General Terms and Conditions

§ 1 General

(1) Stylink Social Media GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “stylink”) offers, under the domain stylink.com as well as via apps, an online platform (hereinafter referred to as “platform”) that enables users of various social media channels (hereinafter referred to as “creator/s”) to create product links for recommendations (hereinafter referred to as “recommendation links”) via the stylink linkmaker and to publish them on social media channels. These product links can be clicked on and used by interested parties (hereinafter referred to as “followers”) to obtain product information and make purchases.

(2) These GTC govern the use of the platform and the utilisation of other stylink services (hereinafter collectively referred to as “services”).

(3) These GTC become part of the contractual agreements between stylink and the creator.

§ 2 Registration, conclusion of contract

(1) In order to use stylink's services and platform, you must register on the platform free of charge and accept these GTC. Registration and the associated creation of a user account (hereinafter referred to as “account”) is carried out in particular by providing an email address, a password created by the creator, the full name (first and last name), one or more social media accounts of the influencer and by specifying the country for which the creator wishes to register (hereinafter referred to as “country of registration”). In the case of companies, the name is replaced by the correct and complete corporate name. The creator confirms that all data provided during registration is complete and correct. Creators are obliged to keep their data up to date at all times, in particular to inform stylink about all aspects required for the correct tax accounting and processing of the services provided by the creator.

(2) Creators must have full legal capacity and have reached the age of eighteen. This is confirmed with the registration. stylink is entitled at any time to request evidence to verify the data provided by the creator.

(3) Registration requires that, at the time of sign-up, the creator has at least 1,000 (one thousand) followers on Instagram or TikTok.

Compliance with this minimum requirement will be verified by stylink as part of the registration process. stylink reserves the right to reject the registration if the stated number of followers cannot be verified.

(4) The creator undertakes to create only one account.

(5) The creator agrees that stylink may have access to parts of their social media account relevant to the user relationship.

(6) Registration includes permission for stylink to display and save the creator's content. This is done on a random-sample basis to ensure quality, for billing purposes and to check compliance with the creator's obligations. After deletion of the account, this data will be deleted.

(7) For creators, the use of stylink is basically free of charge. There is no obligation for the creator to use stylink; every creator is free to decide at any time whether, when and to what extent they wish to be active on stylink. The creator can delete their account at any time.

(8) The creator must have a permanent residence and a bank account in the country of registration in order to be able to use the service and the platform in full. Creators who do not fulfil these requirements cannot be paid out income earned via stylink.

(9) After registration, stylink decides as part of a selection process whether the user's social media channel and the content visible on it are compatible with the offering of stylink and its cooperation partners (here in particular in accordance with the specifications of the online shops) and whether the creator is authorised to use the platform. As part of the registration process, the creator receives an email from stylink to verify their email address. Creators with social media accounts that are not publicly visible, or accounts with no content, will not be admitted or may be excluded at a later date. There is no entitlement to participate in the stylink platform's offering and, in general, stylink's services. stylink reserves the right to exclude creators from using the platform and/or the services.

(10) The creator must ensure that their account can only be used by them, must take appropriate precautions to keep their login details confidential, and must not pass them on to third parties. The creator is obliged to inform stylink immediately if they become aware that their login data is being used by third parties, or that such use is possible through unauthorised acquisition of the login data.

(11) In the same way, the creator must ensure that, by using their account, they do not spread any malware or other programming that could damage the platform or stylink's services.

§ 3 Service description

Creators have the opportunity to earn money with stylink. They are paid for each genuine click by a follower in connection with the recommendation of products for which stylink has concluded a contract with an advertiser to promote. A genuine click is expressly not:

click fraud (see § 5 para. (2)),
double clicks,
clicks that do not originate from the country of registration (in this context, D-A-CH, the United Kingdom including Ireland, and the Benelux countries are each considered a single country of registration),
clicks resulting from so-called click-bait (to avoid this, please include product photos and more detailed information, such as the product name, in the post),
clicks resulting from incentives that do not correspond to a recommendation, as well as clicks that are not based on an intention to purchase or obtain information.

The amount of income generated depends largely on the terms set by stylink or its partners – which may also vary by platform – and can change from time to time (even within a single day). The amount of remuneration per genuine click at the time of link creation is shown on the platform in the stylink linkmaker. stylink reserves the right to set the remuneration for incorrectly used recommendation links to zero. Recommendation links may be used on the following social media channels: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and blog posts. Posts on other channels are considered incorrectly used recommendation links.

