Teen Chat Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are the agreement between you and Teen Chat (teen-chat.org). They apply whenever you use the Teen Chat website or chat rooms, including private messages and profiles.

By using Teen Chat you agree to these Terms, our Chat Rules and our Privacy Policy. The Chat Rules are part of these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use Teen Chat.

We have written these Terms in plain language. Sections 5 and 6 explain how we protect you from illegal content, and sections 7 and 8 explain how to report content, complain and appeal.

Our commitment to online safety

• We take online safety very seriously, especially the safety of the young people who use Teen Chat.
• We are committed to meeting all of our legal duties to protect users from illegal and harmful content.
• Teen Chat is protected by several layers of safety that work together: our own defense system, other automated tools, human moderators, and reporting tools for members (see section 6).
• We act quickly on illegal content, and we report child sexual exploitation to the relevant reporting authorities, such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
• We regularly review the risks on Teen Chat and improve our safety measures when we find new ones.
• These Terms explain what is not allowed, how we keep you safe, and how you can report problems, complain or appeal a decision.

1. Who can use Teen Chat

• Teen Chat is only for teenagers aged 13 to 19.
• You must tell the truth about your age. Anyone younger than 13 or older than 19 will be banned and may be reported to the police.
• You may only have one account, and you are responsible for everything that happens on it.
• Keep your password private. Teen Chat staff will never ask for it.
• If you are under 18, we encourage you to talk to a parent or guardian about using online chat.

2. Following the rules

• You must follow these Terms and the Chat Rules everywhere on Teen Chat.
• You must follow instructions from moderators.
• If you break these Terms or the Chat Rules, we may remove your content and warn, mute, kick, suspend or ban you (see section 9).

3. Your content

• You are responsible for everything you post, send or upload, including messages, images, drawings, voice messages and your profile.
• Only post content you have the right to share, and that is legal.
• You keep ownership of your content. You give us permission to store it and show it on Teen Chat so the service can work.
• Anything you post in a public room or on your profile can be seen by other people. Do not share personal information such as your full name, address, school or phone number.
• We may remove any content that breaks these Terms or the Chat Rules.

4. Illegal content is never allowed

You must not use Teen Chat to post, share, ask for or take part in anything illegal. This includes:

• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: sexual images or videos of anyone under 18 (including drawings and AI-made images), grooming, asking a young person for sexual messages or pictures, and sextortion (threatening to share someone's images unless they do what you say).
• Terrorism: supporting or promoting terrorist groups or banned (proscribed) organisations, sharing terrorist material, or encouraging or planning attacks.
• Threats, harassment and stalking, including threats to kill or hurt someone.
• Hate crimes, including stirring up hatred because of someone's race or religion.
• Encouraging or helping someone to take their own life or seriously hurt themselves.
• Sharing, or threatening to share, intimate images of someone without their permission, including fake or edited images.
• Extreme pornography.
• Selling or offering drugs, weapons or other illegal items.
• Fraud and scams, including pretending to be someone else to trick people or taking payment details.
• Any other content or activity that is against the law.

Breaking this section can lead to an immediate permanent ban and a report to the relevant reporting authorities.

5. How we protect you from illegal content

Child sexual exploitation and abuse
• This is our top priority. Reports about it are reviewed before anything else.
• Images are checked against lists of known child sexual abuse material, and uploaded images are checked automatically for nudity before they can be seen (see section 6).
• Messages that advertise, trade or ask for child sexual abuse material are detected automatically and the account is banned straight away.
• Private messages are checked automatically for signs of grooming, and alerts are reviewed by moderators.
• Older members are stopped from private messaging younger members by default.
• When we find this content, we remove it immediately, ban the account and report it to the relevant reporting authorities, such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Terrorism
• Content that supports terrorism or banned (proscribed) organisations is not allowed anywhere on Teen Chat.
• Moderators and automated filters look for it, and reports about it are treated as urgent.
• When we find it, we remove it as quickly as possible and may report it to the relevant authorities.
• We remove accounts that we have reasonable grounds to believe are run by, or for, a proscribed organisation, for example because of their username, profile picture or what they post.

