Spread
Spread your message

This is an archived version of the Terms, in force from 2026-09-23. It is kept so you can read the exact terms that applied to an ad submitted while it was in force. It is no longer current. Read the Terms in force now.

Spread: Terms of Service

Version 2026-09-23. The version of these Terms in force when you submit an ad is the one that governs that ad (Section 14).

These Terms govern your use of Spread, operated by Harold Taeter, a sole trader (entreprise personne physique) established in Belgium and trading as "Spread" ("Spread", "we", "us"). Our postal address and contact details are in §16. By submitting an ad through Spread, you ("you", the "Advertiser") agree to these Terms.

1. What Spread does

Spread is a self-serve service that lets individuals and small businesses run a single advertising message on Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram) without setting up their own Meta advertising account. You give us your message, image, location, contact details and budget; we screen it and, if accepted, create and run the ad on Meta from Spread's own advertising account and Page. The ad runs in Spread's name and promotes your message and its page on Spread.

Every accepted ad also gets its own page on Spread, at a public web address. That page is where your ad's button leads, and it shows your message, your image, the area you chose and the public contact details you gave us, so that someone who sees your ad can reach you directly. It goes live when your ad does and comes down shortly after your ad's run ends (or, if you also listed it on the Spread board, when that listing expires).

Separately, you may choose to list your message on the Spread board, a public feed of the messages being spread to a given area. That choice is yours, and you make it after your ad has been approved; it is not part of buying an ad. You can take a listing down at any time, and listings expire on their own.

The board lists every live message whose chosen area covers the place a visitor searches for, newest first, because the board shows what is being spread right now. That is its only ordering: no listing is promoted, paid for, or picked for the visitor, and our own ads, if we list any, are ordered the same way. How often Meta shows your ad is decided by Meta's delivery on your budget (Section 8), not by any ranking of ours.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract. You must provide accurate information and keep it up to date.

3. How it works

  1. You submit your ad (email, message, one image, location, public contact details, budget). Submitting is an offer to buy, not yet a contract: we place a hold on your payment method at that point, but we have not taken your money and we have not agreed to run anything.
  2. We screen it against Meta's advertising policies and our Acceptable Use rules (Section 6). Screening includes setting the ad up on Meta, which runs its own checks before an ad can go live (Section 7).
  3. The contract between us is formed when we accept your order: the moment we tell you your ad is approved and going live, by email and on your status page. That is when we take the payment. If we do not accept it, no contract comes into existence: we release the hold, take nothing, and tell you why.
  4. Your ad gets its page on Spread (Section 1), which is where the ad's button leads.
  5. You can follow your ad's status and results on the private link we email you, and from there choose whether to also list your message on the Spread board (or take a listing down again).

4. Your authorisation to Spread (important)

By submitting an ad, you give Spread your permission and authority to create, submit, place, manage and optimise that ad on Meta, through our Meta advertising account(s) and Page(s), and to accept Meta's terms in respect of it where they require it. You acknowledge and agree that:

  • (a) your ad is subject to Meta's terms and policies, including the Meta Self-Serve Ad Terms, Advertising Standards and Community Standards (together, "Meta's Policies"), as updated from time to time;
  • (b) you agree to be bound by Meta's Policies in respect of your ad, and you authorise Spread to accept them where required, with binding effect for you;
  • (c) Meta may hold Spread responsible for ads that breach Meta's Policies, and accordingly you are responsible to Spread for ensuring your ad complies (see Sections 5, 6 and 11).

This Section exists so that Spread has the permission and the authority that Meta's terms call for.

What this permission is not. It is limited to dealing with Meta's platforms in respect of your ad. It does not make Spread your commercial agent or representative for any other purpose, does not give you any account or relationship with Meta, and does not change what you are buying: you buy an advertising service from Spread (Section 8), and Spread buys advertising from Meta in its own name, on its own account and at its own risk.

5. Your content and your warranties

You retain ownership of the content you submit. You grant Spread (and Meta) the licence needed to host, reproduce, adapt for ad formats, and display your content for the purpose of running your ad, showing your ad's page on Spread and, if you list it there, your board listing.

The public contact details you give us are meant to be published: they appear on your ad's page and on any board listing, and they are how people respond to your ad. Please don't give us anything there you would not want shown publicly. They are separate from the email address you give us for contacting you about your ad, which we never publish.

If you advertise as a business, that is, for purposes relating to a trade, business, craft, or profession, your message or your public contact details must make clear who you are, for example your business name or your website, so that people who see your ad know whom they are dealing with.

