Terms of Service

Last updated: Jun 2, 2026

Effective: June 2, 2026

Welcome to Messages Never Seen, a platform where people anonymously share messages they never sent. These Terms of Service govern your use of our website and services. By accessing or using our services, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree with any part of them, please do not use the service.

1. Introduction & Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") apply to all visitors and users of the website and services provided by Messages Never Seen (the "Services"). By accessing or using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1.1 Definitions

• "Website" refers to the Messages Never Seen website at messagesneverseen.com and any subdomains or affiliated domains.
• "You" refers to any individual or entity that accesses or uses the Services.
• "We" or "Us" refers to Messages Never Seen, based in Bergen, Norway, the operator of the Website.
• "Services" refers to the functionality, content, and interactions offered through the Website.
• "User Content" refers to any text or other material you submit to the Services, including submitted messages.

1.2 Age Requirement

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Services. By using the Services you affirm that you are at least 13. Users under 13 are not permitted, consistent with the EU/EEA General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Norwegian data protection rules, and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the United States.

2. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. Changes are posted on this page and the "Last updated" date is revised accordingly.

• We may post an on-site notice for significant changes. We do not collect email addresses from public visitors, so please review this page periodically.
• Continued use of the Services after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

3. Privacy, Data, and Anonymity

This section summarises how we handle data. The full detail, including your rights and our legal bases, is in our Privacy Policy. If anything here and the Privacy Policy seem to conflict, the Privacy Policy governs.

3.1 What we collect when you submit

To operate the service safely we collect and store the following with every submission:

• The message text and the recipient name or label you type. These are published as part of the public collection.
• Your IP address, stored in encrypted form.
• A coarse country derived from your IP, stored in encrypted form.
• A one-way IP "fingerprint" (a hash) used to enforce bans without exposing the IP itself.

This is a change from earlier versions of this site, which did not retain IP data on normal submissions. We retain it now so that we can enforce bans and, in rare safety situations described in section 3.3, act to protect someone's life.

3.2 Who can see what

• The public sees the message text and recipient label only.
• Our moderators see the message text and recipient label. Moderators never see your IP address, your country, or your fingerprint. That restriction is enforced in our software, not just by policy.
• Only the site operator (the data controller) can access the stored IP-derived data, and only for the purposes described here.

3.3 Welfare and safety escalations

If a submission indicates that someone may be in immediate danger, a moderator can raise a welfare escalation. In these cases:

• Where we reasonably believe a person's life or safety is at serious and imminent risk, we may use the stored IP-derived data, and request information from relevant providers or authorities, to contact the police or emergency services so that a welfare check can be carried out.
• This is used only for genuine safety emergencies. It is never used for marketing, analytics, enforcement of ordinary rule-breaking, or any other purpose.
• Moderators are only told whether an escalation has been handled or not. They are never shown the IP, the country, who was contacted, or anything about how the situation was handled.
• Acting in these situations relies on a lawful basis of protecting the vital interests of you or another person, and on our compliance with legal obligations. See the Privacy Policy for detail.

3.4 Bans

• If you break these Terms, the fingerprint and encrypted IP tied to the offending submission may be used to block further access. Ban records are kept for as long as the ban is in force.

3.5 Analytics and advertising

The public website uses third-party services that may set cookies and process data outside the EU/EEA:

• Google Analytics, for traffic measurement.
• Google AdSense, for advertising.

These are described in the Privacy Policy, including how to opt out. Note: the separate moderation console used by our staff uses no analytics, advertising, or trackers.

4. Content Standards and Restrictions

4.1 Prohibited content

The following will result in removal and may result in a ban:

• Harassment, bullying, or threats.
• Revealing someone's personal information without consent.
• Illegal, hateful, racist, sexist, or otherwise harmful content.
• Attempting to bypass security or access controls.
• Spam, automated submissions, or other abuse.

4.2 Language

• Submissions must be in English so they can be moderated effectively.
• Content detected in other languages is removed.

4.3 Moderation

• Submissions are first screened by automated moderation.
• Submissions, including those auto-rejected, may be reviewed by human moderators.
• Content that breaks our standards is removed. Removed items are recoverable for a limited window before permanent deletion.

5. User Content

5.1 Ownership and licence

By submitting content you grant Messages Never Seen a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, modify, publish, and distribute that content as part of the public collection. You retain whatever underlying rights you have in what you wrote.

5.2 Removal and takedown

We will remove content that breaks our standards, contains personal information, is harmful, or is unlawful. To ask for a specific submission to be removed, email contact@messagesneverseen.com.

6. Disclaimers

6.1 Warranty

The Services are provided "as is" and "as available". We make no warranties about reliability, accuracy, or availability, and we do not endorse user-submitted content.

6.2 Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Messages Never Seen is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, the Services. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

7. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Norway. Disputes will be brought in the Norwegian courts. If you are a consumer in the EU/EEA, mandatory consumer-protection rules of your home country still apply to you.

8. Contact

Messages Never Seen (Bergen, Norway)

• General: contact@messagesneverseen.com
• Privacy / legal: legal@messagesneverseen.com