Hosting Telecom ("we", "us", "our", "the Company") operates the HTC Net Messenger mobile application ("the App", "HTC Net Messenger"). By downloading, installing, or using HTC Net Messenger, you ("User", "you", "your") agree to be bound by these Terms of Use ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the App.
1. Acceptance of Terms
By creating an account or accessing any feature of HTC Net Messenger, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our SMS Consent Policy, and all applicable laws and regulations. You must be at least 16 years of age to use the App. If you are under 18, you confirm that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf.
2. Description of Service
HTC Net Messenger is a secure messaging application that provides end-to-end encrypted text messaging, voice and video calls, group chats, and file sharing. The App uses the Signal Protocol for end-to-end encryption, meaning that message content is encrypted on the sender's device and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient. We cannot access, read, or decrypt the content of your messages.
3. User Accounts and SMS Verification
3.1. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account.
3.2. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to update such information to keep it accurate.
3.3. During registration, you will be asked to provide your phone number. By entering your phone number and proceeding with registration, you consent to receive SMS text messages containing one-time verification codes from HTC Net Messenger (operated by Hosting Telecom). These messages are used exclusively for account verification and security purposes. Message frequency is limited to 1–3 messages per registration attempt. Standard message and data rates may apply. You may opt out by replying STOP to any verification message. No marketing or promotional messages will be sent. See our SMS Consent Policy for full details.
3.4. You must notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your account or any other breach of security.
3.5. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, for conduct that we determine, in our sole discretion, violates these Terms or is harmful to other users, us, or third parties, or for any other reason.
4. Acceptable Use Policy
You agree to use HTC Net Messenger only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. You agree NOT to use the App to:
4.1. Illegal Content: Transmit, distribute, or store any content that violates any applicable law, statute, or regulation, including but not limited to content related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, or money laundering.
4.2. Harassment and Abuse: Harass, bully, intimidate, threaten, or abuse any person, including sending unwanted or repeated messages, using offensive language, or engaging in stalking behaviour.
4.3. Hate Speech: Promote or incite violence, hatred, or discrimination against individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or age.
4.4. Spam and Unsolicited Messages: Send unsolicited bulk messages, advertising, promotional materials, or any form of spam to other users.
4.5. Impersonation: Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.
4.6. Malware and Security Threats: Upload, transmit, or distribute any virus, worm, trojan horse, ransomware, spyware, adware, or other malicious software or code designed to interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any device or system.
4.7. Intellectual Property Infringement: Upload, share, or distribute content that infringes upon the intellectual property rights, copyrights, trademarks, or patents of any third party.
4.8. Exploitation of Minors: Use the App in any way that exploits, harms, or attempts to exploit or harm minors in any way, including exposing them to inappropriate content or collecting their personal information.
4.9. Fraudulent Activity: Engage in any fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading activity, including phishing, social engineering, or any scheme designed to defraud other users.
4.10. Reverse Engineering: Decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or attempt to derive the source code of the App, except as expressly permitted by applicable law.
4.11. Service Disruption: Interfere with or disrupt the integrity, performance, or security of the App or its related systems, servers, or networks, including denial-of-service attacks or packet flooding.
4.12. Automated Access: Use any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means to access the App or collect information from the App without our prior written consent.
5. User-Generated Content
5.1. You are solely responsible for all content that you create, transmit, share, or display through the App, including text messages, images, videos, audio recordings, files, and any other materials ("User Content").
5.2. By using the App, you represent and warrant that your User Content does not violate these Terms, any applicable law, or the rights of any third party.
5.3. While we employ end-to-end encryption and cannot access the content of encrypted messages, we reserve the right to take action on reported content and accounts that violate these Terms, based on reports from users and available metadata.
5.4. We do not claim ownership of your User Content. However, by using the App, you grant us a limited licence to process, transmit, and store your User Content solely for the purpose of providing the Service.
6. Content Moderation and Reporting
6.1. Reporting Mechanism: The App provides tools for users to report objectionable content and abusive behaviour. You may report a message by long-pressing on it and selecting "Report", or report a user from their profile screen by selecting "Report User".