§ 3a stylink Lens (product search by photo or text)

Using the “stylink Lens” feature, the creator can take a photo of a product or upload an existing photo from their device's photo library, and/or enter a search term, in order to be shown matching product offers from the stylink partner network (hereinafter “suggestions”). Use of stylink Lens is voluntary and is offered in addition to the link-creation options described in § 3.
stylink Lens does not automatically create a recommendation link. A recommendation link is only created once the creator actively selects one of the suggestions shown and confirms its creation. Recommendation links created via stylink Lens are marked accordingly in the creator's link overview.
The suggestions are generated on the basis of an automated image and/or text analysis carried out by an external service provider commissioned by stylink (see § 11 (5)). Only offers from the stylink partner network for which remuneration under § 6 is generally possible are shown; this does not imply completeness or full market coverage.
stylink reserves the right to adjust, restrict or discontinue the scope, availability (including as part of a phased rollout) and the service provider used for stylink Lens at any time.
Before using stylink Lens for the first time, the creator is shown an in-app notice on data processing summarising, in plain language, the processing described in § 11 (5). Use of the camera or photo function requires the creator to grant the necessary device permission.

§ 4 Transfer of rights of use

By using stylink, the creator grants stylink a non-exclusive, royalty-free right of use, limited to the duration of the contractual relationship, to the photos, texts, illustrations, images, videos and other content made accessible in the creator's social media profiles, in particular the right to reproduce, edit and make the content publicly available.

This non-exclusive right of use also covers company logos, registered trademarks, work titles and other similarly recognisable branding or works that the creator transmits to stylink. Use is always limited to the purpose of the contract.

For photos that the creator takes as part of using stylink Lens, or uploads from their photo library, the creator grants stylink the right to process these photos for the purpose of product recognition and generating suggestions, and to transmit them to the service provider named in § 11 (5) for this purpose. stylink does not make these photos publicly accessible.

§ 5 Rights and duties

(1) Creators are obliged to refrain from doing anything that jeopardises or disrupts the operation and functioning of stylink and the prosperous cooperation between creators. In particular, creators are prohibited from:

violating the rights of third parties, in particular copyrights, personal rights, trademark rights, patent, design or utility model rights, company rights, etc.; in particular, images of another person may only be made publicly accessible if the person concerned (or, where applicable, their legal representative) has given effective written consent,
violating common decency,
making statements, or choosing a username, that offend the religious feelings of third parties or that are racist or discriminatory,
choosing an email or internet address as their username,
using social media accounts that are not owned by the creator,
using, posting, publishing, advertising or linking to unlawful or otherwise offensive content within the context of social media accounts or other communication, or the corresponding products, or linking to corresponding material on a third-party website; this applies in particular to offensive or defamatory content, and to political, immoral, pornographic, morally reprehensible, violent, violence-glorifying, sexist, right-wing or left-wing extremist content, or content or products that violate applicable laws – in particular laws on the protection of minors and the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media,
violating applicable laws and/or other rules relating to the labelling requirements for advertising content,
violating applicable laws and/or other rules relating to advertising bans or similar restrictions for certain products,
violating applicable laws and/or other rules relating to the labelling obligation for graphically edited image or audio material,
violating applicable laws and/or other rules relating to the labelling requirements for the use of AI,
unreasonably harassing other creators, in particular by sending unsolicited messages or advertising, or contacting them for other commercial or business purposes without the legally valid consent of the recipient,
violating, when publishing posts that contain recommendation links, the terms and conditions of the advertisers disclosed by stylink,
violating, when publishing posts that contain recommendation links, the rules of the social media networks on which the creator publishes the posts,
harming stylink or the advertisers behind it through the publication of posts containing recommendation links, in particular with regard to their public image,
asking other creators to provide personal data for commercial or unlawful purposes, or to provide access credentials,
engaging in or promoting anti-competitive conduct, including progressive customer recruitment schemes (such as chain, snowball or pyramid schemes),
uploading or taking photos as part of stylink Lens for which the creator does not hold the necessary rights, or which infringe the rights of third parties; where individuals are identifiable in the photo, making it publicly accessible or transmitting it is only permitted with their effective consent (see § 5 (1) a),
misusing stylink Lens, in particular through mass or automated requests, by uploading copyright-protected material belonging to third parties without authorisation, or by attempting to reverse-engineer the underlying image-recognition technology.

Every creator is obliged to comply with the national statutory provisions applicable to them (relating to their country of residence and/or the country in which the content is to be published or made available for retrieval under the contract).

(2) Creators are prohibited from committing click fraud. This occurs when a click is made on a product link without any underlying intention to purchase or obtain information. In particular, the following are not permitted:

Manual click fraud
The creator, or another person acting on the creator's behalf, personally clicks on the relevant product links. This also includes the use of messenger groups or communities in which manual click fraud is committed on a reciprocal basis.
Automated click fraud
A dedicated program, known as a clickbot, clicks the product link in place of a human being.
Purchased interactions
Interactions with posts that use stylink links are purchased from third-party providers, and various individuals carry them out on this basis. This applies in particular to link clicks.