Other illegal content
• Automated filters block or hide banned words, spam and links, and our defense system watches for attempts to move people to other apps.
• Moderators watch the chat rooms and review reports.
• When we find illegal content, such as threats, hate, scams or the sale of drugs or weapons, we remove it quickly and take action against the account. Where someone may be at risk of harm, we may contact the police.

How we take down illegal content
• We find content through user reports, our moderators and our automated tools.
• When we believe content may be illegal, a moderator reviews it. If it is illegal, or breaks these Terms, we take it down as quickly as we can.
• We deal with the most serious and most widely seen content first. Child sexual exploitation, and anyone at risk of harm, always come first.

6. The safety tools we use

Teen Chat uses several layers of protection that work together: our own defense system, other automated tools, human moderators, and reporting and safety tools for members. Automated tools like these are sometimes called "proactive technology".

A. Our defense system
We built our own safety defense system for Teen Chat. It checks public and private messages automatically as they are sent, and:

• Detects messages that advertise, sell, trade or ask for child sexual abuse material, and bans the account straight away.
• Looks for warning signs of grooming across a member's private conversations, such as asking someone to keep secrets, move to another app, accept gifts or money, or send pictures, and adults contacting teens. These alerts go to our moderators to review.
• Watches for attempts to move members off Teen Chat, such as sharing social media accounts, messaging app IDs or contact details. Messaging app IDs posted in public rooms are blocked automatically. In private messages, sharing them is not against the rules on its own, but it is one of the warning signs our grooming detection looks for. Anyone who keeps pushing other apps is kicked, and banned if they carry on.
• Detects spam, flooding and repeated messages in chat rooms, and kicks the account. Repeat offenders are banned.
• Detects hidden characters and disguised spellings used to get around our filters.
• Flags members who say they are younger than 13 or older than 19, so moderators can check.
• Keeps a record of its alerts and the actions taken, so moderators can review them and report serious cases to the relevant reporting authorities.

B. Other automated tools
• Image matching. When images are shared on the site, a digital fingerprint of each image is compared with lists of known child sexual abuse material kept by child protection experts. A matching image is blocked.
• AI image checks. When you upload an image, an artificial intelligence (AI) moderation service checks it for nudity and sexual content. If it is flagged, the image is blocked and cannot be seen.
• Word and link filters. Messages are checked against lists of banned words, phrases and links. They may be blocked or hidden, and the account may be muted.
• Age-based messaging protection. The age on each account is used to stop older members from sending private messages to younger members. This is on by default.
• VPN, proxy and ban evasion checks. When you connect, your IP address is checked to block VPNs, proxies and people trying to get around a ban.

C. Human moderation
• Moderators are active in the chat rooms. They have a shield icon beside their name and appear at the top of the user list.
• They review reports from members, alerts from our defense system, and content flagged by our other tools.
• They can remove content and warn, mute, kick or ban accounts.
• Serious cases, such as child sexual exploitation or someone at risk of harm, are passed to administrators, who report them to the relevant reporting authorities, such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

D. Reporting and safety tools for members
• Report button. Report any chat message, private message, wall post or profile straight to our moderators (see section 7).
• Ignore. Stop seeing messages from anyone you don't want to hear from.
• Private chat settings. Choose who can send you private messages: everyone, members only, friends only, or nobody.
• Contact Us page. Anyone, including parents and people without an account, can report a problem or make a complaint.

Automated tools can make mistakes, so moderators review alerts. If you think a tool has wrongly removed or restricted your content, or acted in a way these Terms do not allow, you can complain (see section 8).

7. How to report content

• Report a chat message: click the three dots (...) beside the message and choose Report.
• Report a private message: click the gear icon in the private chat and choose Report.
• Report a profile: click the flag icon on the profile.
• Tell a moderator: moderators have a shield icon beside their name and are at the top of the user list.
• Anyone, including people without an account and parents, can report through our Contact Us page.
• You can include information that helps us, such as the username, the time it happened and what was said.
• We do not tell the person you reported that you reported them, or who you are.
• If you see sexual images of a child, do not save, forward or screenshot them. Report the message straight away.
• If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact the police first.

