Kana Platform Terms and Conditions

Welcome to Kana. We are building the communication layer for science. These Terms and Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement made between you and Kana Social UG (haftungsbeschränkt), further called us, we, kana, or Kana, concerning your access to and use of the Kana platform.

By registering for an account or using Kana, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the platform.

At a Glance: Your Rights and Our Rights

To keep things simple, here is a breakdown of how rights and responsibilities are distributed on Kana.

1. Platform Purpose and Eligibility

Kana is a social network built specifically for scientists, healthcare professionals, and researchers. While the platform permits open registration for basic use, its core design, features, and distribution algorithms prioritize authenticated professional expertise and verified interactions. Professional B2B Status: By registering an account or using Kana, you explicitly warrant that you are accessing and using the platform strictly for professional, scientific, or business networking purposes. You acknowledge that you are acting as a professional, matching Unternehmer status under § 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB), and not as a consumer, Verbraucher under § 13 BGB. Age Requirement: You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, access, or use the platform. Professional Conduct and Accuracy: You agree to maintain professional conduct at all times. Any form of identity fraud, credential falsification, or intentional distribution of pseudoscientific misinformation will result in immediate, permanent account termination. Account Security: You are solely responsible for maintaining the strict confidentiality of your account login credentials. You assume full legal and financial responsibility for all activities, posts, and data transmissions that occur under your account.

2. The "Verified" Status

Kana offers a "Verified" badge for users who successfully prove their professional identity and credentials. Verification is a privilege, not a right. Application: You may apply for verification by submitting documentation listed on the verification page. Benefits: Verification may unlock benefits such as boosted visibility, community curation influence, and the ability to toggle verified-only feeds. Kana reserves the right to modify, add, or remove these benefits at any time. Revocation: Kana reserves the absolute right to deny or revoke verified status without notice if we determine you have falsified credentials, spread misinformation, or violated these terms.

3. Critical Disclaimer: Not Medical Advice

Kana is a networking and communication tool, not a medical device, diagnostic tool, or substitute for professional clinical judgment. All content, including user posts and AI-generated summaries, is strictly for informational and peer-to-peer networking purposes. Healthcare professionals must exercise independent clinical judgment and verify original source materials and not apply any platform information to patient care. Kana and its founders assume zero liability for clinical outcomes, misdiagnoses, or patient damages.

4. Artificial Intelligence and Summaries

To optimize knowledge sharing, Kana uses artificial intelligence to summarize research papers, abstracts, presentations, posters, public data, and user posts. No Accuracy Guarantee: AI models are subject to errors, data omissions, and hallucinations. User Responsibility: AI summaries are provided for convenience only. You must consult the original source material before relying on any summary data. AI usage will be distinguished by two distinct buckets: Core Feature Execution (Contractual Necessity): Processing posts to generate real-time AI summaries on the platform is part of the core product functionality. Model Training (Opt-Out / Consent): In your privacy settings, you are given the option to opt out of having your data used to train future models.

5. Intellectual Property and Content License

We want knowledge to move fast, but we need the legal right to display your insights. Your Ownership: You retain all ownership rights to the content you post. You are responsible for your use of the services and for any content, including any references therein, that you provide, create, post, or otherwise use, including all inputs, prompts, outputs, and information obtained or generated through the services. It is your responsibility to comply with all applicable laws, rules, policies, intellectual property rights, copyright, and regulations that apply to you or your content, including those of third-party services or affiliates. You should only provide, create, or generate content that you are willing to share with others. The License You Grant Us: By posting on Kana, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, sub-licensable license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute your content. This explicitly includes the optional consent right to use your content to generate AI summaries, and create aggregated, anonymized insights for research and business purposes.

6. Platform Moderation and "High-Signal" Enforcement

Kana prioritizes scientific expertise over popularity to cut through the noise. We reserve the unilateral right to remove content or suspend accounts that we deem noisy, overly promotional, or scientifically inaccurate. Anonymous trolling, fake news, and harassment will result in immediate, permanent account termination.

7. Private Messaging Rules

Kana may provide private messaging features to facilitate professional networking. No Patient Data: You are strictly prohibited from sharing Protected Health Information (PHI), patient-identifiable data, or using the messaging system for active medical emergencies. Monitoring: While direct messages are private between users, Kana reserves the right to use automated systems to scan for illegal activity, spam, or severe violations of our terms.

8. Monetization

To sustain a high-signal environment and accelerate scientific discovery, Kana offers free core networking features. Kana is a growing platform. To support our mission, we reserve the right to introduce monetization strategies at any time.

