Community Guidelines are a set of rules created by us to ensure the standard of behaviour expected when using the ETHOS app is clear and to create a safe environment for our users to interact and enjoy. Below you will find The Ethos Network’s (“ETHOS”, “we”) Community Guidelines (“Guidelines”). In accordance with our Terms of Service (“Terms”) which you have agreed to by registering an account with us, we reserve the right to remove content, or delete an account if it breaks any of these specific and defined ahead of time rules.

Please read them carefully, it is very important for us that every user understands and abides by these Guidelines. It is also very important for us that our users feel heard, therefore, if you believe in good faith your content has been taken down by mistake, please contact us using the appealing process.

As a user, you will also be able to flag and report content that you believe in good faith it is against these Guidelines. Using our reporting process you will be able to submit a report and follow through its resolution. If you have any feedback, we would be happy to hear about any new ideas or suggestions.

Below you will find the content we do not allow in ETHOS, please read and understand carefully, it will result in a better experience for all, and do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Do not:

Pretend to be someone else

User content intended to impersonate another person is not allowed:

• Using someone else’s real name, username, image, brand, logo, or other personal information to trick people into believing you are that person.
• Setting up an account using the name and image of a person, and then pretending that person is posting content on the account.
• Setting up an account using the name and image of a person, and then posting comments on other posts or sending messages to other users as if they were the person.
• Accounts impersonating an existing news/business/organisation account.

Use our Services independently if you do not meet the minimum age requirement for the country associated with your account

To manage your own ETHOS Account, you must meet the minimum age requirement for the country associated with your account. If we discover that you may not be old enough to manage your own account, access to your account will be disabled and content you’ve published hidden.

Learn more about why we may ask for your age here (https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/why-do-some-apps-ask-my-age).

Post misleading information

We ask that you do not post:

• Misinformation or economic incentives to propagate misinformation.
• Manipulated media, whether a photo or video affected to the point that the average person might be misled and led to believe something false.
• Imagery or media that impersonates another member of the public.
• Pieces of content that have been confirmed to be false or misleading by subject-matter experts, such as public health authorities; and whose spreading could likely result in offline or online
• Content aiming to suppress or mislead voters about the time, place, means, or eligibility requirements for voting, or false claims that could materially discourage voting.
• Content aiming to suppress or mislead participants about the time, means or eligibility requirements for participating in a civic process.

Promote illegal activities

As a user you contractually agree to follow the law in your use of our Service. The Service may not be used as a place to support, organise, promote, or spread organised crime, terrorism or hate speech. Nor may it be used for any sort of illegal exchanges such as of firearms or sexual services. Do not post or promote illegal activities or acts punishable by law, including theft, assault, human exploitation, counterfeiting, and other harmful behaviour.

Do not post content that:

• Depicts or promotes acts of physical or mental harm.
• Risks the safety of others.
• Provides instructions on how to conduct criminal activities, weapons, explosives, incite violence or lead to a goal of injuring or killing people.
• Offers the purchase, sale, trade, or solicitation of unlawfully acquired or counterfeit goods.
• Depicts or promotes human exploitation.
• Displays firearms, firearm accessories, ammunition, explosive weapons or instructions on how to manufacture them or intent, encouragement or aspiration to bring weapons to any locations.
• Depicts or promotes drugs, drug consumption, or encourages others to make, use, or trade drugs or other controlled substances.
• Promotes gambling services.
• Depicts personal data or personally identifiable information (PII) from the platform.
• States intent to commit violence or advocate, aspire or call for violence in any way.

Engage in fraud or scam

We don’t allow fraud, scams, or other deceptive practices that take advantage of the user community. We also don’t allow content where the main purpose is to trick others into leaving Ethos for another site nor content that deceives people in order to gain an unlawful financial or personal advantage, including schemes to defraud individuals or steal assets.

Do not post:

• Misleading Metadata or Thumbnails: Using the title, thumbnails, description, or tags to trick users into believing the content is something it is not.
• Manipulated Media: Content that has been technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads users (beyond clips taken out of context) and may pose a serious risk of egregious harm.
• Scams: Content offering cash gifts, “get rich quick” schemes, or pyramid schemes (sending money without a tangible product in a pyramid structure).
• Incitement to interfere with democratic processes: content encouraging others to interfere with democratic processes, such as obstructing or interrupting voting procedures.
• Distribution of hacked materials: content that contains hacked information, the disclosure of which may interfere with democratic processes, such as elections and censuses.

Post violent content, graphic content, or animal cruelty

Graphic and non-graphic content that promotes or incites cruelty towards people or animals in any form, will be removed.

We ask that when posting a graphic image, you refrain from posting media that could be detrimental to the mental health of others, which includes but is not limited to pictures where an animal or person is very ill, unsightly illnesses on animal or people, pictures of the deceased and bloody pictures of injuries.

