TERMS OF SERVICE

Welcome to Africanvoices.io, a secure, scalable, and inclusive data hosting and management platform designed to store, curate, and distribute African speech, language, and multimodal datasets (the "Services").

Africanvoices.io is operated by Data Science Nigeria ("African Voice," "We," "Us," or "Our") through the generous contributions of The Gates Foundation and can be accessed through the website (Africanvoices.io), mobile, tablet, or other applications (the "Platform").

These Terms of Service describe the terms and conditions under which Users can access, download, install and/or use the Platform and the Services provided via the Platform. The Terms of Service and other Policies available through the Platform represent an agreement between You and African Voice.

"You," "Your," "User," or "Users" refers to anyone who uses or accesses the Services and the Platform.

By using or accessing our Platform and its Services in any way, you represent that you have read and understood the Terms of Service and the Privacy Notice (available on our Platform). By continuing, you agree to be bound by these Terms. Please read these Terms in full before using any of Our Services. If you do not accept the Terms, DO NOT use or access this Platform or any Services offered by African Voice.

Definitions

1. APPLICABILITY OF TERMS

Each time you access or use this Platform, you, and if you are acting on behalf of a third party, such as an employer or an institution, such third party, agrees to be bound by this Terms of Service and our Privacy Notice whether or not you register with us. If you do not agree to be bound by the Terms of Service and our Privacy Notice, you may not access or use our Services or Platform.

By using this Platform, you represent and warrant that you (or your authorized representative) have attained the age of majority where you reside (18 years of age in most jurisdictions) and are otherwise capable of entering into binding contracts including this Terms of Service.

Please review our Privacy Notice, which explains how we handle your personal data when you use this Platform. If you agree to each of the Terms of Service and our Privacy Notice, tick the "I ACCEPT" or "I AGREE" button at the bottom of this Terms of Use.

2. USER ACCOUNTS

Once you create an account with us, you are registered on the platform. If you are merely surfing or browsing through the platform and have not yet created an account, your access and use of the platform is still subject to this agreement. If you do not agree to this Terms of Service, do not use the Services.

When you register for an account, you will be required to provide us with some information about yourself (such as your name, date of birth, e-mail address, physical address, phone number or other personal information). Some of this information may be of a confidential nature and may include personally identifiable information.

If you provide Your Information to us, then you agree to provide true, current, complete and accurate information, and not to misrepresent your identity. You also agree to keep Your Information current and to update Your Information with us, if it changes.

Our collection, use and disclosure of Your Information is governed by these Terms of Service, our Privacy Notice and any applicable law.

You may not transfer, sell, or share your User Account with third-party organizations without the prior consent of African Voice. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of User Information and Account, and for all activities that occur under your User Account. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your User Information or Account or any other breach of security, and ensure that you exit from your User Account at the end of each session. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this section.

3. OUR LICENSE TO YOU

Subject to these Terms and our policies, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to access and use our Services and Platform. Using our Services and Platform does not give you ownership of or any intellectual property rights in or to our Services or the Content you access.

All rights, title, and interest in the Platform, its components (including software, technology, and intellectual property rights, etc) and the licenses granted hereunder are limited to and shall remain with and belong exclusively to African Voice and its licensor Software products not proprietary to African Voice, including, without limitation, Third-Party Services, are licensed separately from and by the respective proprietary owner(s).

4. USE OF OUR PLATFORM, DATA & ATTRIBUTION

African Voice grants the User a worldwide, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, personal license to copy the Data, create derivative works from the Data, use the Platform to develop application and distribute commercial products developed by or on behalf of the User incorporating the Data in accordance with these Terms of Service and in strict accordance with and as permitted under the applicable Laws and Regulations.

You must attribute the African Voices in any publications or products resulting from the use of the dataset.

For academic papers or publications where the dataset is used, the citation must be in accordance with the Terms and Conditions. You are not permitted use or benchmark against older or incomplete releases.

Our dataset, by default, is licensed under the "Creative Commons- Attribution 4.0 International" (CC BY 4.0) license.

