Community Guidelines

What these guidelines are

FcPal is a place to talk, post and go live. These guidelines set out what is and is not allowed here.

They apply to everything on FcPal: posts, Pick a Line posts, photos, videos, live broadcasts, comments, reactions, usernames, display names, profile photos, bios, calls and private messages.

They apply to you whether or not you have read them. They form part of our Terms of Service, so breaking them is also a breach of your agreement with us.

How this fits with our other documents. These guidelines cover what you may and may not do, and what happens if you break the rules. Our Terms of Service are the contract between you and us, and cover your account, your content, Tokens and gifts, and liability. Our Privacy Policy explains what we do with your personal information.

We would rather explain than punish, so where we can, we will tell you what went wrong and give you a way to put it right.

The basics

FcPal is for adults. You have to be 18 or over to have an account. This is a condition of our Terms. If we believe an account belongs to someone under 18, we close it.

Do not use a second account to get around us. If you have been restricted, suspended or blocked, do not make another account to carry on. Our Terms cover how many accounts you may hold.

Do not pretend to be someone else. Parody and fan accounts are fine if it is obvious what they are. Accounts designed to make people believe you are someone you are not are not.

Do not pretend to be us. Do not claim to work for FcPal, and do not fake a verification badge.

Nudity and sexual content

FcPal does not allow nudity or sexually explicit content in anything other people can see. That includes posts, Pick a Line posts, live broadcasts, profile photos, bios and usernames.

Specifically, do not post or broadcast:

• exposed genitals, buttocks, or female nipples
• sexual acts, whether real, simulated or implied
• content whose main purpose is sexual arousal, including close-up focus on clothed genitals or buttocks
• sexual services offered, requested or advertised

Some things are allowed: swimwear and underwear in an ordinary context, breastfeeding, medical or health content, and art or photography that is not primarily sexual.

This is a hard line during live broadcasts. Live content reaches people instantly and cannot be taken back. A single incident of nudity on a broadcast is grounds for ending the broadcast and closing the account.

In private messages, what two consenting adults send each other is between them. The rules below on consent, harassment, exploitation and unwanted sexual attention still apply, and always will.

Sexual exploitation and child safety

There is no warning and no second chance for any of the following. Accounts are closed immediately and reported to the relevant authorities.

• Any sexual content involving a person under 18, real, drawn or generated, including content that sexualises someone who appears to be under 18
• Attempting to contact, groom or solicit anyone under 18
• Sharing, requesting or offering child sexual abuse material
• Sharing intimate images of anyone without their consent, or threatening to. This includes images that have been digitally altered or generated to look like someone
• Sexual extortion, including threatening to share images unless someone pays or complies
• Trafficking, or advertising sexual services

If you see any of this, report it immediately using the in-app report tool or email safety@fcpal.com.

Treating people decently

Do not target people. Specifically:

• Harassment. Repeated unwanted contact, pile-ons, or following someone across the app to bother them.
• Bullying and degradation. Content whose purpose is to humiliate a specific person.
• Hate. Attacking people or groups because of race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, religion, disability, disease, age, sex, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation. This includes slurs, dehumanising comparisons, and hateful symbols.
• Threats. Threatening violence or harm against anyone, including yourself as a way of controlling someone else.
• Doxxing. Publishing someone's private information: home address, phone number, workplace, financial details, identity documents, or where they will be at a given time.
• Unwanted sexual attention. Sexual comments, images or advances directed at someone who has not invited them.

Disagreeing with someone is not harassment. Being rude is not always a breach. Targeting a person is.

Other people's privacy

FcPal is built so that private conversations stay private. Do not undermine that for someone else.

• Do not share screenshots or recordings of a private conversation without the consent of everyone in it.
• Do not share someone else's photos, videos or personal information without their permission.
• Do not record or broadcast people who have not agreed to it. If someone is in the room while you are live, they need to have agreed.
• Do not use any tool or method to get around FC Mode, or to capture a conversation someone has protected.

A Pick a Line post is visible to the audience you choose. If it started as something someone said to you privately, ask them first.

Violence and dangerous content

• No threats of violence, and no encouraging or organising it.
• No content celebrating or promoting terrorism, violent extremism, or mass violence, and no content produced by organisations that carry it out.
• No graphic violence or gore posted for shock value. Newsworthy or educational content may be allowed with context and a warning.
• No dangerous challenges, stunts or acts that could seriously injure someone, particularly on live.
• No instructions for making weapons or explosives.

Self-harm, suicide and eating disorders

If you are struggling, you are welcome here and we will not remove you for talking about it.

What we do remove is content that encourages, instructs or glorifies self-harm, suicide, or disordered eating. That includes methods, encouragement, challenges, and content that presents these as a solution or an aspiration.

