Notice of Revision of Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Thank you for using BotShade.

We will revise our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This article explains the background of the revision, the main changes, the effective date, and our request for your consent.

Table of contents:

• Overview
• Schedule
• Background of the Revision
• Main Changes
• Request for Your Consent to the New Terms
• If You Do Not Consent
• Contact

Overview

Following the full revision of July 27, 2026, we will now revise our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy will take effect on October 20, 2026 (Tuesday).

This revision is made as advance notice at least 30 days before the effective date, as provided in Chapter 13, Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the Terms of Service prior to this revision and Chapter 15, Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the Privacy Policy prior to this revision. We have set a review period of approximately one month from the publication date of this article to the effective date. Please review the contents and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Schedule

Background of the Revision

Since the previous full revision, in light of the features added to the Service and the actual state of our operations, we determined that a review was necessary from the following perspectives:

• The need to organize the handling of refunds and billing in a form that matches actual operations
• The need to arrange the provisions on disclaimers and damages in a form that better conforms to consumer protection laws
• The need to more clearly limit the grounds and procedures for restriction of use, suspension, and deregistration of accounts
• The need to establish provisions corresponding to newly provided features such as the server board, the command market, and the AI response feature
• The need to disclose the handling of Discord end users’ information, and the retention period for each type of information, in more concrete terms

Main Changes

The main changes are as follows. Rather than presenting a diff, we summarize the key points. The full text can be found in the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.

1. Restructured overall format of the Terms

We have restructured the previous 15-chapter format into a 13-chapter format. We have organized the provisions on fees, cancellation, and refunds, and those on restriction of use, emergency suspension, and deregistration, grouping related provisions together.

2. Reorganized provisions on refunds

We have abolished the previous settlement method based on “deduction for elapsed months and a cancellation administration fee,” and consolidated it into the single principle that no refund is made for cancellation during a contract period for the user’s own convenience (Chapter 4, Article 2, Paragraph 1). On that basis, the following five cases are expressly stated as exceptions:

• Where, due to causes attributable to us or due to events arising from external services, the core functions of the Service were entirely unavailable continuously for 30 days or more, you may request a refund of an amount equivalent to the monthly fee corresponding to that period of unavailability (Paragraph 2 of the same Article)
• Where we terminate the Service in its entirety, or where we terminate the provision of the paid plan you subscribe to for our own convenience, we will refund the fees corresponding to the unexpired period from the termination date onward (Paragraph 3 of the same Article)
• Where we terminate a material function of a paid plan or substantially reduce the content of its provision, you may terminate that plan by notifying us by the effective date, and we will refund the fees corresponding to the unexpired period from the termination date onward (Paragraph 4 of the same Article)
• Regarding settlement where deregistration, termination, or restriction of use has been carried out, we have set out separate provisions for cases due to causes attributable to the user and cases not due to such causes (Paragraph 5 of the same Article)
• Where you withdraw during the contract period of a paid plan, we will refund the fees corresponding to the unexpired period from and after the date on which your account is erased (Chapter 4, Article 3, Paragraph 3). Because the account is erased after the lapse of the grace period, you may cease to be able to use the functions before the end of the contract period, and this provision refunds the fees corresponding to that period

3. Clarified the cancellation deadline where you do not consent to a fee change

Our practice of giving notice at least 30 days before the effective date when fees change remains unchanged. We have expressly stated that the cancellation deadline, where you do not consent to the revised fees, is the day before the renewal date on which the revised fees would apply (Chapter 3, Article 5, Paragraph 3). By completing the cancellation procedure by that deadline, you can end the paid plan upon the expiry of the relevant contract period without becoming subject to the revised fees.

4. Review of the provisions on disclaimers and damages

We have revised the previous form of blanket exclusion stating that we “bear no liability for any damages” into a confirmatory provision that expressly states except in cases due to causes attributable to us.

Regarding the cap on damages, we have expressly stated that it applies only where we bear liability due to ordinary negligence (negligence other than gross negligence). The cap is the greater of the total amount of fees paid by the user to us during the 12 months immediately preceding the date on which the damage occurred, taken as the starting date, or JPY 10,000 (Chapter 10, Article 2, Paragraph 1). This cap does not apply to damages arising from our intentional misconduct or gross negligence (Paragraph 3 of the same Article, and Chapter 10, Article 3).

Please note that the Service is provided on a best-effort basis, and we do not guarantee the constant connection of Bots, the operating rate (SLA), or the immediacy of message delivery (Chapter 5, Article 1, Paragraph 2). There is no change on this point.

5. Limited the grounds for emergency suspension (Kill Switch) and expressly provided for subsequent notice and release

Regarding measures to suspend Bot operation or freeze an account in an emergency without prior notice to the customer, we have limited the applicable grounds to four (Chapter 8, Article 1, Paragraph 1). Together with this, we have provided that, where such a measure is taken, we will notify the user without delay, except where doing so may impede an investigation, and that, where it becomes clear that the applicable ground did not exist or where that ground has been resolved, we will release the measure without delay (Paragraph 2 of the same Article). This measure is positioned as a provisional measure lasting until the ground is resolved or until deregistration or termination is carried out.

6. Limited the grounds for deregistration and clarified the demand procedure

Regarding restriction of use and deregistration through the ordinary procedure, we have limited the applicable grounds by enumerating them, and have expressly stated the procedure of going through a notice or demand specifying a reasonable period (Chapter 8, Article 2, Paragraph 1).

