Child Safety Standards
Hot Spots connects people through the real places they already go. Everyone who uses it is entitled to be safe there, and children most of all.
We have zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), and for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This page sets out the standards we hold ourselves to, what we prohibit, how anyone can report a concern, and what we do when they tell us.
Hot Spots is for people aged 16 and over
Hot Spots is not a children's service. Creating an account requires a date of birth, and anyone under 16 is refused. That minimum is applied when the account is created and again on our servers, so it cannot be bypassed by altering the app.
If we find that an account belongs to someone under 16, we remove it.
What is prohibited
The following are forbidden on Hot Spots without exception. They apply to every part of the service — profiles, posts, photos, videos, stories, check-ins, comments, meetups, venue pages and private messages:
- Child sexual abuse material, in any form, including drawn, animated or computer-generated depictions.
- Sexualising a minor, or sexual content involving anyone under 18.
- Grooming — building a relationship with a minor in order to exploit or abuse them, or attempting to arrange a meeting for that purpose.
- Sextortion, or threatening to share intimate images of anyone.
- Soliciting, offering, trading or advertising CSAM.
- Trafficking, or any attempt to recruit or transport a minor for exploitation.
- Using Hot Spots to make contact with a minor for any of the above.
How to report a concern
Reporting is built into the app, on every kind of content a person can post. Open the ⋯ menu on any profile, post, comment, message, story, check-in, meetup or venue page and choose Report. Among the reasons offered are Underage user and Nudity or sexual content.
You can also block anyone from that same menu, which stops them contacting you or seeing your content. Blocked accounts are managed in Settings → Reporting & Blocking.
You do not need an account to report CSAE. Email hello@hotspotssocial.com with whatever detail you can give — a username, a link, a description. Reports of this kind are treated as urgent and are handled ahead of everything else.
If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. Please tell us as well, so we can act on the account.
What we do when we receive a report
- We prioritise CSAE reports above all other reports, and act on them ahead of any other queue.
- We act on reports of objectionable content within 24 hours, as set out in our Community Standards.
- We remove content that violates these standards, and we terminate the accounts responsible.
- We preserve the associated records where we are required or permitted to do so, so that they are available to law enforcement.
- We report apparent CSAM to the appropriate authorities, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the relevant authorities in the jurisdictions where we operate, in accordance with applicable law.
- We ban people who are removed for CSAE from returning to the service.
What we do to prevent it
- A minimum age of 16, enforced at sign-up and on our servers.
- Automatic filtering of text before a post, comment or message is sent, which blocks prohibited content at the point of writing.
- Reporting and blocking on every surface where one person can reach another.
- Private accounts, friends-only visibility and per-conversation controls, so people decide who can contact and see them.
- Review of reported accounts and content, with removal and termination where our standards are breached.
Our point of contact
Our designated point of contact for child safety, including questions about our CSAE and CSAM prevention practices and our compliance with them, is:
Hot Spots Technologies L.L.C-FZ, Meydan Grandstand, 6th floor, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Compliance with the law
We comply with the child safety laws that apply to us in the jurisdictions where Hot Spots is available, and we cooperate with law enforcement investigating the exploitation of children. These standards expand on the child safety section of our Community Standards, and sit alongside our Terms & EULA and Privacy Policy. A breach of them is a breach of our Terms.
We review this page as Hot Spots changes, and we will update it when our practices change.