The English version of this page is the one that governs.

Terms of Service

Last updated: October 14, 2026

Operator: Socket LLC, South Carolina · Contact: help@getsocket.app

Socket, it's where connections happen. By creating an account or using Socket, you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms") with Socket LLC. We use Meta Pixel for ad measurement.

Acceptance

If you do not agree, do not use Socket. You must be able to form a binding contract where the law requires it, and you must be at least 13. Accounts ages 13–17 stay limited until a parent or guardian approves them.

Teens and parental consent

Socket does not allow accounts for anyone under 13, in line with COPPA. People ages 13–17 may create an account only with a parent or guardian. The teen enters a birthdate and a guardian email. The account stays pending — limited, and not treated as a full account — until the guardian opens the emailed link, confirms they are the parent or legal guardian, and agrees to these Terms.

The guardian can open a family dashboard, see the teen's safety settings, and change them.
Default protections: messages only from connections; Scout outreach without a connection stays off unless the guardian allows it; location is city-level at most; an optional private profile; in-person Switchboard jobs and accepting or paying for jobs need guardian approval; going live, buying or sending Plugs, Sparks, or tips, selling, and cashing out are available at 18; mature-flagged content stays hidden; restricted Outlet items stay unavailable.
The guardian can revoke consent. Revocation suspends the teen account.
Socket does not use a paid identity-verification vendor for this consent. Scout Pro billing stays off.
Reports that involve a teen account are queued as high priority for safety review.

Eligibility

You must be at least 13 to use Socket. People ages 13 through 17 may use Socket with the consent of a parent or guardian, as described in Teens and parental consent.

Going live, buying or sending Plugs, Sparks, or tips, selling on Socket, and cashing out are available when you are 18 or older.

The service

Socket LLC operates Socket, a creator collaboration platform for connecting by skill and location, sharing portfolios, posting, messaging, and collaborating. Features may change as we improve the product.

Free app & Verified

Socket is free for everyone. There is no paid membership required to use core features. Optionally, you may purchase a Verified badge / verification tier for $9.99/month or $59.99/year. The first 1,000 founding members (Founders) receive Verified free for life. Accounts that already have year-one Verified keep it. New signups do not receive that grant. Verified means you are this person. Socket does not collect or store an ID document. A page you control can link back to your Socket profile so people can open where the check landed. Verified members and Founders receive 10% more Plugs on a Plug pack. A Verified purchase is not charged on a card from this page. Prices may change with notice for future periods.

Scout

Creators are never charged to be found. A Verified Scout badge is an application (company, role, and a LinkedIn or website) that Socket reviews. It is separate from paid Verified, Celebrity, and Founders. Verified scouts may message creators without a Connection, subject to a daily cap. Creators can opt out in Settings. Block and report still apply. Scout Pro, for advanced search and stats, is not billed.

Your account

You are responsible for your account credentials and for activity under your account. Provide accurate information and keep your profile authentic. We may warn, require content deletion, suspend (timed or indefinite), or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or our Community Guidelines. Suspended accounts are blocked from write features and directed to an account-status page with the reason.

You may deactivate your account at any time from Settings, then Account. Deactivation hides your profile and public content until you log in and reactivate. You may also delete your account from the same place. Deletion hides the account immediately and schedules permanent deletion 90 days later. You can cancel that deletion by logging in during the 90 days. After that window, personal data is deleted or anonymized, your handle is released, and the account cannot be reopened. Subscriptions you pay for and subscriber offerings you run are canceled when you request deletion and do not renew. We may refuse deletion while a booking still holds money, an order you sold has not shipped, or a dispute or payout is still open, until that matter is finished. Payment records we must keep for tax and accounting stay, without your personal information.

User content

You retain ownership of content you post (profiles, portfolios, posts, messages, media URLs, etc.). By posting on Socket, you grant Socket LLC a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and distribute that content on and through Socket as needed to operate and promote the service. You represent that you have the rights to share what you upload and that it does not infringe others' rights.

