1. Introduction
This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") sets out the rules of conduct for everyone who uses the Worqen Service. It is incorporated by reference into the Terms of Service. Capitalised terms have the meaning given in the Terms.
Breaching this AUP may result in content removal, account suspension or termination, forfeiture of pending Worqs balances, refusal to release escrow, and where appropriate notification to law-enforcement or regulatory authorities.
2. Prohibited content
You must not post, upload, transmit or link to content that:
- is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, threatening, abusive, hateful, or incites violence or discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age or any other protected characteristic;
- sexually exploits or endangers minors in any way (we report suspected child sexual abuse material to the relevant authorities and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children where applicable);
- is intended to facilitate academic, examination or professional-certification cheating, including contract cheating, ghost-writing of assessed work, or sitting an examination or assessment on another person's behalf;
- offers, advertises or depicts sexual services, escort services, or sexually explicit material, whether or not lawful in the jurisdiction concerned;
- infringes the intellectual property, privacy, publicity or other rights of any third party;
- contains malware, exploits, phishing payloads, or anything designed to disrupt, surveil or damage any system or User;
- misrepresents you, your qualifications, licences, identity or affiliation, including impersonating any other person or entity;
- contains personal data of others without a lawful basis to share it;
- promotes regulated activities (firearms, controlled substances, gambling, financial services, medical advice) where doing so requires a licence or authorisation that you do not hold.
3. Prohibited conduct
- Posting fake, misleading or non-existent job listings, or operating advance-fee, "pay-to-apply" or similar schemes that require a Worker to pay money, buy equipment, or send funds off-platform as a condition of being considered for, applying to, or beginning work;
- Using the Service to launder funds, evade taxes, evade sanctions, finance terrorism, or facilitate any other unlawful financial activity;
- Bypassing or attempting to bypass identity verification, age checks, sanctions screening, or any other access control;
- Operating multiple accounts to evade enforcement, manipulate ratings, or extract additional Worqs grants;
- Sharing, selling, transferring, renting or otherwise permitting another person to access or use your account, or performing — or allowing another person to perform — work under your verified identity ("ghost-working");
- Delegating or sub-contracting work to any person who has not independently completed identity verification and does not hold their own Worqen account; where any delegation is permitted, the verified Worker who accepted the engagement remains fully responsible for its performance;
- Coordinating fake reviews, ratings or testimonials, including offering or receiving incentives in exchange for a particular rating;
- Soliciting payments off-platform with the intent of avoiding marketplace commission (see Section 6 of the Terms — Non-Circumvention);
- If another User proposes taking payment off-platform, or otherwise structuring a transaction to avoid marketplace commission (see Section 6 of the Terms — Non-Circumvention), we expect you to decline and to report the proposal through one of the channels in Section 5 below. Making such a report in good faith is not itself a breach of this AUP, and we will take a timely, good-faith report into account in your favour when assessing whether there is "reasonable evidence" of circumvention under Section 6.3 of the Terms;
- Scraping, harvesting or extracting bulk data from the Service, except via any API access we expressly authorise in writing and only in accordance with the conditions of that authorisation;
- Using bots, scripts, scrapers, macro recorders, auto-refreshers, job watchers or any other automated means to perform account actions on the Service — such as applying to jobs, submitting proposals or bids, sending messages or invitations, watching or refreshing listings, or posting content — except via any API access we expressly authorise in writing and only in accordance with the conditions of that authorisation. This restricts the automated submission of the action itself, not tools that merely help you draft the content you choose to submit (see our AI Use Policy);
- Probing or testing the security of the Service or the Worqen smart contract without our prior written authorisation. Responsible-disclosure reports are welcome at security@worqen.com;
- Interfering with the integrity of the Service, including deliberately submitting malformed transactions or attempting to drain or freeze escrow funds outside the documented dispute flow.
4. Off-platform engagements
Worqen connects Workers and Employers but is not a party to engagements between them. Worqen does not perform background checks, does not verify professional licences or insurance, and does not supervise the performance of services. You are responsible for your own physical safety, your premises, your tools, and any contractual or legal arrangements you make with another User. Always exercise reasonable caution when meeting another User offline.
5. Reporting violations
Reports may be filed in two ways:
- through the in-app reporting form available on listings, profiles and messages; or
- by emailing abuse@worqen.com for general abuse, dmca@worqen.com for copyright complaints (see the notice-and-counter-notice procedure in the DSA Information page), or security@worqen.com for security issues.
EU Users may rely on the trusted-flagger mechanism under the EU Digital Services Act once designated flaggers are notified to us. We will assess all reports without undue delay, notify the relevant Users where appropriate, and offer a means of internal redress against any decision we take.
6. Enforcement
Where we find a violation, we may, at our reasonable discretion:
- remove or restrict the offending content;
- label or warn affected Users;
- suspend the offending account temporarily or terminate it;
- refuse to release escrowed funds, freeze Worqs balances, and reverse the circumvention fee provided for in the Terms;
- cooperate with law-enforcement and regulators, including responding to lawful requests for information.
6.1 How we escalate
We choose among these measures proportionately, having regard to the severity, frequency and impact of the breach. In most cases we escalate gradually, and a typical path runs in the following order:
- Education and warning — we explain which rule was broken and ask you to correct it, usually alongside removing or restricting the specific content;
- Content or feature restriction — we remove, demote or warning-label the content, or limit a specific feature such as posting, applying or messaging;
- Temporary account suspension — where breaches continue or are more serious, we suspend the account for a reasonable period;
- Termination — for persistent or grave breaches, we terminate the account, which may carry the escrow, Worqs-balance and circumvention-fee consequences listed above.
6.2 Repeat violations
Whether a warning escalates to a stronger measure depends on the facts. By way of illustration, and without binding ourselves to any fixed number of strikes, we are more likely to move up this ladder where, for example, the same rule is broken again after a warning, several rules are broken over a short period, a User opens new accounts to evade an earlier measure, or the breach causes or risks harm to another User, to a payment, or to the integrity of the Service. These are examples of the facts and circumstances we consider; each case is assessed on its own merits and at our reasonable discretion.
This ladder describes the general path only. Severe single violations may lead to immediate suspension or permanent termination without earlier steps, and we may act immediately and without prior notice where necessary to prevent imminent harm, as set out in our DSA Information page (Article 23) and Section 16 of the Terms of Service. In every case you receive a statement of reasons and a right of redress, described in the DSA Information page and Section 16 of the Terms.
7. Contact
Worqen OÜ — Tallinn, Estonia
Abuse: abuse@worqen.com
Copyright (DMCA / IP): dmca@worqen.com
Security: security@worqen.com