You also permit us to measure how your ad and its page perform (for example how many people saw the ad, visited the page, or tapped a contact button), using our own analytics and the measurement tools provided by Meta. We use this to run and improve the service and to report results back to you on your status page. It is measurement of activity on our platform and ad account; it does not give anyone your contacts' personal details. How we handle personal data, including the consent we ask visitors for, is set out in our Privacy Policy.

What you can see afterwards, and what we keep. Your status page stays reachable after your ad ends and keeps showing its results, in totals only, for as long as we keep your ad's data. How long that is, who receives your data to run the ad (Meta) and to take the payment (Stripe), and how to ask for a copy or for deletion, are set out in our Privacy Policy (Sections 3, 5, and 7 there).

You represent and warrant that:

  • you own or have all rights and permissions needed for the content (text, images, any logos, any people depicted);
  • your ad and its destination are truthful, lawful, and comply with Meta's Policies and all applicable laws in the places the ad runs;
  • your content does not infringe anyone's intellectual-property, privacy or other rights.

6. Acceptable use: what you may not advertise

You may not submit ads that are prohibited by Meta's Policies or by Spread, including (non-exhaustive): illegal goods/services, drugs, weapons, adult/sexual content, hateful or discriminatory content, scams or deceptive claims, counterfeit goods, and content endangering others. In addition, at launch Spread does not accept categories that require special permissions or status, including politics/social issues, financial products, gambling, dating, alcohol, tobacco/vapes, and housing/employment (Special Ad Category) ads. We may update this list. (This mirrors our internal content policy.)

7. How we review ads, and no guarantee

How we review. Every ad is checked automatically before anything is published: software, including an AI model, reads your message and image and compares them with Section 6 and Meta's Policies. That check can approve an ad, pass it to a person on our team, or decline it. An ad the check is unsure about goes to a person on our team, and we may have a person look at any ad. Meta then runs its own review before the ad can be shown. Once an ad is published, we act on reports from anyone who sees it (every ad's page has a report link), and a person decides each report.

What we may refuse or stop. We refuse, pause or remove an ad when it breaks these Terms (in particular Section 6) or Meta's Policies, when it is unlawful, when Meta refuses or withdraws it, or when running it would put Spread's Meta advertising account at risk. Meta may also refuse, pause or remove an ad under its own rules, including after it has started running.

We tell you why, and how to challenge it. When we refuse or stop your ad, we tell you by email and on your status page: what we decided, the reason, whether it was decided automatically or by a person, and what you can do. If our automatic check declined your ad, you can ask for a person to review it from your status page (Section 9 explains the hold this places). If a person on our team decided, reply to our email and a person will look at it again. You can always change your message and send it again, and you keep your right to go to court (Section 15).

No guarantee. We do not guarantee that your ad will be approved, run, reach any particular audience, or achieve any result. Ad delivery is ultimately controlled by Meta.

8. Fees and payment

  • You choose a total budget, in the currency shown on the form: minimum US$20, MX$300 or €20. Your budget is the total price you pay. Of it, Spread's fee is US$2.50, MX$45 or €2.50, plus 7.5% of your budget, which also covers payment-processing and other costs, and the rest is spent on Meta ads for your message. The form shows both amounts before you pay.
  • VAT is included. If you pay from the European Union, the price includes Belgian VAT at 21%, which we pay to the Belgian tax authorities: the two amounts shown on the form include it, and the VAT in the ads amount is not spent on Meta ads. Outside the EU, no VAT is charged. We decide where you pay from by the VAT number you give us (below), otherwise by the country of your card or payment method, otherwise by where you connect from.
  • Buying for a business. If you buy for a business registered for VAT in the EU, you can give its VAT number on the form. We check it in the EU's VIES register and issue an invoice to the business. A business registered in another EU country pays no Belgian VAT (the reverse charge applies: it accounts for the VAT in its own country), so the whole of the ads amount is spent on Meta ads; a business registered in Belgium pays 21% Belgian VAT as above. A purchase made with a VAT number is a business purchase for VAT and invoicing. It does not change your right to cancel: Section 10 is open to every customer.
  • We choose the schedule and delivery settings to spend your ad-spend budget as effectively as we can, aimed at getting your message seen by as many different people as possible within the area and budget you chose. We may change those settings, including for an ad that is already running; this does not change the total you pay. Your ad's actual run length may differ from any indicative duration shown.
  • What your budget buys, and what it does not. Your budget buys advertising: reviewing and setting up your ad, publishing it, and delivering it on Meta (Section 9 sets out how those two parts are priced). Your ad's page on Spread and any board listing are provided at no additional charge: no part of your budget is payment for them, and we never charge for a listing.
  • We are not part of what happens next. If someone contacts you because of your ad, that is directly between you and them. Spread takes no commission, fee or share of anything you agree with them, is not a party to it, and provides no means of concluding it. We do not host messaging, quotes, bookings, prices or payments between you and anyone who responds to your ad.
  • Payments are processed by Stripe; by paying you also agree to Stripe's terms. You may pay by card or with a payment service such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Amazon Pay, in which case that service's own terms also apply to your payment. Apart from the VAT described above, you are responsible for any other taxes that apply to you.
  • We may change pricing prospectively; the price shown at submission applies to that ad.

