Terms and Conditions

1. Acceptance of these terms

By creating an account, browsing, posting, messaging, trading items, requesting rides, participating in governance or elections, or otherwise using iranian-students.org and any related subdomains or regional hubs, you agree to these Terms and Conditions and to the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please do not use the platform.

2. Platform purpose, scope, and independence

Iranian Students & Friends Network is a volunteer-run community platform for networking, mentorship, academic collaboration, mutual aid, civic engagement, and community building among Iranian students, faculty, industry professionals, alumni, and friends of the community worldwide.

This project is strictly non-partisan. It is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, controlled by, or funded by any political party, faction, government, state authority, religious institution, or commercial entity. No political campaigning, party promotion, recruitment for armed groups, or partisan fundraising is permitted on the platform.

This deployment operates independently. It maintains its own member database, administrative team, moderators, governance, and chapters — entirely separate from any sister community platform. While technical code and infrastructure are shared with affiliated projects, no member accounts, profiles, posts, messages, or personal data are exchanged between deployments. Your presence here creates no account, profile, or data footprint on any other platform.

If you wish to participate in a sister community platform, you may sign up there separately and at your own choice — it is a distinct account with its own credentials, data, and settings. Volunteering as a moderator, chapter leader, or in any other capacity on a sister platform is likewise entirely your own choice and is administered by that platform's team, not ours. Nothing is automatic or cross-enrolled.

You can export your own data at any time from Settings → Account → Download my data as a machine-readable JSON file (account, profile, posts, comments, messages, likes, bookmarks, follows, civic votes, notifications, and more), and you can delete your account yourself, immediately, from Settings → Account → Delete account.

3. Eligibility and account responsibilities

• You must be at least 16 years old to create an account.
• Provide accurate information at signup and keep your profile up to date. Do not impersonate others or falsify credentials.
• Keep your password and devices secure. You are responsible for all activity under your account.
• Use one primary account per person. Multiple or shadow accounts are only permitted with explicit admin approval.
• Verification (student ID, institutional email, or workplace credentials) may be required to unlock full posting, messaging, election, and marketplace features.

4. Prohibited behaviour

You must not engage in harmful, illegal, abusive, or inappropriate behaviour, including:

• Harassment, threats, bullying, stalking, intimidation, doxxing, or incitement of violence.
• Hate speech, slurs, extremist content, or discrimination targeting protected groups (ethnicity, religion, language, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc.).
• Partisan political campaigning, party recruitment, promotion of armed groups, or propaganda on behalf of any state or faction.
• Illegal activity, fraud, identity misuse, unauthorised surveillance, or sharing of personal data without consent.
• Sexual exploitation, non-consensual sexual content, or any content involving minors.
• Spam, scams, phishing, malware, scraping, bot abuse, unsolicited commercial promotion, or security probing.
• Misleading, defamatory, or manipulative conduct that harms users or the integrity of the community.
• Circumventing moderation actions, account restrictions, blocks, or platform safeguards of any kind.

5. Member features and specific rules

The platform offers — depending on deployment and verification status — the Feed, Profiles, Network (follows), Direct Messages, Chapters, Governance and Elections, Marketplace (products, services, and item borrowing), Ride sharing, Businesses directory, Opportunities board, Civic Items (petitions, polls, public statements), Reports & moderation, and Notifications.

• Marketplace and Borrow: listings must be honest, accurate, lawful, and relevant to the community. Transactions, pickups, and returns happen off-platform and at your own risk. For borrow listings, the return date is informational only — the platform neither enforces nor mediates returns.
• Ride sharing: drivers and passengers are solely responsible for their own safety, insurance, licenses, and any agreements. The platform does not verify driver credentials, vehicles, or routes.
• Messages: treat direct messages as personal correspondence. Do not share messages publicly without consent. Harassment rules apply.
• Governance, elections, and position claims: participation is subject to eligibility rules shown in the UI. Provide truthful information when claiming a position or running for office. Fraudulent claims may lead to removal and account suspension.
• Civic items (petitions, polls, statements): keep content constructive, factual, and non-partisan. Personal attacks and disinformation are not allowed.

6. User content and licences

You retain ownership of the content you submit (posts, messages, listings, documents, images, etc.). You grant the platform a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, display, adapt for display, and distribute your content strictly as needed to operate the platform. This licence ends when you delete your content, except for content already shared to other users or retained in backups for a reasonable technical period.

You are solely responsible for content you publish and for any legal consequences of your posts, listings, or messages.

7. Moderation and enforcement

Moderators and admins may review, restrict, hide, edit, remove, or escalate content and may warn, restrict, suspend, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or applicable law. We may also take action to protect users, volunteers, and the integrity of the platform. Decisions can be appealed by contacting [email protected].

8. Reporting and safety

If you see conduct or content that appears to violate these Terms, use the in-platform Report tools (flag icon on posts, listings, rides, profiles, and messages) or email [email protected]. Reports are reviewed in good faith but outcomes may vary depending on evidence, risk, and context. Do not retaliate against people who report.

9. Privacy

Your use of this platform is governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, store, protect, and delete personal data.

10. Service availability, changes, and termination

The platform is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability, compatibility, or error-free operation. Features may be added, changed, or removed at any time. We may suspend or terminate the service, or your access to it, at our discretion in line with these Terms.

11. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Iranian Students & Friends Network and its volunteers, contributors, moderators, and administrators are not responsible or liable for user actions, user-generated content, disputes between users, off-platform interactions, marketplace transactions, borrow arrangements, rides, or damages arising from platform use. This includes direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, loss of data, reputational harm, service interruption, or unauthorised access.

12. Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the platform, its operators, and its volunteers from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your conduct, content, violation of these Terms, or infringement of any third party's rights.

13. Governing terms and updates

These Terms may be updated from time to time as features evolve. We will update the "Last updated" date above when changes are made and, for material changes, post an in-platform notice. Continued use of the platform after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

14. Community Support — no money handling

The Community Support area (Application Fee Support, Funds & Scholarships, Discussions, Cities & Universities guides, Free Classes & Teaching, Business Sponsorships, Startup & Angel Network, Community Projects, and other community-coordination features) is a connector and information service only. Iranian Students & Friends Network does not collect, hold, transfer, distribute, escrow, invest, lend, process, reimburse, or guarantee money. There are no platform wallets, payouts, donations, investment offers, or tax-deductible donation processing.

Any payment, donation, sponsorship, reimbursement, purchase, or investment occurs outside the platform between users and external institutions, suppliers, NGOs, fundraising platforms, businesses, or third parties. The platform is not responsible for external transactions, refunds, disputes, failed payments, chargebacks, delivery of goods, completion of projects, or fulfilment of private agreements.

Application Fee Support is intended only for official education-related fees (university applications, graduate applications, scholarship applications, English tests, credential evaluations, transcript sending, and similar). Helpers and sponsors should pay official institutions directly. Users must not request or share passwords, OTP codes, card information, bank credentials, or unrelated personal documents. The platform does not guarantee that a request is accurate or that a helper or sponsor will pay.

Funds & Scholarships entries link to external official sources. The platform surfaces opportunities submitted by the community but does not award funds, process applications, or guarantee that any opportunity is currently accepting applicants.

Discussions are a moderated forum for community questions, answers, experience reports, and warnings within Community Support categories. Replies marked as "accepted answer" reflect the thread author's judgment and not an endorsement by the platform. Threads may be locked, hidden, or removed by moderators when they violate these Terms. Public money requests, personal payment details, investment solicitations, and the other prohibitions in section 16 also apply to discussion content.

Cities & Universities guides are user-contributed practical information about specific cities, universities, or programs (housing, transport, banking, application tips, community resources). The platform does not verify every claim; guides may carry "verified" or "needs update" indicators reflecting community and moderator review at a specific point in time. Information may be outdated or incorrect — confirm with official sources before acting on it.

Free Classes & Teaching lets verified members offer free, sponsored, or clearly labelled paid classes. Free classes must remain free; teachers and sponsors may not later require payment, personal information, political support, or unrelated services. Classes that include minors require additional safeguards: guardian consent on every enrollment, restricted meeting-link visibility, and additional moderator review. The platform does not pay teachers, collect class fees, or guarantee that any class will be delivered.

Business Sponsorships allow verified businesses, NGOs, student groups, and other organizations to publish sponsorship campaigns. Every campaign must clearly describe what is offered, who is eligible, and any conditions. Sponsorships may not involve loans, interest, repayment obligations, equity, unpaid labour requirements, hidden fees, or political/religious/sectarian pressure. All money flows happen directly between the sponsoring organization and the official institution, supplier, NGO, or recipient — the platform never collects, holds, distributes, or guarantees sponsorship money.

Startup & Angel Network features (founder profiles, investor/mentor profiles, intro requests, office hours) are for networking, mentorship, education, pitch feedback, and introductions only. Iranian Students & Friends Network is not a broker-dealer, funding portal, investment adviser, or securities exchange. Users may not publicly offer or sell securities, equity, SAFEs, convertible notes, tokens, or profit-sharing interests through the platform, and may not promise guaranteed returns. Pitch decks are stored privately and visible only to the audience the founder chooses (on-request, all verified users, or admin-only). Any investment discussion must happen outside the platform with appropriate legal and financial advice.

Community Projects (including NGO campaigns) allow verified members and organizations to coordinate community work — school supplies, classroom support, technology access, refugee/displaced support, and similar. The platform never collects donations or holds project funds. Donations and project funding flow exclusively through external official channels (registered NGO pages, established fundraising platforms, business sponsors paying suppliers directly). High-risk project categories (school building, child-focused work, medical hardship, large funding goals) require manual moderator review before publication. Personal bank account numbers, card details, and crypto wallet addresses are not allowed in project content.

15. Verification, badges, and no guarantees

The platform may provide verification labels, badges, or profile-review indicators. These labels are intended to increase transparency but do not guarantee identity, legality, safety, project completion, payment, donation use, scholarship award, or user reliability. Information on the platform is for general community and educational purposes only and is not legal, financial, investment, immigration, tax, medical, accounting, or professional advice. Users should consult qualified professionals where appropriate.

16. Prohibited content in Community Support

In addition to the prohibitions in section 4, the following are not permitted in Community Support content (opportunities, sponsorship offers, project pages, fund entries, discussions): personal bank or payment details, card numbers, CVV codes, passwords, OTP codes, crypto private keys, gift card requests; public loan or interest offers; investment solicitations, guaranteed-return claims, equity/SAFE/token sales; tax-deductible donation claims that imply the platform collects funds; hidden fees, pressure tactics, or exploitation of students or vulnerable people. Submissions matching these categories may be blocked or flagged automatically and reviewed by moderators.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email [email protected]. For safety and moderation matters, email [email protected].