Protecting Children and Young People on Tavoo

What we do not allow

The overview below names the prohibited forms of conduct and at the same time describes what we understand each of them to mean. It applies without exception.

A minor is anyone who has not yet reached the age of majority under the law applicable at their place of residence; where there is doubt, we apply the higher age of protection. Whether the person depicted actually exists, whether contact took place, and whether a contribution is described as fantasy, role play, satire or art makes no difference to its impermissibility.

Our Guidelines on photos, profile texts and usernames apply in addition, as does Paragraph XI of the Terms: images featuring minors may not be used as a profile picture, and in the gallery any minors shown must be unidentifiable and fully clothed.

Reporting a suspicion

You do not have to be certain that something has happened - a reasonable suspicion is enough. We accept reports from registered users and from outside parties alike.

Helpful for processing are the username or profile link, the time and a brief account; you can attach evidence such as screenshots where this is legally permissible. Please do not send us suspected CSAM - stating where and when you encountered it is entirely sufficient. Possessing and passing on such material is a criminal offence.

Your report remains confidential and anonymous: the reported person can neither view it nor draw conclusions about you (Paragraph XXIII of the Terms).

What happens after a report

We take reports concerning CSAE out of the ordinary queue and deal with them ahead of it. The assessment always rests with the responsible individuals and is never made by automated means alone; it takes in the reported contribution, its context, the previous use of the account and any further accounts belonging to the same person. Content may be blocked and the account provisionally suspended while the examination is still under way. Paragraph XXIII of the Terms provides a period of seven working days for complaints; reports concerning CSAE are handled considerably faster, and without any delay whatsoever where there are signs of immediate risk. Independently of reports, we review profile details and uploaded images and check conspicuous content and behavioural patterns on a sample basis, using technical tools and manual inspection alongside one another.

Where the suspicion is confirmed, we remove or block the content and prevent any further circulation via the platform. The account responsible is permanently blocked and the contractual relationship terminated extraordinarily without notice (Paragraph XII of the Terms); further accounts identifiably belonging to the same person are blocked as well. We then report the case to the competent bodies, preserve the evidence and check which contacts and content are connected with the incident. No claim to reimbursement of unused coins arises in such cases.

Authorities, data and evidence

Where the indications of CSAM or of an offence to the detriment of a minor become more substantial, the matter goes to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) via report.cybertip.org and to the reporting and law enforcement authorities competent in the country concerned. We attach the available contextual details to the extent the legal position permits. Requests for information, production orders and court orders are handled within the statutory framework through a fixed point of contact. The approach set out in Paragraph XI of the Terms remains unaffected, namely to put an incident before a lawyer in an individual case or, where the breach is clear, to pass it directly to the authorities.

Messages on Tavoo are deleted automatically in accordance with the periods in Paragraph XXI of the Terms. An exception applies to suspected cases connected with CSAE: we take the messages, metadata, account details, timestamps and technical connection data concerned out of automatic deletion and retain them for as long as this is necessary to meet legal obligations, to support official enquiries or to safeguard legal claims - Paragraph XXI of the Terms expressly provides for such retention. Access remains restricted to the individuals dealing with the matter. Suspected CSAM does not remain in the regular systems but is blocked and handled in accordance with the requirements of the competent authorities. In all other respects our Privacy Policy and the applicable data protection law apply.

Legal framework and internal implementation

We follow the child protection rules of the markets in which Tavoo is available and, where requirements diverge, we apply the stricter standard. In Switzerland these are in particular Art. 187 SCC (sexual acts with children), Art. 196 SCC (sexual acts with minors against payment), Art. 197 paras. 4 and 5 SCC (prohibited pornography involving children) and Art. 182 SCC (human trafficking), together with the Federal Act on Data Protection; Swiss law applies to the contractual relationship pursuant to Paragraph XXIV of the Terms. For the European market, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services - in particular as regards notice and action procedures, notification where serious criminal offences are suspected, and the protection of minors - and the General Data Protection Regulation are decisive. In other countries the respective national child protection and reporting rules apply.

Internally we implement this as follows: all persons and contractors involved in content moderation and support are made aware of this page when they take up their work and are instructed on how to deal with suspected cases; the notice is repeated whenever the page is amended. It applies bindingly that indications of CSAE are neither pursued independently nor discussed with the persons concerned, but are handed over to the responsible internal unit without delay.

Child protection contact

A designated point of contact exists for notifications concerning CSAE content. It receives notices from users, from Google Play, from other platform operators and from authorities and child protection organisations, is integrated into our review and safety organisation, gives information on our enforcement and review procedures, and is empowered to issue the necessary instructions. We deal with incoming messages promptly on working days, and without delay where there are signs of immediate risk.

Bluewater Applications GmbH

Child Protection Contact

Baarerstrasse 43

6300 Zug

Switzerland

[email protected]

What else you can do

Profiles can be blocked and further contact prevented. Guidance on recognising abusive behaviour can be found in our Guidelines, our FAQ and our safe dating pages. And as a general principle: disclose personal details, images and contact data only sparingly.

Scope and updates

This page forms part of the contractual relationship and stands alongside the Terms of Service and the Guidelines. As far as the protection of minors is concerned, it takes precedence where provisions diverge; a contravention constitutes good cause for terminating the contractual relationship without notice. We review the page and the underlying procedures at regular intervals and adapt them to legal developments, to the requirements of the app store operators and to our own experience. The version available here is the one that applies.