9. Refunds and cancellation

  • If we reject your ad at review, you are not charged at all. We only place a hold on your chosen payment method when you submit, and we take the money only if we approve your ad. If we reject it, we release the hold and take nothing. Depending on your bank or payment provider, the hold can take a few days to disappear from your statement. Because we never accepted your order, no contract was concluded (Section 3), so there is nothing to cancel or withdraw from, and nothing is owed either way. You are free to submit a new ad at any time.
  • If you ask us to look again, we place the hold again. Asking for a human review puts the same hold back on your chosen payment method, for the same amount. This is a hold, not a charge: if the reviewer agrees with you, we approve your ad, take the money and run it; if the reviewer agrees with our first decision, we release the hold and you pay nothing. As above, your bank may show the released hold as pending for a few days. We do this because a review is the service you are paying for, and because it means an ad we were wrong about goes live straight away instead of waiting for you to pay a second time.
  • We aim to deliver your whole ad-spend budget within the run. If, once the ad has finished, a material part of the ad-spend budget could not be delivered (for example, the chosen area is too small to spend it), we refund that unspent portion. A minor unspent remainder left by the ad platform's pacing may be retained. Spread's fee is not refunded.
  • If an ad is paused or removed after we have charged you, whether by us or by Meta (which can refuse or withdraw an ad at any time, Section 7), we refund the unspent ad-spend portion on the same basis. Spread's fee is not refunded: reviewing and setting up your ad is the service it pays for, and that was done.
  • If you tell us your message is sorted, we stop the ad. Your status page has a control for the case where your message has done its job: the pet came home, the item sold. It is available for as long as your ad is running, it stops the ad straight away, it takes your listing off the Spread board, and it removes your contact details from your Spread page. That page stays online for a short time afterwards, saying you are no longer looking for replies: people may still be tapping an ad that was already published, and they should reach an answer rather than a dead link. We then refund the unspent ad-spend portion as above; Spread's fee is not refunded, because the review and setup were carried out. This is not a cancellation of the contract. If you are a consumer and still within the 14 days, your right of withdrawal under Section 10 is unaffected and remains available.
  • If we take your ad down because we approved it in error, you get everything back that was not delivered, including the whole of Spread's fee: the review is the thing we got wrong, so we do not charge for it. If we take it down because your ad broke these Terms, you still get the unspent ad-spend portion back (we do not keep money for advertising that will not now run), but the fee is not refunded, because the review was carried out. Either way we stop the ad, email you, and put the money back on the card you paid with.
  • Refunds include VAT. Every refund in this section gives back the amount concerned as you paid it, including any VAT in it.
  • What the two parts of your price buy. Your payment covers two separate services, priced separately on the form before you pay:
    • a service fee (US$2.50, MX$45 or €2.50, plus 7.5% of your budget) for reviewing your ad against our rules and Meta's policies, setting it up and publishing it. This service is supplied in full at the outset (it is complete once we have reviewed and set up your ad) and is payable separately from your ad spend.
    • ad spend (the rest of your budget), which buys delivery of your ad over the run you chose, and is provided progressively over that run.

10. Right of withdrawal

  • If you are a consumer, you may withdraw from this contract within 14 days, without giving a reason. The 14 days run from the day we accept your order, which is the day the contract is concluded (Section 3), not the day you submitted it. If your ad sits in review for a day or two, that time is not taken out of your 14 days.

  • The right of withdrawal is a consumer right, and whether someone is a consumer depends on what the contract is for, not on whether they have a business. We do not ask, and we do not decide it from the VAT number you may have given us (Section 8). The 14 days are open to every customer on the same terms: your statutory right if you are a consumer, and a right we give you by this contract if you are not.

