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WhatsApp Chat Group Terms of Use

Terms of Use for the WhatsApp chat group.

Last updated 19 December 2024

WhatsApp Chat Group Terms of Use

Welcome to the REACH WhatsApp Group ('the Group’)!

GENERAL

  1. You must be at least 18 years old to access and participate in the Group. By accessing and/or participating in the Group, you represent that you are 18 years old or above. If you are not 18 years or above, please do not access or participate in the Group.

  2. To access and participate in the Group, you must agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use ("TOU"). Your access to and participation in the Group constitutes your acceptance of the TOU and any other posted guidelines or rules applicable to the Group ("guidelines") which may be posted on the REACH website ( www.reach.gov.sg) or in or through the Group from time to time. All such guidelines shall be considered part of the TOU.

  3. REACH, representing the Government of the Republic of Singapore (the "Government") may add to, delete or modify any or all of the terms and conditions in the TOU (including the guidelines) at any time without notice to you. You can review the most current version of the main TOU at any time at: WhatsApp Chat Group TOU. Your continued access and participation in the Group shall constitute content to these TOU.

ABOUT REACH

  1. REACH is the Government's Feedback Unit. We aim to gather feedback and engage people on national policies. Our feedback platforms, including this Group, provide channels for you to share your views with the Government.

ELIGIBILITY

  1. The Group is open to participation by Singapore citizens and Singapore permanent residents residing in Singapore who are at least 18 years old, only. REACH reserves the right to discontinue participation, at any point, at its sole discretion, of any person who is found to have provided false information or who REACH deems ineligible to participate.

ACCESS TO THE GROUP

  1. The invitation to you to join the Group is exclusive and applicable only to you. You may choose to ‘quit’ or ‘exit’ by leaving the Group at any time.

  2. By accessing, joining and/or participating in the Group, you understand and agree to REACH and other participants receiving/having access to your mobile phone number/ personal contact number, WhatsApp profile picture and any other information accessible through WhatsApp or the Group. If you do not wish for REACH and/or other participants to receive/ have access to such information, please do not join, access and/or participate in the Group.

  3. You shall be responsible for all access to and participation in the Group using your WhatsApp account and/or associated mobile number, whether or not the account or associated mobile number was actually operated by you. You shall immediately notify REACH of any unauthorised use of your WhatsApp account and/or associated mobile number. REACH will not be liable for any loss or damage caused to you or any other party arising from your failure to comply with this Clause.

THIRD PARTY SERVICES

  1. Your access to and participation in the Group may require, enable, provide, or facilitate access to or use of the websites, software or services of another person (“Third Party Services”). In such an event, there may be additional terms governing your access to and use of such Third Party Services (the “Third Party Terms”) that will bind either us or you or both. When you use Third Party Services, the applicable Third Party Terms will govern your use of the same. It is your responsibility to check and read the most up-to-date versions of all applicable Third Party Terms, and you are deemed to have notice of the same.

CONTENT

  1. All information, data, text, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, materials or other content ("Content") available or transmitted in or through the Group are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. This means that you, and not REACH, are entirely responsible for all Content that you post, transmit or otherwise make available via the Group. You shall be responsible for all Content posted, uploaded, transmitted or otherwise made available via the Group using your WhatsApp account and/or mobile number, even if the access is by another person.

  2. REACH does not control or pre-screen any Content posted or transmitted in or through the Group and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You understand that by joining, accessing and/or participating in the Group, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable.

  3. Under no circumstances will REACH be liable in any way for any Content, including any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of any person's access to or use of any Content posted, transmitted or otherwise made available via the Group. You must evaluate and bear all risks associated with your access to and use of any Content, including any reliance you intend to place on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. You rely on such Content at your own risk. (See the Disclaimer of Warranties and Exclusion of Liability clauses below.)

  4. You shall not use the Group to, or when accessing or participating in the Group, shall not:

    • upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that:

      • is or may be unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, threatening, vulgar, obscene, libellous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, religiously, ethnically or otherwise offensive or objectionable, irrelevant to REACH's purposes or irrelevant to the existing/ ongoing discussion(s). REACH has the sole discretion to decide if any Content falls within these said categories;

      • infringes any patent, trade mark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual property rights of any party, or that you do not have a right to publish or otherwise make available under any law or under any contractual or fiduciary relationship;

      • contains any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising and promotional materials, commercial or otherwise, including links to websites containing such materials. For purposes of this clause, “advertising and promotional materials” includes but is not limited to surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk e-mail, spamming or any duplicative or unsolicited messages;

      • can reasonably be regarded as intended (a) to promote or procure the electoral success at any election for one or more identifiable political parties, candidates or groups of candidates; or (b) to otherwise enhance the standing of any such political parties, candidates or groups of candidates with the electorate in connection with any election. This would include content which prejudices the electoral prospects at the election of other political parties, candidates or groups of candidates or (as the case may be) prejudices the standing with the electorate of other political parties, candidates or groups of candidates.

      • contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of WhatsApp, any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

      • repeats any Content in its exact form which you had previously uploaded, posted, emailed or transmitted on or through the Group; or

      • reproduces Content created by parties other than yourself;

    • use or create a false identity (including but not limited to, use of a pseudonym, impersonation of any person or entity, or otherwise referring to yourself using descriptive word/s or word/s which do not appear to us to be your actual name or derived from your actual name), or falsely state or otherwise represent your affiliation with a person or entity, or use any identity or name which is not in compliance with any policy that WhatsApp may have in relation to use of names;

    • do anything which may be disruptive of other participants’ engagement in the discussion, dialogue or other exchange in the Group, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other participants' user experience and/or ability to engage in real time exchanges;

    • threaten, stalk or otherwise harass any other participant or any person employed by REACH;

    • restrict or inhibit any other participant from accessing or participating in the Group;

    • do anything which could interfere with, disrupt, disable, overburden or impair the proper working or appearance of the Group or WhatsApp or the servers or networks connected to the Group or WhatsApp;

    • disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to WhatsApp;

    • collect, store, transmit, disclose, publish or use, for any purpose whatsoever, the personal data of any other participant or any Content transmitted or posted via the Group, or invite any other participant to disclose his/her personal data to you or to any other person/s (whether such disclosure is made on the Group or through WhatsApp or in any other way);

    • disclose your contact information, or the contact information of any other person, on or through the Group or WhatsApp; or

    • access or participate in the Group using the WhatsApp account or mobile number of any other person.

