MainWRLD Terms of Service

Effective Date / Last Updated: 2026-07-27

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding legal agreement between you ("you," "your," or "user") and Fried Mermaid LLC ("Fried Mermaid," "we," "us," or "our"), the operator of the MainWRLD application and website (collectively, the "Service"). The Service includes the MainWRLD iOS application (built with Capacitor) and the MainWRLD web application available at https://mainwrld.com.

These Terms also serve as the End User License Agreement (EULA) governing your license to use the MainWRLD application.

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. BY CREATING AN ACCOUNT, ACCESSING, OR USING THE SERVICE — AND IN ALL CASES BEFORE CREATING ANY CONTENT — YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, INCLUDING THE ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY FOR OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT IN SECTION 6. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT CREATE AN ACCOUNT AND DO NOT USE THE SERVICE.

Contact for support, legal notices, and data requests: hello@mainwrld.com.

1. Acceptance of These Terms

1.1 Agreement to Terms. By tapping "Sign Up," creating an account, or otherwise accessing or using the Service, you affirmatively accept these Terms and our Privacy Policy. You must accept these Terms before you create an account and before you post, upload, publish, or otherwise create any content on the Service. We record your acceptance at the time you create your account.

1.2 Required for User-Generated Content. Because MainWRLD lets users create and share content, your acceptance of these Terms — including the rules of conduct and the zero-tolerance policy in Section 6 — is a condition of creating an account and of submitting any content.

1.3 These Terms as EULA. For the MainWRLD iOS application, these Terms constitute the EULA between you and Fried Mermaid LLC. Apple Inc. ("Apple") is not a party to these Terms (see Section 18, "Apple-Specific Terms").

2. Eligibility, Minimum Age, and Minors

2.1 Minimum age. You must be at least 13 years old to create an account or use the Service. By creating an account, you represent and warrant that you are at least 13 years of age. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the Service only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian.

2.2 Date of birth. During sign-up we collect your date of birth to determine your age and to apply age-based content restrictions. You agree to provide accurate, truthful date-of-birth information. Providing false age information is a violation of these Terms.

2.3 Mature content and content controls. Some books and chapters on the Service may be marked by their authors as mature (the "Mature" setting) because they contain mature themes such as strong language, violence, or mature situations. Mature content is distinct from, and does not include, pornography or any sexual content involving minors, which are prohibited entirely under Section 6 regardless of any setting. Authors are required to flag mature works using the "Mature" setting when publishing, and you agree to flag your works accurately. The Service provides a user-controlled "Show mature content" setting (in Settings) that governs whether mature works are surfaced to you. By default this setting is on for users 17 years of age and older and off for users under 17; you may change it at any time. When the setting is off, mature works are kept out of discovery feeds and their covers are blurred until you choose to reveal them. You agree to provide truthful date-of-birth information and not to misrepresent your age. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you should use the Service, and configure any content settings, only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian, who is responsible for supervising your use of these content controls.

2.4 Children's privacy. The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will delete it. See our Privacy Policy for details.

3. Accounts, Responsibilities, and Security

3.1 Account creation. To use most features of the Service you must create an account using a valid email address, a username, a display name, your date of birth, and a password. Authentication is provided through Firebase Authentication (email and password only); we do not offer third-party social sign-in.

3.2 Accurate information. You agree to provide accurate and complete information when you register and to keep that information current.

3.3 Account security. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us immediately at hello@mainwrld.com if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account. We are not liable for any loss arising from unauthorized use of your account.

3.4 One person per account. Your account is personal to you. You may not share, sell, transfer, or assign your account to any other person.

3.5 Passwords. Passwords are handled exclusively by Firebase Authentication and are stored only in hashed form; we never have access to your plaintext password. You may change your password or request a password reset from within the Service.

4. License We Grant to You

4.1 License to use the Service. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Fried Mermaid LLC grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to download, install, and use the MainWRLD application on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, and to access the web application, solely for your personal, non-commercial enjoyment of the Service.

