Legal

Terms of Service

Last updated: 21 September 2026

These Terms of Service and Conditions of Use (the "Terms") are the single user agreement for Civicore. They govern access to and use of every Civicore surface, including:

the marketing website at civicore.co.ke (the "Marketing Site");
the web application at app.civicore.co.ke (the "Application");
the mobile applications published as Civicore: Kenya Campaigns on Google Play and the Apple App Store (application ID ke.co.civicore.app) and any successor or companion builds (the "Mobile Apps"); and
related application programming interfaces, public profiles, documentation, in-app browsers used for sign-in or billing, and support channels.

Together these are the "Platform". There is no separate terms of service for the Mobile Apps or the Application. Sign-up, sign-in, billing, and onboarding screens, including those opened inside an in-app browser from a Mobile App, incorporate these Terms. Store listing rules of Apple or Google apply in addition to, and do not replace, these Terms.

If you register as, or act for, an Aspirant, Section 8 is operative. By creating an Aspirant account, accepting the Peace Pledge, publishing a Manifesto, or permitting any agent to do any of those things on your behalf, you legally bind yourself to the Peace Pledge and to every Manifesto Version published in your name. Those commitments are not decorative, not merely reputational, and not optional conditions of courtesy. They are continuing obligations given in consideration of access to the Platform, intended to be relied upon by Civicore and by members of the Kenyan public.

Agreement, parties, and scope
Definitions
Formation, electronic contracting, and acceptance
Eligibility and accounts
Status of Civicore
Licence to use the Platform
Role-specific terms
Aspirant Public Commitments
Party and organisation pledges
User Content
Verification and identity
Prohibited conduct
Election-week protocol
Communications, live streams, and broadcasts
Intellectual property
Privacy and data protection
Child safety
Fees, pilots, and donations
Disclaimers
Limitation of liability
Indemnity
Breach, suspension, and termination
Complaints, notices, and regulatory referrals
Changes to these Terms
Governing law and dispute resolution
General provisions
Contact

1. Agreement, parties, and scope

These Terms are a legally binding agreement between you and Civicore, the operator of the Platform in the Republic of Kenya ("Civicore", "we", "us", or "our"). They apply equally to the Marketing Site, the Application, and the Mobile Apps, and to every person who visits, browses, installs, registers for, or otherwise uses any of them, whether as a guest or as a registered user, and whether through a browser, a native mobile application, an in-app browser, or an integration. A single Civicore account is used across those surfaces.

These Terms incorporate by reference the Privacy Policy, the Cookie Policy, the Child Safety Standards, and the public peace and election-week commitments published at Peace & Fair Elections (together, the "Incorporated Policies"). In the event of conflict on a subject that Section 8 addresses (Peace Pledge, Manifesto, authorship, archival, or Aspirant remedies), Section 8 prevails.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the Platform. Continued use after the "Last updated" date is acceptance of the version then published.

2. Definitions

In these Terms, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Application" means the Civicore web application at app.civicore.co.ke, including dashboards, public profile pages hosted there, registration, billing, and campaign-operations tools.
"Aspirant" means a natural person who registers on the Platform in an aspirant capacity, or who is identified on the Platform as seeking or holding elective office in Kenya, including without limitation President, Governor, Senator, County Woman Representative, Member of the National Assembly, or Member of a County Assembly, and any person who publishes a public profile or Manifesto in that capacity.
"Aspirant Public Commitments" means, collectively, the Peace Pledge, every Manifesto Version, the Aspirant's public profile (including biography, policy summaries, media, and verification claims), and any other statement the Aspirant or the Aspirant's Agents publish on the Platform as the Aspirant's position, promise, undertaking, or record.
"Agent" means any Campaign Manager, party administrator, coordinator, communications lead, volunteer with publish rights, or other person to whom the Aspirant or a Party has granted authority (actual, apparent, or ostensible) to operate an account, edit a profile, or publish content.
"Marketing Site" means the Civicore website at civicore.co.ke, including documentation, legal pages, and contact forms.
"Mobile Apps" means the Civicore native applications for iOS and Android published as Civicore: Kenya Campaigns (application ID ke.co.civicore.app), including updates, beta builds, and any in-app browser they open onto the Application or the Marketing Site.
"Platform" means the Marketing Site, the Application, and the Mobile Apps, together with related APIs, public profiles, documentation, and support channels.
"Manifesto" means the policy programme, pledges, promises, plans, and related narrative that an Aspirant publishes on the Platform as their manifesto or equivalent official programme, including rich text, attachments, media, schedules, and any document presented as the Aspirant's platform for election.
"Manifesto Version" means a Manifesto as it stood at a particular date and time of publication or amendment, including the immediately prior version after any amendment.
"Official Public Commitment Record" means the timestamped, attributable, and archival record of an Aspirant Public Commitment that Civicore is authorised to display, store, export, and permit the public to cite.
"Party" means a political party, coalition, or other political organisation using the Platform, whether or not registered with the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties.
"Peace Pledge" means the undertaking set out in Section 8.2 (for Aspirants) and Section 9 (for Parties), as updated in accordance with Section 24.
"User Content" means all content submitted, uploaded, streamed, posted, or otherwise made available on the Platform by you or your Agents, including profiles, Manifestos, media, comments, live streams, broadcasts, messages, and metadata.
"you" means the individual accepting these Terms, and, where you act for a Party, campaign, civic organisation, or other body, that body as well.

