Terms of Use

Effective: August 9, 2026 · Last updated: August 9, 2026

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. SECTION 19 CONTAINS A BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND A CLASS ACTION WAIVER THAT AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT AND TO HAVE A JURY TRIAL. YOU MAY OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION WITHIN 30 DAYS AS DESCRIBED IN SECTION 19.9. SECTION 13 CONTAINS DISCLAIMERS AND SECTION 14 LIMITS OUR LIABILITY.

1. Who we are and what these Terms cover

1.1 These Terms of Use ("Terms") are a contract between you and MetaOriental Technology Inc., a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business at 61 W 62nd Street, 8H, New York, NY 10023 ("MetaOriental," "we," "us," "our").

1.2 These Terms govern your access to and use of metaoriental.com, its subdomains, and any MetaOriental application, feature, page, community, newsletter, creator tool, tracking link, ranking, or other service that links to these Terms (together, the "Service").

1.3 How you accept these Terms. You accept these Terms when you click or tap a button, checkbox or control presented next to a link to these Terms — for example when you create an account, register as a creator, accept a task, subscribe to messages, or complete a purchase. Where you only browse the Service without accepting, Sections 1, 2, 4.2 (acceptable use), 6 (our intellectual property), 13 (disclaimers), 14 (limitation of liability), 21 (general) and the Privacy Policy govern that browsing to the extent permitted by law; Section 19 (arbitration and class action waiver) applies only if and when you have affirmatively accepted these Terms as described above. If you do not agree, do not create an account, transact or submit content.

1.3.1 Re-acceptance. We present these Terms again for affirmative acceptance before account registration, creator registration, task acceptance, checkout, and on any material change described in Section 21.1. We log each acceptance with the document version and hash.

1.4 Other terms that may apply. Certain activities are governed by additional terms that are incorporated by reference:

If those terms conflict with these Terms on a matter they specifically address, they control on that matter.

1.5 The Service is in beta. See the Beta Service Notice.

2. What MetaOriental is — and is not

2.1 MetaOriental is a product discovery, content and community platform focused on consumer AI hardware and smart-living products. We publish product information, editorial content and rankings, host user and creator content, and connect users with brands and retailers.

2.2 Who sells what. Every product page on the Service runs in one of four commerce modes, and the page tells you which one applies:

2.3 Where we are not the seller — that is, in OUTBOUND_LINK and BRAND_SELLER_PLATFORM_CHECKOUT — we are not the manufacturer, importer of record, distributor, retailer, warrantor or fulfilment provider, and the seller identified on the product page or at the destination site is responsible for the sale, price, taxes, shipping, delivery, returns, warranty, support and consumer obligations.

2.3.1 What this does not disclaim. Section 2.3 allocates the seller's obligations; it does not reduce the commitments we make in our own name. Where checkout happens on the Service we remain responsible for operating that checkout, disclosing the roles accurately, passing your order and your payment to the right party, routing and following up your complaint, return or refund request, refunding you directly where we still hold or control the funds, and making reasonable efforts to pass on recall notices to purchasers whoever the seller was. Those commitments are set out in the Terms of Sale §1.6 and §8.3 and are not affected by this Section.

2.4 Which terms govern your purchase. The Terms of Sale apply in full to any order placed through checkout on the Service, in both BRAND_SELLER_PLATFORM_CHECKOUT and METAO_SELLER_OR_MOR. For an OUTBOUND_LINK purchase you start from the Service, Sections 1.1–1.4 and 8–13 of the Terms of Sale describe our part of it, and the off-site seller's own terms govern the sale itself.

2.5 Third-party trademarks. Product names, brands, logos and trademarks belong to their owners. Their appearance on the Service identifies the product only and does not indicate affiliation with, sponsorship by, approval by, or endorsement from the owner. Where a brand has a commercial relationship with us, we label it.

2.6 We do not adopt, verify, guarantee or endorse statements made by brands, retailers, creators, community members or third-party platforms, except where we expressly say so in our own editorial voice.