4.2 Restrictions. Except as expressly permitted by these Terms or by applicable law, you may not: (a) copy, modify, or create derivative works of the Service; (b) reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service, or attempt to derive its source code; (c) rent, lease, lend, sell, sublicense, or distribute the Service; (d) remove or alter any proprietary notices; (e) use the Service in any way that violates these Terms or applicable law; or (f) access the Service through automated means (bots, scrapers) except as we expressly permit.

4.3 Reservation of rights. The license granted to you does not constitute a sale. We and our licensors retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Service not expressly granted to you.

5. Your Content and the License You Grant Us

5.1 Your Content. "Your Content" means anything you create, upload, publish, or transmit through the Service, including books, chapters (titles and body text), book metadata (taglines, genres, hashtags, cover images/colors, and the mature flag), comments, chat and direct messages, reports you file, your avatar configuration, your display name, and your admire/follow relationships.

5.2 Ownership. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in Your Content. These Terms do not transfer ownership of Your Content to us.

5.3 License to us. You grant Fried Mermaid LLC a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, modify (for formatting and technical purposes), publish, publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, and otherwise use Your Content solely for the purposes of operating, providing, securing, moderating, promoting, and improving the Service. This license exists for as long as Your Content remains on the Service and ends when Your Content is deleted, except to the extent it has been shared with others who have not deleted it, or retention is required by law.

5.4 Your responsibility and warranties. You are solely responsible for Your Content. You represent and warrant that (a) you own or have all necessary rights to Your Content and to grant the license above, and (b) Your Content does not violate these Terms, any law, or the rights of any third party (including intellectual property, privacy, and publicity rights).

5.5 No obligation to store. We are not a backup service. We may remove or delete Your Content in accordance with these Terms, and we have no obligation to retain or provide copies of Your Content.

6. Zero Tolerance for Objectionable Content and Abusive Users

6.1 Zero-tolerance policy. Fried Mermaid LLC has a ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY for objectionable content and for abusive, harassing, or otherwise harmful behavior on the Service. Objectionable content and abusive users are not permitted, and we will remove offending content and eject offending users as described in Section 6.6.

6.2 Objectionable content defined. "Objectionable content" includes, without limitation:

• Pornographic, sexually exploitative, or otherwise NSFW material that is not lawfully and properly age-restricted, and any sexual content involving minors (which is strictly and absolutely prohibited);
• Threats of violence, incitement to violence, or content promoting self-harm;
• Harassment, bullying, stalking, or intimidation of any person;
• Hate speech or content that attacks or demeans people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or any other protected characteristic;
• Content that infringes the intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights of others;
• Spam, fraud, scams, phishing, or deceptive content;
• Malware, viruses, or other harmful code;
• Content that is otherwise unlawful, or that promotes illegal activity.

6.3 How we filter objectionable content (moderation). We use a combination of automated and human moderation:

• Automated, server-side moderation. User-generated content — comments, book titles and synopses/taglines, chapter titles and content, and direct (chat) messages — is screened on our servers by an automated content-moderation classifier. When content is flagged, it is removed automatically and an audit record is created for review. As described in our Privacy Policy, this screening transmits the relevant text to advance modetaion tools solely for moderation classification. We do not use a fixed client-side word list.
• Automated signup screening. When you choose a username and display name at signup, they are screened by the same automated classifier before your account is created; a flagged name is rejected so you can choose another.
• Human review. Reports submitted by users, and items flagged by our automated systems, are reviewed by our moderation team through an internal administrative dashboard, where moderators can remove books and comments, issue strikes, and ban users.

6.4 In-app reporting / flagging. The Service provides an in-app mechanism to report (flag) objectionable content and abusive users. A "Report" control is available directly on user profiles, on books, and on comments. When you submit a report, it is recorded and routed to our moderation team for review, and you receive an in-app confirmation.

