Terms of Service

1. Your agreement with Helm

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding contract between you and Helm Social, Inc. (“Helm,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They govern your access to and use of the Helm websites, mobile apps, live streaming, and all related products and services (together, the “Service”).

Helm is interest media: a United States based social platform organized around what you love, where you own your audience rather than renting it. Helm does not run third-party advertising and does not sell your personal information.

These Terms incorporate by reference our Community Guidelines, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. By creating an account, checking a box that references these Terms, or using the Service, you agree to all of them. If you do not agree, do not use Helm.

If you use Helm on behalf of a company or other organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that entity, and “you” refers to that entity.

2. Eligibility, age, and parental consent

Helm offers different Who it's for with age-appropriate features and protections. You may use Helm only if you can form a binding contract with Helm under applicable law and are not barred from using the Service under United States law.

2.1 Adults, members, creators

You must be at least 18 years old to open an adult, member, creator, business, or brand account without parental involvement.

2.2 Teens (ages 13 to 17)

People aged 13 to 17 may use a Teen account with safer defaults. Teen accounts require confirmation from a parent or legal guardian, who must review these Terms with the teen. By allowing a teen to use Helm, the parent or guardian agrees to these Terms on the teen’s behalf and accepts responsibility for the teen’s use of the Service.

2.3 Kids (under 13)

Children under 13 may use Helm only through a Kid account that is linked to a verified Parent account, and only after we obtain verifiable parental consent as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). A parent or legal guardian must create and control the account, may review and delete the child’s information at any time, and may revoke consent by deleting the account. See our Privacy Policy for how we handle children’s information.

2.4 Businesses and brands

Business and Brand accounts must be operated by a person authorized to bind the entity and may be asked to provide a valid tax identification number (such as an EIN) and other verification information.

2.5 Your representations

By creating an account you represent that the information you provide is accurate, that you meet the requirements for the account type you select, and that you have not previously been banned from Helm.

3. Your account

3.1 Registration

You agree to provide accurate information and keep it current. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your login credentials and any second factor of authentication.

3.2 Account security

You are responsible for all activity that happens under your account. Notify us immediately at security@helmsocial.app if you believe your account has been compromised.

3.3 One person, one account

You may not create or maintain multiple personal accounts to evade a suspension, harass others, or manipulate Leagues, gifting, or other features. Businesses and brands may operate multiple verified entity accounts.

3.4 Verified accounts

Verified status is available only to accounts that complete identity or entity verification and meet our security requirements. We may grant, decline, or revoke verification at our discretion, including where the conditions of issuance no longer hold. You may not buy, sell, rent, or transfer accounts, handles, followers, or verified status.

4. Acceptable use and prohibited conduct

Helm is a family-safe platform. You agree to follow our Community Guidelines, which are part of these Terms. In addition, you may not, and may not help or allow anyone else to:

• Post or share content that is illegal, or that sexually exploits, endangers, or sexualizes a minor. This is strictly prohibited and reported to authorities.
• Post pornographic, sexually explicit, or other adult content. Helm is not an adult platform.
• Harass, bully, threaten, stalk, dox, or intimidate any person or group.
• Post hate speech, slurs, or content that dehumanizes people based on a protected characteristic.
• Promote, glorify, or plan real-world violence, terrorism, self-harm, or dangerous acts.
• Impersonate any person, business, or organization, or misrepresent your affiliation.
• Spam, scam, phish, run fraudulent schemes, or distribute malware.
• Operate bots or automated accounts, scrape or harvest data, or interfere with the normal operation, security, or integrity of the Service.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code, except where such restriction is prohibited by law.
• Infringe anyone’s intellectual property, publicity, or privacy rights.
• Buy, sell, or artificially inflate engagement, followers, gifts, Coins, Diamonds, or League standing.
• Circumvent any safety control, including parental controls, age gates, or content filters on Kid and Teen accounts.
• Use the Service in violation of any applicable law, sanction, or export control.

We may review, remove, restrict, or refuse content and may use automated tools together with human review to help enforce these Terms.

5. Your content and the license you grant

5.1 You own your content

You keep all ownership rights in the content you create and post on Helm (“your content”). Posting to Helm does not transfer ownership to us.

5.2 The license you give Helm

To operate the Service for you, you grant Helm a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to host, store, cache, reproduce, adapt (only as needed to format, resize, encode, and display your content), publish, publicly perform, publicly display, and distribute your content, solely for the purposes of operating, promoting, and improving the Service and any syndication you explicitly enable. This license ends when you delete your content or your account, except where (a) your content was shared with others who have not deleted it, (b) we must retain it to comply with a legal obligation, or (c) it exists in routine backups for a limited period.

5.3 Feedback

If you send us ideas or suggestions about the Service, you grant Helm a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to use them without obligation to you.

5.4 No AI training on your content

Helm does not use your posts, messages, photos, or audio to train generative artificial intelligence models, and does not license your content to third parties for that purpose.

5.5 Your responsibility for your content

You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to your content, that it does not infringe or violate anyone’s rights, and that it complies with these Terms, our Community Guidelines, and applicable law. You are solely responsible for your content and the consequences of posting it.

6. Helm’s intellectual property

The Service, including the Helm name, logo, mascots, animated gifts, software, design, and other materials we provide, is owned by Helm or our licensors and is protected by intellectual property and other laws. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended, personal, and (where applicable) internal business purposes. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works from any part of the Service except as expressly permitted, and you may not use our trademarks without our prior written permission.

7. Creator monetization, Coins, and payouts

Helm offers optional ways for creators to earn and for supporters to show support. The following terms apply to all monetization features.