3. Eligibility and accounts

3.1 You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract. The Service is not directed to children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we may suspend or terminate it and delete associated data.

3.2 You are responsible for the accuracy of your account information, for keeping your credentials secure, and for all activity under your account. Notify us at support@metaoriental.com immediately if you suspect unauthorized use.

3.3 You may not sell, transfer, rent or share your account, or let a third party control it, and you may not create a new account to evade a suspension, restriction or termination.

3.4 We may require identity, contact, social-account, tax or payment verification before enabling certain features, and may limit features until verification is complete.

3.5 Where the Service is offered. The Service is directed to users located in the United States. We do not offer, market or target the Service to individuals in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, and we do not knowingly provide accounts, orders, creator participation or marketing communications to individuals located there. Prices, taxes, shipping, product compliance, consumer rights and every disclosure in these Terms are written for the United States and may not reflect the law of any other country. If you access the Service from outside the United States you do so on your own initiative, and you are responsible for compliance with local law. We may restrict, refuse or terminate access, registration, orders or creator participation from any territory, and we may use geolocation or other technical measures to do so. If we later decide to offer the Service in another jurisdiction, we will publish the additional notices, rights and legal bases that jurisdiction requires before doing so, not afterwards.

3.6 One person, one account, unless we agree otherwise in writing.

4. Licence to use the Service

4.1 Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Service for your own non-commercial use.

4.2 You may not, and may not permit anyone else to:

(a) copy, scrape, crawl, index, harvest, mirror, frame or systematically download any part of the Service, except by a well-behaved search-engine crawler that obeys our robots.txt; (b) use any part of the Service, including product data, rankings, reviews, images, video or community content, to build, train, fine-tune or evaluate any machine-learning model or dataset, or to create a competing or derivative product, service or database; (c) reverse engineer, decompile or attempt to derive source code, algorithms, ranking logic or data structures; (d) circumvent access controls, rate limits, geographic restrictions, paywalls or security measures; (e) interfere with the Service or the networks, tracking links, payment flows, stores or accounts connected to it, including by bots, scripts, denial-of-service, credential stuffing or malicious code; (f) misrepresent your identity or affiliation, or impersonate any person or entity; (g) use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable export control, sanctions, advertising, consumer protection or privacy law.

4.3 We reserve all rights not expressly granted.

5. Your content

5.1 "Your Content" means anything you submit, upload, post, stream, link, forward or authorize us to use through the Service, including profile information, text, images, audio, video, comments, ratings, reviews, polls, collections, link descriptions and related metadata.

5.2 You keep ownership of Your Content. As between you and us, you retain the rights you have in Your Content.

5.3 Basic licence you grant us. You grant MetaOriental and its affiliates a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid licence — sublicensable only to the hosting, storage, delivery, moderation, accessibility, security and analytics providers we use to run the Service — to host, store, cache, reproduce, display, publicly perform and communicate, distribute, embed, link to, excerpt, caption, translate, resize, reformat, generate thumbnails and summaries from, and otherwise use Your Content for the purpose of operating, moderating, translating, categorizing, distributing, attributing, securing, making accessible and improving the Service, and for organic promotion of the Service itself on our own channels.

5.3.1 What this licence does not cover. The licence in 5.3 does not permit us or anyone else to: (a) include Your Content in a brand's own marketing materials; (b) use Your Content in paid advertising, whitelisted or allowlisted media buying on any platform; (c) sublicense Your Content to a brand, retailer or distribution partner; or (d) use Your Content beyond the Service. Each of those uses requires your separate, specific, opt-in consent, given through a Task Rule or a separate written authorization, and may carry separate consideration.

The single exception to (d) is the organic promotion of the Service on MetaOriental's own channels expressly permitted by 5.3 — for example posting an excerpt of a community review to a MetaOriental account, with attribution. That is the only use outside the Service this licence allows, it must remain organic (never paid, boosted, whitelisted or allowlisted — see 5.4.1), and it may never be used to promote a brand or a product rather than the Service.

