Spotlite is updating its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
There are two main themes to this revision. The first is a change to the underlying structure of the service (operating entity, payment system, settlement/tax structure). The second is that standards around bookings, cancellations, and content — previously ambiguous in places — have been made clearer and more accurate.
Below are the key changes affecting both models and clients, organized with their relevant clauses.
Part 1. Changes to the service's underlying structure
1. The service will be operated by a U.S. entity.
Relevant clauses: Article 1 (Purpose), Article 31 (Assignment and Entity Transfer)
From August 31, 2026, Spotlite will be operated by SpotLite Global, Inc. (a corporation established in Delaware, U.S.A.). As of the effective date, existing service agreements with the former Korean entity will be transferred (assigned) to the U.S. entity.
Your existing rights will not be reduced: The assignment does not diminish your existing rights and obligations, which remain in effect except where the terms provide otherwise.
Details of the assignment procedure will be provided in a separate notice (Article 31(3)).
2. Governing law and dispute resolution will differ by region of residence.
Relevant clauses: Article 30, Article 30-2, Article 32(7) (Governing Law)
With the move to a U.S. operating entity, governing law and dispute resolution have also been restructured. The applicable rules differ depending on where you reside.
Users residing in Korea: Disputes are governed by Korean law and resolved in Korean courts under the Civil Procedure Act. The binding arbitration, jury-trial waiver, and class-action waiver provisions do not apply. The Article 15 mediation process continues to apply.
Users in the U.S. and other regions: Disputes are resolved through binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and you waive class-action and jury-trial rights. However, you may opt out of the arbitration provision by sending written notice to legal@teamspotlite.com within 30 days of first accepting the terms.
Governing law: The terms are generally governed by Delaware law, except that Article 30-2 takes precedence for users residing in Korea.
3. Payments will move to Stripe.
Relevant clauses: Article 17 (Payment Methods), Privacy Policy Article 7
Payments will move from our previous payment processor (PortOne) to Stripe, Inc.
All payments processed via Stripe: The company does not process payments directly — all payments are processed solely through a licensed third-party payment service provider (Stripe). Your payment information is managed by Stripe.
The company does not hold customer funds: All customer funds are held by Stripe from the time of payment through the completion of settlement (Stripe Connect destination charge model). The company does not hold or transfer funds directly, and only provides instructions regarding settlement timing and similar matters.
Exceptional bank transfer: Only where a Stripe payment is not possible, or with the company's prior consent, payment may be made to a designated account within 30 days of the settlement statement being sent.
For losses arising from Stripe service outages or payment delays, absent the company's intent or negligence, Stripe's own terms and dispute procedures will apply.
4. The settlement and tax structure has been formalized.
Relevant clauses: Article 16 (Project Amounts and Service Fees), Article 32(5)(6), Privacy Policy U.S. Supplementary Provisions (5)(6)
Payor of record: Settlements are paid by SpotLite Global, Inc. through Stripe Connect. Spotlite is not an agent, employer, representative, or guarantor (Article 22(2)).
Tax forms: Models who are U.S. persons for tax purposes must submit a W-9 before their first payment; non-resident alien models must submit a W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E for entities) during Stripe Connect onboarding. Payment may be held until these are submitted.
Tax reporting: The company issues Form 1099-NEC to U.S. models who meet the IRS reporting threshold ($2,000/year, per the 2026 OBBBA), with Stripe acting as filing agent. Non-resident aliens who submit a valid W-8BEN do not receive a 1099-NEC and are exempt from the 30% withholding (IRC §1441).
Client payment deadline: Clients pay within 30 days of receiving the settlement statement.
Model payouts: The company pays the model's settlement amount within 28 business days of the later of the client's payment date or the project completion date.
Part 2. Bookings, cancellations, and fees
5. The point at which a booking is confirmed is now clearer.
Relevant clause: Article 12 (Project Contracts and Bookings)
A booking is formed when the model accepts the client's request. Operationally, the flow is "model accepts → client confirms," and we've clarified that a model's acceptance alone does not complete the entire process.
6. Cancellation fee standards are now clearer.
Relevant clause: Article 13 (Booking Cancellation)
We previously advised that "cancellation is difficult once the contract has been signed by both parties," but the actual standard applies from the moment a booking is confirmed — regardless of whether it has been signed.
Starting point: Applies from the moment a booking is confirmed (formed).
Fee rates: 20% of the contract amount for cancellations more than 72 hours before the scheduled project date, 50% within 72 hours, and 100% of the Spotlite service fee after the booking is confirmed.
Waiver conditions: Cancellation fees may only be waived with the other party's explicit written consent. "Written consent" includes consent given via email as well as platform chat, text message, or KakaoTalk, and must contain a clear expression of agreement, such as "Yes, I agree."
Prior written agreement: The cancellation amount may be set differently where the client and model have mutually agreed in writing in advance.
Grounds for exemption: Force majeure, serious illness or injury of the person in charge, death of the person in charge or an immediate family member (within four degrees of kinship), travel restrictions imposed by a government authority, and similar circumstances. To claim an exemption, you must submit written evidence substantiating the grounds within 14 days of the cancellation.
7. Events and special shoots follow the same cancellation standards.
Relevant clauses: Article 2(4) (definition of "Project"), Articles 12–13
Events and special (non-shoot) engagements also fall within the definition of a "Project" under the terms (any professional activity provided by a model or agent), so the same cancellation fee policy applies as for standard shoots.
8. We're standardizing on the term "Option."
Relevant clause: Article 13(1)
The previously used term "tentative booking" is being standardized to "Option." Since cancellation fees presuppose a confirmed booking, an Option is a pre-confirmation stage and no cancellation fee applies.