Headings are for convenience only. The words "including" and "in particular" are without limitation. A reference to statute is to that statute as amended, re-enacted, or replaced from time to time.

3. Formation, electronic contracting, and acceptance

These Terms take effect as a contract under the Law of Contract Act (Cap. 23) and as an electronic record under the Kenya Information and Communications Act (Cap. 411A), including Part VIA on electronic transactions. Information in electronic form, and an electronic signature, electronic click, checkbox, typed name, one-time code, biometric unlock of a signed-in device, or other electronic indication of assent, has legal effect, validity, and enforceability.

You accept these Terms, and any particular Aspirant Public Commitment, by any of the following, each of which is independently sufficient:

creating, verifying, or signing in to an account;
clicking or tapping "I agree", "Accept", "Sign the pledge", "Publish", or any equivalent control;
checking a box presented with these Terms, the Peace Pledge, or a Manifesto publish flow;
registering or continuing in an Aspirant, Party, or Agent role after notice of these Terms;
publishing, editing, or instructing the publication of a Manifesto or public profile;
installing, opening, or continuing to use a Mobile App, including as a guest;
completing registration or sign-in in an in-app browser that the Mobile Apps open onto the Application;
accessing the Platform after we have presented these Terms or a notice of material change.

You agree that Civicore may keep server logs, audit events, and version history as evidence of formation, authorship, and the content of each Manifesto Version. You will not contest the admissibility of those electronic records solely because they are electronic.

Where Kenyan law permits an instrument to take effect as a deed without wet-ink execution, each acceptance of the Peace Pledge and each publication of a Manifesto Version is intended to take effect as a deed poll by the Aspirant, delivered by publication on the Platform. If a court holds that characterisation unavailable, the same acts take effect as a contract supported by the consideration in Section 8.4, and as a unilateral irrevocable undertaking. Failure of one characterisation does not affect the others.

4. Eligibility and accounts

The Platform is intended for persons who are 18 years of age or older. You represent that you have legal capacity to contract. If you accept these Terms for a Party, campaign, civic organisation, or other body, you represent that you have authority to bind that body, and that the body is duly existing and, where required for the activity it undertakes, lawfully registered or licensed in Kenya.

You must provide accurate registration information and keep it current. You are responsible for credentials issued to you and for all activity on accounts you control. You shall notify Civicore promptly at security@civicore.co.ke of any unauthorised access.

Civicore may refuse, suspend, or terminate accounts, withhold verification badges, or limit features where we reasonably believe these Terms, an Incorporated Policy, or applicable law has been or will be breached.

5. Status of Civicore

Civicore is an independent civic-tech platform. It is not a political party, not a campaign, not the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ("IEBC"), not the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, not a government department, and not an electoral official. Civicore does not endorse any Party or Aspirant, does not count votes, does not declare results, and does not adjudicate electoral disputes.

Publication of an Aspirant profile, a verification badge, or a Manifesto on the Platform is not an endorsement, not a representation by Civicore that the Aspirant is qualified for office, and not a substitute for nomination, clearance, or any statutory process under the Elections Act, 2011, the Political Parties Act, 2011, or any IEBC direction.