7.1 Coins (virtual currency)

Coins are a prepaid virtual currency you can purchase within Helm to send virtual gifts and support creators. Coins are a limited, revocable, non-transferable license to use a feature of the Service. Coins:

• have no cash value and are not money, currency, credit, or a stored-value or payment instrument;
• are not refundable or redeemable for cash except where refunds are required by law;
• cannot be sold, transferred, gifted between accounts, or exchanged outside the features Helm provides; and
• may expire, and their price, availability, and exchange rates may change at any time.

Purchases of Coins made through a mobile app store are also subject to that store’s terms. When you buy Coins, you authorize the applicable charge and confirm you are the authorized holder of the payment method.

7.2 Virtual gifts, Diamonds, and creator earnings

Supporters can spend Coins on virtual gifts during Live streams and on posts. When a creator receives gifts, they accrue Diamonds, a measure of creator earnings that can be converted to a cash payout subject to our then-current rules, eligibility, and payout split. Diamonds and estimated earnings are not a bank balance and may be adjusted to correct errors, fraud, chargebacks, or policy violations.

7.3 Payouts via Stripe

Creator payouts are processed by our payment partner, Stripe, through Stripe Connect. To receive payouts you must complete Stripe onboarding, agree to Stripe’s connected-account terms, and provide accurate tax and identity information. Helm may set minimum payout thresholds, holding periods, and verification requirements, and may withhold or reverse payouts related to fraud, disputed transactions, or violations of these Terms.

7.4 The Crew (paid memberships)

Creators may offer “The Crew,” a paid membership that gives supporters access to members-only content and perks. Memberships renew on the interval shown at purchase until cancelled. You can cancel a membership at any time; cancellation stops future renewals and generally does not refund the current period, except where required by law.

7.5 Taxes and disclosures

You are responsible for any taxes on amounts you earn through Helm. If you post sponsored or paid promotional content, you must clearly disclose it as required by law, including United States Federal Trade Commission endorsement guidelines.

7.6 Fees

Helm may charge or retain a platform fee on monetization. Applicable fees and payout splits will be disclosed to you before you rely on them.

8. Copyright and DMCA

Helm respects intellectual property rights and expects you to do the same. If you believe content on Helm infringes your copyright, send a notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to our designated agent that includes:

• your physical or electronic signature;
• identification of the copyrighted work you claim was infringed;
• identification of the material you claim is infringing and enough detail for us to locate it;
• your contact information;
• a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized; and
• a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

Copyright / DMCA Agent
Helm Social, Inc.
Email: dmca@helmsocial.app

8.1 Counter-notice

If your content was removed and you believe that was a mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notice to the same agent that includes your signature, identification of the removed material and its former location, a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief it was removed by mistake, your contact information, and your consent to jurisdiction as required by the DMCA. We may restore the content unless the original complainant files a court action.

8.2 Repeat infringers

We will, in appropriate circumstances, disable or terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe copyright.

9. Third-party links and services

Helm lets you display links on your profile to your pages on other platforms (such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, X, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitch, or your own website). These are display links only: Helm does not log into, act on, or receive data from your accounts on those platforms. You are responsible for the links you add, and your use of third-party services remains subject to their terms. Helm is not responsible for third-party sites, services, or content, and providing a link is not an endorsement.

10. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the maximum extent permitted by law, Helm and its suppliers disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied, or statutory, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free of harmful components, or that content is accurate or reliable. Your use of the Service is at your own risk.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Helm and its officers, directors, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to the Service, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100) or (b) the amount you paid Helm in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

12. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Helm and its affiliates and their officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to your content, your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

13. Dispute resolution, arbitration, and class-action waiver

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights, including your right to bring a lawsuit in court and to have disputes decided by a jury or in a class action.

13.1 Informal resolution first

Before starting an arbitration or court proceeding, you agree to contact us at legal@helmsocial.app and try in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for at least 60 days.

13.2 Binding individual arbitration

Except as noted below, any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court. The arbitration will take place in the United States, and may be conducted by videoconference or, at your election, in the county where you live.

13.3 Class-action and jury waiver

You and Helm each agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. You and Helm also waive any right to a jury trial. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims.

13.4 Exceptions

Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court, and either party may seek injunctive relief in court to protect intellectual property or stop unauthorized access to the Service.

13.5 30-day right to opt out

You may opt out of arbitration and the class-action waiver by emailing legal@helmsocial.app within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, with your name, account email, and a clear statement that you opt out. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

13.6 Governing law and venue

These Terms and any dispute are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and by the Federal Arbitration Act for arbitration matters. For any claim not subject to arbitration, you and Helm consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware.

13.7 Time limit

Any claim relating to the Service or these Terms must be filed within one year after it arises, or it is permanently barred, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

14. Suspension and termination

These Terms apply as long as you use the Service. You may stop using Helm and delete your account at any time; see our data deletion instructions. We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access if you violate these Terms or our Community Guidelines, if required to comply with law, to protect people or the Service, or after an extended period of inactivity. Where permitted, we will tell you the reason, and you may appeal by emailing appeals@helmsocial.app. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including content licenses already granted to others, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution) will survive.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date and give notice, for example by email or an in-app notice, before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you should stop using Helm.

16. General terms

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the policies they incorporate, are the entire agreement between you and Helm about the Service.
• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• Force majeure. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
• App stores. If you use Helm through a mobile app store, that store’s terms also apply, and the store is not responsible for the Service.
• Export and government use. You must comply with United States export and sanctions laws. The Service is a “commercial item” for United States government users.

17. Contact

Helm Social, Inc.
General: hello@helmsocial.app
Legal: legal@helmsocial.app
Privacy: privacy@helmsocial.app
Copyright / DMCA: dmca@helmsocial.app
Safety: safety@helmsocial.app