PLEASE NOTE: ON FEBRUARY 1, 2025, THESE CREATOR STORIES TERMS, IF PREVIOUSLY ACCEPTED BY YOU, WILL BE AMENDED AND SUPERSEDED BY THE MONETIZATION TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO AGREE TO THE MONETIZATION TERMS, YOU MUST STOP USING THE APPLICABLE SERVICES AND YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM AS OF FEBRUARY 1, 2025.
Creator Stories Terms
Effective: March 18, 2022
ARBITRATION NOTICE: THESE CREATOR STORIES TERMS INCORPORATE BY REFERENCE THE ARBITRATION, CLASS-ACTION WAIVER, AND JURY WAIVER PROVISION, CHOICE OF LAW PROVISION, AND EXCLUSIVE VENUE PROVISION OF THE SNAP INC. TERMS OF SERVICE OR THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION, ARBITRATION PROVISION, CHOICE OF LAW PROVISION, AND EXCLUSIVE VENUE PROVISION OF THE SNAP GROUP LIMITED TERMS OF SERVICE (WHICHEVER APPLY TO YOU). IF YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES OR IF YOU ARE USING THE SERVICES ON BEHALF OF A BUSINESS WITH ITS PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS LOCATED IN THE UNITED STATES, THE FOLLOWING APPLIES TO YOU: THIS AGREEMENT IS WITH SNAP INC. AND EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF DISPUTES MENTIONED IN THE ARBITRATION PROVISION OF THE SNAP INC. TERMS OF SERVICE, YOU AND SNAP INC. AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN US WILL BE RESOLVED BY MANDATORY BINDING ARBITRATION PROVISION IN THE SNAP INC. TERMS OF SERVICE, AND YOU AND SNAP INC., WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION AS EXPLAINED IN THAT ARBITRATION CLAUSE. IF YOU ARE USING THE SERVICES ON BEHALF OF A BUSINESS WITH ITS PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS LOCATED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES, THE FOLLOWING APPLIES TO YOU: THIS AGREEMENT IS WITH SNAP GROUP LIMITED AND YOU AND SNAP GROUP LIMITED AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN US WILL BE RESOLVED BY THE BINDING ARBITRATION PROVISION IN THE SNAP GROUP LIMITED TERMS OF SERVICE.
These Snap Creator Stories Terms (“Creator Stories Terms”) contain the terms and conditions that govern your participation in the Snap Creator Stories Program (“Program”). The Program permits select users, whom we refer to throughout these Creator Stories Terms as “Service Providers” or “Creators,” with the opportunity to receive payment from Snap in connection with their services of performing certain activities and providing content on Snapchat. The Program, and each product, service, and feature offered as part of the Program, is a “Service” as defined in the Snap Inc. Terms of Service or Snap Group Limited Terms of Service (whichever is applicable to you), which, along with our Community Guidelines, Crystals Payouts Guidelines, and any other terms, policies, or guidelines governing the Services, are incorporated by reference into these Creator Stories Terms. Please read these Creator Stories Terms carefully. Please also review our Privacy Policy to learn how we handle information when you use the Services. To the extent that these Creator Stories Terms conflict with any other terms governing the Services, these Creator Stories Terms will control solely with respect to your use of the Services offered as part of the Program. All capitalized terms used but not defined in these Creator Stories Terms have their respective meanings set forth in the applicable terms governing the Services. Please print a copy of these Creator Stories Terms and keep them for your reference.
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:
Public Stories posted by you and in which we distribute advertisements, if you are invited to participate in the Program (which shall be in our sole discretion);
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 Stories Terms); and
Any other activity that we may designate or recognize from time to time as Qualifying Activity.
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). 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, 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, 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 generated through activity that is otherwise in violation of these Creator Stories Terms, and (iv) clicks, likes, follows, subscriptions, Replies, 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, and which is based on a number of factors, which may include the frequency of your Public Story posts, the number of advertisements distributed in your Public Stories, and user engagement with your Public Stories. 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 Stories 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.
Subject to these Creator Stories Terms, only Creators meeting all of the following requirements will be eligible to receive Payments from Snap in connection with the Program:
If you’re an individual, you must be a legal resident of an Eligible Country. Additionally, you must be present in an Eligible Country at the time that the associated Qualifying Activity occurred.
You must have reached the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction or be at least 16 years old and have obtained the required parental or legal guardian consent(s) in accordance with our procedures. If parental or legal guardian consent(s) is required under applicable law, then you may only participate in the Program under the supervision of your parent(s)/legal guardian(s), who must also agree to be bound by these Creator Stories Terms, and you represent and warrant that you have obtained all such consent(s) (including two-parent consent, if required in your jurisdiction). We reserve the right, on behalf of ourselves, our affiliates, and our third-party payment provider, to require verification of parental/legal guardian consent for minors as a condition of payment under these Creator Stories Terms.