(3) If there are indications that a creator has violated obligations under these GTC – in particular under this § 5 – statutory requirements, the guidelines of social media providers, or the guidelines of stylink's partners (in particular advertisers), stylink is entitled to remove the content of the creator concerned from marketing, in whole or in part, and delete it, or, in serious cases, to temporarily suspend the creator's stylink account or delete it entirely and exclude and block the creator from any further use of the stylink platform and services. stylink also reserves the right to withhold payment of remuneration accrued to date and to report any potential fraud to the authorities. Further claims by stylink remain unaffected.

(4) Each creator shall indemnify stylink against all claims asserted by other creators or other third parties against stylink on account of the infringement of their rights by content posted by stylink creators, or on account of the breach of other obligations. The creator concerned shall also bear the costs of any legal defence necessary for stylink, including all court and legal costs, and shall furthermore reimburse stylink for any damage stylink incurs as a result. This does not apply insofar as the infringement is not attributable to a stylink creator.

§ 6 Remuneration

(1) The prerequisites for the payment of remuneration are: turnover generated in the amount of the applicable country-specific minimum payout threshold (currently GBP 25.00 for the UK and EUR 25.00 for Ireland), fulfilment of the requirements under § 2 (7) of these GTC, the absence of any of the abuse scenarios described in § 5, and a payout request submitted by the creator to stylink.

(2) The amounts generated through clicks are settled within two working days of the creator's request. The amounts are then paid out, subject to the usual processing times for bank transfers. When registering, or at the latest when requesting a payout, the creator must enter and save their bank details in their account. This information is used exclusively to pay out revenue generated via the platform.

(3) Creators are responsible for paying tax on their income themselves. If a creator is liable for VAT (Umsatzsteuer) in Germany, they are obliged to inform stylink of this immediately, stating their VAT ID. stylink expressly reserves the right to request appropriate evidence of the creator's VAT liability and compliance with their VAT obligations.

(4) The remuneration shown in the linkmaker is generally exclusive of VAT (Umsatzsteuer). Only where a creator registered in Germany is subject to VAT (and does not make use of the small business exemption), maintains their account as a “business account”, and has provided stylink with their VAT ID, will stylink additionally reimburse the creator for statutory VAT on top of the remuneration shown in the linkmaker and settle this by way of a credit note (self-billing) procedure. For creators whose country of registration is another EU member state, the reverse charge mechanism under the EU VAT Directive applies. For creators whose country of registration is outside the EU, the service is not taxable in Germany. Every creator is obliged to independently comply with the VAT laws of the tax regime applicable to them.

(5) Amounts generated through clicks become time-barred at the end of the third calendar year following the year of the click. This also applies where the applicable country-specific minimum payout threshold has not been reached by the end of the limitation period. If the contractual relationship between the parties ends – in particular through deletion of the creator's account – amounts generated through clicks will likewise only be paid out, and only upon request, if the applicable country-specific minimum payout threshold has been reached.

§ 7 Warranty

(1) There is no entitlement to error-free and uninterrupted usability and/or to the continued availability of the platform and/or the services.

(2) The statutory provisions shall apply to rights arising from material defects and defects of title, unless otherwise provided in these GTC.

(3) stylink assumes no liability for the correct capture of data in relation to a generated recommendation link.

(4) stylink does not warrant the completeness, accuracy or topicality of the suggestions shown via stylink Lens. The suggestions do not constitute a purchase or advertising recommendation by stylink; it is the creator's responsibility to review and select a suggestion before creating a recommendation link from it.

§ 8 Limitation of liability

(1) The following exclusions and limitations of liability shall also apply to claims in tort, insofar as these compete with contractual claims.

(2) stylink's liability for damages of any kind is excluded. This exclusion does not apply:

to damages caused by stylink intentionally or through gross negligence;
to damages resulting from injury to life, limb or health;
to damages arising under the mandatory provisions of the German Product Liability Act;
where stylink has explicitly guaranteed certain characteristics or circumstances;
subject to the provisions below, to damages arising from a breach by stylink of material contractual obligations. Material contractual obligations are those obligations whose fulfilment is essential for the proper performance of the contract in the first place and on whose observance the creator regularly relies, and may rely.

(3) In cases of slightly negligent breach of material contractual obligations, stylink's liability – with the exception of damage to life, limb or health – is limited to the loss typical for this type of contract that was foreseeable to stylink at the time the contract was concluded or the breach of duty occurred. stylink's liability is excluded for damages that fall exclusively within the creator's own sphere of risk.

(4) The above exclusions and limitations of liability also apply to stylink's liability for its officers, employees and agents, as well as to the personal liability of stylink's officers, employees and agents.