6. Licence to use the Platform

Subject to these Terms, Civicore grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable licence to access and use the Platform for lawful civic, journalistic, research, campaign, and organisational purposes in Kenya. We may add, change, or withdraw features. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability.

You shall not copy, scrape at a rate that degrades the Platform, reverse engineer except to the extent that mandatory law permits, probe for unauthorised access, circumvent technical controls, or use the Platform to build a competing service by systematically extracting non-public data.

The Mobile Apps may request device permissions, including camera and microphone (for live sessions), photo library access (for posts and stories), and notifications (if you opt in to push alerts). Granting a permission is not required to browse as a guest, except where a feature cannot function without it. You may withdraw a permission in your device settings; the related feature will then be unavailable. The Mobile Apps do not use background GPS for advertising. Electoral geography, where shown, comes from the region you save on your Civicore profile or from content metadata, not from covert location tracking.

Apple, Google, and any other store from which you obtain a Mobile App are not parties to these Terms, except to the extent their store-front agreements give them third-party rights against you. Your licence to the Mobile Apps is granted by Civicore, not by the store. If a store requires that its users be third-party beneficiaries of a warranty disclaimer, that store may rely on Sections 19 and 20 to that limited extent.

7. Role-specific terms

The Platform supports multiple roles, including Aspirant, Party administrator, campaign manager, coordinator, volunteer, civic-organisation user, and member of the public. Features and scopes differ by role. Holding a role does not confer any public office or any right against the IEBC.

An Agent who publishes or edits Aspirant Public Commitments binds the Aspirant as set out in Section 8.10. A Party administrator who accepts the Party Peace Pledge binds the Party as set out in Section 9. Volunteers and other users remain bound by Sections 10 to 17 and by all other generally applicable clauses.

8. Aspirant Public Commitments

This Section 8 is the principal operative part of these Terms for every Aspirant. It applies in addition to the rest of these Terms. It survives account closure as set out in Section 8.9.

8.1 Condition of access

Access to Aspirant features, including a public profile, Manifesto publishing, campaign tools, live streaming, volunteer mobilisation, and analytics, is conditional on:

acceptance of these Terms;
acceptance of the Peace Pledge in Section 8.2;
the Aspirant's agreement that every Manifesto Version is an Official Public Commitment Record under this Section 8; and
the Aspirant's agreement that Agents act with authority to bind the Aspirant as provided in Section 8.10.

Civicore may withhold or withdraw Aspirant features if any of those conditions is not met or later fails.

8.2 The Peace Pledge

The Aspirant hereby irrevocably undertakes to Civicore, and for the public record on the Platform, as follows (the "Peace Pledge"):

I will campaign in good faith, with respect for my opponents.
I will reject hate speech, incitement, and misinformation on every channel I control.
I will honour the platform's election-week protocol without exception.
I will respond to verified misuse on my account with corrective action within 48 hours.
I will accept the lawful outcome of the election.

Without limiting the Peace Pledge, the Aspirant further undertakes that they shall:

not use the Platform, or any channel they control, to incite violence, ethnic contempt, or hatred contrary to Article 33 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008, or the Election Offences Act, 2016;
not publish on the Platform a statement they know, or reasonably ought to know, to be false in a material respect concerning an opponent, an electoral process, or a matter of existing fact presented as a credential, record, or endorsement;
cause their Agents to comply with the Peace Pledge as if it were given by those Agents personally, remaining liable for their Agents' breaches; and
treat the election-week protocol in Section 13 as a contractual instruction, not a guideline.

The Peace Pledge is a continuing covenant. It applies for so long as the Aspirant holds an account, campaigns using the Platform, or maintains a public profile, and thereafter to the extent Section 8.9 preserves the public record. Civicore may display the Peace Pledge on the Aspirant's public profile.

8.3 Official Public Commitment Record

Each Manifesto Version, together with the Peace Pledge and the Aspirant's public profile as published from time to time, constitutes the Aspirant's Official Public Commitment Record on Civicore. The Aspirant:

represents that the Manifesto is their official programme for the office identified on the profile, issued with their authority;
intends members of the public, journalists, civic organisations, Parties, observers, and public bodies to read, cite, compare, and rely upon that record;
authorises Civicore to publish it at a stable public URL, to index it, to display version history, and to permit lawful quotation; and
agrees that the record is attributable to the Aspirant personally, even if an Agent operated the controls.