5.4 Name and likeness. You license us to use your name, username, avatar, voice, likeness and public profile description in connection with Your Content, your profile, attribution and the operation of the Service. We will not use these to fabricate an endorsement by you of a product or matter you did not actually address.

5.4.1 Paid advertising requires opt-in. We will not use your name, likeness or content in paid advertising placements, brand marketing materials, or whitelisted or allowlisted media buying unless you have separately opted in for that specific use through a Task Rule or a written authorization. You may withdraw that opt-in for future placements at any time by writing to legal@metaoriental.com; already-placed content, event records and archival copies are not affected.

5.5 Duration. The licence in 5.3–5.4 lasts while Your Content or your account is live, and for a commercially reasonable technical wind-down period after deletion. Backups, audit, security, compliance and dispute-evidence copies may be retained as permitted by law. Content already lawfully re-shared, embedded, recorded into event materials or separately licensed under a task cannot be recalled from every channel.

5.6 No extra payment. Unless a specific Task Rule says otherwise, the licence in this section carries no additional compensation.

5.7 Feedback. Suggestions, feature ideas and general feedback you send us may be used freely without obligation or payment, provided we do not disclose your confidential information.

5.8 Your promises about Your Content. You represent and warrant that Your Content is truthful, that you have all rights and permissions needed for it (including for music, footage, text, software, trademarks, locations and any person appearing in it), that it does not infringe or violate anyone's intellectual property, privacy, publicity, contract or other rights, and that it complies with the Community Guidelines, the Reviews & Ratings Policy and applicable law.

5.9 Disclosure of material connections. If you received payment, commission, affiliate revenue, free or discounted products, samples, gifts, travel, services, equity, employment, or if you have a family or close personal relationship with a brand or seller, you must disclose it clearly and conspicuously, in the same language as your content, next to the content itself — not only in a bio, a link page, a collapsed area or a trailing hashtag block. See the Advertising, Affiliate & Sponsorship Disclosure.

6. Our content and intellectual property

6.1 The Service, including its software, code, interfaces, design, page layouts, databases, algorithms, models, templates, editorial content, methodology, ranking positions, scores, review conclusions, statistical charts and the MetaOriental name and logos, is owned by MetaOriental or its licensors and protected by intellectual property law.

6.2 You may not use MetaOriental's marks, page layouts, ranking positions, scores, review conclusions or platform statistics in your own marketing, or in a way suggesting we endorse you or a product, without our prior written permission.

6.3 Brands and retailers wishing to reference a MetaOriental ranking, score or editorial conclusion must obtain written approval covering the specific claim, time period, context and scope.

7. Moderation, labelling and enforcement

7.1 We may, but have no obligation to, review, screen, filter, label, rank, demote, restrict, delink, hide, remove or refuse to publish any content, and to suspend or terminate accounts, using automated tools, human review, rights-holder notices, brand feedback, user reports and third-party services.

7.2 We may take these actions for reasons including: legal or regulatory requirements; a court or government order; intellectual property, privacy or publicity complaints; product safety issues or recalls; missing or inadequate commercial disclosure; false, unsubstantiated or misleading claims; fraud, manipulated traffic or manipulated rewards; brand or community safety; technical security; termination of a relationship; or our reasonable operational judgement.

7.3 Except where applicable law requires otherwise, we do not need your prior consent, do not need to prove a violation first, and — in urgent, safety, investigative, rights-protection or legally constrained situations — do not need to give advance notice. Any notice or appeal channel we provide is a courtesy and is not a condition of an action taking effect.

7.4 We do not change the substance of genuine negative reviews and we do not remove them because they are negative. Negative content must still meet our truthfulness, rights, disclosure and safety rules. To avoid misleading readers we may add context rather than edit, or restrict or remove content rather than rewrite it.

7.5 Content that is not published, is restricted, or is removed does not by itself constitute a breach by us and creates no claim for exposure, opportunity or expected revenue.

7.6 Repeat infringers. We terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe intellectual property rights. See the DMCA / Copyright Policy.

