Terms of Service

LiberPixels is a non-monetised media search and discovery platform. Its purpose is to provide users with a unified interface for discovering freely available third-party media.

The platform allows users to:

• Search for images, videos, and audio.
• Use natural-language search queries.
• Refine vague or broad searches with AI-assisted suggestions.
• View and preview available media.
• Filter search results.
• View source, creator, licensing, and attribution information where available.
• Save media to personal collections when logged in.
• Download media where downloading is supported and permitted.
• Report potentially inappropriate, unlawful, or infringing content.

LiberPixels does not claim ownership of third-party media displayed through the platform.

LiberPixels supports three primary media types:

• Images
• Videos
• Audio

LiberPixels aggregates media and metadata from supported third-party providers. The availability of media and functionality depends on the APIs and services provided by those providers.

The current supported providers are:

• Pixabay
• Pexels
• Unsplash

Third-party providers may change their APIs, available content, licensing conditions, rate limits, or terms of service. LiberPixels may therefore be unable to provide particular media or functionality at all times.

LiberPixels acts as a search and discovery interface for third-party media. The platform does not create or own the third-party images, videos, or audio returned through its search functionality.

Ownership and intellectual property rights remain with the relevant creator, copyright holder, or content provider.

The display of a media item on LiberPixels does not mean that LiberPixels grants the user permission to reproduce, publish, modify, distribute, sell, or commercially use that media.

Users must review the licence and terms applicable to the individual media item before using it.

Users are responsible for respecting copyright and other intellectual property rights.

The Copyright Act 98 of 1978 provides the legal framework for copyright protection in South Africa.

LiberPixels does not guarantee that every item returned through its search functionality is free from copyright restrictions.

Users are responsible for determining whether their intended use of a media item is permitted under:

• The applicable licence.
• The terms of the original content provider.
• Applicable South African law.
• Any other law applicable to the user's intended use.

LiberPixels should not be treated as a guarantee that media can be used without restriction.

LiberPixels attempts to retain and display available licensing, attribution, source, and creator information for third-party media.

Where attribution is required, users are responsible for providing the appropriate attribution when using the media.

Users should verify licensing information with the original provider before using media for important, commercial, public, or otherwise sensitive purposes.

LiberPixels does not modify or intentionally remove source attribution or licensing metadata supplied by supported providers.

Users may use LiberPixels to search for and discover supported media for lawful purposes.

Users must not use the platform to:

• Infringe copyright or intellectual property rights.
• Misrepresent ownership of third-party media.
• Remove required attribution or licensing information.
• Use media contrary to its applicable licence.
• Circumvent API restrictions or technical limitations.
• Interfere with the operation or security of LiberPixels.
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to accounts, systems, or services.
• Use the platform for unlawful purposes.
• Deliberately distribute prohibited or harmful content through the platform.

LiberPixels may provide download functionality where supported by the relevant provider and permitted by the applicable licence or API.

Downloading a media item does not automatically provide unrestricted rights to use that item.

Users are responsible for reviewing the applicable licence before using downloaded images, videos, or audio.

LiberPixels is not responsible for a user's subsequent use, modification, publication, distribution, or commercial use of downloaded third-party media.

Users may use LiberPixels without creating an account for basic search functionality.

An optional account may provide additional functionality, including saving media to personal collections and accessing relevant account features.

Users are responsible for maintaining the security of their account credentials.

Users must not:

• Use another person's account without permission.
• Create an account using false information.
• Attempt to access another user's collections or account information.
• Use the account system for unlawful or abusive purposes.

LiberPixels may restrict or suspend an account where there is evidence of misuse, unauthorised access, or serious violation of these Terms.

LiberPixels may use an AI-assisted search refinement service to improve searches that are identified as vague, broad, or insufficiently specific.

The AI feature may suggest more specific search terms or ask targeted follow-up questions to help refine the user's search.

The AI component operates primarily on search-related information and media metadata rather than the original media files themselves.

AI-generated suggestions may be inaccurate, incomplete, or unsuitable. Users should therefore review the resulting search results and licensing information independently.

Where technically applicable, personally identifiable information is stripped from information before it is sent to an AI service.

If the AI service is unavailable or fails, LiberPixels may fall back to standard keyword-based search functionality.

LiberPixels does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of AI-generated suggestions, tags, descriptions, or refinements.

Any tags, descriptions, search suggestions, classifications, or other information generated by AI should be treated as system-generated information and not as verified statements from the original content creator.

Users should rely on the original provider and applicable licence when determining ownership, attribution, or permitted use of media.

LiberPixels does not guarantee that AI-generated information is accurate or complete.

Because LiberPixels retrieves content from external providers, search results may include content that users consider inappropriate, offensive, misleading, or unsuitable for certain audiences.

LiberPixels does not guarantee that all third-party content returned by its search services will be appropriate for every user.

