Campaign Dispute Resolution, Forfeitures & The 3-Strike Enforcement Framework

1. Principles of Fair Marketplace Arbitration

Kpugi's dispute and enforcement framework is designed to maintain complete balance and fairness across our two-sided marketplace. Advertisers must be protected against non-compliant or deceptive submissions, while creators must be protected against arbitrary non-payment or unreasonable client demands.

Every campaign brief published on Kpugi constitutes a legally binding Service Level Agreement (SLA). All dispute determinations are evaluated strictly against the objective guidelines written into that brief at the time the creator joined the campaign.

2. The 48-Hour Brand Dispute Window

Advertisers may inspect creator submissions in their campaign drawer and submit a formal dispute within 48 hours of post submission:

Valid Grounds for a Brand Dispute:

• Missing Mandatory Tags: The creator omitted the required sponsor handle tag (e.g. @BrandNigeria) or misstated mandatory campaign hashtags.
• Missing Legal Disclosures: The post omitted required commercial disclosures (#ad, #sponsored) in the first 3 lines of the caption.
• Direct Competitor Endorsement: The creator featured or mentioned a commercial competitor explicitly named in the brief's competitor exclusion list.
• Premature Deletion or Archival: The post was deleted, hidden, or set to Private while the campaign was active.
• Muted Audio: The creator used unlicensed music resulting in the social platform muting the audio.
• Post Alteration: The creator edited the caption post-submission to strip required tags or links.

Invalid Grounds for a Brand Dispute:

• Subjective Creative Dissatisfaction: Complaining about the creator's delivery style, personal tone, or appearance when all explicit brief instructions were satisfied.
• Unstated Requirements: Attempting to penalize a creator for requirements, angles, or tags that were never written in the original campaign brief.
• Slower View Velocity: Filing a dispute simply because a creator's post took longer to gain algorithmic traction than anticipated.

3. Step-by-Step Arbitration Procedure

1. Filing: The brand files a dispute ticket via their campaign dashboard within the 48-hour window, providing specific violation reasons and screenshot evidence.
2. Compliance Review: Kpugi compliance officers retrieve the live post snapshot and cross-reference it against the timestamped brief version.
3. Determination:
   • Upheld Dispute: If a breach is verified, the submission is disqualified, earnings revert to N0.00, and the reserved budget unlocks back to the brand pool.
   • Dismissed Dispute: If the creator met all stated brief criteria, the dispute is dismissed, and earnings continue to accrue normally for the creator.

4. The Creator 3-Strike Disciplinary System

To uphold quality standards and hold repeat offenders accountable, Kpugi enforces a progressive 3-strike system for creators who violate compliance rules:

5. Advertiser Abuse & Frivolous Disputes

The dispute system cannot be weaponized by advertisers to evade paying creators for verified views. Advertisers who repeatedly file frivolous disputes against compliant creators face penalties:

• First Warning: Rejection of invalid disputes with an operational warning.
• Dispute Privilege Suspension: Advertisers filing multiple bad-faith disputes will have their dispute privileges suspended for 14 days.
• Account Review: Chronic abusers may face campaign termination and permanent closure of their advertiser profile.

6. Appeals Process

If you believe a strike or dispute ruling was issued in error, you may file a formal appeal within 7 calendar days by opening an arbitration ticket at Kpugi Support. An independent senior compliance officer will review the case within 48 business hours.