- Minor clarifications: Updated policy posted, "Last Updated" date changed
Continued Use: Using Services after effective date = acceptance of updated AUP
10.2 Version History
Current version: [VERSION]
Effective date: [DATE]
Previous versions: [LINK TO ARCHIVE]
11. CONTACT INFORMATION
11.1 Report Violations
General Abuse: abuse@cognitiva.systems
Child Safety: ncmec@cognitiva.systems (also reported to NCMEC)
Security Issues: security@cognitiva.systems
Copyright (DMCA): dmca@cognitiva.systems
Appeals: appeals@cognitiva.systems
11.2 Questions
AUP Questions: legal@cognitiva.systems
Address:
Cognitiva Systems Inc.
Attn: Trust & Safety
407 E Ayre St #1484
Wilmington, DE 19804
United States
12. INTERPRETATION
12.1 Precedence
In case of conflict:
- Terms of Use
- This Acceptable Use Policy
- Other policies
12.2 Examples
Examples throughout this AUP are illustrative, not exhaustive. Unlisted activities may still violate this AUP if they:
- Harm others
- Violate law
- Abuse the Services
- Breach trust
12.3 Context Matters
We consider:
- Intent behind the content
- Context of the communication
- Affected parties and harm
- Cultural and linguistic context
- Educational vs. promotional purpose
Same content may be:
- Permitted in news/documentary context
- Prohibited if promoting harmful activity
12.4 Discretion
We reserve the right to:
- Interpret this AUP reasonably
- Make judgment calls in ambiguous cases
- Err on side of safety (remove first, restore if error)
- Take action not explicitly listed if necessary to protect Services or users
We are NOT obligated to:
- Monitor all content
- Act on every violation immediately
- Explain every enforcement decision publicly
- Provide advance warning for severe violations
13. LEGAL DISCLAIMER
13.1 No Liability for User Content
We are not responsible for:
- User-generated content
- Actions of users
- Harm caused by violations
- Third-party claims arising from your violations
Your Responsibility:
You indemnify us against claims arising from your AUP violations (per Terms of Use).
13.2 No Guarantee of Enforcement
We do NOT guarantee:
- Detection of all violations
- Immediate action on all violations
- Consistency in enforcement across all cases
- Removal of all violating content
Best Efforts:
We use commercially reasonable efforts to enforce this AUP, but cannot catch everything.
13.3 Not Legal Advice
This AUP is not legal advice. Consult your own attorney regarding:
- Your legal obligations
- Risks of your activities
- Compliance with applicable laws
14. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
By using our Services, you acknowledge that you have:
- Read this Acceptable Use Policy
- Understand its terms
- Agree to comply with all provisions
- Accept consequences for violations
If you do not agree:
Do not use our Services.
END OF ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
Effective Date: 15 April 2026
Version: 1.0
Last Updated: 15 April 2026
QUICK REFERENCE
✗ Never Allowed:
- Child sexual abuse material
- Terrorism/violent extremism
- Illegal activity
- Malware/hacking
- Fraud/scams
- Harassment/hate speech
⚠️ Restricted:
- Adult content (platform not designed for this)
- Graphic violence (context-dependent)
- Misinformation (dangerous health/election claims)
- Multiple accounts
- API abuse
✓ Always Allowed:
- Legitimate business use
- News/educational content
- Respectful disagreement
- Ethical AI use
- Responsible API use
Questions? legal@cognitiva.systems
Report Abuse: abuse@cognitiva.systems