6.5 In-app blocking of abusive users. The Service provides an in-app mechanism to block abusive users. From a user's profile (and from the "Blocked Users" screen in Settings), you can block a user. Once you block a user, that user and their content are filtered out of your experience — including the world and mutuals lists, Explore, your Library, notifications, and comments — and existing admire/follow relationships between you are removed. You can manage and unblock users at any time from the "Blocked Users" screen in Settings.

6.6 Our commitment: removal and ejection within 24 hours. We are committed to a safe community. Upon receiving a report of objectionable content or abusive behavior, we will review it and, where a violation is found, remove the offending content and/or eject (ban) the offending user within 24 hours. Ejecting a user includes removing their content and disabling their ability to participate. We may also issue strikes, suspend, or permanently terminate accounts at our discretion for violations of these Terms. We act on reports in addition to, and independently of, our automated moderation systems.

6.7 Reporting to us directly. You may also report objectionable content, abusive behavior, or any safety concern to us directly at hello@mainwrld.com. We monitor this address and respond in a timely manner.

7. Acceptable Use and Prohibited Conduct

7.1 Acceptable use. You agree to use the Service lawfully, respectfully, and in accordance with these Terms.

7.2 Prohibited conduct. You agree that you will not:

• Post, upload, or transmit any objectionable content as defined in Section 6.2;
• Harass, threaten, bully, impersonate, or abuse any other user;
• Publish mature content without correctly flagging it using the "Mature" setting, or publish pornography or any sexual content involving minors (which are prohibited entirely under Section 6);
• Violate the intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights of any person or entity;
• Upload viruses, malware, or any code designed to disrupt or harm the Service or its users;
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any account, system, or data, or interfere with the operation or security of the Service;
• Use bots, scrapers, or other automated means to access or collect data from the Service except as expressly permitted;
• Circumvent, disable, or interfere with our moderation, age-gating, security, or rate-limiting features (including the daily limits on earned points);
• Attempt to manipulate points, premium status, likes, or other Service features through fraud, exploits, or unauthorized means;
• Use the Service to send spam or unsolicited communications; or
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms.

7.3 Consequences. Violations may result in content removal, strikes, suspension, or permanent termination of your account, and we may take any action we deem appropriate, including reporting unlawful conduct to law enforcement.

8. In-App Purchases, Tokens, Points, and Premium Membership

8.1 Overview. MainWRLD offers paid digital goods: a virtual currency called "tokens" and a premium membership called "MainWRLD+." A separate in-app currency called "points" is earned for free and is not sold. All digital goods are for use within the Service only.

8.2 Tokens (purchased virtual currency). Tokens are a non-transferable, in-app virtual currency used to purchase books within the Service. Tokens have no monetary value, cannot be exchanged for cash, and cannot be redeemed outside the Service. Tokens are sold in packs of 10, 20, 30, and 50 tokens (one token is priced at approximately US$1). A book is purchased by spending tokens; a book purchase is not a separate cash transaction. Purchased tokens do not expire.

8.3 Points (earned currency) and coupons. Points are a non-transferable, in-app currency that has no monetary value, cannot be purchased, and cannot be exchanged for cash. Points can be earned for free within the Service (for example, through a once-per-24-hour daily claim and through engagement on your content, subject to a cap of 25 earned points per day). Points may be spent within the Service on avatar customization and to obtain discount coupons — either by buying a coupon in the in-app shop or by spending points to spin the coupon wheel. A coupon applies a fixed number of tokens off a single book purchase; you may hold a limited number of unused coupons at a time and may apply one coupon per book.

8.4 MainWRLD+ premium membership. MainWRLD+ is a recurring membership priced at $35 per year. Premium benefits include a doubled daily points claim and recurring membership point rewards, as described in the Service. On iOS, MainWRLD+ is sold as an auto-renewing annual subscription with a one-year billing period; it renews automatically each year at the then-current price ($35 per year) until you cancel, and you may cancel at any time through your Apple ID subscription settings. Canceling stops future renewals but does not retroactively refund the current period except as required by law or Apple's policies. The exact title, length, and price per period are also shown to you on the App Store purchase screen before you confirm the purchase.

