Terms of Use
Last updated: April 2026
1. What TierFinder is
TierFinder is a free, not-for-profit online platform for lost and found pets, operated by StudioMeyer (Matthias Meyer, Mallorca, Spain). The platform connects pet owners, finders, shelters and animal welfare organisations via website, Telegram bot, chatbot, and an MCP server for AI agents. These Terms of Use govern the relationship between TierFinder ("we", "us") and anyone using the platform ("user", "you").
2. BETA status and no warranty
TierFinder is currently in the build phase (BETA). The platform is online but not yet ready for production use. Features may change, fail, or be temporarily unavailable. During this phase please use TierFinder only for testing and feedback. It is not yet cleared for productive use, in particular not for real lost or found reports. You will see this notice in the beta banner on every page. TierFinder is NOT a replacement for established pet-recovery systems during the BETA phase. For a real loss of a pet, additionally use: (a) TASSO e.V. (tasso.net, free, Germany-wide), (b) Findefix (findefix.com), (c) local shelters, (d) for pets in Spain: the RIAC/AIAC central registry, (e) the police or Guardia Civil as a found-report. Do not rely exclusively on TierFinder during the BETA. We give no warranty for availability, accuracy or full functionality during the BETA phase.
3. Free use
Using TierFinder is and will remain free. There are no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no hidden fees. TierFinder is funded by StudioMeyer as an internal project and by voluntary feedback from users, shelters and animal welfare organisations. By using the platform you receive a simple, time-unlimited, non-transferable right of use under these Terms. The promise of free use is expressly excluded from §14 (Changes) and remains unchanged.
4. What you may do with TierFinder
You may use TierFinder to: • post a lost report for your own pet • post a found report for an animal you have found • search existing reports and check possible matches • contact finders or owners through the provided contact channels • use the AI chatbot and the Telegram bot to get help with a report • find shelters and animal welfare organisations • browse adoptable animals • as a shelter or welfare organisation, create your own profile and adoption listings Use is tied to your own animal, your own case, or your organisation. Commercial use without prior agreement is not permitted. Important for finders: a report on TierFinder does NOT replace the statutory found-notice. Under German law (§965 BGB) and Spanish law (art. 615 Civil Code) you as a finder are obliged to report a find to the municipal lost-and-found office and/or the police. In Spain: Guardia Civil or Policia Local. Additionally recommended: shelter, veterinarian (chip reading), TASSO. The original owner can reclaim a found animal within up to 6 months (Germany) or as provided by the applicable Spanish regional law. We are not liable if you do not comply with these obligations.
5. What you may NOT do
The following is prohibited in particular: • knowingly false or misleading reports (fake lost reports, fake found reports) • uploading content you do not have the rights to (e.g. other people's photos) • uploading content that infringes third-party rights (copyright, trademark, personality) • hate speech, incitement to violence, discrimination, threats • commercial sale of animals through the platform • using the platform for fraud (fake finder scams, forced reward payments, protection-money patterns) • automated mass queries or scraping outside the official MCP server and the API documentation • uploading malware, phishing links or malicious software in reports or messages We act in accordance with the German Digital Services Act (DDG, §§7-10) and the Digital Services Act Regulation (EU 2022/2065). Third-party content is only removed upon knowledge of illegal content. We provide a reporting mechanism under Art. 16 DSA (see §6). Upon notification of an obvious infringement we act without delay (typically within 48 hours). We reserve the right to investigate violations, remove content, and block accounts or IP addresses if in our assessment a violation has occurred. For serious violations we notify the relevant authorities.
6. Notifications of illegal content (Notice-and-Takedown under the DSA)
If you believe content on TierFinder is illegal, you can submit a notification under Art. 16 DSA (Regulation EU 2022/2065) by email to [email protected]. Please state: • the reason for the alleged illegality • the precise location (URL or report ID) • your contact details • a declaration that the information is accurate to the best of your knowledge We acknowledge receipt and typically decide within 7 days. You will receive a reasoned decision under Art. 17 DSA. You may appeal the decision internally within 6 months (Art. 20 DSA) by email to the same address. DSA point of contact under Art. 11 DSA: [email protected]. Languages for DSA notifications: German, English, Spanish.
7. Your content and images
When you upload a report, photo, sighting or message to TierFinder, you remain the legal owner of your content. You warrant that you have the necessary rights to the content (in particular for photos: that you took them yourself or have the author's permission). By uploading you grant us a simple, worldwide, royalty-free right to store, display and process your content as part of the platform (in particular via AI matching) and to show it on connected outputs (website, Telegram, chatbot, MCP). This right ends when you delete your content or your account is removed. AI training: We do NOT use your uploaded photos to train our own AI models. For AI matching we use pre-trained third-party models (currently OpenAI CLIP). Should we train own models in the future, we will obtain separate, explicit consent in the account (opt-in form). An opt-out under §44b UrhG (text-and-data-mining reservation) is possible at any time by email to [email protected] or via machine-readable TDM reservation signals (robots.txt, meta tags). Backup copies are overwritten within 60 days after deletion of your content. You can delete your content at any time yourself or ask us to delete it by emailing [email protected].
