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Version 1.0.0-draft · not in force · sha256 a297ad2636db1eb3…

Marketing Services Agreement

DRAFT — REQUIRES REVIEW BY QUALIFIED COUNSEL IN [JURISDICTION] BEFORE USE. Not legal advice. Not a substitute for a lawyer.

This document is for M8 and is not offered today. It is drafted now so that the independence boundary is designed before the money exists, rather than negotiated afterwards.

Version: 1.0.0-draft · Status: not in force · Baseline: GDPR-grade

1. What this is

A separately branded, separately operated marketing service for app builders. It is not part of the rating business, and buying it changes nothing about how an application is assessed.

2. The firewall

  1. Separate brand and separate codebase boundary. Marketing services are not sold from the assessment console, and marketing staff have no access to assessment or review systems.
  2. No influence on scores. The scoring function structurally cannot receive a marketing relationship as an input, and our build fails if anyone tries to add one. A test asserts that a marketing client and a free-tier customer with identical applications score identically.
  3. No influence on review. Reviewers cannot see whether a customer is a marketing client, and must recuse themselves from any application in which they have an interest.
  4. No sequencing. We will not offer marketing services in the same conversation as an assessment outcome, and we will not condition one on the other in either direction.
  5. Disclosure. Every public surface showing a rating for a marketing client says so — the verification page and the directory listing.

3. What is offered

[To be specified at M8.] Whatever it is, it will not include: influencing a score, delaying a suspension, obtaining a badge, preferential organic placement, or removing a finding.

4. Termination

Either party may terminate on 30 days' notice. Terminating marketing services has no effect on an assessment, a score or a badge — in either direction.

5. Precedence

Where this Agreement and the Rating Methodology & Independence Policy conflict, the Independence Policy prevails.