Community Guidelines

Last updated: Feb 15, 2024

1. Introduction

The purpose of these Community Guidelines (“Community Guidelines”) is to make the use of our Parship platform (“Platform” or “we”) as pleasant and safe as possible for all users. These Community Guidelines provide all users with a guide on appropriate conduct on our Platform. They apply to all features and to all areas of our Platform, i.e. the profile and the chat. They are also a part of our General Terms and Conditions (T&C).

Users should experience our Platform as a place of safe and trustworthy interaction. Our Platform should always allow users the opportunity to present themselves to other users as they see fit in line with their own personality, in order to have the most authentic interaction or dating experience possible. This includes the ability to communicate openly and express one’s own opinions. The free and unfettered communication of our users is a core component of our Platform and a top priority for us. This applies to both the profile and chat features. Users may communicate information or content (“content”) to other users and publish it on our Platform through photos, text, and chat messages.

All users are expected to behave and communicate with each other on our Platform in a manner that is fair. A user’s right to express themself and their personality ends when it interferes with the rights of other users or when it is unlawful. In addition, there are general rules of conduct that we, as the Platform provider, require for a fair dating experience. The following therefore applies: We shall not tolerate any illegal or inappropriate content. Therefore, we shall moderate such illegal and inappropriate content in accordance with applicable laws, the General Terms and Conditions, and these Community Guidelines. We shall exercise our right to delete any content, including but not limited to photos or text, and to block or exclude any user in whole or in part. This may take place on the basis of a report that is submitted by users via the system. This shall also apply in the event that we, as the operator of the Platform, become aware of illegal or inappropriate content through our own measures.

We are aware of our responsibilities as the operator of the Platform and shall make decisions carefully, without arbitrariness, objectively, always in accordance with the principle of proportionality, and taking into account all individual circumstances. In our decisions, we shall take into account the conflicting interests and fundamental rights of our users. We shall justify all decisions we make, and all affected users are also entitled to lodge a complaint to appeal the decision, among other rights.

The following provides our users with an overview of what content and conduct is unlawful and inappropriate. It also describes the possible sanctions that we may impose in the event of illegal and inappropriate content. We then explain how users can report illegal or inappropriate content. Finally, we provide information about how to lodge a complaint and appeal our decisions.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Illegal and inappropriate content
3. Minors and images of minors
4. Appropriate profile, gallery and verification photos
5. Appropriate profile texts
6. Identity fraud, fraudulent behavior (including scams) and improper use
7. Advertising and spam
8. IT and data security
9. Hate speech, racist and terrorist content
10. Insults and defamation
11. Child pornography/child abuse
12. Child endangerment and sexual exploitation
13. Pornographic and sexualized content
14. Inappropriate, offensive and vulgar content
15. Dangerous activities or products
16. Illegal or inappropriate goods and services; prostitution and gambling
17. Content that infringes upon copyright and other industrial property rights
18. Violations of the privacy of other users
19. Depiction of violence
20. Bullying and stalking
21. Coercion and blackmail
22. Misuse of the reporting feature

Consequences of violating our Community Guidelines

1. Ways to submit a report
2. Our decision-making process
3. Guidelines, procedures, measures and tools we use
4. Options for taking action against a decision

2. Illegal and inappropriate content

We as operators of the Platform shall not tolerate any illegal or inappropriate content on our Platform. In the following, we outline rules of conduct and provide users with an overview of the content and conduct that we do not tolerate:

3. Minors and images of minors

Users must be at least 18 years of age to use our Platform. Any use of our Platform by minors is prohibited.

Content (in particular images) that shows minors (under 18) is prohibited on our Platform. This applies even if they are the user’s own children, and even if the user has permission to publish this content.