The Aspirant shall not publish a Manifesto they do not intend the public to treat as their real programme. A Manifesto published "for drafting only" or "by mistake" remains an Official Public Commitment Record unless and until amended in accordance with Section 8.8. Civicore has no duty to treat a private message or an off-platform statement as withdrawing a published Manifesto Version.

8.4 Legal characterisation and binding effect

In consideration of Civicore granting the Aspirant access to Aspirant features, and in consideration of the public dissemination of the Aspirant's profile, the Aspirant agrees that:

(a) Peace Pledge. The Peace Pledge is a continuing contractual covenant given to Civicore. Civicore may enforce it without proving special damage, and may do so by Platform remedies, injunctive or other equitable relief, and damages where available.
(b) Manifesto as binding public representation. Each Manifesto Version is a representation and, as to future conduct, a promise, given by the Aspirant. The Aspirant warrants that they make it with the intention of being bound in the manner set out in this Section 8, and with the intention that Civicore and the public should act on it.
(c) Covenant of good-faith pursuit. If elected or appointed to the office identified on the profile, the Aspirant shall, to the extent lawful and within the constitutional and statutory competence of that office, pursue in good faith the implementation of the Manifesto Version that stood as current at the close of polls for that election, subject only to amendments published on the Platform before that close, to overriding law, to court orders, and to bona fide change of circumstances disclosed in accordance with Section 8.8.
(d) Deed poll; contract; undertaking. Each acceptance of the Peace Pledge and each publication of a Manifesto Version is intended, to the fullest extent permitted by Kenyan law (including Cap. 411A), to take effect as a deed poll by the Aspirant, alternatively as a contract with Civicore, alternatively as a unilateral irrevocable undertaking. Those characterisations are cumulative so far as the law allows.
(e) Estoppel. The Aspirant is estopped from denying (i) that they authored or authorised any Manifesto Version published on their profile, (ii) the content of that version as at its publication timestamp, and (iii) that they intended the public to rely upon it.
(f) No silent denial. The Aspirant shall not, on or off the Platform, represent that a Manifesto Version was unauthorised, unofficial, or not theirs, except by publishing an amendment under Section 8.8 that states the correction, or except where they have promptly reported a verified account compromise to Civicore and to the police where appropriate.

Nothing in these Terms requires a court to grant specific performance of a legislative, executive, or other public-law act, or to substitute Civicore for a constitutional office. That limitation does not reduce the force of clauses (a) to (f), does not limit Civicore's Platform remedies, does not limit liability for false statements of existing fact, and does not limit the covenant of good-faith pursuit so far as a court of competent jurisdiction is willing to recognise it.

These Terms do not create a trust for unidentified members of the public, do not make Civicore a fiduciary of any voter, and do not confer on any third party a right to sue on this contract except as Kenyan law independently provides (including in misrepresentation, defamation, electoral offence, or judicial review of public power where those doctrines apply). Civicore may nonetheless enforce Section 8 in its own name, may disclose breaches, and may cooperate with competent authorities as provided in Section 23.

8.5 Representations and warranties

The Aspirant represents and warrants to Civicore, and repeats on each publication or amendment of a Manifesto Version, that:

they are the person identified on the profile, or they have that person's written authority, which they shall produce on demand;
they have capacity and, if they are a nominee of a Party, any internal Party authority required to publish the Manifesto;
the Manifesto and profile are, so far as they consist of statements of existing fact (including education, professional history, endorsements, assets, donations, criminal record, and citizenship), true, accurate, and not misleading by omission of a material fact;
the Manifesto and profile do not infringe intellectual property, privacy, or personality rights of any person, and are not defamatory;
the Manifesto and profile comply with the Constitution, the Elections Act, 2011, the Election Offences Act, 2016, the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012, Chapter Six of the Constitution, the National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008, the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018, and all IEBC codes and directions applicable to campaign communications;
they intend, in good faith, to pursue the policy positions stated, if elected, as set out in Section 8.4(c); and
they have read the Peace Pledge and accept it without reservation.

Each of the foregoing is a material term. A breach is a material breach of these Terms.

8.6 Covenant of good-faith pursuit

The Aspirant acknowledges that a Manifesto is published so that voters may evaluate the Aspirant. The Aspirant therefore covenants that they shall not use the Platform to present a programme they have no present intention to pursue, to contradict in a material way on the Platform a Manifesto Version still marked current, or to treat the Manifesto as disposable marketing copy.