  5. REACH shall have the right to disallow and request for the removal of any Content as it sees fit, in particular any Content which, in REACH's view, violates any of the terms of the TOU. Should you receive any such request for removal of Content, you must proceed to remove the Content in question within 15 minutes from the time of such request or while the Content is still removable within the WhatsApp one-hour timeframe, whichever is shorter. REACH is under no obligation to disclose the reason/s and the circumstances leading to the request for removal.

  6. REACH may preserve all or such part of the Content as it sees fit, and may also disclose all or any part of the Content to any person or organization if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce the TOU against any person; (c) investigate and respond to claims that any Content violates the legal rights of any party; or (d) protect the legal rights, property, and/or personal safety of any party.

LICENSE TO USE CONTENT

  1. REACH does not claim ownership of the Content you transmit, post or otherwise make available in or through the Group. However, with respect to such, you grant REACH a world-wide, royalty free, non-revocable and non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display the same (or any part thereof). This would include using such Content (or any part thereof) in any publicity materials for the Group, in any medium (including the mass media, internet posts, e-mail communications and so on).

PRIVACY POLICY

  1. All data and information obtained by REACH about you as a result of your use of the group are subject to our Privacy Policy. For more information, see our full Privacy Policy. REACH may, in its absolute discretion, amend the Privacy Policy from time to time without prior notice. The latest Privacy Policy will be posted on the REACH website.

INDEMNITY

  1. You shall fully indemnify and hold the Government of the Republic of Singapore (of which REACH is a part), its officers, agents, contractors and employees, harmless and against any and all claims (including third party claims), demands, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including but not limited to legal costs and expenses on a full indemnity basis) made against, suffered or incurred by it/them arising directly or indirectly from your access to or participation in the Group (including any Content you transmit, post or make available in or through the Group), your breach of any of the terms of the TOU, or your violation of any rights of another in connection with your access to or participation in the Group.

GENERAL PRACTICES REGARDING USE AND STORAGE

  1. REACH has no responsibility or liability for its deletion or decision not to store any messages and other communications or other Content maintained, posted or transmitted in or through the Group. You further acknowledge that REACH may change its general practices and limits at any time, as it sees fit, without notice.

DISCONTINUATION OF OR MODIFICATIONS TO THE GROUP

  1. REACH may at any time modify, delete, remove or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Group without notice. REACH shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, deletion, removal, suspension or discontinuance of the Group.

TERMINATION

  1. REACH may, under the following circumstances, without notice to you and without any obligation to disclose the reason/s for termination, block or otherwise terminate your access to the Group: (a) in the event of your breach of any of the terms of the TOU , (b) pursuant to a request by a law enforcement or other government agency, (c) pursuant to a request by you , (d) if it is necessary to facilitate, or is as a result of, REACH's decision to delete, remove, discontinue or modify the Group, (e) as a result of technical issues or problems with or relating to WhatsApp or the Group, and/or if (f) you have been inactive or have otherwise ceased to participate in the Group or any of its features, for more a prolonged duration.

  2. REACH shall have the sole discretion to determine whether any of the above circumstances exist, and whether to block or terminate your access as a result. REACH shall not be liable to you or any other party for any termination of your access to the Group.

LINKS

  1. REACH may transmit or post links to other World Wide Web sites or resources not maintained by REACH ("the links") in or through the Group.

  2. REACH reserves all rights to remove, replace or disable any such links at its absolute discretion (though it is not compelled to do so), if those links are connected to websites or resources containing material or information which, in the opinion of REACH, infringes the TOU in any way.

  3. REACH is not responsible for the availability of the websites or resources connected with the links ("the linked websites"), and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from the linked websites. REACH shall not be liable to you or any other party for any damage or loss whatsoever, including, loss of goodwill, profits, lost or corrupted or damaged Content, or damage to your computer, software or other property, arising directly or indirectly from access to the linked websites, or the removal of any links.

NOTICE

  1. Notices to you may be made via SMS, WhatsApp, email or regular mail. REACH may also (but is under no obligation to) provide notices of changes to the TOU or other matters by posting such notices or links to the same on the website or through the Group.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

  1. The Group is provided "as is," with no warranties whatsoever. All express, implied, and statutory warranties, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement of proprietary rights, are expressly disclaimed to the fullest extent permitted by law.

  2. REACH disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for any Content available or transmitted in or through the Group, including the accuracy, completeness, legality, reliability, operability or availability of such Content.

EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY

  1. Under no circumstances shall REACH be liable to you on account of your access to and participation in or reliance on, the Group or any Content transmitted or posted in or through the Group. Such exclusion of liability shall apply whether the loss or damages arise from unauthorised access to the Group, misuse of and reliance on the Group or Content transmitted in or through the Group, inability to access or join the Group, the acts of any other party (including any participant), or from the interruption, suspension, or termination of the Group (including such damages as may be incurred by third parties).

GOVERNING LAW

  1. Your access to and participation in the Group and any questions or dispute arising from such access and participation or the TOU shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Singapore and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Singapore courts.