5. RESTRICTIONS ON USE

You agree to use the Platform and your account only and strictly for the use as set forth in these Terms of Service, and always in accordance with the Fair Use Policy. Users are not permitted, unless explicitly allowed on the Platform to:

• • gain unauthorized access to the accounts of other Users or use the Platform or his/her/its account to conduct or promote any illegal activities;
• • use the Platform or his/her/its account to generate unsolicited email advertisements or spam;
• • use the Data for any illegal activities;
• • use the Data through a specific API for any other purposes other than the intended purpose of such API;
• • impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise misrepresent its affiliation with a person or entity;
• • use any high volume automatic, electronic or manual process to access, search or harvest information from the Platform other than through the documented use of the African Voice APIs;
• • alter, remove, or obscure any copyright notice, digital watermarks, proprietary legends or other notice included in the Platform;
• • intentionally distribute any worms, Trojan horses, corrupted files, or other items of a destructive or deceptive nature or use the Platform or his/her/its Account for any malicious, unlawful, invasive, infringing, defamatory or fraudulent purpose; or
• • remove or in any manner circumvent any technical or other protective measures on the Platform.

Users are not allowed to use the Platform in a manner not authorized by African Voice. Users shall only use the Platform solely in full compliance with:

• I. These Terms and Conditions
• II. any applicable legislation, rules, or regulations.

You understand and agree that if any fraudulent, illegal or unauthorised activity is associated with the operation of your account, we shall have the right to apply restrictions to your account and report it to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

6. SCREENING USERS

Although we retain the right to do so, African Voice does not screen Users or verify information communicated through the Platform. We also retain the right to monitor all communication and information transmitted using our Platform. We may, at our sole discretion, take steps to verify your identity and credentials at any time. You agree and authorize that we may use and disclose information, including PII, about you for such purposes, including making inquiries of third parties concerning your identity and credentials. You further authorize such third parties to disclose to us such information, as we may request for such purposes, and you agree to hold them and us harmless from any claim or liability arising from the request for or disclosure of such information. Unless otherwise agreed under any other agreement signed by the parties, you agree that we may terminate your access to the Service at any time, without liability to us, if we are unable at any time, to determine or verify your identity or credentials. You may contact us to notify us of inappropriate or illegal conduct or content you encounter on the Platform.

7. DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

The Platform is provided "AS IS," and African Voice makes no (and hereby disclaims all) warranties, covenants or representations, or conditions, whether written, oral, express or implied including, without limitation, any implied warranties of satisfactory quality, course of dealing, trade usage or practice, merchantability, suitability, availability, or fitness for a particular use or purpose, with respect to the use, misuse, or inability to use the Platform or any other products or services provided to the Users by African Voice. African Voice does not warrant that all errors can be corrected, or that access to or operation of the Platform shall be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

You agree that we won't be responsible ("liable") for any lost profits, revenues, information or data, or consequential, special, indirect, exemplary, punitive or incidental damages arising out of your use of our Platform or the Services This includes when we delete your content, information or account.

The Users acknowledge and agree that there are risks inherent to transmitting information over and storing information on the internet and that African Voice is not responsible and cannot be held liable for any loss or corruption of Users' Data.

We do not control what Users do or say, and we are not liable for their (or Your) actions or conduct (whether online or offline) or content (including unlawful or objectionable content). We are not liable for services and features offered by other third parties or companies, even if you access them through our Service or Platform.

In no event shall we be liable for any loss, special, incidental, indirect, punitive, or consequential damages whatsoever arising out of or in connection with your access or use or inability to access or use the Platform.

We further disclaim any and all liability related to your access or use of the services or any related content. You acknowledge and agree that any access to or use of the services or such Content is at your own risk.

Our financial liability in connection with a breach of this Agreement will be limited to 5000 NGN Naira.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree that any claim, dispute, or cause of action arising out of or relating to the Services must be commenced within one (1) year after the date the cause of action arose. You acknowledge that this limitation period is reasonable. Where a shorter contractual limitation period is not permitted by law, the shortest legally enforceable limitation period shall apply.

You agree to fully indemnify and hold us, our affiliates, representatives, employees, and directors harmless from any claims or losses (including liabilities, damages, costs and expenses of any nature) that they suffer as a result of your use of the Platform.

8. THIRD PARTY LINKS

The Platform may contain features, services and functionalities linking you to, or providing you with access to third party services and content, websites, directories, servers, networks, systems, information, databases, applications, software, programs, courses, services, and the Internet as a whole. Because we have no control over such sites and resources, we are not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and do not endorse and are not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, courses or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. When you visit or use a third party's website you agree to read and consent to the third party's Terms of Service and Privacy Notice and you release us from any liability.