Where circumstances change after publication (including court decisions, fiscal facts, or coalition agreements), the Aspirant shall not silently abandon a material pledge. They shall amend the Manifesto under Section 8.8, stating in plain language what has changed and why. Failure to amend does not erase the prior Manifesto Version; it leaves that version as the current Official Public Commitment Record.

8.7 Factual statements

Statements of existing fact in a profile or Manifesto (as distinct from statements of future policy) are warranties. If they are false in a material respect, the Aspirant is in breach, Civicore may label, suspend, or remove the content, and the Aspirant remains responsible to any person who has a claim under the general law. Civicore is not the Aspirant's publisher of those statements except as a host and licensee under Section 10; the Aspirant is the author and publisher.

8.8 Versioning, amendment, and no silent retraction

The Aspirant may amend a Manifesto or profile only through the Platform's publishing controls (or a written request to Civicore that Civicore agrees to effect). Each amendment creates a new Manifesto Version with a timestamp. Civicore may display:

the current version;
the fact and date of amendment;
prior versions, in full or by diff, for the archival period in Section 8.9; and
a notice where a material pledge has been withdrawn or reversed.

Deleting text from a current draft, unpublishing, or closing an account is not a retraction of prior Manifesto Versions. Retraction, correction, or withdrawal has effect for the public record only if a new Manifesto Version is published that states the correction, or if Civicore is required by law or by Section 17 to remove content.

Civicore may refuse to conceal version history in the period from the date of first publication through the gazetted election day for the relevant contest and for a reasonable archival period thereafter. The Aspirant waives any claim that continued display of an accurate historical version, clearly marked as historical, is defamatory, a breach of privacy, or a breach of the right to erasure, except where the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, a court order, or another mandatory law requires a different result. Where erasure of personal data is required, Civicore may still retain such records as it is obliged or permitted to keep for legal claims, journalistic purposes, or public-interest archiving, to the extent the Act allows.

8.9 Survival and archival

Sections 8.2 to 8.8, 8.10 to 8.14, 10 (licence), 15, 20, 21, 23, 25, and 26 survive suspension, termination, or account deletion, together with any other clause that by nature should survive. Civicore may retain and display the Official Public Commitment Record:

throughout the election cycle in which the Manifesto was published and any related petition period;
thereafter as an archival record for journalism, research, civic education, and accountability, unless mandatory law requires earlier deletion; and
for so long as Civicore reasonably requires the record to enforce these Terms or to respond to a competent authority.

The Aspirant grants the licence in Section 8.12 on an irrevocable basis for those purposes, to the extent Kenyan law permits irrevocability. If irrevocability is limited by law, the licence remains exclusive to the extent necessary for Civicore to maintain an accurate historical record and continues until the purposes above are spent.

8.10 Agency and campaign staff

The Aspirant appoints every person they (or their Party, with the Aspirant's authority) invite or permit to edit the Aspirant's profile, Manifesto, or public posts as the Aspirant's Agent for those acts. Actual authority, password sharing, and holding out an individual as campaign staff on the Platform are each sufficient. Acts of an Agent within that scope bind the Aspirant as if done by the Aspirant personally.

The Aspirant remains responsible for Agents' compliance with these Terms. Dispute between an Aspirant and an Agent does not qualify the Official Public Commitment Record as against Civicore or the public, except by amendment under Section 8.8 or a proven account compromise promptly reported.

8.11 Attribution, estoppel, and public reliance

The Aspirant acknowledges that voters, journalists, civic organisations, researchers, and public bodies may rely on Aspirant Public Commitments. The Aspirant intends that reliance. The Aspirant shall not assert against Civicore that such reliance was unreasonable merely because the statement was political speech.

Civicore may identify the Aspirant as the author of each Manifesto Version in any export, report, or response to a lawful request. The Aspirant waives, to the extent permitted by law, any claim against Civicore for accurate republication, quotation, comparison, or archival display of Aspirant Public Commitments.

8.12 Licence to Civicore

The Aspirant grants Civicore a worldwide, royalty-free, transferable to successors, sub-licensable to hosting and delivery providers, and (subject to Section 8.9) irrevocable licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt for formatting, display, index, quote, translate for accessibility, and create archival copies of Aspirant Public Commitments, and to permit the public to read and lawfully cite them. This licence is for the operation of the Platform and for the archival and accountability purposes in Section 8.9. It does not transfer copyright in the Manifesto to Civicore. The Aspirant retains copyright, subject to this licence and to fair dealing and other exceptions under Kenyan copyright law.

