Terms of Service

Tinta is a platform for reading and writing fiction. By creating an account or using Tinta, you agree to these Terms of Service with Tinta Studio, a business registered in Malaysia under registration number 202603049749 (003826875-M). If you do not agree, please do not use Tinta.

Tinta is intended for readers and writers aged 15 and over. By using Tinta you confirm that you meet this age requirement. Writers declare content warnings on their own stories — whether a story contains strong language or mild violence — and those warnings are shown to readers on the story’s page before they begin reading.

You are responsible for activity on your account and for keeping your sign-in details secure. Tell us promptly if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission.

You own 100% of the copyright in the stories you write on Tinta. Publishing here does not transfer, assign, or share your copyright with us. It stays yours.

So that Tinta can actually show your story to readers, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, display, distribute, and promote the content you publish, on Tinta and in material that promotes Tinta. Non-exclusive means you remain free to publish the same work anywhere else, at the same time, without asking us. Royalty-free means we do not pay you for this licence and you do not pay us for it — it exists only to let the platform function.

The licence lasts while your content is on Tinta. If you delete a story or your account, the licence ends for that content, except for copies we must keep for a reasonable period for backups, legal obligations, or to handle a report already made about it.

Sounds are the exception. When you upload a sound for your Scenes, you also let other Tinta writers use it in their own Scenes, credited to you. If you later delete the story you uploaded it with, or your account, albums that other writers have already made with that sound keep it, and the credit stops showing your username.

You are responsible for ensuring you hold the rights to everything you post, including cover images and any material you did not create yourself.

This includes everything in Scenes. Do not upload clips from films, TV shows or other people’s videos, commercial music, or artwork you did not make, unless you own it or have the rights holder’s permission. Because a sound you upload can be used by other writers, only upload sounds you have the right to share that way.

The following are absolutely prohibited on Tinta, in stories and everywhere else on the platform. Breaking any of them results in immediate removal and a permanent ban:

• any sexual content involving a minor, whether written, drawn, or photographic, and whether or not it is described as fiction;
• extreme or gratuitous violence, including content that glorifies or instructs real-world violence, terrorism, or self-harm;
• doxing — publishing a real person’s private information, such as their address, phone number, workplace, identity-card number, or school, without their consent;
• hate speech: attacking or dehumanising people because of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.

You also agree not to use Tinta to:

• post content that is unlawful, infringing, or that you do not have the right to share;
• harass, bully, threaten, or impersonate other people;
• post spam, or attempt to manipulate reads, votes, or rankings;
• interfere with the security or normal operation of the platform.

You can report content or accounts that you believe break these terms, and you can block other users. We review reports and may remove content, or suspend or remove accounts, that violate these terms. Copyright complaints follow the process in section 7.

Tinta follows the notice-and-takedown process in Malaysia’s Copyright Act 1987. If you own the copyright in something posted on Tinta without your permission, file a notice through our copyright takedown form. We accept DMCA notices there too.

When we receive a valid notice, we remove or disable access to the material within 48 hours, and we tell the person who posted it.

If your content was removed and you own it or have permission to use it, you can send us a counter-notice by emailing hello@tinta.com.my and explaining why. We pass it to the person who filed the notice, and restore the material after 10 business days unless they tell us they have started court action against you.

Knowingly filing a false notice or counter-notice is an offence under the Act and may make you liable for damages.

If we remove your content after valid copyright notices on 3 separate occasions, we will permanently close your account.

You may stop using Tinta at any time, and delete your stories or your account.

Tinta may, at its sole discretion and without prior notice, remove or unpublish any story, chapter, image, comment, or other content, and may suspend or permanently terminate any account, where we believe these terms have been broken.

We will usually tell you what happened and why, and you may contact us to appeal. But for the prohibitions listed in section 5, for copyright notices under section 7, and where we believe there is a risk to someone’s safety or a legal requirement to act, we will act first and explain afterwards.

Tinta Studio is registered and operates in Malaysia, and processes your personal data in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (Act 709) (“the PDPA”). We act as the data user in respect of the personal data you give us.

We collect only what the platform needs to work: your account details, what you publish, and how you use Tinta. We process it to operate and improve the service, to keep it safe, and to meet our legal obligations. We do not sell your personal data.

Under the PDPA you have the right to ask what personal data we hold about you, to correct data that is inaccurate, to limit how we process it, and to withdraw a consent you previously gave. To exercise any of these, email us at hello@tinta.com.my. Our Privacy Policy explains this in full.

Tinta’s website uses cookies and similar browser storage. Some are strictly necessary: they keep you signed in, remember your reading theme, and protect the site against abuse. The site does not work without these.

We also use analytics to understand which parts of Tinta people actually use — which pages are opened, which stories are read, and where things break — so we can fix and improve them. This is measurement of usage, not tracking you across other websites, and we do not use advertising cookies.

You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings at any time. Blocking the strictly necessary ones will sign you out and may stop parts of Tinta working.

Tinta is provided “as is.” Stories are created by their authors and do not represent the views of Tinta. We work to keep the service available and reliable but cannot guarantee it will always be uninterrupted or error-free.

To the extent the law allows, Tinta is not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, or for any loss of profits, data or goodwill, arising from your use of Tinta. Our total liability to you for any claim relating to Tinta is limited to RM100.

Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot be limited under Malaysian law, including under the Consumer Protection Act 1999.

If someone makes a claim against Tinta because of content you posted, or because you broke these terms, you agree to cover the reasonable losses, damages and costs, including legal fees, that the claim causes us. We will tell you about the claim and give you the chance to take part in responding to it.

These terms are governed by the laws of Malaysia. Any dispute relating to them or to Tinta will be decided by the courts of Malaysia.

We may update these terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the date above and, where appropriate, let you know in the app.

Questions about these terms? Email us at hello@tinta.com.my.