How we make decisions, and how to challenge them

What we act on

The rules themselves are in our Acceptable Use Policy. In short, we act on anything illegal, anything that endangers or exploits a person, anything involving a child, fraud and scams, harassment and hate, impersonation, and attempts to move money or transactions off the platform to avoid protection.

How something reaches us

Reports from users, checks that run automatically, our own review, and requests from authorities. A report from a person is read by a person. Automated checks flag things for review; they do not decide anything on their own where the outcome is losing an account.

What we can do

• Leave it alone, because it does not break anything.
• Remove or hide a piece of content, a comment or a listing.
• Limit an account: restrict messaging, listing, or receiving gifts.
• Hold a payout while we look into it.
• Suspend an account temporarily.
• Close an account permanently.
• Report to the police or another authority, where the law requires it or where somebody is at risk.

We aim for the smallest action that fixes the problem. A first mistake is usually not a ban. Anything involving a child, or a credible threat to someone's safety, is treated as serious immediately and we will not work up to it gradually.

What you get told

If we act on your account or your content, we will tell you what we did, which rule it concerned, and what happens next. We will not always be able to tell you who reported you, and we will not tell you anything that would put a person at risk or interfere with an investigation. Where the law prevents us from telling you at all, we will say only that we cannot.

Appealing

Reply to the message we sent you, or contact us, and say why you think the decision is wrong. There is no form and no deadline, though sooner is easier for everyone because the records are fresher.

• Someone looks at it again. Where we can manage it, that is a person who was not involved in the original decision.
• We look at what you have told us, not only at what we already had. New evidence is the point of an appeal.
• We tell you the outcome and the reason. If we reverse the decision we restore what we can, including releasing anything we were holding.
• If we uphold it, you can still complain through our Complaints Policy, and you keep every legal right you had.

Where we got it wrong, we will say so plainly rather than quietly reversing it.

Your money if your account is closed

Closing an account does not mean keeping what is in it. Money owed to you is still owed, and we will pay out anything that is properly yours, subject to any verification we are required to complete and to anything we are legally obliged to hold. Where funds are held because of a suspected offence, we will tell you as much as we are permitted to.

Repeated or coordinated abuse

Creating another account to get round a restriction is itself a breach, and the new account goes the same way as the old one. The same applies to groups of accounts acting together.

See also our Acceptable Use Policy, Safety Centre, and Nutzungsbedingungen.