8.13 Remedies for breach

Without limiting any other right, if the Aspirant or an Agent breaches Section 8 or the Peace Pledge, Civicore may, taking a step proportionate to the breach:

require corrective publication within a stated time, including the 48-hour period in the Peace Pledge;
label the profile or Manifesto (for example as unverified, disputed, amended, or in breach);
disable publishing, broadcasting, or live-stream features;
suspend or terminate the account or verification badge;
preserve and display the Official Public Commitment Record, including the fact of breach where that is accurate;
refuse further Aspirant features; and
refer the matter under Section 23.

Civicore may seek interim or final relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to restrain a breach of the Peace Pledge or to preserve the integrity of the Official Public Commitment Record. The Aspirant agrees that damages may be an inadequate remedy for a Peace Pledge breach involving incitement, hate speech, or systematic misinformation.

Platform remedies do not determine any electoral petition, criminal charge, or suitability proceeding. They are contractual and operational.

8.14 Relationship to public and electoral law

Section 8 is a private-law agreement about use of the Platform and about the status of statements the Aspirant chooses to publish here. It does not:

replace the Elections Act, IEBC regulations, or nomination rules;
limit the Director of Public Prosecutions, the IEBC, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, or any court;
constitute legal advice to the Aspirant; or
oblige Civicore to supervise the Aspirant's off-platform conduct, except where that conduct is mirrored on the Platform or the Peace Pledge expressly covers channels the Aspirant controls.

The Aspirant remains fully subject to Chapter Six of the Constitution, the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012, and all electoral and criminal law. Compliance with those laws is an independent obligation and also a term of using the Platform.

9. Party and organisation pledges

A Party that uses secretariat, roster, broadcast, or verification features shall cause an authorised officer to accept the following undertaking (the "Party Peace Pledge"):

To campaign in good faith, with respect for opponents.
To reject hate speech and incitement on every channel.
To honour the election-week protocol that governs our platform.
To respond to verified misuse with corrective action within 48 hours.

The Party Peace Pledge is a continuing contractual covenant by the Party to Civicore, given in consideration of Party features. The Party is responsible for its administrators and for Aspirants it verifies on the Platform to the extent those Aspirants act in the Party's name. Civicore may suspend Party features, revoke verification rights, and apply Section 8.13 analogously.

Civic organisations using the Platform for observation or reporting shall not misrepresent Civicore as their publisher, and shall comply with Sections 10, 12, and 17.

10. User Content

You retain ownership of your User Content. You grant Civicore a worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, display, and deliver it as needed to operate the Platform. For Aspirant Public Commitments, Section 8.12 prevails.

You are solely responsible for User Content you or your Agents submit. Civicore is an intermediary host of User Content and is not, by hosting, the author or publisher of Aspirant Public Commitments or other User Content. We may, but are not obliged except where law requires, review, refuse, label, or remove User Content that we reasonably believe breaches these Terms or law.

You warrant that you have all rights needed to grant the licences in these Terms and that User Content is lawful.

11. Verification and identity

A verification badge, party cross-check, or similar signal is an operational status on the Platform. It is not a government identity document and not IEBC clearance. You shall not obtain or use another person's identity, forge credentials, or impersonate an office or institution. False identity is a material breach. Civicore may require additional identity evidence and may reverse verification.

12. Prohibited conduct

You shall not, and shall not permit an Agent to:

use the Platform for any unlawful purpose;
engage in hate speech, incitement to violence, ethnic contempt, or propaganda for war;
bribe, treat, or intimidate voters, or organise such conduct, through the Platform;
publish CSAM or engage in CSAE, as defined in our Child Safety Standards;
harass, dox, or threaten any person;
submit fraudulent contact-form or registration data;
attempt unauthorised access, interfere with other users, or degrade the Platform;
scrape in a manner that impairs service, or bypass rate limits or access controls;
misrepresent an affiliation with Civicore, the IEBC, or any public body; or
use automated means to publish misinformation, impersonate, or manipulate engagement metrics.

