Effective Date: January 25, 2025

Acceptable Use Policy

Guidelines and rules for acceptable behavior on the Plinthia platform to ensure a safe and positive experience for all users.

Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") outlines the rules and guidelines for using the Plinthia platform. This policy is part of and incorporated into our Terms of Service. All users must comply with this AUP when accessing or using the Platform.

Purpose

This AUP is designed to:

  • Protect all users from harmful or illegal activities
  • Maintain a safe, respectful, and professional environment
  • Ensure fair and equal access to Platform features
  • Preserve the integrity and security of our systems
  • Comply with Philippine laws, including the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (RA 10175)

Scope

This AUP applies to all activities on the Platform, including:

  • Creating and managing accounts
  • Making and managing bookings
  • Listing and managing venues and facilities
  • Communicating with other users
  • Posting reviews, ratings, and other content
  • Using any Platform features or services

Related Policies

This AUP should be read together with:

Lawful Use Only

You must use the Platform only for lawful purposes. You agree NOT to:

  • Violate any Philippine law, statute, ordinance, or regulation
  • Violate any applicable international law or treaty
  • Engage in activities that would constitute a criminal offense
  • Use the Platform for any illegal gambling, betting, or similar activities
  • Use the Platform for prostitution, human trafficking, or exploitation
  • Use the Platform to facilitate drug trafficking or distribution
  • Use the Platform for money laundering or financing of terrorism

Strictly Prohibited

The following activities are strictly prohibited and may result in immediate account termination and legal action:

  • Fraud: Making fraudulent bookings, payments, or misrepresenting identity
  • Identity Theft: Using another person's identity or credentials without authorization
  • Harassment: Threatening, intimidating, or harassing other users
  • Discrimination: Discriminating based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics
  • Violence: Promoting or inciting violence against any person or group
  • Exploitation: Exploiting minors or vulnerable persons in any way

Honest and Fair Dealings

All users must engage in honest and fair dealings:

  • Provide accurate and truthful information
  • Honor confirmed bookings and commitments
  • Pay all fees and charges when due
  • Not manipulate pricing, ratings, or reviews
  • Not engage in anti-competitive practices
  • Act in good faith in all Platform interactions

Respectful Communication

When communicating with other users or Plinthia staff:

  • Be professional, courteous, and respectful
  • Do not use profane, vulgar, or offensive language
  • Do not send unsolicited commercial messages (spam)
  • Do not share personal information of others without consent
  • Respond to legitimate inquiries in a timely manner

Booking Behavior

When making bookings, you must:

  • Only book facilities you genuinely intend to use
  • Provide accurate contact and booking information
  • Arrive on time for your scheduled booking
  • Cancel bookings in advance if you cannot attend
  • Not make excessive bookings to block availability for others
  • Not use fake contact information or identities

Prohibited Booking Activities

You must NOT:

  • Double-book: Book the same time slot at multiple venues with intent to cancel
  • Scalp: Book facilities to resell at higher prices
  • Ghost: Repeatedly fail to show up for confirmed bookings
  • Misuse: Use booked facilities for purposes other than stated
  • Sublease: Transfer bookings to unauthorized third parties for profit

At the Venue

When using a booked facility:

  • Follow all venue rules, regulations, and staff instructions
  • Treat the facility, equipment, and property with care
  • Not damage, vandalize, or steal any property
  • Not bring prohibited items (weapons, illegal substances, etc.)
  • Not exceed the maximum occupancy stated in your booking
  • Clean up after yourself and leave the facility in good condition
  • Vacate the facility promptly at the end of your booking
  • Report any damage, safety hazards, or incidents to the venue

Payment Obligations

  • Pay all booking fees and charges when due
  • Not dispute legitimate charges with your payment provider
  • Not use fraudulent payment methods or stolen credentials
  • Pay for any damages you cause to the venue or equipment

