Terms of Service

Effective October 27, 2026 · Last updated October 27, 2026 · Version terms-2026-10-27

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of ThreadLight, operated by ThreadLight AI ("ThreadLight," "we," "us"). They apply to members (people who use Elia over SMS), to providers (professionals and businesses who create, claim, or manage a listing, free or sponsored), and to partners (organizations that manage a resource list on ThreadLight). By texting our number, by creating, claiming, or managing a listing, or by managing a partner resource list, you agree to these Terms. Your use of ThreadLight is also subject to our Privacy Policy.

What ThreadLight Is

ThreadLight is an SMS-based platform that connects neurodivergent people and their families with peer support, curated resources, and service providers. The platform is powered by an AI assistant called Elia, which communicates with you via text message. It is designed to help you feel less alone, find others who understand your experience, and discover resources and providers that might help. It is a community tool, not a clinical one.

What ThreadLight Is Not

ThreadLight is not any of the following, and should never be treated as a substitute for any of them:

• Therapy or counseling. Elia is an AI assistant. It listens, remembers, and connects, but it does not diagnose, treat, or provide clinical mental health care.
• Medical advice. Nothing Elia says should be interpreted as medical guidance. If you need medical advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
• A crisis line. When Elia detects that you may be in distress, it will surface contact information for human crisis services such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line. Elia itself does not provide crisis intervention. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
• A substitute for professional care. Peer connections, resources, and provider listings are meant to complement, not replace, professional support.
• A referral service. ThreadLight is a directory. We do not refer you to specific providers for a fee, and we do not sell your information to providers (see Finding Providers).

Eligibility

You must be 18 years of age or older to use ThreadLight. We verify your age when you first text us. If you cannot confirm that you are 18 or older, you will not be able to use the platform.

Parents and caregivers who are 18 or older may use the platform to seek support for themselves in their caregiving role. The user is the adult holding the phone, not the child or family member they may be seeking support for.

AI Disclosure

Elia is an artificial intelligence. When you text ThreadLight, you are communicating with an AI system, not a human. Elia is powered by Anthropic's Claude API and identifies itself as an AI at the beginning of each session.

Elia's responses are generated by a machine learning model. While we work to make Elia helpful, accurate, and safe, AI-generated content may occasionally be incorrect, incomplete, or inappropriate. You are responsible for evaluating the information Elia provides and making your own decisions.

Member Terms

This part applies to everyone who uses Elia over SMS.

Peer Connections

ThreadLight may suggest peer connections: introductions to other community members who share relevant experiences. These connections are made only with your explicit consent. Both people must agree before any introduction is made.

Peer connections are between community members, not between you and a professional. The people you are connected with are not therapists, counselors, or trained support workers. They are people in similar situations who have volunteered to be part of the community.

ThreadLight does not moderate, monitor, or supervise conversations between connected peers. We facilitate the introduction; what follows is between you and the person you're connected with.

Finding Providers

ThreadLight maintains a directory of service providers, including therapists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, lawyers, and others. When you ask Elia for help, Elia surfaces relevant listings based on what you're looking for: the kind of support, geographic location, and any criteria you mention (you can search for anything that matters to you, including a specific insurance carrier).

Vetted and not yet vetted. Some listings have passed a vetting call with ThreadLight and say “Vetted by ThreadLight.” Others we added from public information because they look like a good fit, before we have spoken with the business; those say “Not yet vetted.” See what “not yet vetted” means.

How ThreadLight is funded. Listing on ThreadLight is free. A provider can pay a flat $25 per month to sponsor a listing. The price is the same for everyone and never depends on referrals, clicks, or the number of people who contact them. A sponsored listing may be shown as the first result for a search it genuinely matches, and it is always labeled “Sponsored.” Sponsorship never moves a listing past our standards or into a search it does not match, and it includes a vetting call (see Provider Terms: Billing). ThreadLight does not charge per-referral fees and does not sell your phone number or information to providers or any third party. Free resources (nonprofits, support groups, publicly funded services) are shown alongside every other listing.

