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Community Guidelines
Introduction
Last Updated August 2021
Sparkze’s mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. We are building a global community where people can create and share, discover the world around them, and connect with others across America and ultimately the world. As we grow, we are committed to maintaining a supportive environment for our community. Our Community Guidelines define a set of norms and common code of conduct for Sparkze; they provide guidance on what is and is not allowed to make a welcoming space for everyone.
At Sparkze, we prioritize safety, diversity, inclusion, and authenticity. We encourage creators to celebrate what makes them unique and viewers to engage in what inspires them; and we believe that a safe environment helps everyone express themselves openly. We deeply value the nature of our community, and we strive to take into account the breadth of cultural norms where we operate. We also aim to cultivate an environment for genuine interactions by only allowing authentic content on Sparkze.
Our Community Guidelines apply to everyone and to everything on Sparkze. We proactively enforce them using a mix of technology and human moderation before content gets reported to us. We also encourage our community members to use the tools we provide on Sparkze to report any content they believe violates our Community Guidelines.
We will remove any content – including video, audio, live images, comments, and text – that violates our Community Guidelines. Individuals are notified of our decisions and can appeal if they believe no violation has occurred. We will suspend or ban accounts and/or devices that are involved in severe or repeated violations; we will consider information available on other platforms and offline in these decisions. When warranted, we will report the accounts to relevant legal authorities.
Our algorithms are designed with trust and safety in mind. For some content – such as spam, videos under review, or videos that could be considered upsetting or depict things that may be shocking to a general audience, we may reduce discoverability, including by redirecting search results or limiting distribution in your feed.
In consultation with relevant stakeholders, we update our Community Guidelines from time to time to evolve alongside new behaviors and risks, as part of our commitment to keeping Sparkze a safe place for connection, game play and joy.
Violent Extremism
We take a firm stance against enabling violence on or off Sparkze. We do not allow people to use our platform to threaten or incite violence, or to promote dangerous individuals or organizations. When there is a threat to public safety or an account is used to promote or glorify off-platform violence, we may suspend or ban the account. When we determine it is warranted, we will report threats to relevant legal authorities. To effectively protect our community, we may consider information available on other platforms and offline to identify violent and extremist individuals and organizations on our platform. If we find such individuals or organizations on Sparkze, we will close their accounts.
Threats and incitement to violence
We consider incitement to violence as advocating for, directing, or encouraging other people to commit violence. We do not allow threats of violence or incitement to violence on our platform that may result in serious physical harm.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Statements of intent to inflict physical injuries on an individual or a group.
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Statements or imagery that encourage others to commit or that advocate for physical violence.
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Conditional or aspirational statements that encourage other people to commit violence.
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Calls to bring weapons to a location with the intent to intimidate or threaten an individual or group with violence.
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Instructions on how to make or use weapons with an intent to incite violence.
Dangerous Individuals and Organizations
We do not allow individuals or organizations on our platform who promote or are engaged in violence. We remove such individuals and organizations, including mass murderers, serial killers and rapists, hate groups, criminal organizations, terrorist organizations, and other non-state armed groups that target civilians.
Terrorist Organizations
Terrorists and terrorist organizations are non-state actors that threaten violence, use violence, and/or commit serious crimes (such as crimes against humanity) against civilian populations in pursuit of political, religious, ethnic, or ideological objectives.
Organized Hate
Organized hate refers to those individuals and organizations who attack people based on protected characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, or immigration status. We consider attacks to include actions that incite violence or hatred, dehumanize individuals or groups, or embrace a hateful ideology.
Criminal Organizations
Criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groups that have engaged in serious crimes, including violent crimes (e.g., homicide, rape, robbery, assault), trafficking (e.g., human, organ, drug, weapons), kidnapping, financial crimes (e.g., extortion, blackmail, fraud, money laundering), or cybercrime.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that praises, promotes, glorifies, or supports dangerous individuals and/or organizations.
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Content that encourages participation in, or intends to recruit individuals to, dangerous organizations.
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Content with names, symbols, logos, flags, slogans, uniforms, gestures, salutes, illustrations, portraits, songs, music, lyrics, or other objects meant to represent dangerous individuals and/or organizations.
