1. Creator Payment
To encourage, incentivize, and reward creative activity and the creation of content that generates user engagement as part of the Program, we may pay you, as a Creator, for your services related to your “Qualifying Activity” (defined below) (our payment to you, as potentially modified below, the “Service Payment” or just “Payment”). Payment may be funded either by Snap or from a portion of the proceeds we receive from any advertisements distributed in connection with the Services. Qualifying Activity will be determined by us using the following criteria:
The number of pictures, stickers, art, emoticons, effects, or other digital goods (“Gifts”) received by you through replies from users expressing appreciation for your content;
Your participation in any special programs (“Special Programs”) that we may provide from time to time, subject to your acceptance of any additional terms that we may require for such Special Programs (which shall be incorporated into these Creator Terms); and
Any other activity that we may designate or recognize from time to time as Qualifying Activity.
For clarity, Gifts represent digital content on the Snapchat application and your receipt of a Gift constitutes a limited license granted to you to access certain content or features on the Snapchat application. You cannot use, transfer, sell or trade Gifts outside of the Snapchat application and they have no value in any venue or application. Gifts do not constitute property, cannot be redeemed or exchanged for money or any other goods or services, and cannot be sold to any third parties, including other users of the Services.
In determining whether activity constitutes Qualifying Activity, we may exclude what we call “Invalid Activity,” e.g., activity that artificially increases the number of views (or other viewership metrics of your content) or the number of Gifts associated with your content. Invalid Activity will be determined by Snap in its sole discretion and includes, but is not limited to: (i) spam, invalid queries, invalid replies, invalid likes, invalid favorites, invalid follows, invalid subscriptions, invalid Gifts, or invalid impressions generated by any person, click farm, or similar service, bot, automated program or similar device, including through any clicks, impressions, or other activity originating from your mobile device, mobile devices under your control, or mobile devices with new or suspicious accounts; (ii) impressions, replies, Gifts, likes, follows, favorites, subscriptions, clicks, or queries generated by payment of money or other inducements to third parties, false representation, or the offer to trade views; (iii) impressions, likes, follows, clicks, queries, favorites, subscriptions, Replies, or Gifts generated through activity that is otherwise in violation of these Creator Terms, and (iv) clicks, likes, follows, subscriptions, Replies, Gifts, favorites, queries, or impressions co-mingled with any of the activity described in (i), (ii), or (iii) above.
Qualifying Activity will be accounted for in our internal systems through the use of “Crystals,” which are a unit of measurement that we use to track and record each Creator’s Qualifying Activity during a given period. The number of Crystals that we record for Qualifying Activity may vary depending on our internal criteria and formulas, which we may modify from time to time in our sole discretion. You may view the estimated number of Crystals that we have recorded for your Qualifying Activity by going to your user profile in the Snapchat application. Please note that any such numbers viewable through your user profile are preliminary estimates calculated for our internal accounting purposes. For clarity, Crystals are solely an internal measurement tool utilized by us to measure a Creator’s Qualifying Activity and the popularity of a Creator’s content. Crystals are not intended to confer or imply any rights or represent any obligations, do not constitute property, are not transferable or assignable, and may not be purchased or the subject of a sale, barter, or exchange.
Payment amounts for eligible Creators will be determined based on the final number of Crystals that we have recorded for that Creator’s Qualifying Activity during a given period in accordance with our proprietary payment formula, which may be adjusted by us from time-to-time. Payment amounts, if any, will be determined by us based on our calculations. Any Payments made will be disbursed to your payment account with Snap’s authorized third-party payment provider (“Payment Account”), provided that you have complied with these Creator Terms and our third-party payment provider’s procedures. The ability to receive Payments will only be available in a limited number of countries, which are listed in the Crystals Payouts Guidelines (the “Eligible Countries”). At any time, Snap may add or remove countries to the list of Eligible Countries.
We reserve the right to discontinue, modify, not offer, or stop offering or supporting the Program or any of the Services at any time and for any reason, in our sole discretion, without prior notice or liability to you, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable laws. We do not guarantee that any of the foregoing will be available at all times or at any given time, or that we will continue to offer any of the foregoing for any particular length of time. You should not rely on the continued availability of the Program or any of the Services for any reason.