Version: 0.2.0 (draft) · Effective: upon publication
This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") forms part of the Terms of Service and applies to every visitor, listener and creator on Sazalem (the "Service"). It governs (i) what content may be uploaded to or made available through the Service and (ii) what behavior is permitted when accessing the Service. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meaning given in the Terms of Service.
Sazalem's mission is to preserve and amplify the audio heritage of Kazakhstan. This AUP is calibrated to that mission: we are deliberately welcoming to a wide range of cultural expression, and at the same time deliberately strict about a small set of categorical prohibitions where no balancing test applies.
The Service is built for, and welcomes:
(ертегі), audiobooks, spoken-word performances, instrumentals (домбыра, қобыз) and other audio works that form part of, or are inspired by, Kazakhstan's audio culture;
newly created works;
and other heritage material, where the AI use is declared in the release form.
The following content is forbidden without exception. Posting any of it is grounds for immediate and irreversible removal of the content, suspension of every Sazalem account associated with the poster, preservation and reporting of evidence to law-enforcement and to applicable hotlines, and permanent blacklisting from re-registration.
2.1. Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — any image, audio, recitation, simulation or synthesized representation that sexualizes or exploits a person under 18 years of age, or that purports to do so. We have a zero-tolerance policy, no notice-and-takedown process, and no defense of "artistic intent".
2.2. Incitement to violence or terrorism — content that calls for, glorifies, instructs or recruits for acts of terrorism, mass violence, ethnic cleansing or genocide, or that provides material support to organizations designated as terrorist by the United Nations Security Council, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom or another competent authority.
2.3. Hateful conduct — content that dehumanizes, threatens or incites violence against a person or group on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, race, religion, language, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or serious illness. Critical commentary, satire and academic discussion of these topics remain welcome.
2.4. Targeted harassment, doxing and threats — sustained abusive contact directed at a private individual; publication of private information (home address, government identifier, financial information, medical records, intimate images) without consent; credible threats of violence or sexual violence.
2.5. Non-consensual intimate imagery and synthetic sexual content — sexual content depicting an identifiable real person without their documented consent, including AI-generated or "deepfake" material.
2.6. Voice cloning and impersonation without consent — synthetic or imitative recordings that purport to be the voice or performance of an identifiable real person (alive or recently deceased) without their, or their estate's, written consent.
2.7. Fraud and deception — content designed to defraud listeners or other creators (phishing, fake giveaways, investment scams, fake celebrity endorsements); manipulation of streaming counts, charts, recommendations or reviews; the buying or selling of streams, plays, follows, listens or accounts; the use of bots, scripts, click-farms or coordinated networks to inflate engagement.
2.8. Copyright, trademark and personality-right infringement — unauthorized use of a third party's master recording, composition, lyrics, sample, cover art, name, image, voice, likeness or trademark. The detailed enforcement and counter-notice process is set out in the Takedown Policy.
2.9. Malware and security abuse — uploading or linking to malicious code; attempting to scan, probe, brute-force, denial-of-service or otherwise interfere with the Service's infrastructure; attempting to extract another user's personal data, credentials or session tokens.
2.10. Unlawful goods and services — content that markets, recruits for or directly facilitates the sale of weapons subject to restriction, regulated drugs, sex services where unlawful, human trafficking, organ trafficking or any other transaction prohibited by Kazakhstan law.
2.11. Material that is unlawful in the Republic of Kazakhstan — including, without limitation, material that violates the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the RK Law on Counter-Acting Extremism, the RK Law on Counter-Acting Terrorism or the RK Law on Mass Media.
3.1. Adult-themed audio that is not sexually explicit — for example, frank spoken-word about adult relationships, profanity in poetry — is permitted but must be tagged as "Explicit" in the release form. Sazalem may add age-gating in client apps.
3.2. Religious and political commentary — permitted, including strong opinions, but must not cross into §2.2 incitement, §2.3 hateful conduct or §2.11 unlawful material.
3.3. Cover versions, samples and adaptations — permitted only where covered by a valid mechanical license, sample clearance or adaptation license, or where the underlying work is in the public domain in every territory in which the release is distributed. Declare the source in the release form.
3.4. AI-assisted and AI-generated content — permitted with mandatory disclosure of the level of AI involvement (Not AI / Partially AI / Fully AI). Voice cloning of a real person is governed by §2.6.
4.1. Do not use scrapers, automated downloaders, browser-automation frameworks or recording tools to extract audio, lyrics, artwork or metadata from the Service in bulk. Reasonable, well-behaved user- agents performing fair, low-volume access for personal listening are not the target of this rule.
4.2. Do not bypass, attempt to bypass or assist others in bypassing the Service's geographic, age, payment, authentication or content-protection mechanisms.
4.3. Do not create or operate accounts on behalf of another person without authorization; do not register accounts using forged identity information or stolen credentials.
4.4. Do not interfere with another user's enjoyment of the Service, including by mass-flagging, mass-reporting, brigading, organizing review-bomb campaigns or coordinated harassment.
4.5. Comply with all applicable laws of your country of residence and access. Where local law is stricter than this AUP, local law prevails for users in that country.
5.1. CSAM, terrorism, imminent threats — use the in-app "Urgent report" flow, or write directly to abuse@sazalem.com. Such reports are escalated immediately and are reviewed continuously.
5.2. Copyright, trademark, right-of-publicity — file a takedown under the Takedown Policy or use the form at `/legal/copyright`.
5.3. Other AUP violations — use the in-app "Report" button on any item, profile or comment, or write to abuse@sazalem.com.
We do not require reporters to be the harmed party. Good-faith reports that turn out to be unfounded carry no penalty; mass-flagging campaigns and bad-faith abuse of the reporting system are themselves violations of §4.4.
6.1. Sazalem's enforcement response is calibrated to the severity of the violation, the violator's history and the harm caused. Categorical prohibitions in §2 jump straight to the most severe remedy. For all other violations the typical ladder is:
(a) Notice — informational message, no action on the content; (b) Unlist — content remains accessible to the uploader and to anyone with a direct link, but is removed from public lists, search and recommendations; (c) Remove — content is removed from the Service and the uploader is notified; (d) Suspend — account is suspended for a defined period, during which the user cannot upload, comment or earn royalties; (e) Disable — account is permanently disabled and all content removed; future re-registration is barred; (f) Legal action and reporting — civil action for damages or injunctive relief; report to law-enforcement, to Abyroy and to affected rights-holders; permanent blacklist.
6.2. Sazalem may take any step on the ladder out of order if the nature of the violation, the risk of ongoing harm or applicable law so requires.
6.3. Withholding of royalties. Where a violation involves fraud, infringement, fake-stream manipulation or sanctions breach, Sazalem may withhold or claw back royalties associated with the offending content or account, in accordance with the Royalty & Payout Agreement.
A user who believes an enforcement decision is incorrect may appeal in writing to appeals@sazalem.com within thirty (30) days of the decision. Appeals are reviewed by a different reviewer, and where the underlying claim concerns copyright the appeal is processed under the counter-notice procedure of the Takedown Policy.
Sazalem may amend this AUP from time to time. Material changes will be notified at least fourteen (14) days before they take effect, except where a shorter period is necessary to comply with the law, to address an active threat to users or to plug an active abuse vector.
Contact: abuse@sazalem.com (reports), appeals@sazalem.com (appeals), legal@sazalem.com (legal questions)