9. Limitation of Liability and Indemnification

Limitation of Liability: To the maximum extent permitted by law, Kana is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or revenues. Kana's total monetary liability for any claim under these terms shall not exceed 100 EUR or the total amount you paid to Kana in the past 12 months. Indemnification: You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Kana, its founders, and employees from any claims, damages, or legal fees arising from your posts, your clinical decisions, or your violation of these terms.

10. Governing Law

These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Germany, without regard to conflict of law provisions. The exclusive venue for all legal disputes arising from the use of the platform is Munich, Germany.

11. Data Protection

Our data protection policy (kana.social/dataprotection) describes how we handle the personal data you provide to us when you use Kana. You acknowledge that by using Kana, you consent to the collection and use, as set forth in our data protection policy, of this personal data, including the transfer of this data for storage, processing, and use by us.

12. Changes

We may modify this contract, our Privacy Policy, and/or our Cookie Policy in the future. If so, we will give you the opportunity to review any changes before they become effective. We may not provide prior notice of changes when those changes are legally required to be implemented with immediate effect. We agree that changes cannot be retroactive. If you object to any of these changes, you may close your account. Your continued use of Kana after we publish or send a notice about those changes means that you are consenting to the updated terms as of their effective date.

13. Notifications and Messages

You agree that we can send you notifications and messages either within our services or via contact information you provided us, such as email, phone number, or physical address. You agree to keep your contact information up to date.

14. Service Availability

We reserve the right to modify, pause, or permanently stop any of our services. We may also restrict certain features, content, or information for specific users based on factors like location or verification level. Please note that Kana is not a data storage platform. We are under no obligation to save, keep, or share copies of any content or information submitted by you or other users, unless required by law or outlined in our Privacy Policy.

15. Automated Processing

We use the information you share, along with data regarding our users and content, to suggest relevant connections, features, and content. This data also helps us personalize your experience by organizing and displaying content in an order that is most interesting and useful to you.

16. Kana User Conduct

You agree that you will: Abide by the Law: Comply with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements, including privacy, intellectual property, anti-spam, and export control laws, as well as regulations governing shared content. Maintain Accurate Details: Provide genuine contact and identity details, and keep this information current. Use Your Real Identity: Use your actual name on your profile. Act Professionally: Conduct yourself in a professional manner when using the services. You agree that you will not: Misrepresent Yourself: Create a false identity, misrepresent who you are, set up a profile for anyone other than yourself, or access someone else's account, including sharing credentials or copying session cookies. Scrape Data: Develop, support, or use any software, devices, scripts, robots, browser extensions, or automated processes to scrape, copy, or extract profiles or other data from the services. Bypass Security: Circumvent, override, or bypass any security features, access controls, or usage limits. Unauthorized Distribution: Copy, display, or distribute content or information obtained from the services without the explicit consent of the content owner, including Kana for platform-owned content. Breach Confidentiality: Disclose information you do not have the right to share, such as third-party or employer confidential information. Infringe Intellectual Property: Violate the copyrights, patents, trademarks, or proprietary rights of others. Do not copy or distribute other users' posts without permission, unless shared via built-in platform features or allowed under a Creative Commons license. Infringe Kana's Rights: Violate the rights of Kana Social UG (haftungsbeschränkt). This includes copying or distributing our materials, copying or distributing our technology unless released under an open-source license, or using the "Kana" name or logos in any business name, URL, or email outside our official brand guidelines. Spread Malicious Code: Post or transmit software viruses, worms, or any other destructive code. Reverse Engineer: Decompile, disassemble, decipher, or reverse engineer any of our proprietary technology or source code that is not explicitly open-source. Falsely Imply Affiliation: Suggest or state that you are endorsed by or affiliated with Kana without our express permission. Commercialize Without Permission: Rent, lease, loan, trade, sell, or otherwise monetize access to the services or associated data without our consent. Restrictive Linking: Deep-link to our services for any purpose other than promoting your personal profile or a group, unless authorized by Kana. Automate Interactions: Use bots or unauthorized automated tools to access the services, add contacts, send messages, or manipulate engagement. Simulate the Interface: Frame, mirror, or otherwise simulate the layout, look, or function of our platform. Alter the Appearance: Overlay, mask, or modify the visual appearance of the services, including injecting external elements or obscuring existing content. Disrupt Infrastructure: Interfere with platform operations or place an excessive load on our infrastructure. Violate Feature-Specific Terms: Breach any additional terms presented to you when signing up for specific features or tools. Engage in Fraud or Deception: Use the services for unlawful, misleading, discriminatory, or fraudulent activities, including creating manipulated media to falsely depict individuals. Abuse Support Channels: Misuse our reporting or appeals systems by submitting repetitive, fraudulent, or groundless complaints.

Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding these terms, please contact us at business@kana.social.