Trust and safety and moderation policy template

This is a structure to build your own trust and safety policy from, not a finished or legally reviewed policy. Adapt each section to your product and markets, and get qualified legal and safety input before publishing. The point is to cover the areas regulators, app stores, and users now expect.

Sections to cover

1. Scope and principles. What the policy covers and the safety commitment behind it.
2. Prohibited behavior. Scams and fraud, harassment and abuse, fake or misrepresented identities, illegal content including non-consensual intimate imagery, and underage use.
3. Detection and moderation. How automated detection and human review screen profiles, photos, messages, and behavior, as a continuous function.
4. Identity and age verification. Verification, liveness, and age-assurance measures and when they apply.
5. Reporting and response. How users report and block, and your response process and timelines.
6. Enforcement. Warnings, removals, and bans, and how ban evasion is handled.
7. Romance-scam specifics. Detection patterns, user education, and rapid response.
8. Data and privacy. How safety data is handled with data minimization.
9. Compliance. How the policy maps to the rules in your markets.
10. Review and updates. How often the policy and systems are reviewed, since bad actors adapt.

How to use it

Treat the policy as the visible part of a continuous operating function, backed by real detection, real moderators, and real response. A policy without the operation behind it satisfies nobody, least of all a regulator looking for evidence that you act.

Related reading

Use this with the guides on trust, safety, and moderation and age verification and compliance.