Community Standards

1. Scope

1.1 These standards apply to everything you do on algn, including conversations with Sera, profiles in Us, matches, one-to-one conversations, cells, posts, comments, reactions, messages, voice notes, images, governance proposals, comments and votes, and any contact with our team. They form part of the Terms of Service.

1.2 “Content” means anything you create, post, send or upload. “Member” means anyone with an algn account. A “cell” is a small group conversation in Us.

2. Illegal and harmful content

2.1 You must not create, post, send or share content that:

• sexualises children in any way, including child sexual abuse material, grooming, or sexual content involving anyone under 18. We have zero tolerance for this. We remove it, close the account and report it to the relevant authorities;
• promotes, supports or incites terrorism or violent extremism;
• threatens violence, or encourages or glorifies violence against anyone;
• shows graphic violence, gore or cruelty to people or animals, for shock or to glorify it;
• harasses, bullies, stalks or intimidates anyone, including repeated unwanted contact after someone has ignored, declined or blocked you;
• attacks or demeans people for their race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or age (hate);
• shares or threatens to share intimate images of anyone without their consent, including fake or altered images;
• is sexually explicit, unless both members have agreed to it in a private one-to-one conversation. Never in a cell or a post;
• encourages, instructs or assists suicide, self-harm or eating disorders;
• promotes dangerous acts or challenges likely to cause serious injury;
• offers to sell, buy or supply illegal drugs, weapons, or other goods or services that are illegal or tightly regulated;
• is fraudulent, a scam, or tries to get money, credentials or personal data from anyone by deception, including romance and investment scams;
• spreads false information likely to cause real harm, such as dangerous health claims, or is part of a coordinated effort, including by a foreign state, to deceive or interfere;
• reveals someone’s private information without their consent, such as their real name, address, workplace, contact details or photos (doxxing);
• includes a recording of another person made or shared without their consent;
• impersonates another person or organisation, including algn and its staff, or misrepresents who you are in a way that could harm others;
• infringes someone else’s copyright, trade mark or other rights (see the Terms, section 13.4, for copyright complaints); or
• is otherwise illegal where you are or in the UK.

2.2 Talking about hard things is allowed. You can share your own experience of mental health, self-harm, addiction, abuse or recovery, and support others going through it. What’s not allowed is encouraging or instructing harm. Sensitive topics are never used for matching, but they are part of real life, and real conversation.

3. Masking, privacy and consent

3.1 Masking is how Us lets people get to know each other safely. You must not:

• unmask or identify another member who hasn’t chosen to unmask with you, or try to find out who they are outside algn;
• screenshot, record, copy or forward another member’s messages, voice notes, posts from a cell, or profile, or share them outside algn, without their consent;
• share a member’s name, photo or other identifying details outside algn after you’ve unmasked, without their consent;
• pressure anyone to unmask, move to another app, share contact details, send photos or meet in person; or
• get around masking, blocking or matching controls, or contact someone through another account after they have blocked you.

3.2 Sharing something with the person’s clear consent is fine. Sharing it to get help, for example with the police, a lawyer or someone you trust, when you’re being harmed, is fine too.

4. Cells

4.1 Cells are small groups, and they only work if everyone in them feels safe. As well as everything else in these standards:

• don’t pile on, gang up on or single out a member, or coordinate with others to push someone out;
• don’t share what’s said in a cell outside it (see section 3);
• keep sexually explicit content out of cells entirely; and
• respect it when someone leaves. Don’t follow them into other conversations or contact them to ask why.

4.2 Anyone can leave a cell at any time. Leaving takes you out of future messages. Messages you’ve already sent stay with the members who received them, because they’re end-to-end encrypted on those members’ devices, and we can’t reach in to remove them.

4.3 You can report a cell, a message in a cell, or a member of a cell, and block any member of a cell, in the same way as anywhere else on algn.

5. Staying safe, on algn and off it

5.1 We don’t vet members. algn checks age when people join, but we don’t run background or identity checks, and we can’t verify what members tell you about themselves. Unmasking shows you a name and photo a member chose. It doesn’t confirm who they are.

5.2 If you meet in person:

• meet in a busy public place, and don’t go to someone’s home or invite them to yours on a first meeting;
• tell a friend where you’re going, who you’re meeting and when you’ll be back;
• make your own way there and back;
• keep your drink with you and stay in control of what you’ve had; and
• leave whenever you want to. You don’t owe anyone your time.

5.3 Money. Never send money, gift cards or crypto to a member, or share financial details, however good the reason sounds. Report anyone who asks.

5.4 algn will never message you in Us or by email asking for your passphrase, passkey, one-time codes or payment details. Anyone who does is not algn.