6.2. Blocking: You may block any user at any time from their profile screen. Blocking a user will immediately prevent them from sending you messages, calling you, or viewing your online status. Blocked users are removed from your conversation list instantly.
6.3. Review Process: We aim to review reports of objectionable content or abusive behaviour as promptly as reasonably practicable. Actual review and resolution times depend on the volume and complexity of reports, availability of our moderation team, and external factors. We do not commit to, or guarantee, any specific review, investigation, or resolution timeframe, and nothing in this Section — or in any other communication about our moderation practices — creates a service-level agreement, warranty, or enforceable performance commitment.
6.4. Enforcement Actions: Upon confirming a violation, we may take one or more of the following actions at our sole discretion:
- Issue a warning to the offending user
- Remove or restrict access to the offending content
- Temporarily suspend the offending user's account
- Permanently terminate the offending user's account
- Report the content to relevant law enforcement authorities where required by law
6.5. Objectionable Content Handling: We may, at our sole discretion and only where lawful, review (a) content that users voluntarily submit through the in-App reporting mechanism, and (b) the limited categories of metadata described in our Privacy Policy (such as IP addresses and timestamps of connections to our servers, account registration metadata, and — for messages that are not delivered via Sealed Sender — sender and recipient identifiers). We may use industry-standard tools, which may include hash-based matching systems maintained by recognised organisations for the detection of known child sexual abuse material, to identify unlawful content within that scope. Any such processing is performed solely on reported content or metadata that is available to us without decryption. We do not decrypt and do not access the plaintext content of end-to-end encrypted messages, calls, or attachments (including voluntarily shared location data), and we do not undertake to monitor, review, or scan communications on a proactive basis.
6.6. Report Handling: Reports submitted through the in-app reporting mechanism are received by our moderation team and logged for triage. We take action at our sole discretion, based on the available evidence and consistent with this Section 6 and applicable law. We do not commit to any particular action or outcome in response to any individual report.
6.7. Appeals: Users whose accounts have been suspended or terminated may submit an appeal by contacting us at the address set out in Section 18. Appeals are reviewed on a best-efforts basis; we do not guarantee any particular response time, review outcome, or reinstatement. Our decision on any appeal is final and not subject to further review.
7. End-to-End Encryption
7.1. HTC Net Messenger uses the Signal Protocol to provide end-to-end encryption for all private and group messages, voice calls, and video calls. This means that only you and your intended recipients can read your messages or listen to your calls.
7.2. We do not possess the ability to decrypt your messages or call content. Encryption keys are generated and stored exclusively on your device and are never transmitted to our servers.
7.3. End-to-end encryption does not exempt you from your obligations under these Terms. You remain responsible for the content you transmit, regardless of encryption.
7.4. You acknowledge that security codes may change when a contact reinstalls the App or changes devices. The App will notify you of such changes to help you verify the identity of your contacts.
8. Privacy and Data Protection
8.1. Our collection, use, and disclosure of personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.
8.2. We are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
8.3. We collect only the minimum data necessary to provide the Service, as described in our Privacy Policy.
9. Intellectual Property
9.1. The App, including its design, features, code, graphics, logos, and all related intellectual property, is owned by Hosting Telecom and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.
9.2. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the App for personal, non-commercial purposes, subject to these Terms.
9.3. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, sublicence, or create derivative works based on the App without our prior written consent.
10. Third-Party Services
10.1. The App may integrate with or link to third-party services, including but not limited to push notification services (Apple Push Notification Service, Firebase Cloud Messaging), STUN/TURN servers for voice and video calls, and cloud storage for encrypted backups.
10.2. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of any third-party services. Your use of third-party services is at your own risk.
11. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability
11.1. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the App is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without warranties, conditions, or representations of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, reliability, or uninterrupted availability.
11.2. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we do not warrant that the App will meet your requirements, that message or call delivery will be timely, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, that the App will be available at any particular time or location, or that the App or our servers are free from viruses, malicious code, or other harmful components. You acknowledge that communications services depend on networks and devices outside our control and may be delayed, dropped, lost, or intercepted.