8. Third-party content, links and embeds

8.1 The Service displays links to and embeds from third-party platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X and Reddit, and links to brand and retailer sites.

8.2 That content is published by its author on that platform, not by us. We do not control, verify, adopt or endorse it. Loading or playing it is subject to that platform's terms and privacy policy and may set cookies or transmit data to that platform.

8.3 Your dealings with any third party — including any purchase, communication, sample, payment or dispute — are solely between you and that third party. See the External Links & Embedded Content Policy.

9. Rankings, editorial independence and paid placement

9.1 Rankings, category lists, comparisons, "trending" and "emerging" selections and editorial conclusions are produced under our own methodology, published at Rankings & Editorial Methodology.

9.2 Brands cannot buy a rank position, a score, a review conclusion or a recommendation. Paid placements are labelled and are excluded from ranked lists.

9.3 Rankings reflect signals available to us at a point in time, are not statistical predictions, and are not advice about what you should buy.

9.4 We may earn affiliate commissions on some links. This does not influence rank positions or editorial conclusions. See the Advertising, Affiliate & Sponsorship Disclosure.

10. Product information, prices and availability

10.1 Product descriptions, specifications, images, claims, certifications, prices, stock and availability are supplied by brands, retailers and public sources. They change frequently and may contain errors or become outdated.

10.2 Prices shown are indicative and were last checked at the time stated on the page. The price shown by the seller at checkout controls. We are not bound by a price displayed in error and may correct it or cancel an affected order; Terms of Sale §3.2 governs how a mispriced order is cancelled and refunded, and is the single statement of that rule.

10.3 AI-assisted content. Some descriptions are drafted or summarized with AI assistance from manufacturer materials and reviewed by an editor.

10.3.1 AI shopping assistant. The Service also offers an AI assistant that answers questions and suggests products in conversation. Its answers are generated by a third-party AI model, are not reviewed by an editor before you see them, and may be incomplete, outdated or simply wrong — including about specifications, compatibility, price, availability, safety and legal restrictions. Its answers are not advice, not a recommendation to buy, and not a warranty or representation by us or by any brand. Treat them as a starting point and verify anything that matters with the seller or manufacturer under 10.4. See the AI-Generated & Editorial Content Policy and, for how your conversations are handled, the Privacy Policy.

10.4 Verify specifications, compatibility, safety information, warranty terms and legal restrictions with the seller or manufacturer before you buy.

11. Safety, health and high-risk products

11.1 Some products featured on the Service contain lithium-ion batteries, rotating blades, powered motion, lasers, heating elements, or operate in the air or on public roads or waterways. Their use may be restricted by federal, state or local law and may cause injury or property damage if misused.

11.2 Always read and follow the manufacturer's instructions, warnings and age restrictions. See the Product Safety & Recall Policy.

11.3 Nothing on the Service is medical advice. See the Health & Wellness Disclaimer.

11.4 Nothing on the Service is legal, tax, financial, investment or professional advice.

12. Privacy, cookies and video

12.1 Our handling of personal information is described in the Privacy Policy, the Cookie Notice and the Notice at Collection. You can exercise choices at Your Privacy Choices.

12.2 Video viewing information. Parts of the Service include video content. Accepting these Terms does not give consent to any disclosure of video-viewing information. To the extent the Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2710, or a comparable law applies, we disclose video-viewing information that identifies you to advertising or analytics recipients only where you have given a separate, distinct, unchecked-by-default consent presented on its own screen before or at the point of playback, identifying the categories of recipients, the purpose and the duration. That consent is effective for two years unless withdrawn earlier, and you may withdraw it at any time and without penalty at Your Privacy Choices. Where that consent has not been given or has expired, we do not disclose identifiable video-viewing information, and video features remain fully available to you. Withdrawing consent does not affect disclosures already made and does not require you to stop using the Service.

12.3 We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as an opt-out of sale and sharing where required by law.

13. Disclaimers

13.1 THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." To the fullest extent permitted by law, MetaOriental and its affiliates, licensors and service providers disclaim all warranties, express, implied or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, quiet enjoyment, accuracy and non-infringement, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

13.2 We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, timely, error-free, or that content, rankings, prices, specifications, availability or attribution data will be accurate, complete or current.

