Terms of Service

Last updated: 11 May 2026

1. Who we are

“Ko” (the “Platform”) is a civic-tech service operated for users in India, primarily for residents of Tamil Nadu. We are an “intermediary” within the meaning of Section 2(1)(w) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (the “IT Act”) and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (the “IT Rules 2021”). These Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and us.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account.
You must have the legal capacity to enter into this agreement under the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
You may use Ko only for lawful, civic, and personal purposes. Using Ko on behalf of an organisation is at your own risk.

3. Your account

You sign in using a third-party identity provider (currently Google). You are responsible for the security of your account, including all activity under it. You may post under a chosen display name, including an anonymous-style name; however, your underlying identity is recorded for moderation, abuse prevention, and statutory compliance and may be disclosed under lawful order.

4. Your content

You retain ownership of the content you post (text, images, comments, votes — collectively “User Content”). By posting, you grant Ko a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable licence to host, store, reproduce, modify (for formatting and moderation), publish, display, and distribute your User Content in connection with operating and promoting the Platform. This licence survives the deletion of your account for content others have already interacted with (e.g. a thread that has replies).

You represent that your User Content is yours to share, does not infringe any third-party right, and complies with these Terms and the Community Guidelines. You alone are responsible for the consequences of what you post.

5. Prohibited conduct

You will not, and will not attempt to:

Post anything unlawful, defamatory, obscene, paedophilic, invasive of another's privacy, racially or ethnically objectionable, or otherwise harmful, in violation of Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules 2021;
Impersonate any person, mislead about your identity, or use Ko to deceive;
Promote violence, intimidation, or harassment against any person or group; or to incite communal disharmony;
Post fake, misleading, or unverified information about any individual (including legislators, candidates, or officials) presented as fact;
Violate the Election Commission of India's silence period (48 hours before polling) by posting campaign material;
Scrape, automate, brigade, or interfere with the operation of the Platform; create multiple accounts to evade limits or moderation; or upload malware;
Use the Platform to collect or compile personal data about other users beyond what they have themselves chosen to publish.

6. Moderation, suspension, removal

We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice, remove any User Content, suspend or terminate any account, or otherwise restrict access where we reasonably believe these Terms or any law has been violated, or where required by a court order or instruction from a government agency under the IT Act and IT Rules 2021. The post author and the platform admins are the only parties who may directly mark a post “resolved”; community resolution requests are advisory and require admin approval before changing post state.

7. MLA and electoral data

Ko aggregates publicly available electoral data — including candidate affidavits, vote shares, and criminal-case disclosures — from the Election Commission of India, the Association for Democratic Reforms (myneta.info), Wikipedia, and similar public sources. Each MLA profile cites its source. We make no warranty of accuracy, completeness, or current validity of this data. If you believe a fact on a profile is wrong, contact our Grievance Officer (see the Grievance Officer page).

Posting on Ko about an elected representative's public conduct is protected political speech in good faith. However, you alone bear the risk of any defamation claim arising from your content, and we may remove material on receipt of a credible legal complaint pending its resolution.

8. Disclaimer of warranties

Ko is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the maximum extent permitted under Indian law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that issues you report will be resolved by any third party.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted under applicable Indian law, our aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or related to the Platform shall not exceed INR 1,000 or the amount you have paid to us in the twelve months preceding the claim, whichever is greater. We are not liable for indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive, or exemplary damages.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Ko, its founders, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in any way connected with your User Content, your use of the Platform, or your breach of these Terms.

11. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of India. Subject to Section 12 (Dispute resolution), the courts at Chennai, Tamil Nadu shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes.

12. Dispute resolution

Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall first be referred to the Grievance Officer (see page) for good-faith resolution. If unresolved within 30 days, the dispute shall be finally settled by binding arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, by a sole arbitrator appointed by us, with seat and venue at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, conducted in English.

13. Changes

We may update these Terms from time to time. The current version is the version posted at this URL. Material changes will be flagged at sign-in. Continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

14. Contact

For grievances, content removal requests, or questions about these Terms, see the Grievance Officer page.