Hateful Behavior
Sparkze is a diverse and inclusive community that has no tolerance for discrimination. We do not permit content that contains hate speech or involves hateful behavior and we remove it from our platform. We suspend or ban accounts that engage in hate speech violations or which are associated with hate speech off the Sparkze platform.
Dangerous Individuals and Organizations
We define hate speech or behavior as content that attacks, threatens, incites violence against, or otherwise dehumanizes an individual or a group on the basis of the following protected attributes:
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Race
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Ethnicity
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National origin
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Religion
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Caste
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Sexual orientation
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Sex
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Gender
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Gender identity
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Serious disease
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Disability
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Immigration status
Do not post, upload or share:
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Hateful content related to an individual or group, including:
– Claiming that they are physically, mentally, or morally inferior
– Calling for or justifying violence against them
– Claiming that they are criminals
– Referring to them as animals, inanimate objects, or other non-human entities
– Promoting or justifying exclusion, segregation, or discrimination against them -
Content that depicts harm inflicted upon an individual or a group on the basis of a protected attribute
Slurs
Slurs are defined as derogatory terms that are intended to disparage an ethnicity, race, or any other protected attributes listed above. To minimize the spread of egregiously offensive terms, we remove all slurs from our platform, unless the terms are reappropriated, used self-referentially (e.g., in a song), or do not disparage.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that uses or includes slurs.
Hateful Ideology
Hateful ideologies are those that demonstrate clear hostility toward people because of their protected attributes. Hateful ideologies are incompatible with the inclusive and supportive community that our platform provides and we remove content that promotes them.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that praises, promotes, glorifies, or supports any hateful ideology.
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Content that contains names, symbols, logos, flags, slogans, uniforms, gestures, salutes, illustrations, portraits, songs, music, lyrics, or other objects related to a hateful ideology.
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Content that denies well-documented and violent events have taken place affecting groups with protected attributes.
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Claims of supremacy over a group of people with reference to other protected attributes.
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Conspiracy theories used to justify hateful ideologies.
Illegal Activities and Regulated Goods
We work to ensure Sparkze does not enable activities that violate laws or regulations. We prohibit the trade, sale, promotion, and use of certain regulated goods, as well as the depiction, promotion, or facilitation of criminal activities, including human exploitation. Content may be removed if it relates to activities or goods that are regulated or illegal in the majority of the region or world, even if the activities or goods in question are legal in the jurisdiction of posting.
Criminal Activities
Criminal activities cover a wide spectrum of acts punishable by law, including theft, assault, human exploitation, counterfeiting, and other harmful behavior. To prevent such behavior from being normalized, imitated, or facilitated, we remove content that promotes or enables criminal activities.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that depicts or promotes acts of physical harm, such as assault or kidnapping.
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Content that risks the safety of others, including swatting.
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Content that depicts or promotes human exploitation, including human smuggling, bonded labor, domestic servitude, sex trafficking, or prostitution.
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Content that depicts or promotes the poaching or illegal trade of wildlife.
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Content that offers the purchase, sale, trade, or solicitation of unlawfully acquired or counterfeit goods.
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Content that provides instructions on how to conduct criminal activities.
Weapons
We do not allow the depiction, promotion, or trade of firearms, ammunition, firearm accessories, or explosive weapons. We also prohibit instructions on how to manufacture those weapons. Content as part of a museum’s collection, carried by a police officer, in a military parade, or used in a safe and controlled environment such as a shooting range may be allowed.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that displays firearms, firearm accessories, ammunition, or explosive weapons.
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Content that offers the purchase, sale, trade, or solicitation of firearms, accessories, ammunition, explosive weapons, or instructions on how to manufacture them.
Drugs, Controlled Substances, Alcohol, and Tobacco
We do not allow the depiction, promotion, or trade of drugs or other controlled substances. The trade of tobacco and alcohol products is also prohibited on the platform.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that depicts or promotes drugs, drug consumption, or encourages others to make, use, or trade drugs or other controlled substances.
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Content that offers the purchase, sale, trade, or solicitation of drugs or other controlled substances, alcohol or tobacco products (including vaping products).
