Terms of Service

1. About InstantWho and acceptance of these Terms

InstantWho ("InstantWho", "we", "us" or "our") provides the Service described in these Terms. General support enquiries can be sent to support@instantwho.com.

These Terms govern the InstantWho website, company reputation reports, public profiles, community experiences, comments, company responses and other services that link to these Terms (together, the "Service").

By creating an account, submitting content, purchasing a feature where offered, or otherwise using functionality that requires acceptance of these Terms, you agree to them. If you do not agree, do not create an account or submit content.

Our Privacy Policy explains how personal information is processed. Accepting these Terms does not constitute consent to optional tracking, marketing or unrelated processing that requires a separate choice.

2. What InstantWho provides

InstantWho provides online information, public profiles, user-contribution features and related tools concerning businesses and organisations. Information displayed through the Service may originate from public or authorised material, users, organisations, or material prepared or processed by InstantWho.

Different content types must be read according to their label and context. Displaying, organising, summarising or linking to material does not make InstantWho the author or endorser of third-party or user-submitted statements. Where an underlying source is available, users should review it when the precise wording, status or context matters.

Nothing in these Terms is intended to disclose InstantWho’s non-public methods, systems or operational processes.

“Share Karma” is the name of InstantWho’s community publishing feature. A Karma post is a user contribution about a company or experience. Posting Karma does not file a lawsuit, submit a police or regulatory complaint, notify a court, engage a lawyer or preserve a legal deadline. InstantWho is not a law firm, court, regulator, emergency service or consumer reporting agency.

Do not use the Service as a substitute for professional advice or as a regulated consumer report for employment, housing, credit, insurance or similar eligibility decisions.

3. Accounts and eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity required in your jurisdiction to create an account or submit content.

You may use a permitted display name or pseudonym, but you must not impersonate another person, misrepresent your relationship with a company, create deceptive identities, operate coordinated fake accounts, use bots or automated account creation to manipulate the Service, or create an account to evade enforcement. Where a feature requires non-public account information, that information must be accurate.

You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for activity you authorise. Notify us promptly at security@instantwho.com if you believe your account has been compromised. We may use reasonable measures to detect account abuse, coordinated manipulation, duplicate-account misuse and automated activity that violates these Terms.

4. Company reports, sources and freshness

InstantWho aims to present information in a clear and useful form. Coverage and freshness vary according to availability, publication schedules, access conditions and changes made by third parties.

Company names, domains, subsidiaries, franchises and parent companies may be similar or related. A reference to one entity does not automatically establish responsibility of every entity in the same group. If you believe a report concerns the wrong company or entity, use our correction process.

Source pages can be edited, moved or removed. A source becoming unavailable does not, by itself, establish why it disappeared or who caused the change. Company inclusion, a displayed logo or a source link does not imply affiliation, endorsement or participation by the company.

5. Ratings, Reputation Score and classifications

Third-party ratings, cross-platform aggregates, individual user ratings and the InstantWho Reputation Score are different measures and should be read according to their labels.

The Reputation Score combines selected reputation signals under InstantWho’s published methodology. Not every item displayed on a company page necessarily contributes to the Reputation Score. The methodology may evolve as source coverage and analytical quality improve. Material methodology changes will be reflected in the methodology information made available through the Service.

Labels such as Negative, Caution and Positive describe the classification of material included in the relevant analysis. They are not legal findings, guarantees of future conduct or declarations that a company has committed wrongdoing. “Caution” means the material warrants closer review or additional context.

A sentiment percentage describes the material included in that calculation; it is not the percentage of all customers who hold that view and is not a probability that a company is fraudulent.

Scores, rankings and classifications must not be purchased or altered in exchange for payment.

6. Automated analysis

InstantWho may use automated systems to help organise, analyse, summarise and moderate information. Automated analysis may occasionally contain errors or miss context. Important conclusions should be considered together with the cited source material and the surrounding context.

An automated classification or summary is not conclusive proof of misconduct. Where the Service provides a way to challenge a relevant result or request correction, we will assess the request according to its substance and applicable law.

If the Service offers an optional writing or classification aid, you remain responsible for reviewing what you publish. Do not submit an invented experience as something that happened to you.

7. Legal and regulatory references

A lawsuit, complaint, investigation, regulatory notice, settlement and final judgment are not interchangeable. Proceedings can be disputed, dismissed, withdrawn, settled, appealed or resolved without an admission of wrongdoing.

