Child Safety Standards

The Swem app is for adults. It is developed and operated by Folkone Pty Ltd (ABN 40 696 661 560). These Child Safety Standards explain how we protect children and how we respond to child sexual abuse and exploitation. They apply alongside our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines.

If a child is in immediate danger, call 000 before you do anything else. Outside Australia, call your local emergency number. Reports in the app and email are not monitored in real time.

Our standard

We have zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) and for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In these standards, a child or minor is anyone under 18.

You must never use the Swem app to:

• create, share, request, store or link to sexual images, videos or text involving anyone under 18, whether the material is real, drawn, edited or made with AI;
• sexualize a minor in any way, including sexual comments about a child or content that shows a child in a sexual way;
• groom a child, which means building trust with a child or the people around them in order to sexually abuse or exploit the child;
• contact, try to contact or arrange to meet a minor for a sexual purpose;
• commit sextortion, which means threatening to share someone’s intimate images unless they send more images, money or anything else;
• traffic or exploit a child in any other way;
• help or encourage anyone else to do any of these things.

These rules apply everywhere in the Swem app: profiles, photos, your chats with Swem, hellos, chats, group chats, Space posts and replies. They apply even when something is presented as a joke, a fantasy or role-play. They put into practice our Terms of Service (section 7) and Community Guidelines, which already forbid this conduct.

Swem is an AI. Nobody watches Swem conversations as they happen. Telling Swem about a child at risk does not alert our team, so report it to us or to the ACCCE (see Where to get help). If a child is in immediate danger, call 000.

Swem is for adults

• You must be 18 or older to use the Swem app (Terms of Service, section 3).
• When you set up your profile, we ask for your date of birth. The app will not let you continue with a date of birth that shows you are under 18. Our servers refuse it too.
• A date of birth is self-declared. We may ask for more information or use an age assurance process to confirm that someone is eligible (Terms of Service, section 3).
• Do not give a false date of birth. Do not create an account for anyone else.
• If we believe someone under 18 is using the Swem app, we may restrict the account while we look into it. We may close the account if we cannot reasonably confirm that the person is 18 or older (Privacy Policy, section 15; Terms of Service, sections 3 and 14).

How Swem limits risk

• Introductions only. People can start a one-to-one chat only with someone Swem has introduced them to or someone they share a group chat with.
• Invite-only groups. A group chat grows only when one of its members adds someone from their own Friends, and nobody is in a group until they choose to join it. There are no public links, codes or searches for groups. Anyone in a group can report it or leave it.
• One hello first. With Hellos set to Ask me first (the default, in Settings), someone you have not accepted can send you one opening hello and nothing more until you say yes. If you choose Let them straight in, a hello makes you friends right away and you can both chat.
• Posts are not public. Your Space posts can be seen only by your friends, by anyone with a hello waiting between you and by people Swem has introduced you to. Someone Swem has introduced you to can see your posts while that set of introductions is open. If they have Swem Plus, they can see them for up to 90 days after Swem introduced you. Strangers cannot browse your posts. Only friends can like a post or reply to it. Blocking someone stops them seeing your posts.
• Report and Block. You can report someone from your chat with them, from a message they sent, from their page or posts and from the card Swem shows you. You can block someone from your chat with them or from your Friends.
• A word filter. Some words and phrases linked to child sexual abuse material cannot be used in posts, comments, profiles or messages. Messages are checked against this list only at the moment you send them.
• Limited automated checks. Photos you add to your profile or to Space are also checked automatically for sexually explicit and graphically violent content before they are published, as our Privacy Policy explains (section 5). These checks are narrow and cannot catch everything. At present, apart from the word filter, private messages are not checked automatically. That is why reports from people matter.
• People review reports. Reports are reviewed by people on our team. At present, a person, not an automated tool, makes the final decision to suspend or ban an account (Terms of Service, section 10).

How to report a concern

In the app

1. Open your chat with the person.
2. Tap the three-dot button at the top right of the chat to open the chat details.
3. Tap Report followed by their name.
4. Choose Immediate safety concern.
5. In the box below the reasons, say that the concern involves a child and describe what happened.
6. Tap Send report.

You can also report someone from their page, from one of their posts or from the card Swem shows you: tap the three-dot button, then Report. To report a message, touch and hold it, then tap Report.

When you report from a chat, a reference to the conversation is attached to your report automatically. You can tap Add a screenshot if it helps, but never attach a sexual image of a child. Describe it in words instead.

When you report from a chat, the report also blocks the person unless you turn off Also block. You can also tap Block on the chat details page. Blocking on its own does not send a report, so report first.

By email

Email hello@swem.ai with Child safety in the subject line. Use email if you cannot report the concern in the app (for example, it is about someone Swem has not introduced you to) or if you do not use the Swem app. Please include:

• the person’s name as it appears in the Swem app;
• where you saw the concern, such as a chat, a profile or a post;
• what happened and when;
• how we can contact you.