Reviews and Ratings

  • Only review venues you have actually visited
  • Provide honest, accurate, and fair reviews
  • Not post fake positive or negative reviews
  • Not accept payment or incentives for reviews (without disclosure)
  • Not threaten venues with negative reviews to obtain refunds or benefits

Accurate Listings

Your venue and facility listings must:

  • Contain accurate, truthful, and complete information
  • Include clear, recent, and unedited photographs
  • Display honest pricing with no hidden fees
  • Accurately describe amenities, features, and limitations
  • Clearly state all rules, restrictions, and requirements
  • Not contain misleading or exaggerated claims
  • Be updated promptly when information changes

Prohibited Listing Practices

You must NOT:

  • Bait and Switch: Offer a facility different from what was booked
  • Hidden Fees: Add unexpected charges after booking confirmation
  • Fake Availability: Show availability for slots that are not actually available
  • False Photos: Use photos that don't represent your actual facility
  • Spam Listings: Create duplicate or fake listings to dominate search results

Honoring Bookings

As a Venue Owner, you must:

  • Honor all confirmed bookings except in cases of force majeure
  • Not cancel confirmed bookings to accept higher-paying customers
  • Provide adequate notice for any necessary cancellations
  • Process refunds according to your stated cancellation policy
  • Ensure the facility is available, clean, and ready at the booked time
  • Provide all amenities and services advertised in your listing

Customer Treatment

You must treat all customers fairly and equally:

  • Not discriminate based on protected characteristics
  • Provide the same quality of service to all customers
  • Respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner
  • Handle complaints professionally and constructively
  • Not retaliate against customers for negative (but honest) reviews

Safety and Compliance

  • Maintain a safe environment for all customers and staff
  • Ensure facilities meet all applicable safety standards
  • Maintain required permits, licenses, and insurance
  • Comply with fire, health, and building codes
  • Report and address safety hazards promptly
  • Have emergency procedures in place

Data Protection

When handling customer data:

  • Use customer information only for fulfilling bookings
  • Not share, sell, or misuse customer personal information
  • Implement appropriate security measures to protect data
  • Comply with the Data Privacy Act of 2012
  • Delete customer data when no longer needed
  • Report any data breaches to Plinthia immediately

User-Generated Content

When you submit content to the Platform (including but not limited to reviews, photos, descriptions, and messages), you agree to the following standards:

Prohibited Content

You must NOT post content that:

  • Illegal: Violates any law or promotes illegal activities
  • Harmful: Promotes violence, self-harm, or dangerous activities
  • Hateful: Promotes hatred or discrimination against protected groups
  • Harassing: Targets, threatens, or intimidates individuals
  • Sexual: Contains sexually explicit or pornographic material
  • CSAM: Depicts or promotes child sexual abuse material (zero tolerance)
  • Privacy-Violating: Shares personal information without consent
  • Defamatory: Contains false statements that damage reputation
  • Infringing: Violates intellectual property rights of others
  • Spam: Unsolicited commercial content or advertisements
  • Misleading: False, deceptive, or manipulative information

Photo Guidelines

Photos uploaded to the Platform must:

  • Be your own original photos or photos you have rights to use
  • Accurately represent the venue or facility
  • Not be digitally altered to mislead (filters for aesthetics are acceptable)
  • Not contain watermarks or promotional overlays
  • Not include identifiable persons without their consent
  • Not contain offensive, inappropriate, or illegal content

Review Guidelines

Reviews should be:

  • Based on actual, first-hand experience
  • Honest, accurate, and fair
  • Focused on the venue/facility experience
  • Free from personal attacks or irrelevant complaints
  • Not influenced by compensation or threats

Content Moderation

Plinthia reserves the right to:

  • Review any content submitted to the Platform
  • Remove content that violates this policy
  • Edit or redact inappropriate portions of content
  • Suspend accounts that repeatedly violate content policies
  • Report illegal content to law enforcement authorities

Account Security

You must:

  • Use a strong, unique password for your account
  • Keep your login credentials confidential
  • Not share your account with others
  • Not use another person's account without authorization
  • Report any unauthorized access immediately
  • Log out of shared or public devices