4. Appropriate profile, gallery and verification photos

General – Applies to all images:

Profile pictures must be appropriate. The profile picture must convey to other users an authentic image of the visual profile in order to enable a satisfactory dating experience. Among other things, this means the following:

• No filters are used that excessively distort a person’s natural appearance (e.g. through the use of mosaic, beauty or blur filters, and/or animations, including images distorted by AI).
• The image is of good technical quality (e.g. resolution is not too low).
• No faces of third parties are recognizable in the images. A “third party” is someone other than the person who created the profile, such as a celebrity or a child.
• No images created or modified by AI or similar technological tools (face morphing) are used.
• There is no multiple use of identical images.

Profile pictures:

• For the first profile picture: The face of the person who created the profile must be visible in the profile picture, and at least 50% of their face must be recognizable (however, large-scale obscuring of the face by hair, sunglasses, caps, cell phones, collages, etc. is not allowed).
• For all other profile pictures (2-12): The person who created the profile must be at least partially visible in the picture.

5. Appropriate profile texts

Profile texts must be appropriate. The texts must convey to other users an authentic and realistic picture of the personality of the person who created the profile. The following are therefore not appropriate (list is not exhaustive):

• Names entered that have nothing to do with a first name.
• The sole use of surnames, nicknames or pseudonyms or symbols, letters, spaces, special characters, numbers, emoticons or meaningless entries.
• Specified occupations that cannot be interpreted as an occupation or have nothing to do with an occupation.
• Implausible, evasive, misleading, or no information about one’s occupation.
• Simply stating a company name as an occupation.
• Purely descriptive information about the profession.
• Entries that are addressed to us.
• Disparaging statements about us and/or our products.
• Entries in a language in which we do not offer our services (the available languages can be found on our website).

6. Identity fraud, fraudulent behavior (including scams) and improper use

Fraudulent behavior and fraudulent content are prohibited on our Platform. This includes, in particular, the dissemination of content that is intended to mislead other users with untrue facts in order to gain an advantage for oneself, which does not necessarily have to be of a monetary nature. For example, we consider it inappropriate to deceive other users with the intention of misleading them via a falsehood in order to gain an advantage in the search for a partner or for any other reason. This prohibition applies to both bots, which are prohibited on our Platform, as well as individuals or users.

This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, the impersonation of a false identity, false information (e.g., by creating multiple profiles or a single “fake profile” or fake information about a user), or the faking of financial hardship in order to obtain monetary payments or other benefits (“scams”, “romance scams”, “marriage scam”).

Furthermore, we do not tolerate the fraudulent acquisition of free memberships through the systematic creation of new profiles.

Offensive searches for one-night stands, sexual adventures, affairs, polyamory, a second relationship or content that suggests that this is the purpose of registering on our Platform, a surrogate mother or a sperm donor also constitute a violation of these Community Guidelines.

Finally, we also assume that if multiple contracts are concluded, used, and then subsequently revoked (“multiple revocations”), that this constitutes unreasonable behavior. We consider it unreasonable if the contract is revoked more than twice within three months after the corresponding use of what are in fact paid services.

7. Advertising and spam

Our Platform is designed to facilitate communication for the purpose of dating. The use of our Platform for other purposes is prohibited. Any advertising or spam for products, services or other platforms or companies is therefore prohibited. In particular, the following are not permitted:

• Posting messages, images, or profile entries that are intended to advertise goods or services to other users, including the distribution of spam.
• Posting entries, text, images, chat messages or contact requests that include contact information such as one’s full name, address, phone number or social media information, email address, membership or profile status, etc. in one’s profile (this does not apply to paid users for the chat feature from the 2nd chat message).
• Requests asking for contact information (this does not apply to paid members).
• Job offers and other opportunities to earn money.
• Advertising and offers for the sale of goods and services.
• Attempting to solicit or entice users to other platforms and social networks.
• Advertising for contests, gift promotions, or lotteries/gambling.
• Sending (initial) messages at an inappropriately high frequency, via copy-and-paste, or chain letters.
• Contact requests that are too short, i.e. do not satisfy a minimum length, or are too long.
• Content for commercial purposes.