Never share the material

Do not save, screenshot, forward or send sexual images or videos of a child to anyone, including us, even to report them. Sharing this material can be a crime. Describe what you saw in words instead. Report it to the ACCCE as well (see Where to get help).

Do not delete the messages if you plan to report them.

What happens after a report

• Reports are reviewed by people on our team. We do not tell the person you report who reported them.
• Where a child may be at risk, we may act right away, for example by suspending the account (Terms of Service, section 10; Privacy Policy, section 15).
• When we have finished reviewing your report, we let you know by email. We do not tell you what action we took against the other person.
• If you disagree with how we handled your report, you can ask us to look at it again within 30 days by replying to that email or by emailing hello@swem.ai.
• Anyone we act against can ask us to review the decision (Terms of Service, section 10).
• If you are in Australia and are not satisfied with our response, you can also complain to the eSafety Commissioner at esafety.gov.au/report.

Depending on what we find, we may:

• remove content or limit who can see it;
• disable a feature;
• warn, suspend or ban the account;
• keep relevant evidence;
• refer the matter to the police or another authority.

Where we find that an account has been used to sexually abuse or exploit a child, we ban it permanently. Deleting the account does not lift the ban, because we keep a minimal record so that the ban continues to apply (Privacy Policy, section 11). The same email address cannot be used to sign up again. Creating a replacement account after a ban is against our Terms of Service (section 7).

How we handle child sexual abuse material

When we become aware of child sexual abuse material or an attempt to exploit a child in the Swem app, we:

• act against the account responsible, up to a permanent ban;
• stop the account’s profile and Space posts from being seen in the Swem app;
• keep relevant evidence, such as the report and the messages or media involved, securely and for the periods set out in our Privacy Policy (section 11) unless the law requires longer, so that it can be given to the authorities (Terms of Service, section 10);
• report it to the authorities.

In Australia, we report to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), which is led by the Australian Federal Police. Where relevant, we also report to the eSafety Commissioner. Where a matter involves another country, we may also refer it to the police or another authority there. Where the law requires it, we also report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States. If we become aware that a child may be in immediate danger, we contact the police or emergency services.

If an account involved in an unresolved safety report is deleted, we may first keep a limited evidence snapshot of the relevant conversation. It is held separately from the live conversation, with restricted access (Privacy Policy, section 11; Terms of Service, section 8). The snapshot is kept until 90 days after the report is closed. If the report remains open, it is kept for no more than 365 days (Privacy Policy, section 11). Information we must keep by law may be kept for as long as the law requires (Privacy Policy, section 11).

Working with law enforcement

• We respond to lawful requests from police, courts and regulators, including removal notices from the eSafety Commissioner (Privacy Policy, sections 6 and 8).
• We may share information with law enforcement, regulators, courts or emergency services where the law requires or allows it. We may also share it where it is reasonably necessary to address a serious threat, a suspected offense or a significant safety concern (Privacy Policy, section 8).
• Police and other agencies can contact us at hello@swem.ai with Law enforcement request in the subject line.

Laws we follow

Folkone Pty Ltd is an Australian company. We comply with the child safety laws that apply to us, including Australian laws on child sexual abuse material and online safety. Where the Swem app is available outside Australia, we also comply with the child safety laws that apply to us there. This includes reporting child sexual abuse material to the authorities where those laws require it.

Child safety contact

For a child safety concern or a question about these standards and how we prevent child sexual abuse material in the Swem app, contact:

• Email: hello@swem.ai, with Child safety in the subject line
• Company: Folkone Pty Ltd (ABN 40 696 661 560)
• Postal or service address: Level 1, 63–73 Ann Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010, Australia

A person on our team reads every message. Email is not an emergency channel.

If you are under 18

The Swem app is only for adults, so please do not use it. If you have an account and someone on Swem has contacted you, report them before you delete your account in Settings → Delete account (how to delete your account).

If someone has asked you for sexual images, sent you sexual messages, threatened to share images of you or asked to meet you, on Swem or anywhere else:

• It is not your fault.
• Stop replying. Do not pay or send anything more.
• Keep the messages, but do not save or share any images.
• Tell an adult you trust.
• Report it to the ACCCE at accce.gov.au/report.
• Talk to Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, free at any time of day or night.
• If you are in danger right now, call 000.

Where to get help

If a child is in immediate danger, call 000. Outside Australia, call your local emergency number.

In Australia:

• Emergency: 000
• Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE): report online grooming, sextortion and child sexual abuse material at accce.gov.au/report
• Crime Stoppers (to report in confidence): 1800 333 000
• eSafety Commissioner: report child sexual abuse material, image-based abuse and the cyberbullying of a child at esafety.gov.au/report
• Kids Helpline (for young people, 24/7): 1800 55 1800
• 1800RESPECT (sexual assault, domestic and family violence, 24/7): 1800 737 732

Outside Australia, contact your local emergency number and the police. In the United States, you can also report to NCMEC’s CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org.

For safety advice, see our Safety Tips. For anything else, see Support.