13.3 We are not responsible for products themselves, for the acts or omissions of brands, sellers, manufacturers, importers, carriers, warehouses, payment providers, social platforms or other third parties, or for content published by users, creators or third parties.

13.4 Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this Section may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or under applicable consumer protection or product liability law.

14. Limitation of liability

14.1 To the fullest extent permitted by law, MetaOriental and its affiliates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, lost goodwill, lost opportunity, anticipated savings or business interruption, arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms, under any theory of liability, even if advised of the possibility.

14.2 To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Service or these Terms will not exceed the greater of: (a) the total amount you paid to MetaOriental for the Service in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim; or (b) US$100.

14.3 Carve-outs. The limits in 14.1 and 14.2 do not apply to: (a) our obligation to refund or remit amounts actually due to you under the Terms of Sale, the Creator & Affiliate Terms or an accepted Task Rule; (b) our fraud, wilful misconduct or gross negligence; (c) our indemnification obligations expressly stated in writing; or (d) any liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence and liability under applicable product liability and consumer protection law.

14.4 These limits apply even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose, and reflect an agreed allocation of risk that is part of the basis of the bargain.

15. Indemnification

15.1 To the fullest extent permitted by law, you will indemnify, defend and hold harmless MetaOriental, its affiliates, and their directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any third-party claim, regulatory proceeding, fine, judgment, approved settlement, loss and reasonable legal fees to the extent arising out of: (a) Your Content; (b) your material breach of these Terms or any terms incorporated into them; (c) your violation of law or of anyone's rights, including intellectual property, privacy, publicity and advertising-disclosure rules; (d) manipulated traffic, fraudulent activity, or promises you made on our behalf without authorization; or (e) your wilful misconduct.

15.2 What you are not asked to indemnify. This Section does not apply to claims arising from your ordinary use of the Service as permitted by these Terms, from an ordinary consumer transaction with a brand or seller, or from our own acts, omissions, content or defaults. Nothing in this Section requires you to indemnify a participating brand, seller or distribution channel; those parties bear their own risk under their own agreements.

15.3 What we owe you when we call on this Section. If we ask you to indemnify a claim, we will notify you promptly of it, we will not settle it in a way that imposes any obligation, payment or admission on you without your written consent, and you may participate in the defence with counsel of your own choice at your own cost.

15.4 Conduct of the defence. We may assume control of the defence and settlement of any matter affecting our reputation, platform, data, intellectual property or ongoing business. That control is subject in every case to 15.3 — assuming control does not entitle us to settle on terms that bind you without your written consent. You may not settle any matter in a way that imposes an obligation on us, admits our fault or restricts our rights without our written consent.

16. Term, suspension and termination

16.1 These Terms apply while you use the Service. You may stop at any time and may request account closure through the Service.

16.2 We may suspend or terminate your access, in whole or in part, immediately, if we reasonably believe you have materially or repeatedly breached these Terms; created legal, safety, security or reputational risk; infringed rights; manipulated data, attribution or rewards; refused a required correction; are subject to sanctions; or if we are legally required to act.

16.3 We may also discontinue features, projects or the Service for ordinary business reasons. We will make reasonable efforts to give notice where the situation is not urgent, but notice is not a condition of the change taking effect. This general rule is subject to the specific notice commitments we have made elsewhere — including the notice periods in the Beta Service Notice §3 and the 90-day discontinuation notice and redemption window in the Membership & Points Terms §8.2 — which prevail over this Section for the changes they cover.

16.4 On termination you must stop using our marks, task materials and non-public information. We may deactivate links, remove your profile and content, and complete any necessary attribution, refund, dispute and settlement reconciliation.

16.5 Sections 2, 4.2, 5.3–5.9, 6, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16.4–16.5, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 survive termination.

17. Changes to these Terms

17.1 We may update these Terms to reflect changes in the Service, our business, law, regulation, security or abuse prevention. We will post the updated version with a new "Last updated" date.