Users must not intentionally use LiberPixels to search for, distribute, promote, or facilitate unlawful or harmful content.

Where prohibited, unlawful, or inappropriate content is identified or credibly reported, LiberPixels may restrict, hide, remove, or prevent the display of the relevant result where technically possible.

LiberPixels provides a mechanism for users to report potentially problematic media.

Users may report content that they believe:

• Infringes copyright or intellectual property rights.
• Is unlawful.
• Violates these Terms.
• Contains inappropriate or harmful material.
• Contains inaccurate licensing or attribution information.
• Should no longer be available through the platform.

Reports should provide sufficient information to allow LiberPixels to identify the relevant media and investigate the report.

LiberPixels may review reported content and take appropriate action based on the available information.

Where LiberPixels receives a credible report concerning potentially infringing, unlawful, or prohibited content, the platform may investigate the report and take appropriate action.

If a supported third-party provider removes or flags content, LiberPixels may remove the corresponding result, cached metadata, or thumbnail from its system.

Where technically and reasonably possible, verified reported or provider-removed cached content will be removed within 24 hours.

Because LiberPixels depends on external providers, removal from LiberPixels does not necessarily mean that the original content has been removed from the internet or from the original provider.

Rights holders may also contact the relevant original provider directly.

LiberPixels may temporarily cache media metadata and thumbnails to improve search performance and reduce unnecessary requests to third-party APIs.

LiberPixels does not intend to permanently host or claim ownership of third-party media retrieved through its search functionality.

Cached information may be updated or removed when:

• The original provider changes or removes the content.
• A valid report is received.
• Licensing or attribution information changes.
• The relevant cache expires.
• Technical maintenance requires its removal.

LiberPixels relies on third-party APIs to retrieve search results and associated metadata.

The platform is designed to respect applicable API restrictions and rate limits.

API credentials and keys used by the system are intended to remain server-side and are not intentionally exposed to users through the client interface.

Third-party APIs may experience downtime, rate limiting, authentication failures, changes, or other technical problems.

As a result, LiberPixels cannot guarantee that all providers will always be available or that every search will return complete results.

LiberPixels attempts to provide relevant and accurate search results using information supplied by supported providers.

However, third-party metadata may be incomplete, inaccurate, outdated, or changed after it has been retrieved.

LiberPixels therefore does not guarantee:

• That every search will return results.
• That search results will always be complete.
• That metadata will always be accurate.
• That licensing information will never change.
• That a particular media item will remain available.
• That third-party services will always be operational.

Users should verify important information with the original provider.

LiberPixels may process information required to provide search, account, collection, and platform functionality.

Users should not submit unnecessary confidential or sensitive personal information through search queries or other platform inputs.

Where AI services are used, LiberPixels is designed to minimise the transmission of personal information and to remove personally identifiable information from applicable requests before they are sent to AI services.

Any personal information collected by the platform should be handled in accordance with the applicable LiberPixels Privacy Policy.

LiberPixels is designed as a non-monetised platform.

The platform does not claim ownership of third-party media for the purpose of selling that media.

The availability of third-party media through LiberPixels does not create a commercial licence or transfer of ownership between LiberPixels and the user.

Users must not attempt to compromise, disrupt, reverse engineer, exploit, or gain unauthorised access to LiberPixels or its supporting services.

This includes attempts to:

• Circumvent authentication.
• Access restricted system functions.
• Manipulate API requests.
• Expose API credentials.
• Interfere with system availability.
• Access another user's information.
• Circumvent technical restrictions or rate limits.

LiberPixels provides a search and discovery service and does not guarantee the ownership, legality, accuracy, availability, quality, or licensing status of third-party media.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, LiberPixels is not responsible for losses or disputes arising from:

• A user's use of third-party media.
• Copyright or intellectual property disputes involving third-party content.
• Changes to third-party licences or terms.
• Removal or unavailability of third-party media.
• Third-party API failures.
• Incorrect or incomplete third-party metadata.
• AI-generated information.
• A user's use of downloaded media.

Nothing in these Terms is intended to exclude or limit any right, liability, or statutory protection that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under South African law.

LiberPixels may change, update, add, or remove features as the system develops.

Changes may be necessary because of:

• Technical requirements.
• Third-party API changes.
• Security requirements.
• Changes to supported providers.
• Changes to licensing conditions.
• Improvements to the platform.

Continued use of LiberPixels following material changes to these Terms constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms, subject to applicable law.

These Terms may be updated when the platform, its functionality, third-party services, or applicable legal requirements change.

The latest version of the Terms will be made available through the platform.

Users should review the Terms periodically to remain aware of applicable requirements.

These Terms are intended to be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa, subject to any mandatory rights or protections applicable to users.

By accessing or using LiberPixels, users acknowledge that they have read and understood these Terms and agree to comply with them.

Users who do not agree with these Terms should discontinue use of the platform.