Legal · Cognitiva Systems Inc.

Acceptable Use Policy

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:

2.2 Your Responsibility

You are responsible for:

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:

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:

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:

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:

Context Matters:

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):

Limited Exceptions:

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:

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:

Fact-Checking:

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:

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:

Security Research Exception:

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:

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:

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:

DMCA Compliance:

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:

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:

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:

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:

We do NOT:

Privacy:

6.2 User Reporting

How to Report Violations:

Email: abuse@cognitiva.systems
Subject Line: "AUP Violation Report"
Include:

Anonymous Reports: Accepted, but follow-up limited

Response Time:

6.3 Investigation Process

When violation suspected:

  1. Initial Review: Automated or manual assessment
  2. Investigation: Gather facts, review evidence
  3. Decision: Violation confirmed or dismissed
  4. Action: Warning, content removal, suspension, or termination
  5. Notification: User notified of decision (except where prohibited by law)
  6. Appeal: User may appeal (see Section 6.5)

Factors Considered:

6.4 Enforcement Actions

Progressive Discipline (Typical):

1st Offense (Minor):

2nd Offense (Minor) or 1st Offense (Moderate):

3rd Offense or 1st Offense (Severe):

Immediate Termination (No Warning):

Other Actions:

6.5 Appeals Process

If you believe action was taken in error:

Email: appeals@cognitiva.systems
Subject: "AUP Appeal - [Account ID/Email]"
Include:

Timeline:

Outcomes:

Not Appealable:

7. CONSEQUENCES OF VIOLATIONS

7.1 Account Actions

Warning:

Suspension:

Termination:

7.2 Legal Consequences

We may:

You may face:

7.3 Financial Consequences

Termination for Violations:

Costs of Enforcement:

8. PROHIBITED JURISDICTIONS

8.1 Sanctioned Countries

Services NOT available in:

U.S. Sanctioned Countries:

OFAC/UN Sanctions:

Your Certification: By using Services, you certify you are NOT:

8.2 High-Risk Use Cases

Prior Written Approval Required:

If your use case involves:

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:

Notification:

Continued Use: Using Services after effective date = acceptance of updated AUP

10.2 Version History

Current version: 1.0
Effective date: 15 April 2026
Previous versions: This is the first published version

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

Phone: +1 302-217-6601
AUP Questions: legal@cognitiva.systems

12. INTERPRETATION

12.1 Precedence

In case of conflict:

  1. Terms of Use
  2. This Acceptable Use Policy
  3. Other policies

12.2 Examples

Examples throughout this AUP are illustrative, not exhaustive. Unlisted activities may still violate this AUP if they:

12.3 Context Matters

We consider:

Same content may be:

12.4 Discretion

We reserve the right to:

We are NOT obligated to:

13. LEGAL DISCLAIMER

13.1 No Liability for User Content

We are not responsible for:

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:

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:

14. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

By using our Services, you acknowledge that you have:

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:

⚠️ Restricted:

✓ Always Allowed:

Questions? legal@cognitiva.systems
Report Abuse: abuse@cognitiva.systems

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