Partner organizations. If you join a partner organization by texting its code, Elia shows that organization's recommended resources first when they fit what you ask for. You can text LEAVE followed by the code at any time; you stay subscribed to ThreadLight. Partners see only total counts, never anything about you (see Partner Terms).

How you connect with a provider. Reaching out is always your choice and your action:

• For a phone listing, if you choose to reach out, ThreadLight shares your phone number with that provider's contact line so they can respond, and only when you take that step. We do not share your number with a provider you have not chosen to contact.
• For a website listing, you are sent to the provider's own website. ThreadLight shares no personal information in that handoff.

A listing is an introduction to options, not an endorsement of clinical quality. ThreadLight does not guarantee the quality, suitability, or outcomes of any provider's services, and you are responsible for evaluating any provider before engaging them. Scheduling, treatment, and payment are between you and the provider directly.

Community Conduct

If you are connected with another community member, we expect you to treat them with respect. The following behaviors may result in removal from the peer matching system:

• Harassment, insults, or demeaning language
• Unsolicited personal contact outside the platform
• Pressure to share personal information such as real names, addresses, or social media
• Romantic or sexual advances
• Attempts to sell products or services
• Sharing another person's information with third parties
• Any behavior that makes another community member feel unsafe

If someone you've been connected with behaves in a way that makes you uncomfortable, you can report it to Elia at any time. Reports are taken seriously, reviewed by the ThreadLight team, and may result in the reported person being removed from the matching system. ThreadLight reserves the right to suspend or permanently remove any user from the peer matching system or from the platform entirely based on reported behavior or pattern of behavior.

SMS & Messaging

ThreadLight's SMS program is a user-initiated service. We never text you first. We do not send unsolicited messages, marketing blasts, or promotional texts. There is no web form and no pre-populated sign-up list.

How you opt in. You opt in to receive SMS messages from ThreadLight by sending a text message to +1 (844) 945-3103 from your own mobile device. By sending that first message, you are initiating contact with ThreadLight, consenting to receive SMS replies from ThreadLight (sent by our AI assistant, Elia), and confirming that the phone number you are texting from belongs to you and that you are at least 18 years old.

Our first reply. The first message ThreadLight sends in response always includes opt-out instructions and an age-verification prompt:

If you reply NO, or do not confirm you are 18 or older, ThreadLight will not continue the conversation.

Message frequency varies and depends on your conversation with Elia. ThreadLight is a two-way messaging service: Elia responds to what you send. You may also receive occasional follow-up messages asking how a peer connection or provider introduction went, so we can improve future matches. We do not send marketing messages, newsletters, or promotional content via SMS.

Message & data rates may apply, depending on your mobile carrier and plan. ThreadLight does not charge you for SMS messages, but your carrier's standard rates apply.

How to opt out. You can stop receiving messages at any time by replying STOP to any message from us. You will receive one final confirmation message, after which Elia will not send you any further messages and your number is removed from our active messaging list. You can reply START at any time to resume, or HELP for a short reminder of what the service is and how to opt out.

Texts to listing owners. When you claim a listing, you can choose to receive texts from ThreadLight about it: account updates, how many people viewed your listing, and offers to sponsor it. These are separate from the member service above, are sent only with the consent you give when you claim (it is never a condition of any purchase), and are limited to about four a month plus messages about your account. Reply STOP to any of them to opt out.

Supported carriers. ThreadLight's SMS service works with all major U.S. carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and their associated MVNOs. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. ThreadLight's SMS service is not a crisis line; if you are in immediate danger, call 911, or contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988).

Donations

ThreadLight may occasionally ask whether you'd like to support the platform with a donation. Donations are entirely voluntary. Your experience on the platform is exactly the same whether you donate or not. Donations unlock nothing and declining changes nothing. We will never ask during a difficult conversation or during onboarding.