9. USER'S CONDUCT

You shall use this Platform for lawful purposes only. Accordingly, a User shall not post, send, or transmit any material which violates or infringes in any way upon the rights of others or perform any act that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane, or otherwise objectionable, which encourages conducts that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any law.

Any use of the Platform that African Voice, in its sole discretion, finds inappropriate and/or offensive, may result in suspension and/or termination of a User with or without notice. Conduct that is inappropriate and/or offensive includes without limitation the following:

• • Defamation, abuse, harassment, harm, stalking, threat, or otherwise violate the legal rights (including without limitation rights of privacy and publicity) of others.
• • Publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate any profane, defamatory, infringing, hateful, distasteful, obscene, or unlawful topic, name, information, materials, or Content.
• • Use the Platform for any purpose that violates local, state, national, or international law, including without limitation wage/hour and working condition laws and regulations.
• • Take any action that would undermine any aspect of the Platform.
• • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Platform, other User accounts, or other devices, computer systems or networks connected to the Platform.
• • Impersonate another person or allow any other person or entity to use your username, password, or membership.
• • Access, download, or copy any information, Content, and/or materials from the Platform through artificial means (including without limitation spiders, scrapers, hacking devices, computer programs, bots, or other such means).
• • Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Platform.

African Voice may from time to time require you to upload or provide some documents and IDs to authenticate your use of the Platform and also confirm that You conduct and carry on Your business in a legal and permissible manner in accordance with the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

10. COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

All present and future rights in and to trade secrets, patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, know-how, and other proprietary rights of any type under the laws of any governmental authority, domestic or foreign, including rights in and to all applications and registrations relating to the services provided under this Platform (the "Intellectual Property Rights") shall, vest in African Voice.

The Content on this Platform including but not limited to computer programs, technology, data file, techniques, algorithms, methods, codes, logos, marks, trade secrets, designs, text, graphics, pictures, audio and video files, other data or copyrightable materials or Content, and their selection and arrangement, are the collective work of African Voice.

You agree to abide by all applicable copyright laws, as well as any additional copyright notices or restrictions contained on this Platform. You acknowledge that the platform is developed, compiled, prepared, revised, selected, and arranged by African Voice and its partners and constitutes their intellectual property. You agree to protect the proprietary rights of African Voice during and after the termination of these Terms of Service.

In a bid to protect Your copyright as well as the copyright of other Users, you agree to notify Us in writing promptly upon becoming aware of any unauthorized access or use of this Platform by any individual or entity.

Subject to the rights granted under this Agreement or any Product Specific Terms contained in a separate agreement, we reserve all Intellectual Property Rights in and to the Platform. You acknowledge and agree that this Terms of Service does not grant you any title or right of ownership in or to the Platform, or to any enhancements, customizations, integrations, modifications.

Except as expressly authorized by Us, you agree not to reproduce, modify, copy of the Content on this Platform, in whole or in part, by any means without prior written approval from African Voice.

You agree that we may reference you in our client listings and place your name and logo on our website and marketing materials relating to our Platform, as well as in any press releases or client "case studies." You hereby grant us a limited license to use your trademarks (name and logo only) for such limited uses, subject to your trademark/logo usage guidelines, if any, provided by you to us. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may reasonably request removal of any such usage of your trademark/logo with written notice to us.

Please note that the Service may include access to or use of certain copyrighted materials that may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such materials are made available solely for purposes permitted under the Nigerian Copyright Act, including fair dealing exceptions under the Second Schedule. We reasonably believe that any such use falls within permitted "fair dealing" provisions. If you believe that any material on the Service infringes your copyright, please contact us so we can promptly review and address the concern.

11. CONFIDENTIALITY

You agree to treat all information accessed through the Platform (including system credentials, security features, proprietary tools, or any data belonging to other users of the platform) as strictly confidential. You must not disclose, copy, share, or use such information for any purpose other than lawfully and as provided in this Terms of Service. You further agree to implement reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorised access. You will be responsible for any breach that occurs by your failure to protect such information. This obligation survives the termination of your account.

12. DATA PROTECTION

We will process Personal Data in accordance with our privacy notice and applicable data protection laws. You are responsible for ensuring that any data you upload or process through the Platform is accurate, lawfully obtained, and shared with the necessary consents and authorisations.