8. AI features and their limits
TierFinder uses artificial intelligence in several places: • AI image recognition and AI matching (based on CLIP ViT-L/14) compare your photo with other reports and suggest possible matches. • The chatbot answers questions and walks you through reporting. • The Telegram bot lets you submit reports via messenger. • The MCP server exposes tools to AI agents. AI models are not error-free. They can suggest wrong matches, give wrong answers, or miss certain animals ("hallucinations"). All AI outputs are suggestions, not verified identifications. The final judgement of whether a match suggestion is your animal is yours. TierFinder is not liable for damages resulting from reliance on AI outputs unless we are guilty of intent or gross negligence (see §10).
9. Privacy and public visibility
The processing of your personal data is described in the privacy policy at /datenschutz. You will find there information on the controller, processing operations, legal bases, third-party providers (including AI providers such as Anthropic and OpenAI), retention periods, your rights (access, rectification, deletion, objection) and contact details. By posting a report you separately and expressly consent to your contact details (email, phone number — depending on your choice) being publicly visible. We obtain this consent as a separate opt-in checkbox at upload (not through these Terms). You may withdraw the consent at any time — your report will then either be anonymised or deleted. Photos and third parties: When uploading photos, make sure that no third persons are recognisable (no faces, no licence plates). If persons are still visible, you warrant that you have their consent or that publication is permitted under §23 KUG. Location data: The last known location is recorded and displayed at reduced accuracy (neighbourhood level). We do not publish street-level addresses. AI image vectors: We generate a mathematical vector from your photo for the matching comparison. This vector is not traceable to a natural person. For persons in the background we strongly recommend anonymisation before upload.
10. Liability
TierFinder is provided voluntarily and free of charge. We are fully liable for intent and gross negligence as well as for damages arising from injury to life, body or health. For slight negligence we are liable only for breach of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations) and only up to the damage typical for this kind of contract and foreseeable at the time of conclusion. In particular we assume no liability for: • the accuracy or completeness of user reports • the actual recovery of a lost animal • acts or omissions of other users, finders, or contact persons • damages from AI mismatches or hallucinations (see §8) • outages, interruptions or data loss during the BETA phase The limitations of liability do not apply in cases of mandatory statutory liability (in particular under the Product Liability Act) and not where we have assumed a guarantee.
11. Indemnification
If you upload content to TierFinder and third parties raise claims as a result (e.g. for copyright or personality rights infringement, or for false reports), you will indemnify us from those claims. You will bear the reasonable costs of legal defence insofar as you are responsible for the violation.
12. Accounts, termination and deletion
Many features do not require an account. If you create an account (e.g. as a shelter or welfare organisation), you are responsible for your credentials. You can delete your account at any time — either in the account area, if available, or by emailing [email protected]. After deletion, your content (reports, profiles, messages) is removed from the live systems within 30 days. Backup copies are overwritten within 60 days. We reserve the right to suspend or delete accounts in case of serious or repeated breaches of these Terms. We also reserve the right to discontinue the platform in whole or in part. In that case users will, where reasonable, be informed at least 30 days in advance and given the option to export their data.
13. Minimum age and minors
TierFinder is intended for users aged 16 and over (Germany) or aged 14 and over (Spain). Users aged 13 and over may only use the platform with the express consent of their legal guardians. For functions that require consent (posting a report, publishing contact details, creating an account), the consent of the legal guardians is required if the user is under 16 (Art. 8 GDPR). We do not collect data for profiling for advertising purposes (Art. 28(2) DSA). We do not run advertising targeted at minors. If legal guardians discover that their child has created an account without their consent, they may request deletion at [email protected].
14. Changes to these Terms
We may change these Terms if legal, technical or product circumstances change. The promise of free use (§3) is expressly excluded and remains unchanged. Material changes will be announced on the platform at least 30 days before they take effect. If you do not agree to a change, you may delete your account and stop using the platform. Continued use after the change takes effect will be treated as acceptance of the new Terms.
15. Open Source and transparency
TierFinder is developed by StudioMeyer. Parts of the code and infrastructure (e.g. the MCP server, selected tools) are or have been released under open-source licences. Feedback, bug reports and contributions are explicitly welcome. Contact for animal welfare organisations, shelters and developers: [email protected].
16. Applicable law and final provisions
German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. For consumers, this choice of law applies only to the extent that the protection granted by mandatory provisions of the law of the state in which the consumer has their habitual residence is not withdrawn. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes with merchants, legal entities under public law or special funds under public law is Hamburg. If individual provisions of these Terms should be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected. Contact: [email protected] — operator: StudioMeyer, Matthias Meyer, Mallorca, Spain.