Child Safety Standards

1. Our commitment

Karma exists so that people can help each other in real life. That only works if everyone on the platform is safe, and nobody's safety matters more than a child's.

Karma Inc. and Karma US-UK Ltd (together "Karma", "we", "us") have zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in any form. We do not allow it, we actively look for it, we remove it, and we report it to the authorities. This page sets out the standards we hold ourselves and our community to, how we enforce them, and how you can help.

2. Karma is for adults only

The Karma App and the Karma waitlist are for people aged 18 and over. There is no version of Karma for children, and we do not knowingly allow anyone under 18 to create an account or collect personal information from them.

• Identity and age verification with Persona. Before meeting other users, you verify your identity with a government-issued ID and a selfie through our verification provider, Persona. Persona checks that the selfie matches the ID and reads the date of birth from the document. Anyone found to be under 16 is automatically halted and cannot continue. This confirms you are a real person whose profile matches your ID, and it makes it much harder for a minor, or someone posing as one, to use Karma.
• If we find an under-18 account. We close it, delete the personal information associated with it in line with our Privacy Policy, and, where we believe the account was created to target or exploit a child, we escalate as described in section 6.

If you believe someone under 18 is using Karma, tell us at support@karma-app.com.

3. What we prohibit

The following is strictly prohibited anywhere on Karma, including profiles, help requests and offers, messages, and any photos or media shared through the App. Attempting, offering, or asking for any of it is treated the same as doing it.

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Creating, uploading, sharing, requesting, linking to, or storing any image, video, drawing, or computer-generated or AI-generated content that sexualises or depicts the sexual abuse of anyone under 18.
• Sexualisation of minors. Any content or conduct that presents a child in a sexual manner, including sexualised commentary about a child or "innocent" images shared in a sexual context.
• Grooming and solicitation. Contacting, or attempting to contact, a minor for sexual purposes; building trust with a child or their carer with that intent; requesting sexual imagery or sexual contact from a minor; or arranging to meet a minor for such purposes.
• Sextortion and coercion. Threatening, blackmailing, or pressuring anyone to produce sexual content of a minor or to engage in sexual activity involving a minor.
• Trafficking and facilitation. Using Karma to advertise, arrange, or facilitate the sexual exploitation, trafficking, or sale of a child, or to pay for or profit from it.
• Impersonating a minor or presenting yourself as under 18 for any purpose.
• Misusing help requests to gain access to children. Posting or responding to a request (for example childcare, tutoring, coaching, or a lift) with the intention of gaining unsupervised access to a child for an improper purpose, or misrepresenting your identity, qualifications, or intentions in connection with such a request.
• Sharing instructions, tips, or encouragement for any of the above, or attempting to move conversations off Karma to carry it out.

We take action on all of this regardless of whether the material or conduct is illegal in a particular place.

4. Help that involves children

Requests involving children are strictly subject to the following rules:

• Requests that involve a child must be posted by, and coordinated with, the child's parent or legal guardian, who is an adult Karma user. Children never use Karma themselves.
• Helpers deal with the adult, not the child, for all arrangements and communication on Karma.
• Karma is a way for neighbours to find each other. It is not a regulated childcare, tutoring, or care service, and we do not carry out criminal-record or safeguarding checks on users. Parents and guardians remain responsible for deciding who they trust with their children, for supervising, and for carrying out any checks they consider appropriate.
• Any attempt to use these requests for an improper purpose is a violation of section 3 and is treated as CSAE.

5. How we detect and prevent abuse

We rely on a mix of design choices, technology, and people.

• Adults-only design with identity verification, as described in section 2, so people on Karma are who they say they are.
• Content review. Help requests and offers pass through automated screening, including AI-assisted classification, before and after they are matched. Content that suggests a risk to a child is held for human review rather than published.
• Media safety. Photos shared through the App are scanned against industry hash-matching databases of known CSAM, where lawful, and are removed and reported when matched. We also use classifiers to flag previously unknown material and sexualised content for review.
• Behavioural signals. We look for patterns associated with grooming and exploitation, such as attempts to move conversations off-platform quickly, repeated targeting of requests involving children, or use of coded language, and route them to the Karma team.
• User tools. Every profile, request, and message has a Report option, and you can block any user instantly. Blocking hides you from that user and prevents further contact.
• Safety checks by the Karma team. Every report and every flag raised by our systems is reviewed by the Karma team, not left to automation alone.

6. What happens when we receive a report

1. Triage. Child safety reports are placed at the front of the queue and reviewed as quickly as possible, typically within 24 hours and often much faster.
2. Review. A member of the Karma team examines the reported content, the account, and related activity. The person who made the report is never identified to the person reported.
3. Removal and enforcement. If we confirm a violation of section 3, we remove the content and permanently ban the account. There are no warnings and no second chances for CSAE. We also take steps to prevent the same person from returning under a new account.
4. Preservation. We preserve the relevant content and account records in a secure, access-controlled system for the period required by law so that they are available to investigators, even after the account is closed.
5. Reporting to authorities. We report as described in section 7 and cooperate fully with any resulting investigation.
6. Follow-up. Where we can, we confirm to the reporter that action was taken. We keep the details confidential to protect the investigation and any child involved.

If we come across CSAE ourselves, without a user report, we follow exactly the same process.

7. Working with law enforcement and child protection bodies

Suspected CSAM and child sexual exploitation are reported to the appropriate authorities, not just removed.

• United States. As a US-based provider, Karma Inc. reports apparent CSAM to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) through its CyberTipline, as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2258A, and preserves the associated records as the law requires.
• United Kingdom. We report to the National Crime Agency, including its CEOP Safety Centre, and work with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) on the identification and removal of CSAM.
• Elsewhere. Where a report concerns another country, we report to the relevant national body or through NCMEC, which shares reports with law enforcement worldwide.

We respond promptly to lawful requests from law enforcement, and we may proactively contact the police where we believe a child is at risk of harm. Our Privacy Policy explains the legal bases on which we share information in these circumstances.

8. The laws we follow

These standards are designed to meet or exceed our obligations under, among others:

• US federal law on the reporting and preservation of apparent CSAM (18 U.S.C. §§ 2258A–2258E) and related child protection statutes;
• the UK Online Safety Act 2023, the Protection of Children Act 1978, the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and Ofcom's codes of practice on illegal content and child safety;
• the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the UK GDPR and EU GDPR, and the UK Age Appropriate Design Code, which underpin our adults-only approach and our handling of any data belonging to a minor;
• the child safety requirements of the Apple App Store and Google Play, including Google Play's Child Safety Standards policy, under which this page is published.

9. Designated child safety contact

This contact handles child safety matters only. For general support, use the Contact link in the footer.

10. Getting help outside Karma

• UK: Report to CEOP at ceop.police.uk. Report images to the IWF at report.iwf.org.uk. Talk to the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, or, if you are under 18, Childline on 0800 1111.
• US: Report to NCMEC's CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-843-5678.
• Anywhere: if you or someone you know is in danger right now, contact your local emergency services.

11. Keeping these standards current

Child safety laws, technology, and the tactics of those who seek to harm children all change. We review these standards at least once a year and whenever the law or our Services change materially. Updates are published here with a new date. These standards form part of our Terms of Use and should be read alongside our Privacy Policy.