13. REVISION AND MODIFICATION

We reserve the right to revise and modify these Terms at our sole discretion at any time. Any revisions to the Terms will be effective immediately upon posting by Us. Such modifications will become part of this Agreement and will be effective once posted by Us on the Platform. If a revision is material, we will notify You via electronic mail or a pop-up or redirection when You log in on the Platform. We recommend that you review these Terms from time to time. In all cases, with or without notification, your continued use of Our Services means that You accept any new or modified terms that we come up with. If you do not agree to these changes, you must cease usage of the Platform and any of our Services immediately.

14. INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless African Voice, its affiliates, partners, subsidiaries and other representatives from any and all claims, liabilities, expenses, and damages, including reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, made by any third party related to: (a) your use or attempted use of the Services in violation of these Terms; (b) your violation of any law or rights of any third party including without limitation any alleged infringement of intellectual property or other right of any person or entity relating to this Platform; or (c) disputes with or between other Users; (d) use and/or misuse of the Platform, including without limitation any information, Content and/or materials thereon; (e) inaccurate, untimely, incomplete or misleading User information, including without limitation with respect to registration, profile or eligibility; (f) misstatements and/or misrepresentations; (g) use of links to third party websites, including without limitation such websites' availability, terms of use, privacy policy, information, Content, materials, advertising, products and/or services; (h) use of phone support services.

You further agree that you will cooperate fully as requested by African Voice and its affiliates in defense of such claims. African Voice reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by You, and You agree not to settle any such matter without African Voice's prior written consent.

This Indemnity clause shall survive termination of these Terms.

15. ADVERTISEMENTS AND PROMOTIONS

African Voice may run advertisements, promotions, or sponsored contents from third parties on the Platform. Any correspondence or business dealings,or participation in promotions with advertisers are strictly between you and the advertiser. African Voice shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage or any other consequences arising from your interactions, participation or dealings with such advertisers or from their presence on the Platform.

16. INJUNCTION

You agree that any material breach of the Terms will result in irreparable harm to African Voice for which monetary damages would be insufficient. Therefore, in addition to its rights and remedies available at law or in equity, we will be entitled to seek equitable relief, including both a preliminary and permanent injunction to prevent or curtail such a breach.

17. GOVERNING LAW AND ARBITRATION

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Any controversy, claim, suit, injury, or damage arising from or in any way related to this Platform, its use, or the Terms shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the Rules of the Lagos Court of Arbitration then in effect and before a single arbitrator chosen appointed in accordance with the said rules. Any such controversy, claim, suit, injury, or damage shall be arbitrated individually and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any controversy, claim, suit, injury, or damage of any other party or class action. The language to be used at the arbitral proceedings shall be English. The arbitration shall be conducted in Lagos, Nigeria, and judgment of the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof.

African Voice may seek interim or preliminary relief from a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria, necessary to protect its rights pending the completion of arbitration. Each party shall assume its own costs of arbitration.

18. TERMINATION AND SUSPENSION

African Voice reserves the right to suspend and/or terminate any user with or without notice at any time in its sole discretion, for any reason. You agree that once you are suspended and/or terminated, you will make no further use of the Platform under the same account, a different account after termination or during the suspension.

19. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

These Terms of Service, together with Our Privacy Notice, constitute the entire Agreement between You and Us in relation to Your use of the Platform and supersede all previous agreements in respect of Your use of this Platform.

Any rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved.

CONTACT US

If You have any questions about this Terms of Service, don't hesitate to get in touch with Us at contact@africanvoices.io or support@africanvoices.io

Dataset Status

This dataset is under active development and not yet final. Releases, corrections, and updates will continue through November 2025. Users should regularly check this repository for the latest versions and documentation.

For attribution, benchmarking, or publications:

• • Always cite the latest available version (as of November 2025 or later).
• • Do not use or benchmark against older or incomplete releases.
• • Reference the current documentation provided in this repository.

We appreciate your patience and collaboration as we continue to expand and refine this resource.

Dataset Paper

ArXiv – Work in Progress

Citation and Use

When citing or benchmarking, please include the following BibTeX reference:

@misc{datasciencenigeria_african_voices_2025,
 title = {African Voices: Multilingual Speech Dataset for Low-Resource African Languages},
 author = {DataScience Nigeria},
 year = {2025},
 note = {Latest release, November 2025 or later},
 howpublished = {\url{Africa Voice}},
 institution = {Data Science Nigeria},
 keywords = {speech recognition, multilingual datasets, African languages, low-resource ASR}
}

Acknowledgments

African Voice Dataset was prepared and collected by Data Science Nigeria through the generous contributions of The Gates Foundation.