17.2 For material changes we will give reasonable advance notice by in-product notice, banner, email or another reasonable method, and where the change materially affects important rights we may require you to accept again. Urgent security or legal changes may take effect immediately.

17.3 Material changes require your acceptance; they are not accepted by continued use. Where an update materially affects your rights — including any change to Section 19 (arbitration and class action waiver), to the licence in Section 5, or to the fees or amounts payable — we present the updated Terms for affirmative acceptance under 1.3.1, and the change does not bind you until you accept it. Until you do, the version you last accepted continues to govern your use. For changes that are not material, continuing to use the Service after the update takes effect means you accept it. If you do not accept a material change, you may stop using the Service and close your account.

17.4 Amounts that have already become undisputed earned compensation under a specific Task Rule will not be retroactively cancelled by a later update, but remain subject to that rule's provisions on refunds, invalid traffic, fraud and compliance adjustments.

18. Governing law

18.1 These Terms and any non-contractual obligations connected with them are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. MetaOriental's incorporation, corporate power and internal governance remain governed by Delaware corporate law.

18.2 Mandatory consumer protection, advertising, privacy, product safety and other laws of the place where you live or use the Service continue to apply where they cannot be excluded by contract.

19. Dispute resolution — individual arbitration and class action waiver

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR RIGHTS.

19.1 Scope. Except as stated in 19.6 and 19.7, you and MetaOriental agree that any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Service, any content, any transaction, or our relationship — whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation or any other theory, and whether arising before, during or after termination — will be resolved by binding individual arbitration and not in court.

19.2 Informal resolution first. Before starting an arbitration or a small-claims action, the initiating party must send a written Notice of Dispute describing the account, the facts, the relief requested and a proposed resolution, and must allow 30 days of good-faith discussion. Notice to us goes to legal@metaoriental.com and to MetaOriental Technology Inc., Attn: Legal, 61 W 62nd Street, 8H, New York, NY 10023. Notice to you goes to the email on your account. The statute of limitations is tolled during this period. Completing this step is a condition precedent to commencing arbitration, and either party may ask a court to enforce it.

19.3 Arbitration rules and forum. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Consumer Arbitration Rules where applicable, otherwise its Commercial Arbitration Rules, and — where applicable by their terms — its Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules, each as in effect when the arbitration is commenced. The rules are available at adr.org. The arbitration will be before one arbitrator. The seat is New York County, New York, provided that if you are a consumer you may elect to have the arbitration conducted by telephone, by videoconference, on documents only, or in the county of your residence.

19.4 Federal Arbitration Act. This Section evidences a transaction involving interstate commerce and is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. The arbitrator, not a court, decides all issues relating to the interpretation, applicability, scope, enforceability and formation of this arbitration agreement, except that a court decides (a) whether the class action waiver in 19.5 is enforceable and (b) any question of arbitrability that the law reserves to a court.

19.5 Class action waiver. You and MetaOriental agree that each may bring claims only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, coordinated, representative or private attorney general proceeding. The arbitrator may not preside over any form of class or representative proceeding and may award relief only in favour of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party's individual claim. If this waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim or a particular request for relief, that claim or request must be severed and heard in a court of competent jurisdiction in New York County, New York, and all remaining claims proceed in arbitration.

19.6 Small claims. Either party may bring an individual claim in a small-claims court of competent jurisdiction instead of arbitration, so long as the matter stays in that court and on an individual basis.

19.7 Injunctive relief. Either party may seek temporary or injunctive relief from a court of competent jurisdiction to protect intellectual property, confidential information, data, account security, or to prevent irreparable harm, without waiving arbitration.

19.8 Fees and coordinated filings. Arbitration fees are governed by the applicable AAA rules and fee schedule. Where 25 or more similar claims are asserted against the same party by or with the assistance of the same or coordinated counsel, the parties agree that the AAA Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules (or the AAA's then-current process for multiple case filings), including any process fee, global mediation and bellwether procedures, apply, and that the resulting efficiencies apply equally to both parties.