A legal or regulatory section is a source-linked collection of relevant material, not a declaration of guilt. Readers should review the original record for the parties, jurisdiction, date and procedural status where those details matter.

8. Community contributions and Karma

You are responsible for content you submit, including titles, descriptions, ratings, comments, replies, images, documents, audio and other attachments ("Your Content").

Describe genuine experiences accurately to the best of your knowledge. Distinguish facts from opinions and explain material uncertainty. Do not publish fabricated experiences, manipulated evidence, impersonation, threats, harassment, unlawful discrimination, doxxing, spam, malicious files or material that infringes another person’s rights.

Do not publish or coordinate fabricated experiences, self-review your own business while presenting yourself as an independent customer, use multiple or deceptive accounts to distort sentiment, deploy bots or organised campaigns to manipulate ratings or discussion, participate in review bombing, buy or sell fake reviews, or offer money, gifts, discounts or other rewards conditioned on a positive or negative rating. Disclose material relationships with a company where relevant, including employment, ownership, agency work, incentives or direct competition.

Company representatives must not pose as independent customers. Do not use a negative post or the threat of one to extort money or benefits. A genuine request for a refund, remedy or response is not by itself extortion.

Do not publish passwords, payment-card data, identity documents, private addresses, unnecessary account numbers, private contact details, information identifying children, or unnecessary sensitive personal information.

9. Publication, moderation, record integrity, edits and removal

By clicking “Publish,” “Post Karma,” “Post Comment,” or another control that publishes content to the Service, you confirm that you have read and agree to these Terms and understand that the content you publish is intended to become part of a lasting public record.

We may review, label, restrict, hide, refuse, remove, restore, preserve or otherwise moderate content or accounts where reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms, protect users or the Service, address suspected manipulation or abuse, comply with legal obligations, respond to rights or safety concerns, or maintain the integrity of the Service. Where appropriate, action may be taken without prior notice. Nothing in this paragraph requires InstantWho to pre-screen every submission or guarantees that every violation will be detected.

Once published, a Karma post, comment, reply or update cannot be unilaterally deleted by its author merely because the author later changes their mind, reaches an agreement with a company, receives a refund, no longer wants the content to remain visible, or would prefer to rewrite the historical record. This is a product rule about ordinary voluntary deletion; it does not override any right to correction, restriction, erasure or other action that applicable law requires InstantWho to honour.

Authors may request a limited correction to published wording. Requested edits are subject to administrator review before they become public. As an ordinary product rule, an author-requested correction to the original published text may change no more than two words. The two-word limit applies only to ordinary voluntary edits and does not restrict corrections required to address materially inaccurate personal information, legal rights, safety issues or moderator-approved factual corrections. Larger factual corrections, clarifications or later developments should normally be added as a dated update rather than used to rewrite the original contribution.

We may reject an edit request where its purpose or effect would materially change, conceal, retract or manipulate the substance of the original contribution; remove legitimate criticism after pressure, compensation or settlement; make the historical record misleading; or otherwise obscure what was originally reported.

If circumstances later change, the preferred mechanism is an update, not deletion. A Karma post may be marked Resolved, and the author or company may add a dated update explaining what happened. The original record remains available together with the resolution history so future readers can understand both the original experience and the later outcome.

InstantWho may preserve prior versions, edit history, timestamps and resolution history where reasonably necessary to protect record integrity, resolve disputes, prevent abuse or comply with law. Closing or deleting an account does not automatically delete previously published contributions. Where appropriate and lawful, we may remove or anonymise the author identity while preserving the contribution itself.

Public-record removal is exceptional. InstantWho administrators may remove, restrict or redact published content where there is a serious legal, safety, integrity or rights-based reason, including content involving or facilitating:

• sexual exploitation or sexual content involving minors;
• prohibited targeting, exploitation or endangerment of children;
• terrorist or violent-extremist propaganda, recruitment, operational support or other prohibited facilitation;
• credible threats of violence or instructions intended to facilitate serious physical harm;
• trafficking or direct facilitation of illegal drugs, illegal weapons or other prohibited goods;
• human trafficking, sexual exploitation or comparable abuse;
• doxxing or publication of highly sensitive private information, identity documents, payment-card data, passwords or authentication credentials;
• malware, phishing, credential theft or other content intended to compromise accounts, devices or systems;
• clearly fabricated or forged evidence, impersonation or manipulated content intended to deceive readers;
• unlawful targeted harassment, exploitation or abuse;
• material that must be removed or restricted under a valid court order, binding legal requirement, intellectual-property process or other applicable law; or
• another comparably serious violation of InstantWho’s safety, integrity or legal standards.

