# Hollow: Terms of Use

**Last updated: August 16, 2026**

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Hollow application and related services ("Services") provided by AnonListen ("we", "us", "our"). By using Hollow, you agree to these Terms.

## 1. What Hollow is

Hollow is a distributed, end-to-end encrypted communication application. Messages, calls, and files are encrypted on your device and can only be decrypted by the intended recipients. We operate relay infrastructure to facilitate connections between peers. The relay cannot access the content of your communications; it may temporarily hold end-to-end encrypted payloads in memory to complete delivery to offline recipients, and it stores no communications on disk.

## 2. Who can use Hollow

You must be at least 13 years old (or the applicable age of majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher) to use Hollow. By using Hollow, you represent that you meet this requirement.

If you are using Hollow on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

## 3. Your account

Your Hollow account is a cryptographic keypair generated on your device. You are responsible for safeguarding your recovery phrase (BIP-39 mnemonic). We cannot recover your account if you lose your recovery phrase. There is no "forgot password" mechanism because we do not have access to your credentials.

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account, including the security of your device.

## 4. Acceptable use

You agree to use Hollow only for lawful purposes and in a manner consistent with these Terms. You agree **not** to use Hollow to:

- Engage in any activity that violates applicable local, national, or international law
- Distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or exploit minors in any way
- Coordinate, promote, or glorify terrorism or violent extremism
- Engage in targeted harassment, stalking, or threats of violence against individuals
- Distribute malware, viruses, or other harmful software
- Attempt to compromise, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to Hollow's relay infrastructure or other users' devices
- Circumvent or attempt to circumvent the fair use limits, access controls, or abuse-prevention measures described in Section 8
- Use automated means to create accounts, send messages, or interact with the Services in bulk
- Resell or sublicense Hollow in a manner that violates the applicable license terms

## 5. Content and conduct

### Your content

You own the content you create and share through Hollow. We do not claim any rights to your content.

Because Hollow uses end-to-end encryption, **we cannot access, review, moderate, or remove the content of your messages, calls, or files.** Our Services have been designed using a privacy-by-design approach, which means it is technically impossible for us to analyze or monitor the content you create, send, or receive through Hollow.

### Server moderation

Individual Hollow servers are created and managed by their owners. Server owners may set their own rules and moderate their own communities. We are not responsible for the moderation practices of individual server owners.

### Reporting

If you become aware of any use of Hollow that violates these Terms, you may report it to us at **privacy@anonlisten.com**. Hollow also includes in-app tools: you can block users (stored only on your device) and report users. Reports are transmitted anonymously and stored only as aggregate counters per reported account. No message content is or can be included, and we never learn who filed a report.

Due to the encrypted nature of the platform, our ability to investigate reports is limited, but we take all reports seriously and will take action where technically possible. Where reports or other signals indicate violations of these Terms, we may take the actions available to us at the infrastructure level, such as revoking access to our hosted relay.

## 6. Software ownership and your rights

Hollow is open-source software. The client application and core library are licensed under the **GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0)**. The relay server is licensed under the **MIT License**. The full license texts are available in the source repository.

For commercial use without AGPL obligations (proprietary modifications, embedding, or enterprise deployments), a separate commercial license is available: contact **collab@anonlisten.com**.

The Hollow name, trademarks, logos, and associated branding are the property of AnonListen (Vitalii Rovinskyi) and are not covered by the open-source licenses.

**You own your copy of Hollow.** Once you download Hollow, it is yours. We cannot remotely disable, lock, or revoke your installed copy of the application. Your data, your keys, and your messages belong to you, not to us.

## 7. Privacy

Your privacy is fundamental to Hollow's design. Please review our [Privacy Policy](PRIVACY_POLICY.md) for details on what data exists and how it is handled.

In summary: we cannot access the content of your communications, we do not collect telemetry or analytics, and we do not require any personally identifying information to create an account.

## 8. Service availability

Hollow is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We may:

- Interrupt Services for maintenance, upgrades, or security updates
- Modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Services at any time
- Update the application to improve functionality or security

We will make reasonable efforts to maintain service availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted access.

### Fair use limits

To keep the shared relay infrastructure available to everyone, we enforce technical fair-use limits per IP address. These currently include a daily data budget (10 GB per day, counting traffic routed through the relay in both directions) and caps on simultaneous connections. Exceeding a limit results in disconnection from the relay until the limit resets; it never affects your account, your keys, or your data. In practice, only heavy file traffic routed through the relay can approach this budget: ordinary messaging uses a negligible amount, voice and video calls travel peer-to-peer without touching it, and large file transfers are designed to travel peer-to-peer and do not consume the relay budget either. We may adjust these limits over time to preserve service quality, and the current usage is visible in the application.

During limited-access phases, access to our hosted relay may additionally require an access key, which we may revoke for violations of these Terms. Revocation or disconnection applies only to our hosted infrastructure, never to your copy of the application, your identity, or your data. You are always free to self-host your own relay; the software is open source.

## 9. Disclaimers

**THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY.** We disclaim all warranties, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of viruses or other harmful components. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any content transmitted through the Services.

**You use Hollow at your own risk.** You are solely responsible for the content you create, send, and receive, and for compliance with all applicable laws in your jurisdiction.

## 10. Limitation of liability

**TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANONLISTEN AND ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUE, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING FROM:**

- Your use of or inability to use the Services
- Any unauthorized access to or alteration of your data or transmissions
- Any conduct or content of any third party using the Services
- Any content obtained from or through the Services

**OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICES SHALL NOT EXCEED TEN EUROS (€10).**

## 11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless AnonListen from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the Services or your violation of these Terms.

## 12. Stopping use

You may stop using Hollow at any time by deleting the application from your device. This removes all locally stored data. No account deletion request is needed; there is no account on our servers to delete.

## 13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the European Union and the Republic of Poland, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Services shall be resolved exclusively in the competent courts of Poland.

## 14. Mere conduit status

Hollow's relay infrastructure operates as a "mere conduit" within the meaning of the EU Digital Services Act (Article 4). The relay:

- Does not initiate the transmission of information
- Does not select the receiver of the transmission
- Does not select or modify the information contained in the transmission

Where the relay temporarily holds encrypted payloads in memory to complete delivery to offline recipients, this storage is automatic, intermediate, and transient: it occurs solely to carry out the transmission requested by the sender, the payloads remain end-to-end encrypted and unreadable to us, and they are deleted upon delivery or upon expiry of a short retention window.

All content passing through the relay is end-to-end encrypted and opaque to us.

## 15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Changes will be posted with an updated "Last updated" date. Material changes will be communicated through the application. Your continued use of Hollow after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

## 16. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

## 17. Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and AnonListen regarding your use of the Services.

## Contact

If you have questions about these Terms:

- **Email:** privacy@anonlisten.com
- **Website:** [anonlisten.com](https://anonlisten.com)