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Content that provides information on how to buy illegal or controlled substances.
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Content that depicts or promotes the making of illicit alcohol products.
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Content that depicts or promotes the misuse of legal substances, or instruction on how to make homemade substances, in an effort to become intoxicated.
Frauds and Scams
We do not permit anyone to exploit our platform to take advantage of the trust of users and bring about financial or personal harm. We remove content that deceives people in order to gain an unlawful financial or personal advantage, including schemes to defraud individuals or steal assets.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that depicts or promotes phishing.
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Content that depicts or promotes Ponzi, multi-level marketing, or pyramid schemes.
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Content that depicts or promotes investment schemes with promise of high returns, fixed betting, or any other types of scams.
Gambling
We do not allow content promoting gambling services, or that could be perceived as advertising for casinos, sports betting, or any other commercial gambling activity.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that promotes casinos, sports betting, poker, lotteries, gambling-related software and apps, or other gambling services.
Privacy, Personal Data, and Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
We do not allow content that violates the confidentiality of personal data or personally identifiable information (e.g., social security information). We remove content that depicts personal data or personally identifiable information (PII) from the platform.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that contains personal data or personally identifiable information (PII).
Violent and Graphic Content
Sparkze is a platform that celebrates creativity but not shock value or violence. We do not allow content that is gratuitously shocking, graphic, sadistic, or gruesome or that promotes, normalizes, or glorifies extreme violence or suffering on our platform. When there is a threat to public safety, we suspend or ban the account and, when warranted, we will report it to relevant legal authorities.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content of humans that depicts:
– Violent or graphic deaths or accidents.
– Dismembered, mutilated, charred, or burned human remains.
– Gore in which an open wound or injury is the core focus.
– Real-world physical violence, fighting, or torture. -
Content of animals that depicts:
– Violent or graphic deaths or accidents.
– Dismembered, mutilated, charred, or burned human remains.
– Gore in which an open wound or injury is the core focus.
– Real-world physical violence, fighting, or torture.
Suicide, Self-Harm, and Dangerous Acts
We care deeply about the health and well-being of the individuals that make up our community. We do not allow content depicting, promoting, normalizing, or glorifying activities that could lead to suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders. We also do not permit users to share content depicting them partaking in, or encouraging others to partake in, dangerous activities that may lead to serious injury or death.
However, we do support members of our community sharing their personal experiences with these issues in a safe way to raise awareness and find community support. We also encourage individuals who are struggling with thoughts of self-harm or suicide, or who know someone is seriously considering suicide, to immediately contact local emergency services or a suicide prevention hotline. In the event that our intervention could help a user who may be at risk of harming themselves, the Sparkze team may also alert local emergency services.
Suicide
We remove content that displays suicide, suicidal ideation, or content that might encourage participation in other self-injurious behavior. We also remove content that depicts attempted suicide or content featuring a person engaging in behavior or intending to engage in behavior that is likely to lead to self-inflicted death. We prohibit any form of content that promotes, normalizes, or glorifies suicide, provides instructions for suicide, or posts that portray a suicide as heroic or honorable.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that provides instructions for suicide.
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Content that depicts, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies suicide.
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Suicide games, dares, pacts, or hoaxes.
Self-Harm and Eating Disorders
To avoid normalizing, encouraging, or triggering self-harm behavior, we do not allow imagery that depicts such behavior, regardless of the user’s intention of posting it. We remove content that may encourage or normalize acts that are likely to lead to physical self-inflicted injury. Content that promotes eating habits that are likely to cause adverse health outcomes is also not allowed on the platform.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that depicts, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies self-harm or eating disorders.
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Content that provides instructions on how to engage in self-harm or eating disorders.
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Self-harm or eating disorder games, dares, pacts, or hoaxes.
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Content that depicts, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies eating disorders or other dangerous weight loss behaviors associated with eating disorders.
Dangerous Acts
We define risky activities or other dangerous behavior as acts conducted in a non-professional context or without the necessary skills and safety precautions that may lead to serious injury or death for the user or the public. We do not allow content that depicts, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies such behavior, including amateur stunts or dangerous challenges.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that shows the potentially inappropriate use of dangerous tools, vehicles, or objects.