11.3. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall Hosting Telecom, its officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, licensors, suppliers, or affiliates be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, business, contracts, anticipated savings, data, use, goodwill, or reputation, or for any cost of substitute services, in each case howsoever arising, whether based on contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, and whether or not we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
11.4. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, our total aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms, your use of or inability to use the App, or any content transmitted through the App, in any rolling twelve (12) month period, shall not exceed the greater of (a) one hundred pounds sterling (GBP £100) or (b) the total amount (if any) you paid us for access to the App during that period.
11.5. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by our negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) any breach of a term implied by applicable law that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited; or (d) any other liability that, under applicable law, cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
11.6. Consumer rights savings clause. If you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or another jurisdiction that grants non-waivable statutory rights (including without limitation the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 and equivalent consumer protection legislation in your jurisdiction), nothing in these Terms is intended to, nor shall, exclude, restrict, or modify those mandatory statutory rights. If any provision of this Section 11 is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unfair, unenforceable, or invalid against you as a consumer under mandatory local law, that provision shall be modified only to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.
11.7. Independent application of exclusions. Each exclusion, limitation, and cap in this Section 11 operates independently. If any one of them is held to be unenforceable, illegal, or void in whole or in part in any jurisdiction, that holding shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining exclusions, limitations, and caps, each of which shall apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.
12. Indemnification
12.1. To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify and hold Hosting Telecom, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates harmless from any third-party claim, together with any resulting losses, damages, liabilities, and reasonable legal fees, that arises out of:
- your material breach of these Terms, our Acceptable Use Policy (Section 4), or any other policy incorporated by reference;
- your User Content, including any claim that your User Content infringes the intellectual property rights of, defames, harasses, or has otherwise caused legal damage to a third party; or
- your violation of any applicable law or regulation in connection with your use of the App.
12.2. This indemnity does not apply, and is not enforceable against you, to the extent that the relevant claim is caused by our negligence, wilful misconduct, fraud, or breach of our obligations under these Terms, or to the extent that the relevant loss falls within the carve-outs set out in Section 11.5.
12.3. Consumer carve-out. If you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or another jurisdiction in which consumer protection law restricts the ability of a business to require indemnification from a consumer (including without limitation under the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 and equivalent legislation), this Section 12 applies only to the maximum extent enforceable against you under that local law, and does not otherwise affect your mandatory statutory rights.
13. Termination
13.1. You may terminate your account at any time by deleting your account through the App settings or by contacting us via our contact form.
13.2. We may suspend or terminate your account and access to the App at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice. Grounds for termination include, but are not limited to, violations of these Terms, requests by law enforcement, extended periods of inactivity, or technical issues.
13.3. Upon termination, your right to use the App ceases immediately. Provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination shall survive, including without limitation Sections 5 (User-Generated Content), 9 (Intellectual Property), 11 (Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability), 12 (Indemnification), 15 (Governing Law and Dispute Resolution), 16 (Severability), and 17 (Entire Agreement).
14. Modifications to Terms
14.1. We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated Terms on our website and, where practicable, through the App.
14.2. Your continued use of the App following the posting of modified Terms constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the modified Terms, you must stop using the App and delete your account.
14.3. We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of these Terms to reflect the date of the most recent revision.
15. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
15.1. These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, without regard to conflict of law principles.
15.2. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms, including any question regarding their existence, validity, or termination, shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
15.3. Nothing in this section shall prevent either party from seeking injunctive or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.
16. Severability
If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid, legal, and enforceable while preserving its original intent.
17. Entire Agreement
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and SMS Consent Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Hosting Telecom regarding your use of the App. These Terms supersede all prior agreements, communications, and understandings, whether written or oral, relating to the subject matter hereof.
18. Contact Information
If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about these Terms, the App, or our content moderation practices, please contact us using our contact form.
For urgent content moderation reports (illegal content or imminent threats to safety), use the same contact form and select the most urgent category available. We aim to treat such reports as a matter of priority, subject to the availability of our moderation team, but we do not commit to, or guarantee, any specific response, review, or resolution timeframe. If you believe someone is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first — we are not an emergency service, and the App is not a substitute for one.