Affiliate Policy

1. What this is

The Madcat Affiliate Program (the “Program”) lets verified Madcat Creators earn a referral payout when other people sign up through their unique referral link and complete their first paid gig. This Policy supplements the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If anything here conflicts with those documents, those documents control.

2. Eligibility

To participate, you must:

• Have an active Madcat Creator account in good standing.
• Be at least 18 years old.
• Reside in a country supported for creator payouts (see the country list shown during onboarding).
• Have completed identity verification (Section 4.1 of the Terms).

Brand accounts, suspended accounts, and Madcat staff are not eligible.

3. How it works

• Your link. When the Program is active, your referral link will appear in your account at /creator/rewards. Each link contains a unique referral code tied to your account.
• Attribution window. A first-party cookie attributes a new sign-up to your link for thirty (30) days from first click. If the new user clicks multiple referral links, the most recent click wins.
• Qualifying action. You earn a referral payout when the person you referred (a) creates a Creator account, (b) completes the onboarding wizard, and (c) has their first paid gig approved on Madcat.
• Amount. You earn a tiered commission of up to 10% of the value of campaigns completed by creators you referred, funded entirely out of Madcat’s platform fee. Your tier (2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, or 10%) is determined by your lifetime affiliate earnings as shown on the Rewards page. Commission never reduces the referred creator’s own payout. We may change rates and thresholds; see Section 8.
• How you are paid. Referral earnings appear in your Cashout balance and pay out through the same method as your gig payouts, subject to the same minimums and hold periods.
• One per referee. A given person can be a qualifying referral for one Creator only and only one time.

4. Prohibited conduct

The following conduct disqualifies a referral, forfeits any related payout, and may result in suspension or termination of your Creator account:

• Self-referrals. Referring yourself, household members, alternate accounts under your control, or anyone where you stand to receive both sides of the value.
• Sock puppets and account farming. Creating, controlling, or coordinating multiple accounts to inflate referrals.
• VPN / proxy evasion. Using a VPN, proxy, anonymising service, or IP-rotation tool to disguise self-referrals or shared-device sign-ups.
• Incentivised sign-ups. Paying, gifting, or offering anything of value (cash, gift cards, crypto, loot boxes, in-game items, etc.) in exchange for someone signing up through your link.
• Cookie stuffing. Setting your referral cookie on users who never clicked your link or used a referral code.
• Fake or AI-generated identities. Creating personas, AI-generated profiles, or stolen-identity accounts to act as referrals.
• Spam. Mass unsolicited messages on any platform (email, DM, comment, forum, Discord, etc.) promoting your referral link.
• Brand bidding. Bidding on “Madcat,” “Madcat.gg,” or any confusingly similar term in paid search (Google, Bing, TikTok ads, YouTube ads, etc.) or running ads that compete with our own organic or paid traffic for branded queries.
• Misrepresentation. Promising specific earnings (“earn $5,000 a month”), claiming a Madcat staff role you do not hold, implying an exclusive partnership with Madcat, or impersonating Madcat support / official social accounts.
• Adult, hateful, illegal, or harmful contexts. Promoting Madcat alongside adult content, hate speech, harassment, illegal services, or any content that would violate the Madcat Terms if posted on-platform.
• Trademark misuse. Registering domains or social handles containing “Madcat” or confusingly similar marks.

5. Promotion rules

• Disclosure. When you promote your referral link in content that you have a material connection to (your own social posts, blog, newsletter, video, podcast, stream), you must disclose the relationship in line with the US FTC Endorsement Guides and any local equivalent. “#ad” or “#sponsored” is acceptable; vague phrases like “collab” are not.
• Honest claims. Describe what Madcat actually does and what creators actually earn on average. Do not make claims you cannot back up.
• No employer claim. You are not Madcat’s employee or partner. Do not describe yourself as such.
• No press / investor outreach. Do not contact press, analysts, or investors as a representative of Madcat unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.

6. Clawbacks and chargebacks

We may withhold or reverse a referral payout if, within 30 days of the qualifying gig, the referred Creator is suspended, terminated, or refunds the gig fee for any reason attributable to fraud, identity issues, or breach of the Terms. Lifetime clawback applies to any referral we determine in good faith was the result of conduct prohibited by Section 4.

7. Taxes

Referral earnings are taxable income in most jurisdictions. You are responsible for any taxes owed. Where local law requires, we will collect a tax form from you (e.g. US Form W-9 / W-8) before paying out referral earnings, and we will report payments to tax authorities where required (e.g. US Form 1099-NEC over the IRS threshold).

8. Changes to the Program

We may modify the payout amount, attribution window, qualifying action, eligible countries, or other terms of the Program at any time. Material changes (including a reduction in payout amount) take effect at least 30 days after we post the updated Policy or notify you in-app, whichever is earlier. We may also pause or end the Program entirely on reasonable notice.

9. Termination and audit

We may suspend or terminate your participation in the Program at any time for breach of this Policy or the Terms, suspected fraud, or risk to the platform. On termination of your participation, any unpaid referral balance is forfeited if the underlying conduct was prohibited; otherwise we will pay out any balance you have earned in good standing.

You agree that we may, at our reasonable discretion, audit referral activity tied to your account, including IP, device, and account-graph data, to enforce this Policy.

10. No employment relationship

Participation in the Program does not create any employment, agency, partnership, joint venture, or franchise relationship between you and Madcat. You are an independent participant.

11. Governing law

This Policy is governed by the laws of Malta, and the courts of Malta (Valletta) have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from it, subject to the EU consumer carve-outs described in Section 14 of the Terms of Service.

12. Contact

Program questions: referrals@madcat.gg
Fraud or abuse reports: trust@madcat.gg
General legal: legal@madcat.gg