8.5 Payment processing — iOS (Apple In-App Purchase). In accordance with Apple App Store Review Guideline 3.1.1, all purchases of tokens and MainWRLD+ made within the iOS application are processed exclusively through Apple In-App Purchase (StoreKit). Payment is charged to your Apple ID account, and your purchase is subject to Apple's terms and policies. The MainWRLD iOS app does not collect or process your payment-card data; Apple handles all billing. We verify your purchase server-side using Apple's App Store Server API before crediting tokens or premium status. The iOS app does not contain external links or other mechanisms to purchase digital goods outside Apple In-App Purchase.

8.6 Payment processing — web (Stripe). When you purchase tokens or MainWRLD+ through the web application, payment is processed by Stripe. Books are purchased by spending tokens, not by a separate cash charge. You enter your payment information on Stripe-hosted pages; Fried Mermaid LLC does not collect or store your payment-card data. Stripe is used only on the web and is never used within the iOS application.

8.7 Restore Purchases. On iOS, you can restore eligible prior purchases at any time using the "Restore Purchases" control in Settings, as required by Apple App Store Review Guideline 3.1.1.

8.8 Refunds. For purchases made through Apple In-App Purchase on iOS, all refunds are handled by Apple in accordance with Apple's policies; Fried Mermaid LLC cannot grant, process, or guarantee refunds for Apple In-App Purchases. To request a refund for an iOS purchase, use Apple's standard refund process (for example, via reportaproblem.apple.com or your Apple ID account). For web purchases processed through Stripe, contact us at hello@mainwrld.com; any refund is at our discretion except where required by applicable law. Except as required by law or by Apple's policies, all purchases are final.

8.9 Taxes. You are responsible for any applicable taxes, which may be collected by Apple, Stripe, or us as required by law.

8.10 Changes to pricing and offerings. We may change the prices, packs, benefits, and availability of tokens, points earning, and MainWRLD+ at any time on a prospective basis. Changes will not affect purchases you have already made.

9. Intellectual Property

9.1 Our intellectual property. The Service — including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, the "MainWRLD" and "MainWRLD+" names and branding, and all related intellectual property — is owned by Fried Mermaid LLC or its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. Except for the limited license in Section 4, no rights are granted to you.

9.2 Feedback. If you send us suggestions or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use it without restriction or compensation to you.

10. Copyright Complaints and Takedown Process (DMCA)

10.1 Respect for copyright. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect users to do the same. We will respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable law, including the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA").

10.2 How to file a notice. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a written notice to hello@mainwrld.com with the subject line "DMCA Notice," including:

(a) your physical or electronic signature; (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; (c) identification of the allegedly infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to let us locate it (for example, the book, chapter, or comment and a link); (d) your contact information (name, address, telephone number, and email); (e) a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on its behalf.

10.3 Counter-notice. If your content was removed and you believe the removal was in error, you may submit a counter-notice to hello@mainwrld.com containing the information required by the DMCA.

10.4 Repeat infringers. We will, in appropriate circumstances, disable or terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers.

11. Third-Party Services

11.1 Service providers. The Service relies on third-party providers to function, including Google Firebase (Authentication, Cloud Firestore, and Cloud Functions) for our backend, Apple (App Store Server API and StoreKit) for iOS in-app purchases, Stripe for web payments, and Resend for transactional email. Fonts and icons are self-hosted by the Service and are not loaded from a third-party font CDN. Your use of the Service may be subject to those providers' terms and policies. How these providers process your data is described in our Privacy Policy.

11.2 No endorsement; no responsibility. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party services, websites, or content. Your dealings with third parties are solely between you and them.

