Acceptable Use Policy

Last updated: TODO — e.g. 1 January 2027

This policy forms part of the LinkedStudy Terms of Service and applies to everyone, including members, Creators and visitors, everywhere on the Platform: posts, comments, chat messages, uploads, course content, live sessions, community names and profiles.

Creators may set stricter rules inside their own community. They may not set looser ones.

1. Zero tolerance, immediate removal and reporting

The following are removed on sight, result in immediate termination without warning, and are reported to law enforcement where the law requires it:

• Child sexual abuse material, or any sexualisation of a minor, in any form including drawn, written or AI-generated.
• Grooming or child endangerment, including attempts to contact minors for sexual purposes.
• Credible threats of violence against a person or group.
• Terrorist or violent extremist content, including recruitment, instruction or glorification.
• Incitement to, or coordination of, serious physical harm.
• Non-consensual intimate imagery, including sexual deepfakes of real people.
• Trafficking of people, weapons, or controlled substances.

2. Prohibited content and conduct

2.1 Harassment and abuse. Targeted harassment, bullying, stalking, sexual harassment, threats, intimidation, coordinated pile-ons, or encouraging others to do any of these.

2.2 Hate speech. Attacking, demeaning or dehumanising people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, religion, disability, serious disease, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age.

2.3 Self-harm. Encouraging, instructing or glorifying suicide, self-harm or disordered eating. Recovery discussion and peer support are welcome; instruction and encouragement are not.

2.4 Adult content. Pornography and sexually explicit material are not permitted. Nudity in a clearly educational, medical, artistic or breastfeeding context is allowed.

2.5 Graphic violence. Gratuitously violent or gory material posted for shock value.

2.6 Fraud and deception. This includes scams, phishing and advance-fee fraud; pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes and chain referral schemes; multi-level marketing recruitment where income depends mainly on recruiting rather than sales; fake reviews, engagement farming, or buying or selling accounts, members or likes; and impersonating a person, brand or organisation, or falsely claiming affiliation, credentials or qualifications.

2.7 Misleading claims. You must not make false or unsubstantiated claims, in particular:

• income or earnings claims that are not typical, not substantiated, or presented without context;
• guarantees of specific financial, academic, health, fitness or immigration outcomes;
• medical claims about treating, curing or preventing disease;
• get-rich-quick framing or manufactured urgency and scarcity.

If you show results, they must be real, and you must make clear they are not typical.

2.8 Regulated and dangerous goods. Offering, selling or instructing on weapons and ammunition, explosives, illegal drugs and precursors, prescription medicines, counterfeit goods, stolen data, hacking services, forged documents, or gambling where not lawfully licensed.

2.9 Intellectual property. Uploading or distributing anything you do not have the rights to, including pirated courses, books, films, music, software, paid newsletters, or another creator's material reposted without permission. See our Copyright Policy.

2.10 Privacy violations. Publishing another person's private information without consent, such as home address, phone number, financial or identity documents, medical information or private messages, or sharing a community's private content outside it where that community's rules forbid it.

2.11 Spam and manipulation. Bulk unsolicited messages, repetitive posting, irrelevant promotion, mass unsolicited DMs or invitations, link schemes, or manipulating points, levels, leaderboards or affiliate attribution.

2.12 Security and technical abuse. Malware, viruses or malicious links; probing, scanning or testing the Platform's security without written permission; circumventing authentication, rate limits, paywalls or access controls; scraping or bulk extraction; automated access without permission; denial-of-service; using the Platform to attack others; or using it to build, train or improve a competing product or machine-learning model.

2.13 Account abuse. Creating accounts to evade a ban, operating undisclosed multiple accounts to manipulate the Platform, or sharing or selling account access.

3. If you are a Creator

You are responsible for your community: its content, its rules, its moderation and what your members do in it. You must:

• moderate reported content promptly;
• not use membership questions to collect sensitive personal data you do not need;
• not require members to leave the Platform to complete a transaction in order to avoid fees;
• honour what you advertised, including the content, access and support you promised;
• comply with consumer, advertising and tax law where your members live.

Serious or repeated failure to moderate may result in your community being locked, unlisted or removed.

4. Reporting

Use the report tool on any post, comment, message or profile, or email [email protected]. For copyright use [email protected]; for privacy use [email protected]. Reports are confidential, and we do not tell the reported user who reported them.

If someone is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first.

5. How we enforce

We weigh severity, intent, history and harm. Depending on those we may:

1. remove the content;
2. issue a warning;
3. limit features such as posting, messaging, uploads or payouts;
4. suspend the account temporarily;
5. lock, unlist or remove a community;
6. terminate the account permanently;
7. withhold payouts where there is fraud, chargeback risk or a legal requirement;
8. report to law enforcement.

For the categories in section 1 we skip straight to termination and reporting.

6. Appeals

If you think we got it wrong, reply to the enforcement notice or email [email protected] within 30 days. A person who was not involved in the original decision will review it. We aim to respond within 14 days, and we will tell you the outcome and the reason.

Appeals are not available where restoring the content would be unlawful.