Content rights and responsibility

You represent and warrant that you own or have every license, clearance, and permission needed for anything you upload, share, sell, stream, or submit. That includes music, samples, beats, video, images, and collab files shared in messages.

Socket does not review or clear content, and Socket is not responsible for what you upload. You agree to indemnify Socket LLC against claims arising from your content.

Socket may remove infringing content and may terminate repeat infringers. Send copyright and takedown notices to help@getsocket.app.

Copyright notices (DMCA)

Socket LLC has a designated DMCA agent registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Send a copyright notice or a counter-notice to help@getsocket.app or use the form on the copyright page. What you promise about the rights in an upload is in Content rights and responsibility. This section is the notice process.

A copyright notice includes:

Your name and a physical or electronic signature.
A description of the copyrighted work.
The exact Socket URL of the material, or enough detail for Socket to find it.
An email, and a mailing address or phone number, so Socket can reach you.
A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner.

A person reviews the notice before an item is disabled. Socket disables the item so it leaves public view. The file stays on record, with its plays, likes, and sales, so it can return if the item is restored.

A counter-notice is how the uploader asks Socket to restore an item. It includes:

Your name, mailing address, phone number, and email.
A physical or electronic signature.
Identification of the material that was disabled and where it appeared.
A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you believe the material was disabled by mistake or misidentification.
A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district where your address is, and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the notice. If your address is outside the United States, that consent is for a federal court in a district where Socket LLC may be found, including South Carolina.

After a valid counter-notice, Socket schedules the item to return in 10 business days, unless the person who sent the notice records that they filed a lawsuit to keep the item down.

Repeat infringers. The first counting copyright claim warns the account and disables the item. The second pauses uploads and sales for 30 days. The third terminates the account. Socket terminates repeat infringers under this policy. A claim that was countered or restored does not count. A dispute can hold earnings from that item only. The same steps are summarized under Copyright and repeat claims.

Likeness, impersonation and AI personas

An original AI artist is welcome on Socket when the look and the name are invented for that artist.

You may not impersonate any real person. You may not use AI or other means to recreate a real person's face, voice, name, or likeness. That covers people who are living or deceased, including celebrities. Written permission from that person, or from their estate, is required.

An account that breaks this rule cannot go Live, and cannot earn or cash out Plugs, Sparks, or tips. Socket may remove the account. Anyone can report it through the takedown contact at help@getsocket.app. You remain responsible for what you upload.

Prohibited conduct

Political content: campaigns, candidates, parties, political figures, or political debate.
Sexual content: nudity, sexually suggestive dancing, twerking, bouncing or exposed breasts, or promotion of adult-subscription or adult-content sites or links. A subscription does not change this. Adult content is not allowed on Socket, including behind a subscription.
Pornography of any kind on posts, public profiles, walls, or public portfolio media — posting such content may result in automatic account suspension. Direct messages are private and are not auto-scanned for sexual content.
Harassment or discrimination of any kind. Enforcement ladder: (1) warning with option to delete the offending content, or suspension if not deleted; (2) 30-day suspension; (3) indefinite suspension. See our Community Guidelines.
Scams, phishing, spam, or deceptive practices.
Illegal content or activity, or content that exploits minors.
Impersonation or fake portfolios intended to mislead.
Interfering with the service, scraping without permission, or unauthorized access.
Anything that violates our Community Guidelines.

Plugs, earnings & payments

Socket wants creators to feel welcome and able to grow their brand. Plugs are Socket's in-app currency. 1 Plug is $1. Packs are 5 Plugs for $5, 10 for $10, 25 for $25, 50 for $50, and 100 for $100. Card processing is added at checkout so Socket receives the full Plug amount. Purchased Plugs sit in the Spend wallet and are spend-only. Plugs received from other people sit in the Earned wallet. The Socket fee on creator earnings from tips, music downloads, and Plug ticket sales is the 3% cash-out.