Discussion, reporting, criticism or documentation about drugs, terrorism, crime, weapons or other sensitive subjects is not prohibited merely because those subjects are mentioned. Context matters. Where only part of a contribution violates these standards, InstantWho may redact or restrict the offending portion rather than remove the entire historical record where that is appropriate.

10. Attachments and recordings

Upload only material you are entitled to use and disclose. Redact unnecessary personal information before publishing, including information visible in screenshots, document properties, filenames or image metadata.

For recordings, obtain any permission required by applicable law. Do not assume that every conversation may lawfully be recorded or published.

Content attached to a public contribution is intended for public display unless the interface clearly identifies a separate private channel. Keep your own copies; InstantWho is not an evidence vault or guaranteed backup service.

11. Ownership and licence to InstantWho

You retain ownership of rights you hold in Your Content. You grant InstantWho a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, format, display, distribute, communicate, moderate and technically process content you choose to publish as reasonably necessary to operate, protect, improve and present the Service.

This licence includes ordinary technical transformations such as thumbnails, accessibility formats, translations, excerpts and clearly identified summaries. We may also use public content in ordinary previews, sharing surfaces or promotional examples of the Service in a manner consistent with the context in which it was originally published, provided that we do not knowingly misrepresent the substance of the contribution or imply an endorsement that does not exist.

We may permit service providers acting for us to exercise only the rights reasonably necessary to provide supporting services. This licence does not transfer ownership of Your Content or grant rights you do not hold.

The licence continues while the content remains available through the Service and, after removal from public use, only to the limited extent reasonably necessary for backups, legal obligations, moderation records, security, fraud prevention or legal claims, as explained in the Privacy Policy.

12. Company claims, responses and editorial independence

Where claimed profiles or representative responses are available, InstantWho may request appropriate evidence that a representative is authorised to act for a company. Questions or requests concerning company claims may be sent to claims@instantwho.com. A claimed or verified-representative label confirms only the specified verification; it is not an endorsement of the company or a guarantee that every statement it makes is accurate.

A company may request correction, report a policy violation and provide a response. It does not obtain editorial control over independent material merely because it claims a profile or purchases a service.

InstantWho does not sell removal of legitimate criticism, a favourable Reputation Score or a guaranteed positive classification. Paid services, sponsorships or promotional placements, if offered, must be distinguishable from independent reputation analysis.

13. Reporting, corrections, moderation and review

You do not need to purchase a service or claim a company profile to report a content, privacy or accuracy concern. Use the relevant report control or contact reports@instantwho.com. Privacy requests may be sent to privacy@instantwho.com.

A report should identify the relevant URL or content, explain the issue, state the reporter’s relationship to the matter where relevant, and provide supporting context or evidence where reasonably available. We may ask a reporter, contributor or company representative for additional information needed to assess the issue. Depending on the circumstances, this may include documentation showing that an experience, transaction, representation or authority is genuine. Do not send unnecessary identity documents or sensitive information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may correct factual context, add or request a response, request supporting information, label disputed material, limit visibility, redact personal information, remove material, restrict an account or take no action. A report does not guarantee removal merely because content is critical, disputed or damaging, and negative content is not automatically presumed false.

We aim to review reports within a reasonable period having regard to urgency, complexity, safety, legal requirements and the information available. Urgent safety or binding legal matters may be prioritised. Where appropriate, a significant moderation decision may be reviewed again upon request.

Our process distinguishes challenges to user-submitted content from corrections to InstantWho’s own material. We may preserve records of reports, evidence, moderation actions and prior versions where reasonably necessary for integrity, security, dispute resolution or legal compliance.

14. Lasting reports, deletion and account closure

InstantWho reports are intended to provide a lasting public research record. They may be updated, corrected, restricted, de-indexed, anonymised or removed where appropriate or required by law.

Closing a user account, removing a user contribution and removing an independent company report are different actions. Closing an account does not automatically remove lawful third-party material about a company.

Public content may have been copied, cached or indexed by third parties. We cannot guarantee removal from systems we do not control, but we will take additional steps where applicable law requires them.

15. Intellectual property and rights requests

InstantWho retains rights it holds in its branding, original material and protectable elements of the Service. Facts, third-party material, company trademarks and user content remain subject to the rights of their respective owners.

