1. Accepting these Terms
By creating a Handout account, accessing or using Handout, you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms") and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the service.
If you use Handout on behalf of an organisation, institution or other legal entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to any separate terms agreed with Handout.
2. What Handout provides
Handout is a social learning platform. Features may include discovering, uploading and sharing educational materials; HelpTap peer-help requests and sessions; learner profiles and connections; Study Networks and discussions; messaging, comments, reactions, ratings and notifications; and AI-assisted summaries, quizzes, explanations or other study tools.
Features may change as the product develops. Some features may be experimental, limited to selected users, temporarily unavailable or subject to additional rules displayed in the service.
3. Accounts and eligibility
You must provide accurate information reasonably required to create and maintain your account, keep your credentials secure, and promptly notify us if you suspect unauthorised access. You are responsible for activity conducted through your account unless applicable law provides otherwise.
Handout is currently designed primarily for tertiary learners. Users who are not legally able to agree to these Terms on their own should use Handout only with the involvement and authorisation required by applicable law.
You may not impersonate another person, create accounts for deceptive purposes, sell or transfer your account without permission, or use another person's account without authorisation.
4. Your content and permissions
You retain ownership of content you create and upload to Handout, subject to any rights belonging to third parties. You are responsible for ensuring you have the rights and permissions needed to upload, publish or share it.
To operate Handout, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, process, display, transmit and make your content available as necessary to provide, secure, improve and operate the service according to your selected privacy and visibility settings. This licence ends when the content is deleted from our active systems, except where continued processing is reasonably necessary for backups, legal compliance, security, dispute resolution, or content that others have independently shared or incorporated as permitted by the service.
Making content public means other users may view and interact with it. Do not make content public if you do not have permission to share it.
5. Handouts and learning materials
Handout enables users to upload, organise, discover and interact with learning materials. You must not upload copyrighted textbooks, paid course packs, confidential institutional materials, leaked examination papers, another person's private information, or other content you do not have the right to distribute.
We may remove or restrict material following a credible rights complaint, safety concern, legal request, platform-rule violation or other reasonable review. Handout does not guarantee that user-uploaded materials are accurate, complete, current or authorised by an institution.
6. HelpTap peer support
HelpTap is designed for learner-to-learner support. A requester may publish a learning need, other users may indicate willingness to help, and the requester may select a helper according to the available product flow.
Handout does not guarantee that a request will receive an offer, that a helper has particular qualifications, that a response will be correct, or that a session will resolve the request. Users are responsible for evaluating information they receive.
HelpTap is for explanation, guidance, revision and collaborative learning—not for impersonation, cheating or having another person complete assessed work on your behalf.
7. Connect and Study Networks
Connect allows users to form learning relationships. Study Networks may allow connected users to create or join learning communities, share materials, discuss topics and coordinate study activity.
Respect other users' boundaries. A connection does not give you permission to harass, spam, pressure, exploit or misuse another person's information. Network administrators or moderators may have tools to manage participation, but Handout may intervene where necessary to enforce these Terms or protect users.
8. AI-assisted study tools
AI-generated summaries, quizzes, explanations and related outputs are provided as learning aids. AI can produce inaccurate, incomplete, outdated or misleading information. You should check important information against the original material, course guidance or other reliable sources.
You must not use AI features to violate academic rules, infringe rights, generate abusive or unlawful content, or process information you are not permitted to submit. Handout may apply reasonable limits to AI features for safety, reliability, capacity or cost management.
9. Academic integrity
Handout exists to support learning, not replace it. You must not use Handout to obtain, provide or facilitate cheating, examination misconduct, plagiarism, impersonation, unauthorised collaboration, the unauthorised completion of assessed work, or conduct that violates the academic rules applicable to you.
Institutions and courses differ in what assistance is permitted. You are responsible for understanding and following the rules that apply to your work.
10. Community conduct
You may not use Handout to:
- harass, threaten, bully, exploit or deliberately deceive another person;
- post hateful, sexually exploitative, violent, unlawful or seriously harmful content;
- spam users, manipulate engagement, operate deceptive accounts or artificially inflate reputation;
- infringe intellectual-property, privacy, confidentiality or other legal rights;
- upload malware, interfere with security, scrape the service without authorisation, probe vulnerabilities or disrupt platform operation;
- collect or misuse personal information about other users;
- misrepresent qualifications, affiliations, ratings or identity; or
- use Handout for unlawful commercial activity or any purpose prohibited by applicable law.
Context matters. Educational discussion of sensitive topics is not automatically prohibited merely because the subject itself is sensitive.
11. Moderation, reporting and enforcement
Handout may investigate reports, limit distribution, remove content, restrict features, suspend or terminate accounts, preserve relevant evidence, or take other proportionate action where we reasonably believe these Terms, community rules, rights of others or applicable law have been violated.
We may consider context, severity, repetition, user safety and the reliability of available evidence. Where appropriate and practicable, we may provide notice or an opportunity to seek review. We are not obligated to host every piece of content submitted to the service.
12. Handout intellectual property
The Handout name, brand, logo, product design, software, interfaces and original platform content are owned by or licensed to Handout and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. These Terms do not transfer ownership of Handout technology or branding to you.
Subject to these Terms, Handout gives you a limited, personal, revocable, non-exclusive and non-transferable right to access and use the service for its intended purposes.
13. Service availability and beta features
We work to keep Handout available and reliable, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. We may maintain, update, test, change, limit or discontinue features.
During beta or testing periods, features may be incomplete, change quickly, contain defects or produce unexpected results. Feedback you voluntarily provide may be used to improve the product without creating an obligation to implement a particular suggestion.
14. Educational and service disclaimers
Handout is a technology platform and is not a university, examination body or accreditation authority. User-generated materials, peer responses, ratings and AI outputs do not constitute official academic advice and are not guaranteed to be accurate or suitable for a particular course or assessment.
To the extent permitted by law, the service is provided on an "as available" basis. Nothing in these Terms excludes rights or warranties that cannot lawfully be excluded.
15. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Handout will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive losses arising from use of the service, loss of data, reliance on user-generated or AI-generated content, interactions between users, or interruption of the service, except where liability cannot lawfully be limited.
Nothing in these Terms limits liability for fraud, wilful misconduct, or any liability that applicable law does not permit us to exclude or limit.
16. Ending your use of Handout
You may stop using Handout at any time and may request account deletion through the mechanisms Handout makes available. We may suspend or terminate access where reasonably necessary to protect the service or users, enforce these Terms, respond to legal requirements, or address serious or repeated violations.
Provisions that by their nature should continue—such as intellectual-property protections, disclaimers, liability provisions, dispute terms and certain content or record-retention obligations—may survive termination.
17. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms as Handout develops or legal requirements change. We will update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, provide notice of material changes. Continuing to use Handout after revised Terms become effective means the revised Terms apply to your continued use, to the extent permitted by law.
18. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, without prejudice to mandatory consumer or other rights that may apply to you.
If a dispute arises, you and Handout should first try in good faith to resolve it by contacting one another. Where it cannot be resolved informally, the parties may use an appropriate mediation or other dispute-resolution process before resorting to a court of competent jurisdiction, where appropriate.
19. Contact us
Questions about these Terms, rights complaints, content reports or legal notices can be sent to Handout.
Wuse 2, Abuja