Tips / profile support: the recipient keeps 100%. A tip supports art. It does not buy airtime on The Radio. On that money, Socket's cash-out fee is 3%.
The Radio: The Radio is Socket-picked stations you tune into. Each station shows Now Playing and its rotation. There are no requests. A tip does not buy airtime.
Music downloads: artists may sell songs and albums for download on Socket. The artist sets their own price in Plugs for each song and each album — Socket does not mandate a list price (technical minimum 1 Plug; a high cap exists only to prevent abuse). The artist keeps 100% (same as Tips). On that money, the cash-out fee is 3%. That is a file download the buyer keeps. Downloads sit beside The Radio and tips; they do not replace The Radio. Buying a download does not buy airtime on The Radio, and plays on The Radio do not grant a download.
Show tickets: artists may sell tickets on their profile and for Circuit gatherings. The artist keeps 100% of Plug ticket sales. Socket takes no cut of that money. Ticket proceeds are Earned Plugs. On that money, the cash-out fee is 3% when they withdraw. A price of 0 Plugs is a free RSVP.
The Cable ads: ads run on the left rail and Discover panel on desktop, and in The Cable on phones. Views and clicks bill the same way on every placement. On phones, The Cable stays at most one ad in ten items, and six ads a day for one person. A bigger budget does not add ads. You create an ad with an image or a short muted video, a headline, and a link, then set a daily budget and a goal. Views and clicks are what you pay for. Profile visits, follows, music plays, and store visits are reported with the ad. The budget is reserved up front. You pay only for results delivered, and unspent Plugs come back when the ad ends. Ads rotate with the other ads. A larger remaining budget and a higher result price are shown more often. Forty percent of views are reserved for creator self-promo. Business ads do not run in that share. A creator with fewer than 1,000 followers is shown twice as often inside it. No advertiser is shown for more than 15% of views. The same ad is shown at most 3 times per person per day, and a view counts after 1 second on screen. Ads are not personalized. You can limit who sees an ad by city, skill, people who follow a skill, or a Switchboard search. That uses activity on Socket only. Viewers see a Sponsored label and can hide an ad. Ads are checked against the content rules before they run. Invalid traffic is not billed. Creator clicks are 0.080 Plugs and views are 3 Plugs per 1,000. Business clicks are 0.120 Plugs and views are 6 Plugs per 1,000. The minimum daily budget is 1 Plug for a creator and 5 Plugs for a business. Founders run creator ads free until Socket reaches 1,000,000 profiles. Business ads are never free. Founders pay half the business rate for life. Verified members get 10% off ads and boosts. When a Founder discount is larger, that rate is used instead. The two discounts do not combine. Prices are subject to change as Socket gains traction.
Physical orders: Sellers are responsible for fulfilling and shipping their orders. The seller sets the shipping price, including free shipping. That price is added at checkout and paid to the seller. Socket keeps 5% of the item price on merch and other physical sales, including Outlet listings and physical art. Shipping is not included in that fee. Founders pay 0%. Buyers still pay card processing and sales tax. The cash-out fee stays 3%. Seller payout on a physical order stays on hold until the seller marks it shipped and 7 days pass, or until the seller marks it delivered. If the seller does not mark the order shipped within 14 days, the buyer is refunded. The returns and refunds page describes how a buyer reports a problem and how a refund is paid.
DJ station runners: you must apply to run a station. Applications are reviewed carefully so Socket can have confidence in who hosts. Approval is not automatic, and nobody is put live as a DJ from an application alone.
DJ station tips: song requests are not offered. On a DJ station, a tip asks whether it is for the DJ or the artist of the current song. The person the fan chooses keeps 100%. On that money, the cash-out fee is 3%.
The Volt: creator shows, seasons, and episodes.
Verified: optional badge pricing is already in these Terms ($9.99/month or $59.99/year). Founders (first 1,000) keep Verified free for life.

