Acceptable Use Policy

This AUP applies to everything you do on Verhaler - the Books you publish, the media you upload, the messages you exchange with other users, the way you use our APIs, and your conduct generally. It applies whether you are a Reader, a Writer, or both.

Defined terms in this AUP (Verhaler, Service, Book, Writer, Reader, etc.) have the meanings given in the Terms of Service.

The following are absolute prohibitions. Confirmed violations result in immediate account ban and removal of the content from sale and from public view, without prior warning. There is no graduated escalation for these categories. Access already granted to purchasers of a removed Book is handled as described in section 18 of the Terms.

Adult, sexual, or sexually explicit content

Verhaler does not host adult, sexual, pornographic, or sexually explicit material of any kind. This includes - without limitation - text, imagery, audio, video, and AI-generated content. The prohibition covers material "designed for the purpose of sexual gratification" (the standard applied by our payment partner, Stripe, in the Stripe Restricted Businesses list), and is broader than the legal definition of obscenity in any single jurisdiction.

What this covers: explicit sexual scenes, pornographic imagery, erotic literature designed for arousal, fetish content, prostitution or escort services, sexually-oriented dating services, sexually- oriented massage parlour services, gentleman's-club content, strip- club content, AI-generated content meeting any of the above criteria.

What this does not cover: literary depictions of intimacy that are not graphic, romance handled non-explicitly, mature themes (loss, grief, addiction, violence) handled with literary purpose. If in doubt, write to [email protected] before publishing.

Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)

Any depiction - real or simulated, photographic, illustrated, or purely textual, AI-generated or human-made - of a minor in a sexual or sexually suggestive context is absolutely prohibited. We report CSAM to the relevant authorities (in the Netherlands, the Expertisebureau Online Kindermisbruik, EOKM) and we cooperate with law-enforcement investigations.

Fully AI-generated Books

Verhaler hosts human-authored interactive fiction. The prose of a Book - the text of chapters, the dialogue spoken by characters, the description of scenes - is written by the Writer. Fully AI-generated Books - Books in which the prose has been pasted from a chatbot without meaningful human authorship - are not permitted.

What is permitted: everyday tools that assist your own writing, such as spelling and grammar checkers. Uploading your own media (character portraits, scene art) is fine. What matters is that the Book's prose is genuinely your own work.

AI-generated media. Uploading media you made with AI image or video tools (for example, a character portrait or a scene illustration) is allowed, but you must mark it as "created with AI" on the upload form so we can show readers a clear label. This applies to media only: the Book's prose must still be your own work, as set out above.

What is not permitted: pasting chatbot output as Book text; commissioning an AI to write chapters and publishing them without substantive editing or creative direction; using Verhaler as a distribution channel for AI-generated text content with no human authorship.

We act on fully AI-generated Books when we become aware of them, including through user reports. Detection is a judgment call; contested cases can be appealed as described in section 6 below.

The following are prohibited. Violations are ordinarily handled with graduated warnings; repeated or severe violations result in account ban and content removal, and for serious violations we may act immediately, as described in section 6.

Illegal content

• Content that is illegal under the law of the Netherlands, the European Union, or the country where the content is uploaded or accessed.
• Threats of violence, incitement to violence, or content that endangers another person's life or physical safety.
• Content that promotes, glorifies, or instructs in terrorism, extremist violence, or the commission of a serious crime.
• Instructions for synthesising weapons, drugs, or other materials that would be illegal under Dutch law.

Hate speech and discrimination

Content that attacks, dehumanises, or incites discrimination against a person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or other protected characteristic. Literary depictions of prejudice (e.g., a villain who is racist as a character trait) are permitted; advocacy for prejudice is not.

Graphic violence

Gratuitous, real-world graphic violence - including detailed depictions of torture, murder, or harm to children or animals - for shock value or without literary purpose. Combat, action sequences, and fantasy violence handled with literary purpose are permitted.

Intellectual property infringement

Content that infringes the copyright, trademark, patent, trade- secret, publicity, or other intellectual-property right of a third party. Fan fiction and homage are not automatically prohibited but must comply with applicable IP law - if you are unsure, do not publish content based closely on others' work.

Privacy violations

Personal data of other people published without their consent - including names, addresses, phone numbers, financial information, and intimate images. This includes doxxing and revenge content.

Harmful misinformation

Content that presents false or misleading information about medical, legal, or financial topics in a way likely to cause real- world harm. Fictional stories that include unreliable narrators or invented science are fine - the prohibition targets presentation of fiction as fact in domains where the misinformation can hurt people.