8. Complaints and appeals

What you can complain about
• Content on Teen Chat that you think is illegal.
• An appeal: we removed your content, or warned, muted, kicked, suspended or banned you, and you think we got it wrong.
• Our automated tools removed or restricted your content in a way you think these Terms do not allow.
• You think we are not doing enough to protect users from illegal content, to let users report content, or to protect freedom of expression and privacy.

How to complain
• To report a specific message or profile, use the report tools in section 7.
• For anything else, including appeals, use our Contact Us page. Tell us your username (if you have one), what happened, when it happened, and anything else that helps.

What happens next
• We review every complaint. Complaints about child sexual exploitation, or someone at risk of harm, are dealt with first.
• If you give us an email address, we will confirm we have received your complaint, tell you roughly how long it should take, explain the possible outcomes, and tell you whether we will let you know our decision. You can ask us to stop sending you messages about your complaint at any time.
• We deal with complaints and appeals as quickly as possible. When we confirm we have received yours, we will give you an idea of how long it should take.
• Possible outcomes include no action, removing content, warning, muting, kicking, suspending or banning an account, or reporting to the authorities. For an appeal, we either keep our decision or reverse it.
• If we decide we got it wrong, we will put things back as far as we can, for example by restoring your content or lifting a ban, and we will take steps to stop the same mistake happening again.
• If you believe we have broken these Terms, you may also have the right to take legal action for breach of contract.

9. Warnings, suspensions and bans

• We may warn, mute, kick, suspend or ban any account that breaks these Terms or the Chat Rules, or to protect other members.
• Serious violations, such as illegal content or putting a young person at risk, lead to an immediate permanent ban without warning.
• You must not create new accounts or use a VPN or proxy to get around a ban.
• You can delete your own account at any time from the Options tab of your profile.
• If you think we acted in error, you can appeal (see section 8).

10. VIP, gold and games

Games are just for fun
• The games in Teen Chat, such as the slot machine, scratch cards and the lottery, are for entertainment only.
• Gold is play money that only works inside Teen Chat. It has no cash value.
• Gold can never be turned into real money, gift cards, prizes or anything else of value, and it cannot be withdrawn or cashed out.
• You cannot win real money on Teen Chat. The only thing you can win or lose in a game is gold.
• Do not buy, sell or trade gold for money or anything else, on Teen Chat or anywhere else. Accounts that do this will be removed.
• Buying gold or VIP pays for features inside Teen Chat. It is not a deposit, and it is not refunded unless the law says it must be.
• We may change, reset or remove gold, or change or stop any game, at any time. Gold won by cheating or through a fault in a game can be taken back, and all gold is lost if an account is banned.

VIP
• VIP does not put you above these Terms or the Chat Rules.
• Everything you post using VIP features must follow these Terms.
• Paying with someone else's card or payment account without their permission is fraud and will be reported to law enforcement.

11. Law enforcement and child protection

• We cooperate with law enforcement and the relevant reporting authorities, such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
• We may share account information, such as username, email address, IP address and content, when the law requires it, when we report suspected child exploitation or other illegal activity, or when someone may be at risk of harm.
• Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your information.

12. Staying safe

• We work hard to keep Teen Chat safe, but no website can see everything. Please protect your personal information and think carefully about who you talk to.
• Keep your conversations on Teen Chat. We cannot see or control what happens on other apps or websites, and we are not responsible for it.
• Parents and guardians play an important part in helping young people stay safe online.
• For safety tips and where to get help, visit our Safety page.

13. Changes to these Terms

• We may update these Terms from time to time. The date at the bottom shows when they last changed.
• If you keep using Teen Chat after a change, you accept the updated Terms.

14. Contact us

If you have a question about these Terms, please use our Contact Us page.

Last Updated October 9th, 2026