8. IT and data security

Any actions or attempts by users or bots that could compromise the IT security of our Platform or the privacy of our users are strictly prohibited. The security of our users’ information is of the highest priority. In particular, the following is not permitted:

• The automatic registration of accounts or the automatic, systematic or programmatic posting of content.
• Uploading or transmitting malicious code, software viruses, malware or other harmful computer code, files or programs, harvesting data or using similar data collection or extraction techniques.
• Sending phishing messages to other users.
• Otherwise influencing the availability of the offerings on our Platform to the detriment of other users (e.g. by placing a disproportionately high load on the servers through non-conventional data transfers).
• The registration of bots and other automated mechanisms, including their activities. 
• The interception of emails/messages.

9. Hate speech, racist and terrorist content

Hate has no place on our dating platform. For this reason, we do not tolerate any content that incites or displays violence or hatred against individuals or definable or specific groups based on their ethnic origin, religion, disability and health status, age, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, caste, immigration status, or similar characteristics or attributes associated with systematic discrimination or exclusion. For example, the following shall not be tolerated:

• Content with which a user suggests that a particular group (e.g., people belonging to a particular religious community) is inhuman, inferior, or deserving of contempt or hatred.
• Content that contains hateful slurs, stereotypes or theories claiming that a particular group possesses negative characteristics (e.g. is particularly vile, corrupt, evil, despicable, etc. compared to other population groups) or that objectively suggests that this group is a threat.
• Content that is intended to convince others that individuals should be hated or discriminated against because they belong to a particular group.
• Content that promotes materials, behavior, or symbols, such as flags and insignia which are associated with groups that are irreconcilable with our constitutional values and free democratic basic order (e.g., the swastika).
• Right-wing or left-wing extremist content.
• Politically extreme statements or content.
• Extremist or terrorist content. This includes content that incites acts of terrorism or violence or glorifies terrorist acts.
• Content related to terrorist regimes/terrorism.
• Party political content.
• Content that incites violence or the killing of other people, or threatens to do so to other people or users.
• Content that publicly incites people to commit crimes.

10. Insults and defamation

Freedom of expression and tolerance are among the most important fundamental rights and freedoms – on our Platform as well However, there are limits to freedom of expression and tolerance when content is offensive, humiliating, defamatory, threatening, denigrating to a religious denomination, or libelous. For example, the following shall not be tolerated:

• Insults, i.e. defamatory content towards another user.
• Insults or untrue and defamatory statements made by a user to another person about a third party.
• Threatening to commit a crime or violence against another user or one of their close relatives.
• Insulting denominations, religious communities or ideological associations.
• Non-objective and unproven conspiracy theories/conspiracy claims.

11. Child pornography/child abuse

Any child pornography or content that incites, depicts, or mentions the abuse of children is also strictly prohibited on our Platform. If we become aware of such content, we will also immediately notify the appropriate governmental authorities, particularly law enforcement and public safety agencies, of such content and conduct.

12. Child endangerment and sexual exploitation

Any content that sexualizes minors (persons under the age of 18) or promotes or glorifies the sexual exploitation of minors or children is strictly prohibited. If we become aware of such content, we will also immediately notify the appropriate governmental authorities, particularly law enforcement and public safety agencies, of such content and conduct. For example, the following are prohibited:

• Visual depictions of a minor involved in sexually explicit or sexually suggestive acts.
• Pictorial, computer-generated, or other depictions of minors in a sexually explicit context or during a sexually explicit act.
• Links to third-party providers that present material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors or children.
• Fantasies about the sexual exploitation of minors or children, or encouragement to sexually exploit minors or children.
• Expressing a desire to receive material that involves the sexual exploitation of minors or children.
• Recruiting, soliciting, or expressing interest in: (i.) A commercial sexual act with a minor or child; or (ii.) Harboring or transporting a minor or child for sexual purposes.
• Identifying suspected child victims of sexual exploitation by name or photograph.