We do not allow content that is gratuitously shocking, graphic, sadistic, or gruesome or that promotes, normalises, or glorifies extreme violence or suffering of any kind on our platform. When there is a threat to public safety, we suspend or ban the account and, when warranted, we will report it to relevant legal authorities.

We have a zero-tolerance rule with respect to sharing content that in any way exploits or endangers adults. As we encourage the use of our platforms as a place to raise awareness about sexual violence and exploitation, we work carefully to ensure we can create a safe environment whilst also trying to build a common understanding and community. We would like to allow a space for victims to share their experiences. To protect victims and survivors we remove images that depict incidents of sexual violence and intimate images that were shared without permission from the people pictured.

Do not post content:

• That mocks victims of any sort of non-consensual sexual encounter.
• That in any way attempts to, advocates or enables any sort of illegal activity including but not limited to any content that exploits people, vengeful contexts, non-consensual imagery, coercion, threats, stating an intent to share sexual imagery.

Promote suicide, self-injury or eating disorders

We do not allow content that depicts, promotes, normalises, or glorifies acts that may lead to serious injury or death for the user or the public.

We do not allow content that promotes, describes or displays suicide, suicide ideation, suicide attempts or that encourages participation in other self-injurious behaviour. We prohibit any form of content that promotes, normalises, or glorifies suicide self-injury and eating disorders, provides instructions for suicide, or posts that portray a suicide as heroic or honourable. We remove content that may encourage or normalise acts that are likely to lead to physical self-inflicted injury.

Post hate speech or symbols

Content that degrades or targets individuals, minorities or communities, that contains hate speech or that in any way victimises a group or encourages and supports violence towards them is strictly not allowed.

Any discrimination based on any ground such as but not limited to sex, race, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation is prohibited and will be removed. This extends to threatening to post images of someone, credible threats or hate speech that could cause online or offline harm to others.

We are currently dedicated to following the UN’s official definition for hate speech when assessing its restriction of content. The United Nations defines hate speech as “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor”.

We are committed to frequently re-evaluating our definitions of hate speech and communicating these transparently to you. In return we ask that you use the Services for positive discussion and restrain from posting content that could harm an individual or a community in any way.

Engage or promote harassment or bullying

We do not tolerate bullying or harassment on our platform and content that engages with these will be removed. It includes promotion and expression of:

• Abusive behaviour.
• Threats or degrading statements intended to mock, humiliate, embarrass, intimidate, or hurt others on any basis.
• Coordinated harassment.
• Wilful harm or intimidation, such as cyberstalking or trolling.
• Content that wishes death, serious disease, or other serious harm on anyone.
• Unwanted or inappropriate sexual behaviour.
• Content that simulates sexual activity with another user in any way through any of the features of the app.
• Content that alters or morphs an image of another individual to portray or imply sexual suggestiveness or engagement in sexual activity.
• Threats to reveal a person’s private sexual life.
• Threats of hacking, doxing (search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the internet, typically with malicious intent) or blackmailing.
• Repeatedly contact someone in an unwanted or sexually harassing way nor target anyone maliciously by attacking them based on their personal status (e.g.: as a victim of assault).
• Creation of pages dedicated towards attacking an individual or groups by calling for their death or any serious harm to them, making false claims about them or making statements of intent to engage in sexual activity.
• Exposing other users to or address other users with offensive content including but not limited to the use of derogatory language, targeted swearing, derogatory claims about religious identity, race, sexuality, or any other aspect of the individual’s identity, calls for death or serious injury and offensive comparisons.

Post sexually inappropriate content

We have a restrictive rule with respect to sharing sexual content. We consider sexual content to be any media that is pornographic or intended to cause sexual arousal. Some examples include but are not limited to any material depicting sexual behaviour, whether explicit or implicit behaviour such as sexual language and euphemisms.

We do not allow nudity, pornography, or sexually explicit content on our platform (including digitally created). We also prohibit content that promotes, describes, depicts, glorifies, normalises, solicits, or supports non-consensual sexual acts, the sharing of non-consensual intimate content, and adult sexual solicitation or exploitation.

We ask our community not to post:

• Visible genitalia, including visible anus.
• Media depicting sexual intercourse – both explicit (with at least one person’s nude genitals entering or in contact with another person’s mouth or genitals) or implied (when the contact isn’t directly visible). The exceptions to implied include in the context of sexual health awareness.
• Media depicting other sexual activities such as but not limited to erections, sexual stimulation, presence of by-products of sexual activity.
• Media depicting fetish content such as but not limited to cannibalism, dismemberment, faeces, urine or any acts that are likely to lead to the death of a person or animal.

Please note that nudity exceptions may be made for nudity with educational, artistic, historical, medical, health, or documentary value (for example, breastfeeding content).

Post content that endangers minor’s safety

We have a zero-tolerance rule with respect to sharing CSAM and content that in any way exploits or endangers minors. This includes the sharing of nude images of a child, which might sometimes be posted with good intentions, but are removed due to the potential for abuse by others.