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Content that depicts or promotes ingesting substances that are not meant for consumption or could lead to severe harm.
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Dangerous games, dares, or stunts that might lead to injury.
Harassment and Bullying
We believe in an inclusive community and individualized expression without fear of abuse. We do not tolerate members of our community being shamed, bullied, or harassed. Abusive content or behavior can cause severe psychological distress and will be removed from our platform.
Abusive Behavior
We remove all expressions of abuse, including threats or degrading statements intended to mock, humiliate, embarrass, intimidate, or hurt an individual. This prohibition extends to the use of Sparkze features. To enable expression about matters of public interest, critical comments of public figures may be allowed; however, serious abusive behavior against public figures is prohibited.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that insults another individual, or disparages an individual on the basis of attributes such as intellect, appearance, personality traits, or hygiene.
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Content that encourages coordinated harassment.
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Content that disparages victims of violent tragedies.
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Content that uses Sparkze interactive features (e.g., duet) to degrade others.
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Content that depicts willful harm or intimidation, such as cyberstalking or trolling.
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Content that wishes death, serious disease, or other serious harm on an individual or public figure.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment involves unwanted or inappropriate sexual behavior directed at another individual. We do not allow content, including comments or advances, that sexually harasses others, regardless of user’s intent, as such actions can cause great distress to targeted individuals.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that attempts to make unwanted sexual contact.
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Content that simulates sexual activity with another user, either verbally, in text (including emojis), or through the use of any in-app features.
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Content that disparages another person’s sexual activity.
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Content that alters or morphs an image of another individual to portray or imply sexual suggestiveness or engagement in sexual activity.
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Content that reveals, or threatens to reveal a person’s private sexual life, including threats to publicize digital content, sexual history, and names of previous sexual partners.
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Content that exposes, or threatens to expose, a person’s sexual orientation without their consent or knowledge.
Threats of Hacking, Doxxing and Blackmail
Threatening to hack or dox with an intent to harass or blackmail another individual can cause serious emotional distress and other offline harm. We define doxxing as the act of collecting and publishing personal data or personally identifiable information (PII) for malicious purposes. We consider these online behaviors as forms of abuse and do not allow them on our platform.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that threatens to reveal personal data or personally identifiable information (PII), including residential address, private email address, private phone number, bank statement, social security number, or passport number.
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Threats of blackmail or hacking another individual’s account.
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Content that incites or encourages others to hack or reveal another person’s account, personal data, or personally identifiable information (PII).
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An individual’s account, personal data, or personally identifiable information for others to abuse, troll, or harass.
Adult Nudity and Sexual Activities
We strive to create a platform that feels welcoming and safe. We do not allow nudity, pornography, or sexually explicit content on our platform. We also prohibit content depicting or supporting non-consensual sexual acts, the sharing of non-consensual intimate imagery, and adult sexual solicitation.
Sexual exploitation
Sexual exploitation is defined as any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, power, or trust for sexual purposes, including profiting monetarily, socially, or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. We do not permit sexually exploitative content.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that depicts, solicits, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies non-consensual sexual acts or non-consensual touching, including rape and sexual assault.
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Content that depicts, solicits, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies the sharing of non-consensual intimate imagery, including sexual images that are taken, created, or shared without consent.
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Content that depicts, promotes, normalizes, or glorifies sexual violence.
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Content that depicts, promotes, or glorifies sexual solicitation, including offering or asking for sexual partners, sexual chats or imagery, sexual services, premium sexual content, or sexcamming.
Nudity and Sexual Activity Involving Adults
Nudity and sexual activity include content that is overtly revealing of breasts, genitals, anus, or buttocks, or behaviors that mimic, imply, or display sex acts. We do not allow depictions, including digitally created or manipulated content, of nudity or sexual activity. We are mindful of content that may be offensive or culturally inappropriate in certain regions or may not be suitable for users of all ages.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that explicitly or implicitly depicts sexual activities including penetrative and non-penetrative sex, oral sex, or erotic kissing.
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Content that depicts sexual arousal or sexual stimulation.
