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Terms and Conditions

1. Definitions

In these Terms the following capitalised terms have the meanings set out below unless the context requires otherwise:

Website —the Manha website and any associated websites, services, APIs or features operated by the Operator.

Operator / I —Tiepe Meritre Soro, the natural person operating the Website.

User / you —any natural person who accesses, registers for, or uses the Website.

Author —a User who creates and uploads Content to the Website.

Content —any text, images, audio, video, comments, reviews, stories, chapters, translations or other material uploaded, posted or otherwise provided to the Website by Users.

Account —a registered user account on the Website.

2. Purpose of the Website

Manha is a community platform that enables Users to read, write, publish, discover and comment on literary works, with a focus on works that feature African protagonists and narratives. The Website provides tools for publication, discovery and community interaction.

3. Eligibility and Age Restriction

The Website is made for individuals who are at least 16 years old. By using the Website you represent and warrant that you meet the minimum age requirement. This age requirement reflects Art. 8 GDPR and applicable German practice.

If I have reasonable grounds to believe a User is underage, I may suspend or terminate that Account and delete related Content.

4. Acceptance of Terms and Related Policies

By accessing or using the Website you accept and agree to be bound by these Terms and by related policies incorporated herein (including the Community Guidelines and the Privacy Policy).

Continued use of the Website after I post changes to these Terms constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. Material changes will be notified as described in Section 12.

5. Account Registration and Security

Certain features require registration. You must provide accurate, current and complete information during registration and keep it up to date.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your Account. Notify me immediately of any unauthorised use.

I may suspend or terminate Accounts that are inactive, abused, fraudulent, or contain false information, or where continued access would violate these Terms or applicable law.

6. Licence to Use the Website

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, I grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Website for your personal, non-commercial use.

7. User Conduct and Prohibited Content

You must not use the Website to upload, post, share, store or transmit Content that:

  • Violates any applicable law or regulation;
  • Promotes, normalises or glorifies sexual violence, pedophilia, necrophilia, zoophilia, domestic violence or other unlawful sexual content;
  • Constitutes hate speech, racism, colourism, discrimination or targeted harassment of protected characteristics (race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.);
  • Promotes gambling, extremist recruitment, propaganda or other content unlawful under German law;
  • Impersonates any person or entity or otherwise misleads or engages in grossly offensive or libellous conduct;
  • Publishes private personal information of third parties without their explicit consent (doxing);
  • Contains malware, viruses, or attempts to interfere with, reverse-engineer or compromise the Website;
  • Consists of unsolicited commercial communications, spam, fraud, or monetary solicitations between Users;
  • Infringes third-party intellectual property rights unless you are the rights holder or have permission to publish.

This list is illustrative and not exhaustive. I reserve the right to remove, block, de-prioritise or refuse to publish Content that, in my reasonable judgment, breaches these Terms or the Community Guidelines.

8. Intellectual Property and Licences

8.1 Users' Intellectual Property

Authors retain all copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Content they create and upload. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of a User's Content to me.

8.2 Licence Grant to the Operator

By submitting Content to the Website you grant me a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable licence to host, store, reproduce, publish, publicly display and distribute your Content within the Website and on related services, and to perform any acts reasonably necessary to operate, improve, promote and back up the Website (including caching, indexing and making anonymised analytics). This licence is limited to the purposes of operating and promoting the Website and may be terminated by deleting your Content per the Website's deletion procedures, subject to the retention rights described in Section 9.4.

8.3 Representations

You represent and warrant that you own the rights in the Content you upload or have obtained all necessary rights, consents and permissions to grant the licence above, and that publication of such Content does not infringe the rights of any third party.

9. Responsibility for User Content, Moderation, and Enforcement

9.1 User Responsibility

Each User is solely responsible for the Content they voluntarily provide, publish or share on the Website. You acknowledge that you upload Content at your own risk.

9.2 Moderation and Enforcement

I moderate Content and User behaviour in line with the Community Guidelines. Measures include removal of Content, warnings, temporary suspensions and permanent account termination. Typical progressive enforcement: (i) first breach — warning and Content removal; (ii) second breach — temporary suspension (for example seven (7) days) or depending on the grade of the offence permanent termination. Egregious violations (such as child sexual exploitation material, credible threats of violence or other serious illegal activity) will result in immediate permanent termination without prior notice.

9.3 Reporting and Appeals

Users may report suspected violations by using in-website reporting tools (when available) or by contacting me at meritretms@gmail.com (email) or via the Website's official social channel @manha_read (Instagram). I will handle reports in confidence to the extent reasonably practicable. If you believe an enforcement action was taken in error you may appeal by contacting me and providing relevant information; appeals will be reviewed impartially.

9.4 Retention after Deletion

Even after you delete Content or your Account, I may retain copies which are necessary to comply with legal obligations, prevent fraud or abuse, support investigations, enforce these Terms, or for backup/archive purposes consistent with applicable law.

10. Notice-and-Action for Illegal or Infringing Content

Pursuant to German law (consistent with § 7 TMG principles), I am not generally liable for third-party Content unless and until I obtain actual knowledge of unlawful content and fail to act expeditiously. If you believe Content on the Website infringes your rights or is otherwise unlawful, please report it with specific information and supporting evidence to meritretms@gmail.com. I will investigate and, where appropriate and lawful, remove or disable access to the Content.