19.9 How to opt out of arbitration. You may reject this Section 19 by sending us written notice within 30 days after you first accept these Terms. Send an email with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" to legal@metaoriental.com, or a letter to MetaOriental Technology Inc., Attn: Legal — Arbitration Opt-Out, 61 W 62nd Street, 8H, New York, NY 10023, stating your full name, the email address on your account, your user ID if you have one, and a clear statement that you decline arbitration. A timely opt-out affects only this Section 19; the rest of the Terms continue to apply, and opting out will not adversely affect your account or use of the Service. If you do not opt out within 30 days, you accept this Section.

19.9.1 Which acceptance starts the 30 days. The window runs from the first time you accept these Terms as described in 1.3 — normally account registration. Because 1.3.1 asks you to accept again at other moments (creator registration, task acceptance, checkout), we record which acceptance was your first. A later re-acceptance of an unchanged Section 19 neither restarts the window nor shortens it, and it is not a waiver of an opt-out you have already sent. If we materially change Section 19, a fresh 30-day window opens when you accept the changed version, and your earlier opt-out — if you sent one — remains effective regardless.

19.10 Confidentiality. The arbitration proceeding, evidence and award are confidential, except as needed to enforce rights, obtain professional advice, comply with law or confirm or enforce the award.

19.11 Survival. This Section survives termination of these Terms and closure of your account.

19.12 Severability. If any part of this Section other than 19.5 is found unenforceable, that part is severed and the remainder continues to apply. If 19.5 is found unenforceable in its entirety, then this entire Section 19 is void and disputes proceed in the courts identified in Section 20.

20. Courts and venue for non-arbitrable matters

For any dispute not subject to arbitration — including where you have validly opted out under 19.9, where 19.5 is severed, or where 19.12 voids Section 19 — you and MetaOriental consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state courts located in New York County, New York and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and waive any objection based on inconvenient forum. Each party waives any right to a jury trial to the fullest extent permitted by law.

21. General

21.1 Entire agreement. These Terms and the terms incorporated by reference are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service and supersede prior discussions, brochures, portal descriptions, decks, industry data, example rates, efficiency figures, estimated ranges, case studies and oral statements. You confirm you have not relied on any of those in agreeing to these Terms.

21.2 Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them in connection with a reorganization, financing, merger, acquisition or transfer of assets or business, with the assignee assuming our obligations.

21.3 Severability and no waiver. If a provision is held invalid or unenforceable, it is modified to the minimum extent necessary to achieve its original commercial purpose, or severed, and the rest continues in effect. Our failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.

21.4 No third-party beneficiaries, except the persons and entities expressly protected in Sections 13, 14 and 15.

21.5 Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events outside its reasonable control, including natural disaster, epidemic, war, civil unrest, government order, sanctions or export-control changes, port closures, customs delays, strikes, and large-scale failures of critical infrastructure, cloud services or third-party platforms. Payment obligations for services already delivered are not excused.

21.6 Notices. Legal notices to us go to legal@metaoriental.com and MetaOriental Technology Inc., Attn: Legal, 61 W 62nd Street, 8H, New York, NY 10023. Notices to you go to the email or in-product channel associated with your account and are effective on the next business day if not returned undelivered.

21.7 Electronic contracting. You consent to contract electronically. Clicking or tapping to accept a document presented to you under 1.3 has the same effect as a handwritten signature under the U.S. E-SIGN Act and applicable state law. Merely browsing or continuing to use the Service is not a signature and does not form this agreement. We may retain records of acceptance time, account, version, page, device and network to evidence agreement.

21.8 Language. English is the controlling text of these Terms. Any translation is provided for convenience only and does not change the English text.

21.9 Export and sanctions. You represent that you are not located in, and are not a national or resident of, a country or region subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, and that you are not on any U.S. restricted-party list.

21.10 Contact. support@metaoriental.com for general questions; legal@metaoriental.com for legal notices; legal@metaoriental.com for privacy requests; legal@metaoriental.com for content reports.