Child Safety Standards

1. What these standards cover

These standards apply to everyone who uses Local, the website at local.co.zw and the Local app, including profiles, photos, projects and private messages.

2. Who can use Local

You must be 13 or older to have a Local account, and users under 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission. Accounts we find belong to someone under 13 are removed.

3. What is not allowed

• Any sexual or sexualised content involving a person under 18, including drawings and AI-generated images.
• Grooming: building trust with a child in order to abuse or exploit them, online or offline.
• Asking a child for sexual images, messages or meetings, or sending sexual content to a child.
• Sextortion: threatening to share images of a child or demanding images, money or favours.
• Trafficking, or advertising or arranging the exploitation of a child.
• Sharing links to, or asking where to find, any of the above.

4. How we prevent harm

• Every new profile, including its photos, is checked by a person before it goes public, and edits are checked again.
• Messaging works by request: nothing reaches someone's inbox until they accept, and declining is silent.
• Message requests are rate-limited to stop mass contact.
• Organisation accounts are verified by our team before they can search the directory or contact members.
• Anyone can take their profile out of the directory at any time.

5. How to report a concern

• In the app: open the profile or conversation, tap Report and choose "Child safety concern".
• On the website: open the conversation, choose Report and select "Child safety concern".
• By email at any time: hello@local.co.zw. Include the profile link or username and what happened. Please do not attach or forward abusive images.

If a child is in immediate danger, contact the police first. In Zimbabwe, call the Zimbabwe Republic Police or visit the Victim Friendly Unit at your nearest police station. Childline Zimbabwe offers free, confidential help on 116.

6. How we respond

• Child safety reports go to the top of our moderation queue.
• We remove the content and suspend the accounts involved.
• We keep the evidence needed for an investigation, and only for that purpose.
• We report child sexual abuse material and exploitation to the relevant authorities, including the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and we co-operate with law enforcement requests.

7. Child safety contact

Our designated contact for child safety, CSAM prevention and law enforcement requests can be reached at hello@local.co.zw.