13. Election-week protocol

In the final 14 days before any election to which the Platform is being used (and such longer period as Civicore may reasonably designate), Civicore may apply heightened-integrity controls, including without limitation: restrictions on mass broadcasts above a stated geographic scope; dual-approval requirements; disabling of engagement-driven ranking and AI-generated recommendations; human review of flagged content; liaison pathways for legitimate IEBC enquiries; and audit export for platform owners.

You shall comply with those controls. Attempting to circumvent them is a material breach. The protocol is described for the public at Peace & Fair Elections. Operational detail may change; the contractual duty is to honour the protocol as then in force.

14. Communications, live streams, and broadcasts

Geo-targeted broadcasts, live streams, comments, and internal messages remain User Content. You shall not use them to breach Section 12 or the Peace Pledge. Scoped access does not permit a user to send as another person. Live streams may be recorded or archived where the product so provides; if so, they form part of the public or campaign record according to their visibility settings, and Aspirant-facing public streams may be treated as Aspirant Public Commitments where they state pledges or policy.

Civicore does not generate or schedule political broadcasts on your behalf by AI. You remain responsible for what you stream and send.

15. Intellectual property

Civicore, the Civicore name and marks, the Platform software, and all content we originate are owned by Civicore or its licensors. You may quote and cite public Platform content for journalism, research, and civic engagement in accordance with fair dealing and these Terms. You may not use Civicore marks in a way that suggests endorsement of an Aspirant or Party.

If you believe content on the Platform infringes your rights, write to legal@civicore.co.ke with a URL, a description of the work, and a statement of your interest.

16. Privacy and data protection

Processing of personal data on the Marketing Site, the Application, and the Mobile Apps is described in the Privacy Policy, which is the single privacy notice for the Platform. These Terms and that policy apply together. Our processing is intended to align with the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019. Section 8.8 addresses the interaction between archival display of Official Public Commitment Records and data-subject rights. Political opinions and campaign records may be sensitive personal data; Aspirants who publish them on a public profile do so knowingly.

17. Child safety

The Child Safety Standards apply to all use of the Platform. Breach is a material breach. Report CSAE concerns to safety@civicore.co.ke as those standards direct. Do not attach CSAM.

18. Fees, pilots, and donations

Registration may be offered without charge. Paid tiers, if any, will be presented before you incur a fee. Pilot terms, if agreed in writing, prevail over these Terms only where they expressly so state, and they cannot reduce the Peace Pledge or Section 8 as against the public record.

Donations via payment links are voluntary contributions to Civicore's operations. They are not consideration for electoral influence, not a purchase of endorsement, and not deductible unless independent tax advice says otherwise. Refunds, if any, follow the payment provider's rules and Kenyan consumer law where it applies.

19. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available". To the maximum extent permitted by Kenyan law, Civicore disclaims all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that public profiles or Manifestos are complete, that verification is correct, or that the Platform will be error-free or uninterrupted.

Civicore does not warrant that any Aspirant will perform a Manifesto if elected. Section 8 allocates responsibility to the Aspirant; it does not make Civicore a guarantor of political performance.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under Kenyan law, including for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by Civicore, or any mandatory right under the Consumer Protection Act, 2012 where that Act applies to you.

20. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Civicore is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive loss, or for loss of profits, data, goodwill, or campaign opportunity, arising out of the Platform or these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility.

To the same extent, Civicore's aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of the Platform or these Terms is limited to the total fees you paid to Civicore for the Platform in the twelve (12) months before the claim, or if you paid no fees, five thousand Kenya shillings (KES 5,000).

The limitations in this Section 20 do not apply to your indemnity in Section 21, to your obligations under Section 8, or to liability that Kenyan law does not allow to be limited. Civicore is not liable to third parties for Aspirant Public Commitments; the Aspirant is.

21. Indemnity

You shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Civicore and its officers, employees, contractors, and successors from and against all claims, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your User Content; (b) Aspirant Public Commitments, including any Manifesto Version and any alleged failure to pursue it; (c) your or your Agents' breach of these Terms or of law; (d) impersonation or false identity; and (e) any third-party claim that User Content infringes rights or is defamatory, inciteful, or an electoral offence.

This indemnity is a continuing obligation and survives termination. It does not require Civicore to admit liability or to settle without notice to you where reasonably practicable, but Civicore may defend itself as it sees fit.