You may use ordinary viewing and sharing functions and make uses permitted by law. Do not misrepresent an InstantWho report as an official statement of a company or falsely imply endorsement.

For copyright or DMCA requests, identify the copyrighted work, the material at issue, its location and your authority to act, and send the request to dmca@instantwho.com. Trademark and other legal rights requests may be sent to legal@instantwho.com.

16. Acceptable use and platform security

Do not use the Service to publish or facilitate threats, targeted harassment, unlawful discrimination, doxxing, non-consensual disclosure of highly sensitive personal information, impersonation, fraud, spam, deceptive promotion, unrelated advertising, malware, phishing, credential theft, or content intended to manipulate, intimidate or unlawfully harm another person. Abusive or obscene language may be restricted where it is used to harass, threaten or materially disrupt the Service.

Do not circumvent access, security, payment or usage restrictions designed to protect the Service; scrape private account data; interfere with the Service; distribute malware; abuse permitted integrations; use bots or automation to manipulate engagement; or coordinate mass activity intended to distort ratings, comments, reports or other signals.

We may use proportionate technical and usage controls to protect availability, security and fair access.

Normal linking, accessibility tools, lawful quotation, good-faith security research and other activity protected by law are not prohibited merely because they use technical tools.

17. Third-party services and optional paid features

External websites, sign-in services and linked sources operate under their own terms and privacy practices. We do not control their availability or content.

If paid features are offered, the purchase flow will identify the material price, billing cycle, renewal, cancellation and refund terms that apply before you commit, subject to mandatory consumer rights.

18. Availability, changes, suspension and termination

We may maintain, modify, replace, limit, suspend or discontinue features or parts of the Service, subject to purchased commitments and applicable law. We may also restrict or terminate access for material or repeated violations of these Terms, security risks, abuse, unlawful conduct or legal requirements.

Where practicable and legally required, we will provide notice or an opportunity to address an issue. Urgent security, integrity, abuse-prevention or legal circumstances may require immediate action without prior notice.

You may stop using the Service and request account closure. Provisions that by their nature need to survive closure may continue, including provisions concerning intellectual property, licences, moderation records, legal claims, disclaimers and prior conduct.

19. Third-party content, disclaimers and limitation of liability

User contributions, company responses, linked material and other third-party content are provided by persons or organisations other than InstantWho. InstantWho does not represent those speakers, does not adopt their statements merely by displaying or linking to them, and does not guarantee that every third-party statement is complete, accurate, current, lawful or supported by sufficient evidence.

Contributors remain responsible for the content they submit and for having the rights, permissions and factual basis required to publish it. InstantWho may moderate content, but we are not required to verify every statement before publication and moderation does not constitute an endorsement or warranty.

InstantWho aims to operate the Service with reasonable care. Information, classifications, summaries, scores and source-linked material may contain errors, omissions, disputed statements or outdated context. No report, score, label or contribution should be treated as a guarantee that a company or person is safe, unsafe, trustworthy, untrustworthy, liable, fraudulent or free from risk.

Verify material information before making an important financial, legal, employment, credit, insurance, commercial or other consequential decision. The Service is not professional legal, financial, investment, compliance or other regulated advice.

Subject to rights and liabilities that cannot lawfully be excluded, the Service is provided on an as-available basis and without warranties that cannot reasonably be made for an information and community platform.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, InstantWho is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive or consequential loss arising from or relating to the Service, third-party content, user contributions, external sources, moderation decisions, temporary unavailability or reliance on displayed information. This includes, where legally permitted, loss of profits, revenue, business opportunity, goodwill, reputation, data or anticipated savings.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that applicable law does not permit us to exclude or limit, or any mandatory consumer or statutory right.

20. Disputes and applicable law

Contact legal@instantwho.com if you want to seek an informal resolution. This is not a prerequisite to exercising a statutory right, contacting a regulator, seeking urgent relief or acting within a legal deadline.

These Terms do not limit rights or remedies that applicable law makes mandatory. The law, forum and procedure applicable to a dispute will be determined by the legal rules that apply to the circumstances, unless a valid written agreement lawfully provides otherwise.

21. Changes and contact

We may update these Terms to reflect changes to the Service, law or risk controls. We will identify the effective date and provide any notice or renewed acceptance required by applicable law.

If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to the extent lawful. Failure to enforce a provision on one occasion is not a general waiver.

Questions about these Terms or general support can be sent to support@instantwho.com. Other specialised contact addresses are identified in the relevant sections above.