Acceptable Use Policy

5.1 Purpose and Scope

This Acceptable Use Policy applies to every user of the Platform without exception, including artisans, customers, and any other person who accesses the Platform in any capacity. It exists alongside the conduct and service prohibitions in the Marketplace Policy and should be read together with them.

Artivio has designed the Platform for a specific purpose: connecting skilled artisans with customers in a safe, professional, and transparent environment. Any use of the Platform that falls outside that purpose, or that undermines the experience of other users or the integrity of the Platform, is a violation of this policy.

5.2 Permitted Uses

The Platform may be used as follows:

5.3 Account Security

Each user is solely responsible for the security and confidentiality of their account credentials, including their password, any OTP codes received, and any active session tokens. Users must not share their login credentials with any other person under any circumstances.

If you believe your account credentials have been compromised, change your password immediately and notify Artivio at legal@artivios.com. Where available, users are strongly encouraged to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) as an additional layer of account protection.

5.4 Prohibited Services and Listings

The following categories of services may not be listed, offered, advertised, or facilitated through the Platform under any circumstances:

• Illegal services or items of any kind, including but not limited to weapons or firearm components, controlled substances or narcotics, counterfeit goods or documents, or any property suspected of being stolen
• Services that infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party, including the unauthorised reproduction, distribution, or modification of copyrighted materials or patented processes
• Services involving hazardous materials or substances that pose a risk to the health or safety of any person, including unlicensed handling of chemicals, asbestos, or other dangerous materials
• Adult entertainment, sexual content, or services of a sexual nature of any kind, whether implicit or explicit
• Services that promote, facilitate, incite, or have the effect of inciting hatred, violence, or discrimination against any individual or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic
• Professional services that require a practising licence, registration, or certification under Nigerian law — such as medical, legal, or structural engineering services — where the artisan does not hold the relevant qualification

5.5 Prohibited Conduct

The following conduct is strictly prohibited for all users of the Platform:

• Creating fake, duplicate, or multiple accounts, impersonating another person, or providing any false information during registration or thereafter
• Manipulating ratings, reviews, or search rankings through any dishonest means, including self-reviews, coordinating with third parties to post false reviews, or using incentives to obtain biased reviews
• Soliciting, negotiating, or completing transactions outside of the Artivio Platform in order to circumvent the escrow system, avoid platform commission, or deprive either party of the protections the Platform provides
• Posting false, exaggerated, or misleading descriptions of services, qualifications, experience, or previous work on any part of the Platform
• Sending unsolicited bulk messages, spam, or promotional content to other users through the Platform's messaging system
• Scraping, harvesting, copying, or extracting user data or any proprietary content from the Platform without prior written authorisation from Artivio
• Using automated tools, bots, scripts, or crawlers to interact with the Platform without prior written consent from Artivio
• Threatening, intimidating, harassing, or abusing any other user on or in connection with the Platform, whether through Platform messaging or any other channel
• Withholding job completion confirmation in bad faith or as a negotiating tactic to extract additional concessions from an artisan after work has been delivered
• Attempting to coerce, pressure, or extort an artisan by threatening to leave a negative review unless certain demands — such as a refund or additional free work — are met

5.6 Prohibited Technical Uses

The following technical uses of the Platform are strictly prohibited and may result in both enforcement action and legal proceedings:

• Reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, or otherwise attempting to extract the source code of any part of the Artivio application or Platform infrastructure
• Introducing, uploading, or transmitting any malware, virus, ransomware, Trojan horse, worm, or any other malicious code or software into or through the Platform
• Attempting to circumvent, disable, bypass, or otherwise interfere with any security feature, authentication mechanism, encryption, or access control on the Platform
• Using the Platform to transmit phishing content, fraudulent communications, or impersonation attempts targeting other users or third parties
• Accessing, attempting to access, or extracting data from accounts, systems, or areas of the Platform belonging to other users without their express authorisation
• Probing, scanning, penetration testing, or otherwise testing the vulnerability of any Artivio system, server, or network without prior written authorisation from Artivio
• Interfering with the normal functioning of the Platform or any connected infrastructure in a way that degrades the experience of other users or creates an unreasonable burden on Artivio's systems

5.7 Reviews and Ratings Integrity

The Artivio review and ratings system is one of the most important trust mechanisms on the Platform. The integrity of this system depends on every review being genuine, honest, and based on a real experience. The following practices are prohibited:

• Submitting false, fabricated, or incentivised reviews
• Coordinating with other users or third parties to post positive reviews of one's own profile or negative reviews of a competitor's profile
• Pressuring or incentivising a customer to leave a positive review as a condition of completing a job or as part of a post-job arrangement
• Using multiple accounts or third-party accounts to artificially inflate or deflate ratings

5.8 Enforcement

Artivio takes violations of this policy seriously. The severity of the response will depend on the nature of the violation, its impact on other users, and whether it is a first or repeat offence. Enforcement actions available to Artivio include:

• Issuance of a formal written warning to the user
• Temporary suspension of the user's account pending investigation
• Permanent termination of the account
• Removal of non-compliant listings, reviews, or other content from the Platform
• Referral of illegal conduct to relevant Nigerian law enforcement or regulatory authorities
• Commencement of civil or legal proceedings where warranted