Sexual exploitation of minors: any abuse of a position of power or trust for sexual purposes, including profiting financially, socially, sexually, or politically from the exploitation of a minor.

Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): any visual depiction of sexually explicit nudity or conduct, whether captured by predatory adults, peers, or self-generated by minors. Ethos prohibits and will take action on any content or accounts involving sexual interactions and advances between an adult and a minor, or between minors with a significant age difference.

In all actions relating to children, whether taken by public authorities or private institutions, the child’s best interests must be a primary consideration.

Do not post content:

• That advocates for the sexual exploitation of children or minors, including but not limited to minors soliciting minors, adults soliciting minors, any sexual activity involving minors.
• That in any way is using the services provided by Ethos to sexualise minors.
• That facilitates inappropriate interactions with children such as but not limited to initiating unsolicited contact with minors (for example through private messages) or arranging real world sexual encounters.
• That depicts child nudity of any sort.
• That shows minors with sexual elements including but not limited to a focus on genitals, stripping, open mouth kissing with a minor or adult.
• That praises, encourages, enables, or advocates for participation in nonsexual child abuse in any way.
• That shares, re-shares, offers to trade or sell, or directs users off platform to obtain or distribute CSAM.
• That depicts, solicits, glorifies, or encourages child abuse imagery including nudity, sexualised minors, sexual activity with minors, pedophilia or sexual assault of a minor.
• That depicts, promotes, normalises, glorifies or engages in predatory conduct to prepare a minor for sexual activity at a later time, including communicating and/or attempting to befriend or establish a relationship or other emotional connection with a minor or their parent/carer.
• That solicits real-world sexual contact between a minor and an adult or between minors with a significant age difference.
• That displays or offers nudity to minors.
• That depicts sexual arousal or sexual stimulation involving a minor.
• That depicts a sexual fetish involving a minor.
• That contains sexually explicit language depicting or describing a minor.
• That depicts a minor undressing.
• That depicts a minor in minimal clothing that is not situationally relevant to the location.
• That suggests, depicts, imitates, or promotes the possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, or drugs by a minor.
• That offers instruction targeting minors on how to buy, sell, or trade alcohol, tobacco, or controlled substances.
• That depicts or promotes activities that may jeopardise youth well-being, including physical challenges, dares, or stunts.
• That depicts or promotes physical abuse, neglect, endangerment, or psychological disparagement of minors.

Post spam content

Content that is excessively posted, repetitive, or untargeted and does one or more of the following is not allowed:

• Promises viewers they’ll see something but instead directs them off site.
• Gets clicks, views, or traffic off Ethos by promising viewers that they’ll make money fast.
• Sends audiences to sites that spread malware, try to gather personal information, or other sites that have a negative impact.
• Content that sells engagement metrics.
• Comments where the sole purpose is to gather personal information from viewers, misleadingly drive viewers off Ethos, or perform any of the prohibited behaviours noted above.
• Leaving large amounts of identical, untargeted, or repetitive comments.

Infringe intellectual property

Avoid infringing copyright or intellectual property rights by ensuring the content you post is your own. Content that infringes someone else’s intellectual property rights, trademarks or copyrights is prohibited on our platform and will be removed if we become aware of it.

Post private information

You cannot post private information or media about other people on Ethos without their express consent. We do not allow threatening to expose private information or incentivising others to do so either.

Do not post:

• Address or location information, including any identifying information related to locations that are considered private.
• Identity documents, including government-issued IDs and social security or other national identity numbers.
• Contact information, including non-public personal phone numbers or email addresses.
• Financial account information, including bank account and credit card details.
• Other private information, including biometric data or medical records.
• Media of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted.

Do not:

• Threaten to post someone’s private information.
• Post information that would enable others to hack or gain access to someone’s private information without their consent.
• Ask for or offer financial reward in exchange for posting someone’s private information.
• Ask for a bounty or financial reward in exchange for not posting someone’s private information, blackmail.

General:

As a company we will work our best to enforce these Community Guidelines in real-time. We also trust our users to help us keep the platform safe. If you identify a post that you feel violates the guidelines, please report it to us and we will address the situation.

We encourage you to voice and share your personal thoughts and opinions respectfully on the platform. We believe it’s important for people to communicate (possibly more than they currently do) about shared matters. Please do not violate our Community Guidelines when commenting, or using the site in other ways, such as messaging, either. We would like to give our users opportunities to learn from feedback wherever they post something against our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines, for this reason we have also established a strike system that will come into action before permanently banning a user’s account. We’d like to ensure that the community remains a safe environment and hence must request that you do not engage with any form of abuse, hate speech or attack on another user.Our support functions in dealing with the question of content moderation will remain under constant review and improvement as the platform and our resources grow. In exchange for our commitment to doing our best to create fair and minimally harmful platform, we ask that you refrain from using ETHOS in a way that in any way goes against these Community Guidelines. If, as we develop and collect user feedback, we make updates to these Community Guidelines we will look to inform you of this change by getting in contact via the ETHOS app or SMS.