Prohibited Technical Activities

You must NOT:

  • Hacking: Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any systems, accounts, or data
  • Malware: Transmit viruses, worms, trojans, or other malicious code
  • DoS/DDoS: Attempt to overload, crash, or disrupt Platform operations
  • Scraping: Automated data collection without explicit permission
  • Crawling: Use bots or automated scripts to access the Platform
  • Reverse Engineering: Decompile, disassemble, or analyze Platform code
  • Circumvention: Bypass security measures, rate limits, or access controls
  • API Abuse: Misuse APIs beyond their intended purpose or rate limits
  • SQL Injection: Attempt to inject malicious SQL or code
  • XSS: Attempt cross-site scripting attacks

Infrastructure Integrity

To protect our infrastructure, you must NOT:

  • Attempt to probe or test system vulnerabilities
  • Access non-public areas of our systems
  • Interfere with other users' access to the Platform
  • Send excessive requests that burden our servers
  • Use the Platform in ways that degrade performance for others

Responsible Disclosure

If you discover a security vulnerability:

  • Report it to [email protected] immediately
  • Do not exploit the vulnerability
  • Do not disclose it publicly before we address it
  • We appreciate responsible disclosure and will not take legal action against good-faith security researchers

Legal Consequences

Violations of this section may constitute crimes under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (RA 10175) including:

  • Illegal Access (Sec. 4(a)(1)) - imprisonment of 6 years and 1 day to 12 years
  • System Interference (Sec. 4(a)(3)) - imprisonment of 6 years and 1 day to 12 years
  • Data Interference (Sec. 4(a)(4)) - imprisonment of 6 years and 1 day to 12 years
  • Computer-related Fraud (Sec. 4(a)(5)) - imprisonment of 6 years and 1 day to 12 years

We will cooperate fully with law enforcement to prosecute violators.

Enforcement Actions

Violations of this AUP may result in one or more of the following actions, at Plinthia's sole discretion:

Warning: A formal notice about the violation with instructions to cease the activity.

Content Removal: Removal of violating content (listings, reviews, photos, messages).

Feature Restriction: Temporary or permanent restriction of specific Platform features.

Account Suspension: Temporary suspension of your account pending investigation.

Account Termination: Permanent termination of your account and all associated data.

Legal Action: Pursuit of civil damages or referral to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.

Severity Factors

The action taken will depend on factors including:

  • Severity and nature of the violation
  • Whether the violation was intentional or accidental
  • History of previous violations
  • Harm caused to other users or the Platform
  • Cooperation during investigation
  • Legal requirements or law enforcement requests

Zero Tolerance Violations

The following violations result in immediate account termination without warning:

  • Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
  • Human trafficking or exploitation
  • Terrorism or promotion of terrorist activities
  • Fraud involving substantial amounts
  • Hacking or unauthorized system access
  • Distribution of malware
  • Identity theft

Appeals

If you believe enforcement action was taken in error, you may submit an appeal to [email protected] within 30 days of the action. Include:

  • Your account information
  • Details of the enforcement action
  • Your explanation or evidence
  • Any relevant documentation

Appeals are reviewed within 14 business days. Plinthia's decision on appeals is final.

How to Report

If you witness or experience a violation of this AUP, please report it to us. We take all reports seriously and will investigate promptly.

Report Channels

What to Include in Reports

  • Your contact information (for follow-up)
  • Username or account of the violator (if known)
  • Description of the violation
  • Date and time of the incident
  • Screenshots or other evidence (if available)
  • Any witnesses or additional context

Reporter Protection

We protect the identity of reporters. We will NOT:

  • Reveal your identity to the reported party without your consent
  • Retaliate against you for making a good-faith report
  • Penalize you for reporting violations

However, false or malicious reports may result in action against your account.

Questions?

If you have questions about this Acceptable Use Policy:

This Acceptable Use Policy was last updated on January 25, 2025.