12. Disclaimers

12.1 "AS IS." THE SERVICE AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, FRIED MERMAID LLC DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

12.2 No guarantee. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free of harmful components, or that any defects will be corrected. While we filter and moderate content as described in Section 6, we do not warrant that all objectionable content will be prevented, detected, or removed, and you may be exposed to content you find objectionable. You use the Service at your own risk.

12.3 User content. We are not responsible for, and do not endorse, content created by users. Opinions and statements in user content are those of their authors.

13. Limitation of Liability

13.1 Exclusion of certain damages. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, FRIED MERMAID LLC AND ITS OFFICERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE SERVICE.

13.2 Cap on liability. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

13.3 Basis of the bargain. These limitations apply even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Fried Mermaid LLC and its officers, members, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) Your Content; (b) your use or misuse of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any law or the rights of any third party.

15. Termination and Account Deletion

15.1 Termination by us. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, remove Your Content, or ban your account at any time, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms (including the zero-tolerance policy in Section 6) or if we reasonably believe it is necessary to protect the Service or its users.

15.2 In-app account deletion. You may delete your account at any time directly within the Service. On both iOS and the web, go to Settings → "Permanently Delete Account" and confirm. Deleting your account permanently removes your profile and your associated content (including your books, comments, chat messages, relationships, notifications, reports you filed, and your authentication record), in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Deletion is irreversible.

15.3 Effect of termination. Upon termination, your license to use the Service ends. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including Sections 5.3 (license survival as stated), 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 18 — survive.

15.4 Virtual items on termination. If your account is terminated for violating these Terms, you may lose access to tokens, points, MainWRLD+ benefits, and other in-app items without refund, except as required by applicable law or by Apple's policies.

16. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

16.1 Governing law. These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the State of New York, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.

16.2 Venue. Subject to any applicable law, you agree that the state and federal courts located in the State of New York will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute that is not otherwise resolved, and you consent to personal jurisdiction and venue there.

16.3 Informal resolution. Before filing a claim, you agree to contact us at hello@mainwrld.com to seek to resolve the dispute informally.

17. Changes to These Terms

17.1 Updates. We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Effective Date / Last Updated" date at the top of this document and post the revised Terms at https://mainwrld.com/terms. Where appropriate, we may also notify you within the Service.

17.2 Continued use. Your continued use of the Service after the updated Terms take effect constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service and may delete your account.

18. Apple-Specific Terms (EULA Acknowledgements)

These additional terms apply to your use of the MainWRLD iOS application obtained through the Apple App Store. You acknowledge and agree that:

18.1 Agreement is with us. These Terms are between you and Fried Mermaid LLC only, not with Apple. Apple is not responsible for the Service or its content.

18.2 Scope of license. The license granted to you in Section 4 is limited to a non-transferable license to use the application on Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.

18.3 Maintenance and support. Fried Mermaid LLC, not Apple, is solely responsible for providing maintenance and support for the application. You may contact us at hello@mainwrld.com.

18.4 Warranty. To the extent any warranty is not effectively disclaimed, in the event of any failure of the application to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple may refund the purchase price (if any) for the application; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the application.

18.5 Product claims. Fried Mermaid LLC, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims relating to the application or your use of it, including product-liability claims, claims that the application fails to conform to legal or regulatory requirements, and claims arising under consumer-protection or similar legislation.

18.6 Intellectual property claims. Fried Mermaid LLC, not Apple, is responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any third-party claim that the application or your use of it infringes that third party's intellectual property rights.

18.7 Third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance, Apple will have the right (and is deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

18.8 Legal compliance. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

19. General

19.1 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Fried Mermaid LLC regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements.

19.2 Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

19.3 No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.

19.4 Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

19.5 Force majeure. We are not liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes beyond our reasonable control.

20. Contact Us

Fried Mermaid LLC United States

Email (support, legal, and data requests): hello@mainwrld.com Website: https://mainwrld.com Terms: https://mainwrld.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://mainwrld.com/privacy