Acceptable Use Policy
What you may not do here, and what happens if you do.
Announced 28 October 2026 — 30 days’ notice. Until then the version you already accepted continues to apply to you. What is changing:
- Sexually explicit content — pornography and other sexually explicit images, video or text are not allowed.
- No tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users — what we remove, the filter where people who don't know you can reach you, and blocking and reporting.
This policy is part of the Terms. It is written as plainly as we can manage, because a rule nobody can understand is a rule nobody can follow.
Do not use Whinchat to
- Sexually exploit or endanger a child, in any way, ever. See Child Safety — this one has its own page because it has its own law and its own consequences.
- Threaten, stalk, harass or incite violence against anyone, or attack people for their ethnicity, religion, nationality, sex, disability or similar group, or spread false information meant to cause that kind of harm.
- Share someone's private information, images or recordings without their consent, including intimate images. If that has happened to you, see Intimate Images — we remove them within 48 hours.
- Post or send pornography or other sexually explicit images, video or text. Whinchat is not a place for adult content.
- Post graphic real-world violence or gore, except where it is newsworthy and shown with appropriate context.
- Impersonate another person or organisation, or misrepresent who you are in a sale.
- Sell what may not lawfully be sold here — see Prohibited & Restricted Items.
- Defraud people: fake listings, fake reviews, payment fraud, or taking a payment outside escrow in order to escape it.
- Send bulk unsolicited messages, or use the Service to advertise something else at people who did not ask.
- Post material you have no right to post — see Copyright & DMCA.
- Attack the Service: scraping, automated account creation, credential stuffing, probing for vulnerabilities without authorisation, overloading it, or working around a rate limit or a block. Responsible security research is welcome and has its own route in Security.
No tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users
We do not tolerate objectionable content or abusive users. Content that breaks this policy is removed, and accounts that post it, or that harass or abuse other people, are suspended or banned. Where people who don't know you can reach you — groups, open rooms, marketplace chats, channels, updates and names — a filter removes slurs, threats and sexual harassment before anyone sees them. You can block anyone, and report any message, profile, listing, channel or update; reports are reviewed by people on our team.
What happens if you do
Depending on what it is: the content is removed; a warning; a temporary suspension; a permanent ban; and, where the law requires it, a report to the authorities. We try to match the response to the harm, and to tell you what happened and how to appeal — except where telling you would defeat a legal obligation.
Reporting something
Every message, listing and profile can be reported from inside the app. Reports of illegal content are triaged; child sexual abuse material is escalated immediately and the evidence is preserved rather than deleted, because deleting it would destroy the record investigators need.
Hate speech and false information can be reported as such. Where Ethiopian law applies (you, or the person who posted it, have told us you are in Ethiopia), a person on our team decides within 24 hours of the report whether it comes down, and records why. Nothing is removed on a report alone.
What has changed
6 November 2026 · version 4
- Clarified that graphic real-world violence and gore are objectionable content, except where newsworthy and shown with context. We already removed this; no new notice period.
28 October 2026 · version 3
- Sexually explicit content — pornography and other sexually explicit images, video or text are not allowed.
- No tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users — what we remove, the filter where people who don't know you can reach you, and blocking and reporting.
11 October 2026 · version 2
- Intimate images shared without consent: how to have one removed (within 48 hours) is now on its own page.
12 July 2026 · version 1
- First published.