FetLife
Trust & Safety
Below is a high-level overview of how we go about creating a safe, accepting, and open community where people can explore their sexuality.
Table of Contents
Community Safeguards
Community Guidelines & Content Guidelines
Our caretaking team acts on reports of abuse using more than 20 different internal policies covering a range of behaviours, from the use of racial slurs and body shaming to revenge porn and sex offenders.
view: Community Guidelines | Content Guidelines
Profile Verification
We offer members the ability to verify their profile. Verification pictures are only used for verification purposes as required by the banking system to help combat CSAM and revenge porn.
All verification pictures are encrypted on upload and we keep an audit trail of who and when a person views a verification picture.
Age Verification
Our process is similar to places that serve alcohol; if there is reasonable doubt that someone is not old enough to be a member of the site, we lock their account out until proof of age is provided. If proof of age is not provided, the account is permanently removed.
During the upload process, we use machine learning to estimate the age of people in a picture or video to help catch potentially underage members. We do this while also adhering to our promise to maintain and respect everyone's privacy.
Transparency Report
We update our transparency report monthly to give everyone visibility into the health of the community.
Publicly tracking health metrics allows us to reflect on what we are doing. It also gives us the opportunity to keep you up to date on what we are currently working on to improve specific metrics.
view: Transparency Report
Content Safeguards
Content Reviewed on Upload
During the upload process, we use machine learning to determine the likelihood that a picture or video might contain illegal content or content that goes against our guidelines. Examples include but are not limited to CSAM, hate symbols, blood, and gore.
If there is a good chance that the content uploaded goes against one of our guidelines, the content will be reviewed by a member of the team. We aim to review 95% of reports within 30 minutes.
CSAM Detection & Reporting
When a member uploads a picture or video, we use AI and machine learning to estimate the age of any subject in the content.
If there is any chance that any of the subjects in a picture or video is below the age of consent, a member of the team reviews the content in question. If the content is determined to be CSAM, the account will be shut down and preserved. We also report the account to the proper authorities.
Simple Takedown Requests for People in Pictures or Videos
We believe that consent can be withdrawn at any time. So, at any time, if you want a picture or video of you removed from another person's profile, we will remove it for you.
view: Person in Picture or Video Takedown Requests
DMCA Takedown Requests
We take content ownership seriously and are fully responsive to DMCA notices. We recommend people use our form when submitting a DMCA Takedown Request.
view: Submit DMCA Takedown Request
No Downloads Allowed
We don't provide a way for your pictures or videos to be downloaded by other people and have implemented safeguards to make it harder to lift content from FetLife.
Personal Safeguards
Privacy by Design
We treat your private data like we would want others to treat ours. We only ask for data that we need to operate FetLife. When a piece of content or an entire profile is deleted, within 30 days it’s permanently deleted from everywhere, including backups.
view: Privacy Policy
Meta Info
Meta information attached to a picture or video can sometimes include sensitive information about the uploader, including where the picture or video was taken.
Hence, when a member uploads a picture or video, the meta-information is removed before it's processed and the processed pictures and videos are shown on FetLife.
Inbox Control
We provide members four different levels of control over who is allowed to send you a private message. We also allow members to limit who can send them pictures in private conversations.
view: Privacy Settings
Location Visibility
We provide members granular control over the visibility of each level of their location. Allowing members to select between “FetLifers, “Just Friends”, or “Just Me” for their listed city, state/province, and country.
view: Privacy Settings
Content Visibility
We provide members granular control over the privacy of their writings, status updates, pictures, and videos. Allowing individual items to be restricted to "just friends" or "FetLifers."
Search, Places, and Explore Section Controls
Members can limit their content from coming up in on-site searches and the places section. They can also limit their content from being featured in Kinky & Popular, or Fresh & Pervy.
view: Privacy Settings
Submitting a Report
There is a report feature on every page. The report feature is found next to each piece of content, including but not limited to writings, status updates, pictures, groups, videos, events, and comments.
Although using these reporting features is the fastest way to bring a problem to our attention, you can also email [email protected].
For copyright infringements, you can file a DMCA Takedown Request.
Our caretaking team is here 24/7/365 to review and act on reports. We aim to always resolve 95% of cases reported to us in under 30 minutes.
Additional Resources
For more information, please consult the following resources:
Contact Information
We're always looking for ways on how to improve. If you have any feedback, please don't hesitate to email us at: [email protected].