  • Before we accept, there is no contract yet, so there is nothing to withdraw from. You can still change your mind: use the same button on your status page and we will simply release the hold on your payment method. We offer that control from the moment you submit, so it is always there.

  • How. Use the "Withdraw from contract here" button on your ad's status page (the private link we emailed you), or tell us in any clear statement at hello@spreadmymessage.com. You may use the model withdrawal form at the end of these Terms, but you don't have to. We'll acknowledge receipt by email without undue delay.

  • When you asked us to start straight away (the box you ticked at checkout), you pay an amount in proportion to what we had already delivered when you told us, calculated on the total price of this contract:

    • the service fee is for a service supplied in full at the outset, so it is due in full;
    • ad spend is due for the part of your budget already spent showing your ad when we received your withdrawal. If that figure isn't available to us, we use the proportion of the run that had already elapsed instead.

    We refund the rest to the same payment method, without undue delay. If we had already refunded part of your ad spend for the same ad before you withdrew (for example because you told us your message was sorted, §9), that amount is taken into account, so nothing is counted against you twice and nothing is refunded twice.

  • You lose the right of withdrawal once the service has been fully performed (once your ad has finished its run), because you asked us to start during the withdrawal period and acknowledged this at checkout.

  • The refunds in §9 above are separate from this right and are not affected by it.

11. Your responsibilities and indemnity

You are solely responsible for your ad. You agree to indemnify and hold Spread harmless from any claim, loss, or cost (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your ad, your content, or your breach of these Terms or Meta's Policies, including any action Meta takes against Spread's account because of your ad.

12. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

The service is provided "as is". To the maximum extent permitted by law, Spread is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, lost profits, or for outcomes controlled by Meta (approval, reach, performance, account actions). Nor are we liable for any dealing between you and someone who contacts you because of your ad: as Section 8 says, we are not a party to it. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the fees you paid Spread for the ad concerned. Nothing limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. Suspension and termination

We may refuse an ad, or stop one that is running, only on the grounds in Section 7. We may also decline to take further ads from you if you have breached these Terms or Meta's Policies repeatedly or seriously, or to protect Spread's Meta advertising account; we tell you why in writing.

14. Changes

We may update these Terms; material changes take effect prospectively. The version in force when you submit an ad governs that ad, including any board listing of it, so a later version never changes an ad you have already bought.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Belgium, and disputes are subject to the courts of Belgium, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer-protection rights you have where you live.

Language. These Terms are published in English, Spanish, French and Dutch (the Spanish text is at /es/terms, the French text at /fr/terms, the Dutch text at /nl/terms), and the four are kept identical in substance. If you accepted these Terms in Spanish, in French or in Dutch, the text in that language governs the contract between us; otherwise the English text governs. Either way, this does not affect any consumer-protection right the law where you live gives you and does not allow you to waive. In Mexico, the rights under the Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor are irrenunciables.

If you have a complaint, contact us first at hello@spreadmymessage.com. We answer complaints quickly and try to resolve them directly. If you are a consumer and we cannot resolve a dispute between us, you may contact the Belgian Consumer Mediation Service (Service de Médiation pour le Consommateur / Consumentenombudsdienst, mediationconsommateur.be, Boulevard du Roi Albert II 8, 1000 Brussels), which handles out-of-court consumer disputes free of charge.

16. Contact

Harold Taeter, trading as "Spread", a sole trader (entreprise personne physique) established in Belgium, enterprise number 1041.047.352, VAT number BE 1041.047.352.

Avenue Prince Baudouin 19 4802 Heusy (Verviers) Belgium

Telephone: +32 87 11 10 56.

Questions about these Terms, and notices of withdrawal under §10: hello@spreadmymessage.com. Questions about your personal data: privacy@spreadmymessage.com (see the Privacy Policy).

Contact points under the EU Digital Services Act. For Member State authorities, the European Commission and the European Board for Digital Services: hello@spreadmymessage.com, in English, French or Dutch. For people who use Spread: the same address, answered by a person, in English, Spanish, French or Dutch.

Annex: Model withdrawal form

(Complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract. You don't have to use it: the "Withdraw from contract here" button on your ad's status page does the same thing.)

To Harold Taeter, trading as "Spread", Avenue Prince Baudouin 19, 4802 Heusy, Belgium, hello@spreadmymessage.com

I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract of sale of the following goods (*)/for the provision of the following service (*):

—

Ordered on (*)/received on (*): —

Name of consumer(s): —

Address of consumer(s): —

Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper): —

Date: —

(*) Delete as appropriate.