In addition, any actions by users that are intended to recruit vulnerable persons or persons under the age of 21 to engage in, among other things, prostitution, other sexual acts, or slavery are prohibited.

13. Pornographic and sexualized content

Pornographic and sexualized content are not permitted on our Platform. We want to provide our users with an enjoyable dating experience. We understand prohibited pornographic and sexualized content to include, among other things:

• Any content with sexual acts as well as pornography in any form or appearance.
• The depiction of nudity, insofar as it is objectively for the purpose of sexually arousing other users. This is the case, for example, when the genitals, buttocks, or breasts are fully or partially exposed or shown in close-up.
• The depiction or dissemination of suggestive poses or inappropriate or excessively skimpy clothing.
• The depiction of sex toys or offensive fetishes, including any form of infantilism.
• Content that describes or encourages, for example, necrophilia or bestiality. This also applies to depictions of sexual or sexualized acts in connection with human- or animal-like beings or avatars (e.g., in hentai, comics, anime, or other digital forms of depiction and animation).
• Content in which sexual acts (including sexualized communication, such as through “sexting”), escort services, or similar services are offered or solicited in exchange for payment or remuneration in the form of cash, gifts, financial support, or other monetary benefits.
• Content that simulates sexual acts or offers them in return for payment.

14. Inappropriate, offensive and vulgar content

Offensive or vulgar content, even if it is not pornographic or sexualized in nature, is prohibited on our Platform. This applies in particular to:

• Profanity and insults. This applies regardless of the form of expression (e.g. text, emojis, images, graphics, collages, speech or gestures).
• Bloodthirsty or violence-glorifying content. For example, any content that graphically or textually depicts death, violence, torture, surgical procedures or open wounds, serious injury or the mutilation of humans or animals is prohibited. The same applies to content and the depiction of blood, other bodily fluids or feces. This applies even if the depiction takes place on human- or animal-like creatures or avatars.
• Content with accident scenes, exposed internal organs or bones, and severe physical injury, including visible wounds, broken bones, etc.
• Content that is directed at users to incite fear or fear-inducing prejudice against a group of people, including allegations that members of a group are engaged in dangerous or illegal activities (e.g., “all [religious group] are terrorists”).
• Content that contains racist terms, slurs, racist and sexist (graphic) expressions, or other derogatory material.
• Content that contains humiliation and negative prejudice directed at users, people, and identifiable groups of people.
• Denial of a significant tragic event (e.g., the Holocaust or the events surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001).
• Insensitivity to the death by suicide, overdose, natural causes, etc., of a real person or identifiable group of people.
• Anti-gender or homophobic behavior.
• Begging for money and other benefits.

15. Dangerous activities or products

Any content that contains dangerous activities or products is prohibited on our Platform. This generally has nothing to do with a dating experience. In particular, such prohibited content includes:

• Activities and products that can objectively be classified as dangerous.
• Content containing explosives, firearms, other weapons or other dangerous tools (e.g., paintball guns, bows, knives, bombs, etc.), military equipment, or weapons accessories (e.g., ammunition).
• Any content involving illegal intoxicants or narcotics (e.g., depictions of alcohol abuse, drugs, medication abuse, or other mind-altering substances or drug paraphernalia).
• Content with behavior that is objectively suitable for promoting self-harm, eating disorders, or other acts of self-harm or suicide.

16. Illegal or inappropriate goods and services; prostitution and gambling

We do not tolerate any content with illegal or inappropriate goods and services; prostitution and gambling on our dating platform. This applies in particular to:

• Human trafficking.
• Prostitution or other sexual services, including offers made for this purpose.
• Illegal gambling.
• The sale of illegal goods and drugs.

Which goods and services are considered illegal depends on the applicable law between the user and us.

17. Content that infringes upon copyright and other industrial property rights

Every user must be authorized to use the content that they use. In particular, the content must not infringe upon copyright and other industrial property rights of third parties. These include copyrights, the protection of trade secrets, patent rights and trademark rights. Use of this content may be lawful if, among other things, the rightsholder consents and the user can prove this in cases of doubt.