7. Unified the deletion of data after withdrawal to follow a 14-day grace period

We have unified the timing of the deletion of data accompanying withdrawal or deregistration to after the lapse of a grace period of 14 days from the date of withdrawal (the date of deregistration) (Chapter 4, Article 3, Paragraph 2, and Chapter 8, Article 3). This grace period is provided in case of an accidental withdrawal. This does not apply, however, to information whose retention is required by laws and regulations, information necessary for responding to disputes, information that remains depending on the backup update cycle, and logs and the like retained in accordance with the retention periods set out in the Privacy Policy.

8. New provisions on the server board and the command market

Regarding the server board (Chapter 5, Article 8), we have provided that posted information is made public to an unspecified number of persons and may be provided through search engines and APIs, that the registrant themselves bears responsibility for the content of the posted information, and that we may suspend or delete a posting where it does not conform to the posting criteria.

Regarding the command market (Chapter 5, Article 8-2), we have provided for the scope of the license to use public commands, the handling of the end of publication, and the point that an imported public command is thereafter managed under the responsibility of the importing user themselves. We do not guarantee the content, quality, safety, or legality of public commands.

9. New safe harbor for vulnerability research

We have provided that research conducted in good faith for the purpose of discovering vulnerabilities in the Service and reporting them to the contact point designated by us, which does not affect the data of other users or other third parties or the provision of the Service, and which does not disclose or publish the vulnerability or information learned in the course of the research to third parties until we have completed a fix, does not fall under the prohibited acts, and that we will not take legal action on the grounds of such research (Chapter 6, Article 1).

10. New provisions on declaration of country or region of residence

The Service is, in principle, provided to individuals residing in Japan or corporations having their principal office in Japan. In connection with this point, we have provided that we may request a declaration of your country or region of residence at the time of registration or thereafter, and for the handling where the declared country or region of residence is outside the scope of provision (Chapter 12, Article 7).

11. New chapter on Discord end users’ information

We have added Chapter 9-2 (Personal Information of Discord End Users) to the Privacy Policy. It sets out, with respect to the information of Discord users who interact with a Bot on a Discord server into which a Bot operated by you has been introduced, the categories of information collected, the capacity in which we collect it (in principle, handling as a party entrusted with the handling by the user), the purposes of use, transmission to AI providers, the retention period, and how we respond to requests from the individuals concerned.

Of these, the body text of messages processed by the AI response feature is temporarily retained, up to the most recent 20 messages and for 30 minutes from the last utterance, in order to maintain the context of the conversation, and is thereafter not used and is deleted. It is not permanently stored on our servers.

In addition, transcripts of the ticket feature are only processed temporarily in memory in order to send them to the Discord log channel configured by the user, and are not stored on our servers (where no log channel is configured, no transcript is generated).

12. Disclosure of the list of AI providers and their locations

Regarding the AI providers to which we outsource inference processing for BotShader and the AI response feature, we have disclosed the list and their locations in a table (Privacy Policy, Chapter 9, Article 2). Together with this, we also state the countries in which the developers of the models we adopt are located (the United States, the People’s Republic of China, etc.). The parties to which we provide AI Input Data are limited to these AI providers, and we do not provide AI Input Data directly to the entities that develop the models. Neither we nor any AI provider uses AI Input Data as training data for AI models.

13. Concrete disclosure of the retention period for each type of information

In Chapter 10, Article 1 of the Privacy Policy, we have concretely stated a guideline retention period for each type of information. The main ones are as follows.

Disaster recovery backups are retained on a cycle of 3 days for six-hourly backups, 35 days for daily backups, and 400 days for monthly backups, each being automatically deleted by generational rotation.

14. Updated the location of our technical infrastructure and the list of subcontractors

We have expressly stated that the Bot execution environment and the database infrastructure of the Service operate on servers located in Japan (Tokyo) (Privacy Policy, Chapter 7, Article 3, Paragraph 2). Database backups are stored, after encryption, in the object storage of Cloudflare, Inc. If we add servers located outside Japan, we will revise that provision and give notice in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 15.

Together with this, we have updated the list of subcontractors (name of subcontractor, main outsourced operations, location) to its latest state (Article 1 of the same Chapter).

Request for Your Consent to the New Terms

From the effective date of the new terms (October 20, 2026), we will display a consent confirmation screen for the new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy when you log in to the dashboard for the first time. Please review the contents and check the consent box.

Please note that if you continue to use the Service after the effective date, you will be deemed to have consented to this revision (Chapter 13, Article 3 of the Terms of Service prior to this revision). However, with respect to changes for which express consent is required under applicable laws and regulations, we will not apply the content of such changes to those who do not consent (Chapter 13, Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the Terms of Service prior to this revision, and Chapter 15, Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the Privacy Policy prior to this revision).

If You Do Not Consent

If you do not consent to the content of the new Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, you may cease using the Service and complete the withdrawal procedure by the effective date. You may perform the withdrawal procedure yourself at any time from the settings screen of the dashboard.

If you are using a paid plan, you can stop the next automatic renewal by performing the cancellation procedure from the dashboard. Even after the cancellation procedure is completed, you may continue to use the features of the paid plan until the expiry date of the relevant contract period. If the cancellation procedure is difficult due to a dashboard failure, loss of authentication means, or the like, you may submit your request by email to our contact point (help@botshade.com).

For the handling of data after withdrawal, please refer to Chapter 4, Article 3 of the new Terms of Service.

Until the day preceding the effective date, the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy prior to this revision apply. You may review them in full at the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.

Contact

For any questions or inquiries regarding this revision, please contact us via the support screen in the dashboard or the support channel on our official Discord. We will respond carefully so that you can fully understand the changes.

Thank you for your continued use of BotShade.