9. The No-Show policy is now clearer.
Relevant clause: Article 14 (No-Show Policy)
A "no-show" means failing to attend a confirmed shoot without valid cause, or being unreachable for 20 minutes or more past the agreed shoot time.
Two-stage penalty · Article 14(2): First occurrence — 90-day booking restriction (models and agents have their profiles hidden) plus a review of account eligibility. Second occurrence — permanent account suspension (with an opportunity to appeal).
Fees · Article 14(3): The no-show party bears 100% of that shoot's service fee, and the other party receives a 100% service fee waiver on their next booking.
Exemption · Article 14(4): Where force majeure, serious illness or injury, death of an immediate family member, government travel restrictions, or similar circumstances apply, penalties may be adjusted if you contact our Support Team with supporting evidence within 24 hours of the shoot time.
Part 3. Content, AI, and violations
10. A new clause prohibiting AI and synthetic media has been added.
Relevant clause: Article 8 (Prohibition on AI and Synthetic Media)
This is a new clause designed to protect models. Using a model's images, video, body measurement data, voice, or similar material (collectively, "model data") is prohibited for the following purposes:
Developing, training, fine-tuning, or generating output with generative AI (applies to both pre-booking data and post-booking deliverables)
Creating deepfakes, voice clones, virtual avatars, or other synthetic media
Use as training data for facial recognition or computer vision systems
Creating digital replicas that imitate or reproduce a model's appearance, voice, or similar attributes
This prohibition survives regardless of whether a booking or project is completed. A violation constitutes a material breach, resulting in immediate account termination, a demand to delete the content within 24 hours, liquidated damages, and similar consequences. Licensing for AI training purposes requires a separate, explicit agreement.
Note that Spotlite's own visual search (similar-model search based on image embeddings) is not subject to this prohibition. The company does not use data collected or processed for visual search purposes to train generative AI models, and the relevant processing details and scope of consent are set out separately in the Privacy Policy.
11. Post-booking usage scope and content usage periods are now clearer.
Relevant clause: Article 9 (Post-Booking Usage Scope)
A project contract specifies the usage type, media, region, and duration, and the client's usage rights are limited to that scope. Use beyond the agreed region or duration, use in media not agreed upon, creation of derivative works, resale or relicensing, and similar uses are not permitted without a separate license (Article 9(2)).
Content usage period: This depends on whether archiving consent has been given. With consent, content may remain posted; without it, content is deleted once the agreed period ends.
The mere fact that a client still holds a deliverable after the agreed period has passed does not expand the scope of permitted use.
12. Circumvention and liquidated damages
Relevant clauses: Article 7(1) (Prohibited Conduct), Article 25 (Liquidated Damages)
Spotlite requires bookings to go through the platform in order to keep transactions safe. Off-platform dealings via contact details or social media (circumvention), unauthorized scraping, and unauthorized recruiting using contact information are prohibited and may result in account termination and a claim for damages.
The terms provide for liquidated damages for such violations — per violation, the greater of US$10,000 or five times the related service fee. The terms expressly state that this is a reasonable estimate of harm that is difficult to quantify, such as reputational and relationship damage, and is not a penalty.
Part 4. Accounts and personal data
13. You must be 18 or older to sign up.
Relevant clauses: Article 4(2), Privacy Policy Article 13
Sign-up is available only to those aged 18 or older, with age verification during registration. In accordance with U.S. COPPA, we do not collect personal information from children under 13.
14. Profile and account guidance has been updated.
Registering models under agency representation: Models under exclusive agency representation may register with their agency's permission.
Editing profile location: If your actual place of residence changes, you can edit your profile location directly.
Identity verification (KYC) · Article 5: The company may carry out document-based KYC procedures. Providing false information constitutes a material breach.
15. Account withdrawal and data retention periods
Relevant clauses: Article 29 (Termination of the Service Agreement), Privacy Policy Articles 4 and 18
Withdrawal processing: Withdrawal requests are processed within 7 business days. Information subject to statutory retention obligations is stored separately and then destroyed.
Retention periods: Account information is retained for 30 days after withdrawal, profile information for 90 days, payment/settlement and KYC information for 7 years (tax retention), support records for 3 years, and automatically collected information for 6 months, with periods set item by item.
16. Personal data will be transferred to the U.S.
Relevant clause: Privacy Policy Article 7 (Cross-Border Transfer of Personal Data)
With the change to a U.S. operating entity, personal data will be transferred to SpotLite Global, Inc. and U.S.-based processors.
Recipients: Stripe (payments/settlement), Persona (KYC), AWS (hosting), Modal Labs (visual search image processing), Customer.io (marketing), Mixpanel (usage analytics), and others — all in the U.S.
The company contractually imposes protections at the level required by Korea's Personal Information Protection Act and the CCPA on each processor, and monitors their compliance.
17. Guidance on client brand URLs is now clearer.
Relevant clause: Article 4(4)(i) (Representation and Warranty as to Truthfulness of Information)
Information provided at sign-up must be truthful and accurate. Clients should enter an accurate brand URL at sign-up; if you must enter a placeholder address for unavoidable reasons, you must notify Spotlite in advance.
Part 5. Other information
18. Service fee rates
The service fee applied to clients falls within the 15–20% range. No service fee is charged to models or agents.
19. Support hours
Our Support Team operates on weekdays (excluding public holidays) from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM Korea time (Article 10(2); 1:00–10:00 AM UTC).
In closing
The heart of this revision is that the service's underlying structure is being formalized — the operating entity, the payment system, and so on — and that standards for bookings, cancellations, and content are becoming clearer.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support Team at cx@teamspotlite.com anytime.
Thank you.