18. Violations of the privacy of other users

Fair communication on our Platform can only take place if the privacy and personal information of other users or individuals is respected. In particular, violations of the privacy of other users or individuals include:

• Posting images that show people other than the profile user.
• Content containing nude images of other people.
• Content that contains the contact information of other users or individuals, such as an email address or phone number.
• Publishing chats or texts that contain information about people other than the profile user.
• The transfer of profiles to third parties. 

19. Depiction of violence

Our Platform serves to enable a dating experience. As such, all forms of violence or the depiction of violence are prohibited. Content that depicts violence against humans, human-like creatures (e.g., computer-generated characters), or animals is not permitted. This applies in particular to:

• Content containing violent or gory material, such as death, violence, surgical procedures, or injury to humans or animals, including eating disorders or choking games.
• Content with violent confrontations.
• Content that contains the torture, killing, or injury of animals.

Wishing physical harm, death or illness upon a user, other people or an identifiable group is also prohibited. Promoting, inciting or encouraging suicide or self-harm is also prohibited.

20. Bullying and stalking

Every user must respect the wishes of other users. The sustained harassment of other users or inciting others to do so is prohibited. Alone the attempt to bully, persistently harass, stalk or intimidate is prohibited on our Platform. This applies in particular to:

• Content sent to a user that contains unwanted sexual content, objectifies someone in a sexually explicit manner, or otherwise involves sexual misconduct.
• Sending intrusive chat messages multiple times even though the other user does not respond.
• Repeated profile visits despite being blocked.
• Creating new profiles after being deleted by us for the purpose of contacting another user again.

21. Coercion and blackmail

Coercive and extortionate content is prohibited. This applies in particular to:

• Announcements by a user to another user that if the victim does not meet the user for a date, their revealing pictures will be posted publicly.
• Threatening to publish private images unless the victim pays a specified sum of money.

22. Misuse of the reporting feature

All users have the ability to contact us for the purpose of reporting illegal and inappropriate content on our Platform. However, misuse of the reporting feature is prohibited. Frequently submitting reports or complaints which are obviously unfounded may therefore result in sanctions on our Platform. We will point this out to you or warn you before making a decision.

Whether the reporting feature has been misused is determined in particular based on the number of obviously unfounded reports or complaints within a given period. However, abuse, such as multiple unfounded reports via the Report button, is only considered to have occurred when the reports or complaints are obviously unfounded, i.e., it is immediately clear and evident to our Customer Care Team that there is no inappropriate or illegal content. If this is not the case, we investigate each report in detail. If these obviously unfounded reports or complaints are made multiple times within a particular period, this constitutes abuse. Abuse will result in temporary or – depending on the severity – permanent exclusion from our service.

Consequences of violating our Community Guidelines

These Community Guidelines are enforced both through self-moderation by our qualified and experienced Customer Care Team and based on reports from users. We typically rely on a combination of manual review and IT-based support to implement self-moderation policies.

1. Ways to submit a report

We have implemented a digital reporting procedure. Any user can use it at any time to report content that is illegal or violates these Community Guidelines. Registered users can do this using the corresponding Report buttons on our Platform. This allows any registered user to submit reports in a user-friendly and secure manner. Alternatively – also registered users, non-registered persons, institutions, and government agencies – reports may also be submitted by sending us an email, via our reporting form, or by contacting us in some other fashion. Upon receipt of a report, we will send the reporting user an email acknowledging receipt.

2. Our decision-making process

Our Customer Care Team reviews the report or the content in question. Our Customer Care Team may ask the reporting user if they have any questions regarding a report or if the facts of the case are still unclear. Our Customer Care Team reviews and makes a decision regarding the (reported) information promptly, carefully, without arbitrariness and objectively, i.e. impartially. The mutual interests of the users are taken into account. This applies in particular to freedom of expression and the right to the free development of one’s personality, as guaranteed by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. These interests are weighed against the protection interests of third parties. Naturally, applicable law and the provisions of these Community Guidelines will be observed.