Your Data

Your use of ThreadLight is subject to our Privacy Policy, which describes what data we collect, how we use it, how long we keep it, and how you can request deletion. Key points:

• Your phone number is never stored in plain text. It is hashed and encrypted.
• Raw message content is retained for 77 days, then permanently redacted.
• You can request full deletion of your data at any time by texting DELETE.
• We never sell your data to data brokers, ad networks, or marketing companies.
• We never share your information with a provider unless you choose to contact that provider (see Finding Providers).
• Your conversations are not used to train AI models.

Provider Terms

This part applies to professionals and businesses who create, claim, or manage a listing on ThreadLight, free or sponsored. It is in addition to the rest of these Terms.

Listings & Vetting

Listing is free. A vetting call is optional and comes with sponsorship; until a listing passes one, it is shown as “Not yet vetted.” You are responsible for the accuracy of your listing and your eligibility to provide the services you describe. If you are a licensed professional, you must hold a current, valid, unrestricted license in your practice state and carry professional liability insurance, and you must tell us within 10 business days of anything that materially changes your eligibility (license suspension, exclusion from a federal healthcare program, insurance lapse, and the like).

A listing is a discovery placement, not an endorsement or a guarantee of any outcome. ThreadLight may decline, hold, edit for clarity, or remove any listing, and may suspend or terminate a provider account, at its discretion, including for inaccurate information, conduct that harms members, or violation of these Terms.

Listings We Create From Public Information

To help members find what they need, ThreadLight may create a listing for a business before we have spoken with it, using information the business publishes itself (for example, its website). These listings are labeled “Not yet vetted,” link to the business's own website, and never share a member's contact details with the business. We may email the business once, at an address it publishes, to let it know about its listing and invite it to claim it, with at most one follow-up. Every email includes a way to opt out.

Resource lists from partner organizations are built the same way: we read the organization's published resource pages, and every new business found there is reviewed by a person at ThreadLight before it appears.

Claiming a Listing

If ThreadLight created a listing for your business, you can claim it for free. To claim, you confirm a link we send to a contact the business publishes (or that we send you directly), sign in with your mobile number, and accept these Terms. By claiming, you confirm that you are authorized to manage the business's listing.

• Accuracy. You agree to keep your listing accurate and to tell us if the business closes or stops offering what the listing describes.
• Edits are reviewed. Changes to a live listing are reviewed by ThreadLight before members see them.
• Our right to remove. ThreadLight may decline, edit for clarity, or remove any listing, including a claimed one, at its discretion (see Removal Requests).
• Competing claims. If more than one person claims the same listing, or we can't confirm a claim, a person at ThreadLight reviews it and may ask for more information.
• Texts. Claiming asks whether you want texts about your listing (see Texts to listing owners).

Removal Requests

A business that does not want to be listed can ask us to remove its listing from the listing's page, by replying to any email we sent, or by contacting us. When the request can be confirmed through a contact the business publishes, we remove the listing as soon as it is confirmed; otherwise a person at ThreadLight reviews it. We then keep a record of the business so that we do not list it or email it again. Anyone can also report a problem with a listing (for example, that it is out of date) from the listing's page.

Billing

This section is the ThreadLight provider billing agreement. It governs the optional paid upgrade and is the agreement you accept when you save a card.