(5) For any single loss event caused by gross negligence on the part of agents who are not statutory representatives or senior employees, stylink's liability is limited to the amount of the remuneration due to the creator for the campaign in question. This limitation of liability does not apply to damages resulting from injury to life, limb or health.

(6) Claims for damages by the creator arising from slight negligence on the part of stylink under the above paragraphs are excluded in any case if they are not pursued in court within three months of stylink rejecting the claim with a corresponding notice.

§ 9 Contract term and termination

(1) The contract is concluded for an indefinite term.

(2) Either party may terminate the contract by ordinary notice at any time, with immediate effect and without giving reasons. The decisive moment is when the notice of termination is received. The creator may declare termination to stylink at any time in text form, e.g. by sending an email to creators@stylink.com. No reasons need to be given. The creator may also terminate their access to the platform themselves at any time by deleting their account.

(3) The right of either party to terminate the contract for good cause remains unaffected.

(4) All remuneration earned up to the point the termination takes effect remains payable in the event of termination. § 6 applies in all other respects.

(5) After the end of the contractual relationship, access to the platform is blocked. The creator is obliged to remove all recommendation links without delay. No remuneration is owed under any circumstances for clicks generated after the end of the contractual relationship.

§ 10 Confidentiality

(1) All of stylink's or the advertiser's business and trade secrets communicated to the creator or otherwise coming to the creator's knowledge, the content and results of the cooperation (including, but not limited to, information on the nature and content of the advertising as well as the materials provided and products advertised), and any other information marked as confidential or reasonably recognisable as confidential (hereinafter “confidential information”), are subject to a duty of confidentiality on the part of the creator.

(2) The creator undertakes to maintain the strictest confidentiality, towards anyone, regarding all confidential information that comes to their knowledge in the course of the cooperation, and to use the confidential information only within the scope of the cooperation.

(3) The above obligation continues to apply beyond the end of the cooperation.

(4) This duty of confidentiality does not apply to information that, demonstrably:

was already known to the creator before it was communicated, or
was already known to the public, or generally accessible, before it was communicated, or
becomes known to the public, or generally accessible, after it was communicated, without any involvement or fault on the part of the creator, and in respect of which stylink and the advertiser no longer have any interest in confidentiality, or
the creator is required to disclose on the basis of a binding official or judicial order, or mandatory legal provisions, in which case the creator shall inform stylink of this in writing without delay and shall, to the greatest extent possible, ensure that confidentiality is otherwise maintained.

The burden of proof for the existence of the above exceptions lies with the creator.

§ 11 Notes on data processing

(1) In the course of performing the contract, stylink collects and stores the creator's personal data, together with data taken from their social media channels with their consent.

(2) The creator can manage, amend or delete, in their own account, any data transmitted in connection with their registration as a creator.

(3) The personal data collected is stored only for as long as is necessary to perform the contract, unless statutory retention periods require storage beyond this period.

(4) In all other respects, please refer to the applicable privacy policy available on the platform with regard to the collection, processing and use of data.

(5) As part of the use of stylink Lens, photos taken or uploaded by the creator, together with any search terms entered in addition, are transmitted for the purpose of product recognition to an external service provider (currently: SerpApi, LLC, based in the USA) and processed by that provider. In addition, stylink stores the photo and the search request on its own infrastructure for billing, quality assurance and fraud prevention purposes for a maximum of 12 months. As the service provider is based outside the EU/EEA, the transfer takes place on the basis of appropriate safeguards within the meaning of Art. 46 GDPR (in particular EU standard contractual clauses). Further details, in particular on retention periods and data subjects' rights, can be found in the applicable privacy policy (see § 11 (4)).

§ 12 Final provisions

(1) German law applies to contracts between stylink and the creator. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from contractual relationships between stylink and the creator is Münster.

(2) stylink is entitled to transfer payment claims against the creator, as well as all rights and obligations under the contract with the creator, to third parties without the creator's consent. In the event that all rights and obligations are transferred, the creator is entitled to terminate the contract with effect from the date the transfer takes effect.

(3) The creator may not transfer their rights and obligations under the contract to third parties without stylink's consent.

(4) There are no verbal collateral agreements. Amendments or additions to these GTC – including this written-form clause – must be made in writing.

(5) stylink reserves the right to amend and adapt these GTC at any time. Creators will be notified of changes without delay. Creators may object, in writing or electronically (email), within two weeks of being notified of the changes. Continued use of stylink without prior objection is deemed to constitute acceptance of the amended GTC.

(6) Should any individual provision of these GTC be or become invalid, in whole or in part, or should there be a gap in these GTC, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. In place of an invalid provision, the valid provision that comes closest to the purpose of the invalid provision shall be deemed agreed. In the case of a gap, the provision that corresponds to what would have been agreed in line with the economic purpose of these GTC, had the parties considered this circumstance from the outset, shall be deemed agreed.