If we become aware of illegal content or content that violates these Community Guidelines, we will delete such content and, depending on the severity of the violation, issue the user a warning, either temporarily or permanently block or irrevocably delete them, and/or terminate the user relationship with or without notice, and prohibit re-registration for a reasonable period of time or permanently. Particularly in the case of illegal content, i.e. violations of laws such as child pornography, we shall permanently block or delete users. In all other cases, the sanctions shall be determined based on the following criteria: (i.) Severity and nature of the violation, (ii.) the fundamental rights of the affected user, (iii.) the protection interests of third parties, (iv.) the law and also (v.) the frequency, the past conduct of the user and whether they show remorse. We will preserve reported incidents and/or content that is unlawful or in violation of our Community Guidelines for purposes of evidence in accordance with data protection laws. When we receive reports about chat messages, the chat messages are made available for our Customer Care Team to review. Furthermore, the last 30 chat messages will be saved for the purpose of securing evidence.

We will notify the affected user of our decision by email at the same time we take the action, provided that content is involved. We will state the reasons for our decision and inform the affected user of the legal remedies against this decision available to him or her. Due to the purpose of the Digital Services Act, namely to combat the distribution of illegal content, we will not send content that is illegal or violates our Community Guidelines in the explanatory message. Instead, we provide a description of this content so that the affected user can identify the content in question.

If we become aware of information that gives rise to the suspicion that a criminal offense that threatens the life or safety of any person or persons has been committed, is being committed or may be committed, we will promptly notify law enforcement, public safety or judicial authorities of this, and provide them with all relevant information available to us.

We will also notify the reporting user of our decision, even if we have taken no action with respect to the content reported, because the reporting user also has a right to pursue legal remedies.

3. Guidelines, procedures, measures and tools we use

In particular, our decision-making process is governed by the General Terms and Conditions and these Community Guidelines. As a rule, our Customer Care Team checks whether content is illegal or violates our Community Guidelines.

We use digital moderation tools to facilitate and speed up our decision-making process. All user-generated text is automatically checked for text matches, such as swear words. Images uploaded by users are run through image recognition software designed to automatically detect violations of these Community Guidelines.

All of our moderation tools approve content, but do not automatically reject content under any circumstances. Any discrepancies detected are reviewed manually, on a case-by-case basis, and in accordance with the Community Guidelines and legal requirements by our Customer Care Team. The Customer Care Team’s decision to approve or reject the content will be communicated to the affected user, along with the reasons for the decision and, if the user is affected, along with instructions on how to appeal the decision.

We also use tools to detect misuse (fraud, scam, IT security) that review user behavior and generated content, such as images and text, on the Platform based on rules and in compliance with data protection regulations. Our Customer Care team will make a decision regarding the affected user’s situation on a case-by-case basis. 

4. Options for taking action against a decision

Every affected user has various legal remedies available to appeal our decision. We will notify each affected user of this along with our decision via email. The affected user, including reporting persons or institutions, as well as non-registered persons, may file a complaint against any decision with our internal complaint management system within 6 months of our decision. Users, including reporting persons or institutions, as well as non-registered persons, may do so by using the input form accessible via a link in the information on remedies in the e-mail containing the reasons for the decision. Our “Internal Complaint Team” will process the complaint individually, promptly, without discrimination, carefully and free of arbitrariness. Our “Internal Complaint Team” is made up of different people than our Customer Care Team. If the complaint is admissible and well-founded, we will reverse the decision. 

If a user, including a reporting person or institution, whose place of residence/domicile or habitual abode is in a Member State of the European Union is aggrieved by a decision of the Internal Complaint Team, as well as in the case of complaints that could not be resolved through the internal complaint management system, the user may choose a certified out-of-court dispute resolution body.

Irrespective of the internal complaint management system and the certified out-of-court dispute resolution body, each user is free to pursue legal remedies.