Duckling, Terms of Membership

Last updated: June 16th, 2026

Before the fine print

These terms are written in trust.

Duckling is a community of people who take the visual documentary story seriously. The real agreement between us isn't this document, but the values we share and the Storyteller Pact you accept when you join. This page exists for two reasons only: to protect everyone here, and to meet the obligations the law places on us. We've kept it as short as we honestly can.

If anything below is unclear, write to us. We'd always rather have a conversation than hide behind a clause.

1. Who we are

Duckling is operated by Duckling Media ApS, a social benefit corporation registered in Denmark (CVR 43764810), at Overgaden oven Vandet 98, DK-1415 Copenhagen, Denmark. "Duckling," "we," and "us" mean this organisation. "You" means you, a member, storyteller, or visitor.

These terms cover your membership, your use of the Duckling platform and web player, and your participation in the community and its Ponds, the spaces within Duckling where stories are gathered and shared.

2. Joining

You can join Duckling and create a free account if you're 13 or older, which makes you a member of Duckling. If you're under 18 and want a paid membership, please make sure a parent or guardian is happy for you to do so. When you create an account, you're responsible for keeping your login details safe and for what happens under your account. Tell us promptly if you think someone else has gained access.

3. Free and paid membership

Creating an account in the app is free and makes you a member of Duckling. You can also become a paid member of the community to unlock more. The tiers and what each includes are described at the point of sign-up. Prices include applicable VAT.

The terms below apply to paid memberships:

  • Renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each period unless you cancel. We'll make cancellation easy and findable.

  • Cancelling. You can cancel any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you've already paid for, so we don't lock you in.

  • Your statutory right to withdraw. As a consumer in the EU, you have 14 days to withdraw from a new subscription. Because membership gives you immediate access to digital content and services, by starting to use Duckling within those 14 days you ask us to begin right away and accept that the withdrawal right ends once we have. We'll state this clearly at checkout.

  • Refunds. Beyond your statutory rights, we handle refund requests fairly and case by case. Just ask.

4. Your stories stay yours

You keep full ownership and copyright of everything you create and publish on Duckling. Nothing here transfers your work to us.

To make the platform work, you grant Duckling a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to host, display, and distribute your story, within Duckling and across any Ponds you choose to publish it to, for as long as you keep it published, always with attribution to you. For stories you make public, this licence also lets us feature them on Duckling's own social media channels and newsletters, to bring readers to your work and to the community.

A few honest points:

  • When you unpublish or delete a story, we stop distributing it. Because Ponds can cross-publish (carry the same story in more than one Pond) and federate (connect with other communities beyond Duckling), copies that have already been shared elsewhere may take time to clear, and some may persist outside our control. We'll be transparent about this rather than promise what we can't deliver.

  • You confirm that you have the rights to everything you publish, that it's your own work or properly cleared, and that it respects the rights, privacy, and dignity of the people in it.

5. How we treat each other

The Storyteller Pact is the heart of how this community behaves, and accepting it is part of joining. We assume good faith and build for trust, not surveillance.

Some things we can't host, whatever the spirit: content that is illegal, that violates someone else's rights, or that is built to harm or deceive. Each Pond governs its own culture under a Pond Charter; we step in only rarely, and as a last resort.

6. What we promise, and what we can't

We build Duckling with care and run it as a long-term home for documentary storytelling, not a disposable product.

That said, we offer the platform "as is." We can't promise it will always be perfect, uninterrupted, or free of error, and we'll sometimes change or pause features as the project grows. We're responsible for the things we control and for keeping our commitments to you. We're not liable for losses outside our reasonable control, and, to the extent the law allows, our total liability to you is limited to what you've paid us in the previous 12 months. None of this limits the rights you have as a consumer that can't be waived, or our liability for anything the law doesn't allow us to exclude.

7. Your privacy

We collect the minimum we need to run Duckling and we don't sell your data. How we handle personal data is set out in our Privacy Policy written to meet GDPR. That document governs privacy; this one doesn't override it.

If you use Duckling as an organisation, for example a school bringing students onto the platform, our Data Processing Agreement sets out how we process personal data on your behalf.

8. Changes, and ending the relationship

We may update these terms as Duckling evolves. For any meaningful change, we'll give you reasonable notice (at least 30 days) before it takes effect, so you can decide whether to stay.

You can leave Duckling whenever you like. When you do, we'll help you export your stories and we'll delete your personal data in line with our Privacy Policy. We may suspend or close an account if someone seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms or the Storyteller Pact, but we'll talk to you first wherever we reasonably can.

9. If something goes wrong

Come to us first. Most things are solved with a conversation: contact@duckling.co.

These terms are governed by Danish law, and any dispute falls to the Danish courts. If you're a consumer in the EU, you keep the mandatory protections of the country you live in, and you can also use the EU's online dispute resolution platform.

10. Contact

Duckling Media ApS · Overgaden oven Vandet 98, DK-1415 Copenhagen, Denmark · contact@duckling.co

Free your story.