Malware and abuse infrastructure

Software intended to damage, disrupt, or gain unauthorised access to systems; phishing kits; credential stealers; spyware; and links to any of the above.

Spam and commercial abuse

Mass-produced low-value content; repetitive posting; unauthorised advertising; deceptive marketing; pyramid schemes; and any activity on the Stripe Restricted Businesses list insofar as it could be conducted on or through the Service.

Account abuse

• Sharing your account credentials with another person.
• Creating multiple accounts to circumvent a ban or to evade rate limits or other account-scoped restrictions.
• Impersonating another person, business, or organisation, including impersonating Verhaler staff.
• Using the Service while subject to a current ban.

Technical abuse

• Scraping, harvesting, or otherwise systematically extracting content from the Service.
• Reverse-engineering, decompiling, or otherwise attempting to extract source code from the Service, except to the extent permitted by mandatory law.
• Probing, scanning, or testing the security of the Service without our prior written authorisation.
• Bypassing or attempting to bypass authentication, paywalls, rate limits, content gates, or other access controls.
• Using bots or automated tools to interact with the Service except via documented APIs and within their published rate limits.
• Activities that materially degrade Service performance for other users (denial of service, resource-exhaustion attacks).

Training external AI on Verhaler content

You may not use Books, media, or other content available on the Service to train, fine-tune, or otherwise improve any AI model operated by you or by a third party. This mirrors our own commitment in Terms §13: we do not train AI on your content, and you do not train AI on others' content.

Interfering with other users

• Harassment, bullying, threats, stalking, or coordinated attacks on other users.
• Misuse of the reporting system to retaliate, harass, or silence other users (false or bad-faith reports are themselves an AUP violation).
• Soliciting payment, personal information, or off-platform contact in a way intended to circumvent Service commission, Service tax handling, or Service moderation.

Review and ranking integrity

• Reviewing your own Books, or Books you have a financial or personal stake in, from any account.
• Buying, selling, exchanging, or otherwise incentivising reviews or review votes.
• Organising or taking part in coordinated reviewing or vote brigading, for or against any Book.
• Creating or using additional accounts to review, rate, or otherwise manipulate the visibility or ranking of any Book.

Manipulated reviews may be removed without notice, and the manipulation counts as a violation by the account that procured it - including a Writer who benefits from reviews they arranged.

Report content or conduct you believe violates this AUP:

• In-app: use the "Report" action on any Book or user profile.
• Email: [email protected]. Include the URL or Book identifier, a description of the violation, and any supporting context. For illegal-content reports under DSA article 16, see Terms §11 for the additional information we require.

We treat reports confidentially. We may share information with law-enforcement or regulatory authorities where required by law.

We moderate content on a primarily reactive basis, as described in Terms §12: uploaded media is automatically screened for prohibited material, we act on content reported by users, and suspected child sexual abuse material is escalated immediately. We do not screen the text of Books before publication.

Enforcement actions we may take include warnings, content removal, visibility restrictions, feature restrictions (for example, disabling the ability to publish or sell), account suspension, account ban, and - for Writers - withholding, offset, or recovery of royalties connected to a violation, as set out in section 9 of the Terms. The choice of action depends on the severity and history of the violation.

Statement of reasons. When we take a moderation action that affects you, we provide a statement of reasons in accordance with article 17 of the EU Digital Services Act and Terms §12.

Strict-rule violations (section 2 above) result in immediate ban and content removal without prior warning. Other violations are ordinarily handled with graduated warnings, but we may act immediately - including removal, suspension, or termination - where a violation is serious (for example illegal content, threats, doxxing, malware, or fraud), where the law requires it, or where waiting would put users or third parties at risk.

Appeals. If you believe a moderation decision was wrong, reply to the statement of reasons or email [email protected] within six months of the decision, explaining why. Your complaint is reviewed by a person, not solely by an automated system, and where reasonably possible not by the person who took the original decision. We will tell you the outcome and the reasons for it. This is the internal complaint-handling route required by article 20 of the EU Digital Services Act; it does not limit any right you have to go to court.

Service level. We aim to act on verified illegal content, verified IP infringement, and verified strict-rule violations within two business days of verification.

We may update this AUP from time to time to reflect new product features, new threat patterns, or changes in law. Material changes are announced at least 30 days before they take effect, by email or in-app notification to registered users. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated AUP.

Questions about this AUP - including "would this content be allowed?" questions before publishing - go to [email protected]. We would rather answer a question up front than take a Book down later.