If you’re an entity, or have authorized us to transfer your Payments to your business entity in accordance with our and our authorized third-party payment provider’s procedures, you or such entity (as applicable) are incorporated, headquartered, or have an office within an Eligible Country.
You have provided Snap and its authorized third-party payment provider with complete and accurate contact information, including your legal first and last name, email, phone number, state and country of residence, and date of birth (“Contact Information”), and any other information that may be required from time to time, so that Snap or its third-party payment provider may contact you and cause payment to be made to you (or your parent/legal guardian(s) or business entity, if applicable) if you qualify for a Payment, or in connection with any legal requirement.
You have completed all necessary requirements to establish a valid Payment Account, and your Snapchat account and Payment Account are active, in good standing (as determined by us and our third-party payment provider), and in compliance with these Creator Stories Terms.
If you are a legal resident of a country other than the United States, you (and any administrator, collaborator, or contributor posting content on your account) must be physically located outside of the United States and within an Eligible Country when you (or such administrator, collaborator, or contributor) perform any services and facilitate the distribution of advertisements in connection with your Qualifying Activity (as further discussed below).
You will not be eligible to receive, and we will not pay you, any Payment if you (or your parent/legal guardian(s) or business entity, if applicable) do not pass our, or our third-party payment provider’s, compliance review. Such review may include, but is not limited to, a check to determine if you appear on any restricted party list maintained by any relevant government authority, including the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals List and Foreign Sanctions Evaders List. In addition to any other uses described in these Creator Stories Terms, the information you provide to us may be shared with third parties in order to verify your identity, conduct our compliance review, and complete the payment process. If you (or your parent/legal guardian(s) or business entity, as applicable) fail to satisfy any of the foregoing requirements at any time, you will not be eligible for Payments. If you are (i) an employee, officer, or director of Snap or its parent, subsidiaries, or affiliated companies, or (ii) a government entity, subsidiary or affiliate of a government entity, or member of a royal family, you will not be eligible for Payments.
Subject to your compliance with these Creator Stories Terms, to the extent permitted by law, you (or your parent/legal guardian(s) or business entity, as applicable) will be able to request a Payment by selecting the relevant option in your user profile. In order for you to validly request a Payment, we first must have recorded and attributed to you at least enough Crystals to meet a minimum Payment threshold of $100 USD (“Payment Threshold”).
PLEASE NOTE: IF (A) WE HAVE NOT RECORDED AND ATTRIBUTED ANY CRYSTALS TO ANY QUALIFYING ACTIVITY FROM YOU FOR A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR, OR (B) YOU HAVE NOT VALIDLY REQUESTED A PAYMENT PURSUANT TO THE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING PARAGRAPH FOR A PERIOD OF TWO YEARS, THEN — AT THE END OF THE APPLICABLE PERIOD — WE WILL DISBURSE PAYMENT TO YOUR PAYMENT ACCOUNT BASED ON ANY CRYSTALS WE HAVE RECORDED AND ATTRIBUTED TO YOUR QUALIFYING ACTIVITY THROUGH THE END OF SUCH PERIOD, PROVIDED THAT IN EACH CASE: (I) YOU HAVE REACHED THE PAYMENT THRESHOLD, (II) YOU HAVE CREATED A PAYMENT ACCOUNT, (III) YOU HAVE SUPPLIED ALL NECESSARY CONTACT INFORMATION AND ANY OTHER INFORMATION REQUIRED TO EFFECTUATE PAYMENT TO YOU, (IV) WE HAVE NOT YET MADE PAYMENT TO YOU IN CONNECTION WITH ANY CRYSTALS THAT WE HAVE RECORDED AND ATTRIBUTED FOR SUCH QUALIFYING ACTIVITY, (V) YOUR SNAPCHAT ACCOUNT AND PAYMENT ACCOUNT ARE IN GOOD STANDING, AND (VI) YOU ARE OTHERWISE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THESE CREATOR STORIES TERMS AND OUR THIRD-PARTY PAYMENT PROVIDER’S PROCEDURES AND TERMS. IF, HOWEVER, AT THE END OF THE APPLICABLE PERIOD YOU HAVE NOT SATISFIED ALL OF THE FOREGOING REQUIREMENTS IN FULL, THEN YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE ANY PAYMENT RELATED TO SUCH QUALIFYING ACTIVITY.
