Terms of Service

1. Who We Are

StorySloth (“the Platform”) is operated by Shed Collective Ltd., a company registered in Scotland (Company No. SC387124, VAT No. 142448913), with its registered office at International House, 38 Thistle Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1EN, United Kingdom. For any questions, contact us at editor@storysloth.com.

2. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using StorySloth, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you must not use the Platform.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are under 18, you confirm that you have the consent of a parent or guardian.

4. Accounts

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately of any unauthorised use. We may suspend or terminate accounts for violation of these terms.

5. Reader Terms

All stories on StorySloth are free to read. You may not reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from any content without the express permission of the author and/or Shed Collective Ltd.

6. Author Terms

Authors who publish on StorySloth are subject to additional terms set out in our Author Publishing Agreement. By submitting content, you confirm that you have read and accepted those terms.

7. Subscriptions & Payments

StorySloth offers optional paid subscriptions (“Adopt a Sloth”). All payments are processed by Stripe. Prices are inclusive of VAT where applicable. The applicable tax rate is determined automatically based on your location. Business customers may provide a VAT identification number during checkout. Subscriptions renew automatically and may be cancelled at any time. Refunds are handled on a case-by-case basis in accordance with UK consumer law.

8. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Submit content that is substantially generated by artificial intelligence, large language models, or similar automated tools (see section 8A below)
• Submit plagiarised or stolen content, or content that infringes any third party’s intellectual property rights
• Harass, abuse, or threaten other users
• Attempt to circumvent security measures or access systems without authorisation
• Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose
• Scrape, crawl, or harvest data without written consent — including for the purpose of training AI models, language models, or any machine-learning system
• Impersonate another person or entity

8A. AI-Generated Content

StorySloth is a human-to-human platform. Every story published here must be substantially the original creative work of a human author.

You may use AI-powered tools for minor editing assistance such as grammar checking, spell-checking, or proofreading. However, you must not submit content where the narrative, characters, plot, prose, or creative substance has been generated by an AI system, large language model, or similar automated tool — whether in whole or in significant part.

Submitting AI-generated content as your own original work constitutes a breach of these Terms and the Author Publishing Agreement. We reserve the right to remove such content, suspend or terminate the author’s account, and withhold any earnings associated with the content in question.

All content published on this Platform is protected by copyright. The use of any content from StorySloth — including story text, summaries, user profiles, and metadata — for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, or evaluating artificial intelligence systems, large language models, or any other machine-learning technology is expressly prohibited without prior written consent from the rights holder. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the content is accessed manually, via automated tools, or through any other means.

9. Content Moderation

All submissions are reviewed by our editorial team before publication. We reserve the right to reject, remove, or edit any content at our sole discretion.

10. Copyright & Intellectual Property

Authors retain copyright ownership of their original works. By publishing on StorySloth, authors grant Shed Collective Ltd. a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free licence to display, distribute, promote, and cache their content. Full details are in our Author Publishing Agreement.

All StorySloth branding, logos, design elements, and platform code are the intellectual property of Shed Collective Ltd. and may not be used without written permission.

11. Copyright Infringement & Takedowns

If you believe content on StorySloth infringes your copyright, please see our Copyright & Takedown Policy.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Shed Collective Ltd. shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Platform. Our total liability shall not exceed the amount you have paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or £100, whichever is greater.

13. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free from harmful components.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Shed Collective Ltd., its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from your use of the Platform or violation of these terms.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes via email or in-app notification.

16. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of Scotland and the United Kingdom. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Scotland.

17. Contact

Shed Collective Ltd. (Company No. SC387124, VAT No. 142448913), International House, 38 Thistle Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1EN, United Kingdom.

editor@storysloth.com