Socket may change Plug prices, fees, and eligibility as the platform gains traction, with notice in these Terms and in the app. Early-traction prices are meant to help creators grow with Socket — they are not a forever lock.

Plugs, Sparks, and Joules

Plugs, Sparks, and Joules are a limited license to use features on Socket. They are not securities, deposits, or gambling. They have no cash value except where these Terms provide a payout.

Sparks are Socket Live tips. Sparks a viewer sends convert to Plugs for the creator.

Plugs you buy are for spending on Socket. Plugs never expire. When you ask for a refund of Plugs you bought and have not spent, Socket reviews the request and approves it case by case. An approved refund goes back to the original card. Socket keeps a fee of 5% of the Plug amount or $1, whichever is higher.

Joules are download credits included with a creator subscription. Earned Plugs can be cashed out under Creator payouts.

Socket Live

Socket Live lets a creator broadcast with guests and viewers. A battle is fan support for the creators people want to see. A battle is not a wager, a bet, or a game of chance, and nothing is staked. Sparks and other tips sent during a Live or a battle are support for the creator.

Creators and guests are responsible for what they say and show on a Live. Socket may end a Live that breaks these Terms or the Community Guidelines.

Creator payouts

Creators on Socket are independent, and each creator is responsible for the creator's own taxes. Identity and tax checks for a cash-out happen through Stripe, the payout processor, on Stripe's own screen. Socket does not ask for or store a government ID.

Socket may hold a payout during a fraud review, a chargeback, or a dispute. When that review is finished, the payout follows these Terms, including the cash-out fee and any hold described under Plugs, earnings & payments.

Services & bookings

Creators may list services and rates on their profiles. Refund and no-show policies are set by the seller for each listing and are shown on the service card and again before you pay or confirm a booking. Socket does not apply one global auto-refund rule. When Socket releases a booking, Socket keeps 8% of the creator's payout, or 5% for Verified creators and Founders. The client pays the quoted amount and no extra fee. A booking already released keeps the payout it received.

Collaborations and splits

An agreement between collaborators belongs to those users. That includes a booking they arrange, a split of earnings, and files they share. Socket is not a party to that agreement. When a booking uses Socket's escrow, Socket holds the Plugs and releases the creator's payout under the booking, after the booking fee in these Terms, and handles a dispute through the booking tools. That escrow and dispute handling is the role Socket provides.

Disclaimer

Socket is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service, or the conduct or quality of other users.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Socket LLC and its officers, directors, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of Socket. Our aggregate liability for any claim related to the service is limited to the greater of (a) amounts you paid us for Verified in the twelve months before the claim, or (b) USD $50.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Socket LLC and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from claims, losses, and reasonable legal expenses arising out of your use of Socket, your content, a Live you host or join, a listing or sale, or a breach of these Terms. Your promise about claims arising from content you upload is also in Content rights and responsibility.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, together with applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. The state and federal courts located in South Carolina are the forum for a dispute about these Terms, except where the law requires another forum. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.

Changes to these Terms

Socket may update these Terms. When we do, we change the Last updated date on this page. For a material change, the updated Terms are posted here before they take effect. Using Socket after that date means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you can stop using Socket and delete your account from Settings.

Uploads

Before a song, album, Radio file, merch design, Volt episode, Jolt, reel, photo, or profile media file is saved, you confirm that you own or have cleared every part of it, including beats, samples, vocals, lyrics, artwork, and any real person's name, face, or voice, and that you are responsible if it infringes someone's rights.

Copyright and repeat claims

Copyright notices and counter-notices are on the copyright page. A person reviews a notice before an item is disabled. The first counting copyright claim warns the account and disables the item. The second pauses uploads and sales for 30 days. The third terminates the account. A claim that was countered or restored does not count. A dispute can hold earnings from that item only.

Pay on Socket

If a message, comment, listing, or job post mentions an off-app payment, Socket shows a warning. Pay and get paid on Socket so the record stays with the sale.

Contact

Socket LLC · help@getsocket.app
Socket, it's where connections happen.