Ember Acceptable Use Policy
1. Overview
This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") describes the rules you agree to follow when using Ember. It applies alongside our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. By creating an account or using Ember, you accept this policy.
2. Age requirement (18+)
Only adults aged 18 and over may use Ember. When you register, you must provide your date of birth and confirm that you are 18 or older. Users under 18 are not permitted and will be removed. Misrepresenting your age to access the Service is a violation of this policy.
3. Age verification and age assurance
Ember applies age-assurance measures to help prevent underage use:
- Date of birth is required during registration, and accounts indicating an age under 18 are blocked.
- During onboarding, Ember may estimate your age from a verification selfie using automated analysis.
- Where appropriate, Ember may require additional verification using a government-issued identity document.
- Profiles flagged by these checks as potentially underage are held for review and may not interact with other users until the review is complete.
- Suspicious or potentially underage accounts are escalated for additional age verification. Failure to complete requested verification may result in account suspension.
4. Prohibited conduct
You agree not to use Ember to engage in any of the following:
4.1 Human trafficking and exploitation
Ember prohibits the use of the Service for human trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced labour, or any form of modern slavery. This includes recruiting, coercing, or controlling another person for exploitation, or using the Service to facilitate exploitation by third parties. Suspected trafficking or exploitation is treated as high priority and may be escalated to law enforcement.
4.2 Illegal activity
You may not use Ember to facilitate, promote, or engage in any activity that is illegal in your jurisdiction or the jurisdiction of any other user. This includes the sale of illegal goods, fraud, and any conduct that violates applicable criminal or civil law.
4.3 Impersonation and fraudulent profiles
You must use your real identity. Impersonating another person, creating fake or misleading profiles, using someone else's photos without permission, or misrepresenting your identity, age, location, or intentions is prohibited. Profiles that are found to be fraudulent may be removed without notice.
4.4 Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
Ember has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material. Any content that sexualises minors, including depictions, descriptions, or links, is strictly prohibited and will be removed immediately. Reports involving suspected CSAM are treated as the highest priority, are escalated for review, and may be reported to the appropriate authorities, including law enforcement and child-safety organisations, in accordance with applicable law.
4.5 Non-consensual activity
All interactions on Ember must be voluntary and consensual. Coercion, pressure, manipulation, non-consensual sexual content, sharing of private images without consent, and any attempt to force or trick another person into an unwanted interaction or activity are prohibited. Non-consensual content is removed and accounts may be terminated.
4.6 Harassment and threats
Harassment, intimidation, bullying, stalking, threats of violence, and repeated unwanted contact are prohibited. This includes conduct in messages, prompts, photos, and profile content. Ember may remove harassing content and restrict or ban accounts that engage in this behaviour.
4.7 Sexual content
Nude, sexually explicit, or pornographic content is not permitted in profile photos, prompts, or messages. Content that sexualises minors is addressed under the CSAM section above and is strictly prohibited.
4.8 Other prohibited conduct
- Soliciting money, promoting scams, or advertising commercial services
- Spreading hate speech, discrimination, or violence toward any group
- Collecting other users' data without consent
- Attempting to disrupt, reverse-engineer, or overload the Service
5. Reporting and blocking
Ember provides in-app tools to report and block other users:
- Report a profile: Every profile in the Discover feed includes a Report option in its menu.
- Report a photo: Individual photos can be reported through the reporting flow.
- Report a message: Individual messages in a chat can be reported.
- Block a user: Blocking prevents a user from appearing in your feed or contacting you.
Report categories include: underage user, impersonation or fake profile, harassment or threats, scam or fraud, trafficking or exploitation, sexual content, non-consensual behaviour, illegal activity, inappropriate photos, and other. You may provide additional details when submitting a report.
Reports may also be submitted through Ember's support channel. Reports involving suspected minors, trafficking, CSAM, threats, or other serious safety concerns are treated as high priority.
6. Content moderation
6.1 Automated moderation
Ember uses automated detection to scan profile photos for potentially prohibited or non-compliant content, including inappropriate images, nudity, possible stock photos, and signs that a photo may not represent a real person. Photos flagged by automated moderation are held for review and may be prevented from being publicly displayed until cleared.
6.2 Human moderation and review
Reports and automatically flagged content are reviewed by Ember's moderation team. A reviewer assesses the content against this policy, considers the information provided by the reporting user, and reviews relevant account information and available activity. Depending on the findings, Ember may take no action, remove content, issue a warning, restrict account functionality, temporarily suspend, or permanently terminate the account.
6.3 Escalation of serious reports
Reports involving suspected underage users, trafficking, exploitation, CSAM, non-consensual content, credible threats, or other potentially criminal activity are escalated as high priority for immediate review. Serious matters may be reported to appropriate authorities where required by law.
7. Account suspension and termination
Violations of this policy may result in enforcement action including warnings, functional restrictions, temporary suspension, or permanent termination. The reason for each action is recorded. Suspended or banned users may not create a new account.
8. Takedown procedures
When a report is submitted, Ember follows this process:
- A moderation case is created.
- A risk or priority level is assigned.
- High-risk cases are placed into an urgent queue.
- A moderator reviews the case.
- The moderator may remove content or restrict, suspend, or ban the account.
- The decision and the reason for it are recorded.
- The affected user is notified where appropriate.
- An appeal option is provided where applicable.
9. Appeals
Users whose content has been removed or whose account has been restricted, suspended, or banned may submit an appeal through the in-app appeal process or Ember's support channel. The user can explain why they believe the decision was incorrect and provide relevant information.
Appeals are reviewed by a member of the moderation team who was not responsible for the original decision where reasonably practicable. If the appeal is upheld, the content or account may be restored and the user will be notified. If the appeal is denied, the enforcement action remains in place and the user is informed of the outcome.
For serious violations, including exploitation, CSAM, trafficking, or credible threats, Ember may maintain restrictions while the matter is investigated and may limit the information provided about enforcement where disclosure could compromise safety, an investigation, or a legal obligation.
10. Law enforcement cooperation
Ember cooperates with valid legal requests from law enforcement and government authorities. Our protocols are described in our Law Enforcement & Safety Protocols.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes through the app. Continued use after changes take effect means you accept the updated policy.
Related policies
Contact
General support
support@ember-hub.ac.uk
Safety reports
support@ember-hub.ac.uk
Law enforcement requests
info@ember-hub.ac.uk
Operated by Ember Dating Ltd.