22. Breach, suspension, and termination

You may stop using the Platform at any time. Account deletion does not terminate Section 8 archival rights or accrued claims.

Civicore may suspend or terminate access immediately for material breach, legal risk, prolonged inactivity, or operational necessity. We may provide notice where reasonably practicable, but we need not do so where we reasonably believe delay would cause harm, violate law, or permit circumvention.

Upon termination, the licence in Section 6 ends. Licences you granted to Civicore continue as stated in Sections 8.9, 8.12, and 10. We may delete non-archival data in the ordinary course, subject to the Privacy Policy and mandatory retention.

23. Complaints, notices, and regulatory referrals

Report Platform misuse through in-product reporting where available, or in writing to legal@civicore.co.ke or safety@civicore.co.ke as appropriate. Include URLs, timestamps, and a description. Civicore may request evidence. We do not undertake to resolve every political dispute or to act as an electoral court.

Where we reasonably believe User Content or conduct constitutes an offence, a threat to public safety, CSAM, or a matter on which a competent body should be informed, we may preserve records and refer or disclose them to the IEBC, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, NCMEC where applicable, or any other competent authority, with or without notice to you to the extent law allows.

Notices under these Terms may be given by email to the address on your account, by in-product message, or by posting on civicore.co.ke. Notices to Civicore must be sent to legal@civicore.co.ke, and are deemed received on the next business day in Nairobi after transmission if no bounce is received.

24. Changes to these Terms

We may amend these Terms, including the Peace Pledge wording, by publishing a new version on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. For a change that materially expands Aspirant obligations under Section 8, we will take reasonable steps to notify registered Aspirants (for example by email or in-product notice).

Continued use after the effective date is acceptance. If you are an Aspirant and you do not agree to a material expansion of Section 8, you must stop using Aspirant features and may close your account; prior Manifesto Versions and the Peace Pledge already given remain on the Official Public Commitment Record in accordance with Section 8.9 and are not undone by disagreement with a future amendment.

We will not use Section 24 to retroactively declare that a Manifesto Version meant something other than its published text, or to excuse Civicore from a liability that had already accrued.

25. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms, and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with them or the Platform, are governed by the laws of the Republic of Kenya.

The parties shall first attempt in good faith to resolve a dispute by written notice and negotiation for twenty-one (21) days from receipt of notice, except that Civicore need not wait to seek urgent injunctive or other interim relief, to remove unlawful content, or to make a regulatory referral.

Subject to that, the courts of Kenya sitting in Nairobi have exclusive jurisdiction over claims brought by you against Civicore. Civicore may bring proceedings in those courts or in any jurisdiction where you are resident, where a breach occurs, or where interim relief is required.

26. General provisions

Entire agreement. These Terms and the Incorporated Policies are the entire agreement between you and Civicore concerning the Platform, and supersede prior statements on the same subject. They do not supersede a signed written pilot or enterprise agreement that expressly prevails.
Severability. If a provision is held unenforceable, it shall be modified to the minimum extent required to make it enforceable, or if that is not possible, severed. The remaining provisions continue. In particular, if a court declines to treat a Manifesto as a deed poll or to order specific performance of a policy pledge, Sections 8.2, 8.4(a), 8.4(e), 8.5, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 8.12, and 8.13 remain in force.
Waiver. A failure or delay in enforcing a provision is not a waiver. A waiver must be in writing to be effective, and is limited to the instance stated.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without Civicore's prior written consent. Civicore may assign to an affiliate or successor that assumes the Platform. These Terms bind permitted successors.
No partnership. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and Civicore, except the agency you create with your own Agents under Section 8.10.
Third parties. Except as Kenyan law independently provides, a person who is not a party to these Terms has no right to enforce them. That sentence does not limit Civicore's right to enforce, nor any liability you have to a third party for your own statements.
Language. These Terms are in English. A translation is for convenience only. The English text prevails.
Further assurance. You shall execute such further electronic or other acts as Civicore reasonably requests to perfect the licences and commitments in Section 8.
Interpretation. No rule of construction against the drafter applies. These Terms shall be interpreted to give effect to the Aspirant's public accountability on the Platform, not to reduce it.

27. Contact

For these Terms: legal@civicore.co.ke. For privacy: privacy@civicore.co.ke. For security: security@civicore.co.ke. For child safety: safety@civicore.co.ke. General enquiries: hello@civicore.co.ke or the contact form.