Payments may be made to you on behalf of Snap by subsidiary or affiliate entities or other authorized third-party payment providers, which may act as the payor under these Creator Stories Terms. Snap will not be responsible for any delay, failure, or inability to transfer Payments to your Payment Account due to any reason out of Snap’s control, including your failure to comply with these Creator Stories Terms or our third-party payment provider’s terms. Snap will not be responsible if someone other than you (or your parent/legal guardian(s), as applicable) requests Payment based on any Crystals that we have recorded and attributed to your Qualifying Activity using your Snapchat account or transfers your Payments using your Payment Account information. Payment will be made in United States dollars, but you may elect to withdraw the funds from your Payment Account in your local currency, subject to use, exchange, and transaction fees, as further explained in the Crystals Payouts Guidelines, and subject to our third-party payment provider’s terms. Any Payment amounts shown in the Snapchat application are estimated values and may be subject to change. The final amounts of any Payments will be reflected in your Payment Account.
In addition to our other rights and remedies, we may, to the extent permitted by law, without providing a warning or prior notice, withhold, offset, adjust, or exclude any Payments to you under these Creator Stories Terms for suspected Invalid Activity, failure to comply with these Creator Stories Terms, any excess Payments made to you in error, or to offset such amounts against any fees you owe us under any other agreement. You represent and warrant that all information you provide to us or our subsidiaries, affiliates, or authorized payment provider, is truthful and accurate, and that you will maintain the accuracy of such information at all times.
As stated in the Snap Inc. Terms of Service or Snap Group Limited Terms of Service (whichever is applicable to you), the Services may contain advertisements. In connection with your participation in the Program, you agree that you are engaging us, our affiliates, and our third-party partners, with no payment from you, to distribute advertising in connection with content you submit as part of the Program in our sole discretion. You agree to facilitate the distribution of such advertisements by agreeing to these Creator Stories Terms and continuing to provide Snap with access to any content you submit as part of the Program subject to these Creator Stories Terms. We will determine all aspects of the advertisements distributed on the Services, if any, including the type, format, and frequency of the advertisements distributed in connection with any content you submit as part of the Program in our discretion. We also reserve the right, in our discretion, to not show advertisements on, in, or alongside your content for any reason.
In addition to any other rights or remedies we may have, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate the distribution of your content through the Services, any or all of the Services, or your access to any of the foregoing. In the event that you do not comply with these Creator Stories Terms, then we reserve the right to withhold (and you agree that you will not be eligible to receive) any Payments under these Creator Stories Terms. If at any time you don’t agree to any portion of these Creator Stories Terms, you must stop using the applicable Services and participating in the Program immediately.
We may allow you to create and manage sub-accounts under your Snapchat user account, or allow you to give other users of the Services access to post content to your Snapchat user account. Setting and revoking access levels for your account is solely your responsibility and, as a result, you are responsible for all content and activity that occurs in your account, including any activity by administrators, collaborators, and contributors. From time to time, we may revise these Creator Stories Terms. You can determine when these Creator Stories Terms were last revised by referring to the “Effective” date at the top. You agree to review these Creator Stories Terms, including any updates, regularly to ensure that you are familiar with the most recent version of such terms. By using the Services following the "Effective" date, you will be deemed to have agreed to the updated Creator Stories Terms. These Creator Stories Terms do not create or confer any third-party beneficiary rights. Nothing in these Creator Stories Terms will be construed to imply a joint-venture, principal-agent, or employment relationship between you and Snap or Snap’s affiliates. If we do not enforce a provision in these Creator Stories Terms, it will not be considered a waiver. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you. If any provision of these Creator Stories Terms is found unenforceable, then that provision will be severed and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
If you have any questions about these Creator Stories Terms, just contact us.
You agree and acknowledge that you have sole responsibility and liability for any and all taxes, duties, or fees relating to any Payments you may receive pursuant to these Creator Stories Terms. Payments are inclusive of any applicable sales, use, excise, value added, goods and services or similar tax payable to you. If, under applicable law, taxes are required to be deducted or withheld from any Payments to you, then Snap, its affiliate, or its authorized third-party payment provider may deduct such taxes from the amount owed to you and pay such taxes to the appropriate taxing authority as required by applicable law. You agree and acknowledge that payment to you as reduced by such deductions or withholdings will constitute full payment and settlement to you of amounts payable under these Creator Stories Terms. You will provide Snap, its subsidiaries, affiliates, and any authorized payment provider with any forms, documents or other certifications as may be required to satisfy any information reporting or withholding tax obligations with respect to any Payments under these Creator Stories Terms.