If someone tells you they are in danger, report the content so we can respond and connect them with help. If someone is in immediate danger, call 000.

Support in Australia:

• Lifeline 13 11 14, or lifeline.org.au
• Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636, or beyondblue.org.au
• 13YARN 13 92 76, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Butterfly Foundation 1800 33 4673, for eating disorders and body image

Illegal and regulated activity

Do not use FcPal to buy, sell, trade or arrange:

• illegal drugs, or prescription medication outside a lawful supply
• weapons, ammunition or explosives
• stolen goods, stolen data, or hacked accounts
• counterfeit goods
• gambling or games of chance for money
• anything else that is illegal in Australia

Do not use FcPal to organise or promote criminal activity.

Spam, scams and fake engagement

• No bulk, repetitive or automated posting, messaging or commenting.
• No schemes designed to trick people out of money, including investment schemes, cryptocurrency schemes, romance scams and fake giveaways.
• No phishing: do not try to get people's passwords, verification codes, or payment details.
• No artificially inflating followers, reactions or gifts, and no buying or selling engagement.
• No links to malware or deceptive websites.

If someone you have met on FcPal asks you for money, treat it with suspicion, and report it.

Gifts

Our Terms explain what Tokens, Gems and gifts are and how they work. These are the rules about how you use them.

• Do not offer, request or imply sexual content in exchange for gifts.
• Do not ask people to pay you outside FcPal, or direct them to another platform to do so.
• Do not use gifts to pressure, manipulate or coerce anyone.
• Do not use Tokens or gifts to launder money or move funds.

Anyone using gifts to solicit sexual content will have their account closed.

Private messages and calls

Your private messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. We cannot read them and we do not scan them. Section 12 of the Privacy Policy explains how that works.

These guidelines still apply in private. Harassment, threats, sexual content sent to someone who has not asked for it, scams and exploitation are breaches wherever they happen.

Because we cannot see private conversations, we rely on you. If someone breaks these guidelines in a message or a call, block them, report them, or both.

Blocking

You can block anyone on FcPal. Blocking stops them contacting you at all: they cannot message you, call you, send you a gift, or interact with your content.

You do not need a reason and we do not tell them. You can unblock someone later if you want to.

Blocking is separate from reporting. Blocking protects you. Reporting tells us, so we can act. If someone has broken these guidelines, do both.

Reporting

• In the app: use the report option on any post, Pick a Line post, profile, comment or conversation.
• By email: safety@fcpal.com. Use this to report a live broadcast, or anything else you cannot report from inside the app.
• Immediate danger: call 000.
• Online harm in Australia: the eSafety Commissioner can help with serious cyber abuse, image-based abuse and illegal content, at esafety.gov.au.

Reporting a conversation. Because your messages are encrypted, we cannot see them unless you show us. When you report a conversation, you choose which messages to send us, and they are sent from your device. We only see what you send, and we only act on what we can see.

Reporting is confidential. We do not tell the person that you reported them.

How we enforce these guidelines

Automated checks. Images and videos posted to FcPal are checked automatically before other people see them. Content the check flags may be removed without a person reviewing it first. Section 6 of the Privacy Policy explains what information is used in those decisions.

Reports. Anyone can report content, an account, or a conversation. Reports go to our safety team.

What can happen. Depending on what happened and whether it has happened before:

Some breaches skip every step. Child sexual exploitation, non-consensual intimate images, sexual extortion, credible threats of violence and terrorist content result in immediate closure and, where required, a report to law enforcement.

Context matters. We look at what was posted, why, who it was aimed at, and what has happened on the account before. Something posted to condemn or report a behaviour is not the same as something posted to promote it.

We will tell you. When we remove your content, end your broadcast, limit what you can do, or suspend or close your account, we will tell you what we did and, where we can, why.

Asking us to review a decision

If you think a decision was wrong, you can ask us to look at it again. This applies to every decision we make: content removed, a broadcast ended, features limited, and your account suspended or closed.

For content: use the review option on the post itself.

For anything else, including your account: email safety@fcpal.com.

A person who was not involved in the original decision will review it. They will either put the decision aside or confirm it, and we will tell you the outcome.

If your account has been closed, you can still ask for a review by email. You do not need access to the app.

We aim to respond to review requests within 5 business days.

Changes

We may update these guidelines as FcPal changes and as we learn what works. When we do, we will change the date at the top. If a change materially affects what is allowed, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.

Questions

Email safety@fcpal.com.

For the contract between you and us, including Tokens, gifts and copyright complaints, see our Terms of Service. For how we handle your personal information, see our Privacy Policy.