• Listing on ThreadLight is free. Your listing is shown in search and on its public page whether or not you pay. Billing never hides a listing.
• The upgrade is $25.00 per month for each sponsored listing. It buys the listing a sponsored placement (the first result for matching searches when it is a genuinely good match, labeled “Sponsored” to subscribers) and a vetting call. Service, product, and job listings can be upgraded; resources and events cannot.
• When you are charged. Saving a card at upgrade places a $0 authorization only. Your first $25/month is charged only when your listing passes its vetting call. If vetting does not pass, you are not charged.
• Vetting is permanent. A passed vetting removes the “not yet vetted” note from your listing for good, even if you later turn sponsorship off. A material change to what you offer may require a new vetting call.
• Each additional sponsored listing adds $25.00 per month, billed a prorated amount for the remainder of the current cycle and $25/month thereafter. Charges renew monthly until you turn sponsorship off.
• Turning sponsorship off stops that listing's billing (unused time is credited to your next invoice) and keeps your vetted status. Turning it back on restarts billing. Pausing a listing hides it but does not change its sponsorship; archiving a listing ends its sponsorship.
• Taxes. Applicable sales tax is added on top of the $25/month based on your billing address, and is calculated and collected automatically. You agree to provide a valid billing address at card capture.
• Payment & receipts. You authorize ThreadLight to charge the card you save on file for the recurring subscription and any prorated amounts. Receipts and billing notices are sent to the email you provide at card capture. If a charge is declined, your listing stays visible but its sponsored placement is paused until payment succeeds; you are responsible for keeping a valid card on file.
• Member contact. When a member chooses to contact a phone-based listing, you receive that member's phone number so you can respond. You must use it only to respond to that member's inquiry and in compliance with applicable law (including the TCPA); you may not add it to marketing lists without the member's separate consent.
• Refunds. Monthly subscription fees are non-refundable except where required by law or at ThreadLight's discretion. Please contact us before disputing a charge with your bank so we can resolve it directly.

We may update these billing terms. When we make material changes, we will present them for acceptance before they apply to you, and your existing acceptance remains tied to the version you agreed to (the version label at the top of this page).

Partner Terms

This part applies to organizations (for example, nonprofits and community groups) that manage a resource list on ThreadLight, and to the people who manage it for them. It is in addition to the rest of these Terms.

What Partners Get

• A resource list. ThreadLight keeps a list of the organization's recommended resources, built from pages the organization publishes and from resources the organization suggests. Every new resource is reviewed by a person at ThreadLight before it appears.
• Priority for members. Subscribers who join the organization by texting its code see the organization's resources first when they fit what they ask for. Sponsored listings may still appear above them, always labeled “Sponsored.”
• Hiding. An organization can hide any resource on its list. A hidden resource is never shown as the organization's and is not offered to its members.
• Reporting. Organizations receive total counts only (for example, how many members joined and how many of the organization's resources were shown). ThreadLight never shares anything about an individual subscriber with a partner, including whether a particular person joined.

Partner Responsibilities

• The person who claims or manages a list confirms that they are authorized to act for the organization.
• Partners hide, add, and change resources in good faith, for the people the organization serves, and do not use the list to promote a business in exchange for payment.
• ThreadLight may decline any suggested resource, keep any resource that meets its standards on the wider directory, and remove a partner's priority or list at its discretion.

General

Limitation of Liability

ThreadLight is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• ThreadLight is not liable for any actions, advice, or behavior of peer connections made through the platform.
• ThreadLight is not liable for the quality, suitability, or outcomes of any provider listed on the platform.
• ThreadLight is not liable for any AI-generated content that is inaccurate, incomplete, or inappropriate.
• ThreadLight is not liable for any harm arising from your use of crisis resources surfaced by the platform.
• In no event shall ThreadLight's total liability exceed the amount you have paid to ThreadLight in the 12 months preceding the claim, if any.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless ThreadLight AI, its officers, and its agents from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from your use of the platform, your interactions with other community members, your listing or services (if you are a provider), or your violation of these Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the platform shall be resolved in the courts of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as the platform evolves. When we make material changes, we will notify active users via SMS and update the effective date and version label at the top of this page. Your continued use of the platform after notification constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Termination

You can stop using ThreadLight at any time by texting STOP, and you can request deletion of all your data by texting DELETE. Providers may cancel by pausing or archiving their listings. ThreadLight reserves the right to suspend or terminate access if you violate these Terms, engage in behavior that harms other community members, or use the platform in a way that is illegal or abusive.

Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, contact us at:

ThreadLight AI
Email: hello@threadlight.ai
Philadelphia, PA