5.5 Off-platform conduct. If a member seriously harms or threatens another member away from algn, for example after they met in Us, you can still report it. Where we have credible evidence, we may suspend or close their account, even though it didn’t happen on algn. If you are in danger, contact the police first.

6. Other prohibited conduct

6.1 You must not:

• scrape, harvest or copy member data, profiles or content by automated means;
• try to reverse, decode or re-identify matching data or any other data algn protects, or compare it against outside models;
• probe, scan or test the security of algn, except under our responsible disclosure process (see Compliance), or interfere with, overload or disrupt the service;
• reverse-engineer algn, except where the law allows it or the code is published under an open-source licence;
• use bots, scripts or automated accounts, or create fake accounts;
• game participation, points or levels by fake, automated or coordinated activity, or by trading activity with other members;
• manipulate governance, for example by coordinating fake accounts to vote, buying votes, or pressuring members over how they vote;
• buy, sell or transfer accounts, credits, points or levels;
• advertise, sell or solicit commercially, or recruit members to other services, without our permission;
• use algn to monitor another person, including by using Sera or tone and energy on someone else’s voice without their knowledge;
• join or stay on algn if you are under 18; or
• come back after we have closed your account, with a new account or someone else’s.

7. Using Sera

7.1 Sera is there to help you think. You must not use it to plan or carry out harm to anyone, to try to extract other people’s data, to generate content that breaks these standards, or to deliberately get around its safety measures. Talking to Sera about hard things, including your own thoughts of harm, is not a breach. Sera will respond with care and point you to help.

8. Reporting and blocking

8.1 Blocking. You can block any member at any time, including in a cell. They aren’t told. Blocking ends contact, removes the match and stops future matches between you.

8.2 Reporting. You can report a member, message, voice note, post, comment, cell or proposal in the app, or by emailing hi@algn.io. Please tell us:

• what happened and when;
• where it happened (for example, a message, a cell, a post, a proposal, or in person); and
• anything you want us to see. For end-to-end encrypted messages and voice notes, the app lets you attach the content to your report. Only what you choose to attach reaches us.

8.3 Suspected under-18s. If you think a member is under 18, report them. We will check and, if we’re right, close the account.

8.4 Reporting illegal content. Anyone, member or not, can report content they believe is illegal to hi@algn.io. Please explain why you believe it’s illegal, where it is, and give your name and email unless the report concerns child sexual abuse material.

8.5 Point of contact. hi@algn.io is our single point of contact for members and for authorities, including under the EU Digital Services Act. We accept messages in English.

8.6 Emergencies. If someone is in immediate danger, contact emergency services first.

9. How we moderate

9.1 Privacy comes first. algn is built so that we can’t read conversations with Sera or messages between members, in one-to-one conversations or in cells. We don’t scan private content, and nobody reads along. Moderation is based on what members report and choose to share with us, and on content that is visible to other members, such as posts and profiles.

9.2 Who decides. Reports are reviewed by people on our team. We may use automated tools to prioritise reports and to detect known illegal images and spam in shared content, but a person makes every decision to restrict an account.

9.3 What we can do. Depending on how serious and how repeated the breach is, we may:

• remove or hide content;
• give a warning;
• limit features, such as posting, messaging, cells or matching;
• remove credits, points or a level obtained by breaking these standards;
• suspend your account for a period. While suspended, you can’t take part in governance, including voting or submitting proposals;
• close your account and prevent you rejoining; and
• report the matter to the police or other authorities, where the law requires it or someone’s safety is at risk.

9.4 Statement of reasons. If we restrict your content or account, we will tell you what we did, which standard it relates to, whether automated tools were involved, and how to appeal, unless telling you would put someone at risk or the law prevents it.

9.5 The person who reported. We tell the person who reported what we decided, without sharing another member’s private information. We never tell the reported member who reported them.

10. Appeals and complaints

10.1 If you disagree with a moderation decision, whether as the member affected or the person who reported, you can appeal within six months by emailing hi@algn.io with “Appeal” in the subject. Someone who wasn’t involved in the original decision will review it and tell you the outcome and why.

10.2 If we got it wrong, we will restore your content or account and anything removed with it.

10.3 You can also complain to us about how we handle illegal content or our safety duties. If you’re in the EU, you may be able to use a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body. Your right to go to court is not affected.

11. Governance conduct

11.1 Governance on algn depends on honest participation. Proposals and comments must follow these standards. Disagree with ideas, not people. Declare any personal interest in a proposal. Don’t campaign using private information about other members.

12. Changes

12.1 We may update these standards as the community grows. We’ll tell members about significant changes before they take effect, as set out in the Terms of Service.

13. Contact

13.1 algn technologies, Whitchurch, RG28 7FA. The quickest way to reach us is Report an issue. You can also email hi@algn.io.