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Content that depicts a sexual fetish.
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Content that depicts exposed human genitalia, female nipples or areola, pubic regions, or buttocks.
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Content that contains sexually explicit language for sexual gratification.
Minor Safety
We are deeply committed to ensuring the safety of minors on our platform. We do not tolerate activities that perpetuate the abuse, harm, endangerment, or exploitation of minors on Sparkze. Any content, including animation or digitally created or manipulated media, that depicts abuse, exploitation, or nudity of minors is a violation on our platform and will be removed when detected. When warranted, we report violative content to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and/or other relevant legal authorities. Sparkze consider’s a minor any person under the age of 18.
Users must be 18 years and older to use Sparkze, as stipulated in our Terms of Service. When underage account holders are identified, we will remove those accounts.
Nudity and Sexual Activity Involving Adults
Nudity and sexual activity involving minors include content that is overtly revealing of breasts, genitals, anus, or buttocks, or behaviors that mimic, imply, or display sex acts involving minors. We do not allow the depiction, including digitally created or manipulated content, of nudity or sexual activity.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Content that depicts or implies minor sexual activities including penetrative and non-penetrative sex, oral sex, or intimate kissing.
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Content that depicts sexual arousal or sexual stimulation involving a minor.
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Content that depicts a sexual fetish involving a minor.
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Content that depicts exposed human genitalia, female nipples or areola, pubic regions, or buttocks of a minor
Content that contains sexually explicit language depicting or describing a minor. -
Content depicting a minor that contains sexually explicit song lyrics.
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Content with sexually explicit dancing of a minor, including twerking, breast shaking, pelvic thrusting, or fondling the groin or breasts of oneself or another.
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Content depicting a minor undressing.
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Content depicting a minor in minimal clothing that is not situationally relevant to the location.
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Sexualized comments, emojis, text, or other graphics used to veil or imply nudity or sexual activity of a minor.
Integrity and Authenticity
We believe that trust forms the foundation of our community. We do not allow activities that may undermine the integrity of our platform or the authenticity of our users. We remove content or accounts that involve spam or fake engagement, impersonation, misleading information that causes harm, or that violate any intellectual property rights.
Spam and Fake Engagement
Fake engagement includes any content or activity that seeks to artificially inflate popularity on the platform. We prohibit any attempts to manipulate the platform to increase interaction metrics.
Do not:
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Operate multiple Sparkze accounts under false or fraudulent pretenses to distribute commercial spam.
Impersonation
We do not allow accounts that pose as another person or entity in a deceptive manner. When we confirm a report of impersonation, we will ask the user to revise the profile or suspend or ban the account. We do allow parody, commentary, or fan accounts, as long as the user indicates in the bio and username that it is fan, commentary, or parody and not affiliated with the subject of the account.
Do not:
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Pose as another person or entity by using someone else’s name, biographical details, or profile picture in a misleading manner.
Misinformation
Misinformation is defined as content that is inaccurate or false. While we encourage our community to have respectful conversations about subjects that matter to them, we do not permit misinformation that causes harm to individuals, our community, or the larger public regardless of intent.
Do not post, upload or share:
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Misinformation that incites hate or prejudice.
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Misinformation related to emergencies that induces panic.
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Medical misinformation that can cause harm to an individual’s physical health.
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Content that misleads community members about elections or other civic processes .
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Conspiratorial content that attacks a specific protected group or includes a violent call to action, or denies a violent or tragic event occurred.
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Digital Forgeries (Synthetic Media or Manipulated Media) that mislead users by distorting the truth of events and cause harm to the subject of the video, other persons, or society.
Do not:
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Content that violates or infringes someone else’s copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights.
Platform Security
Our policies prohibit any activities that undermine the security and reliability of the Sparkze service:
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Do not hack the Sparkze website, app, or associated networks, or bypass its measures to restrict user access.
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Do not distribute files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other materials that are malicious or harmful.
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Do not modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile, or create any derivative products based on Sparkze, including any files, tables or documentation, nor attempt to regenerate any source code, algorithms, methods, or techniques embodied in Sparkze.
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Do not use automated scripts to collect information from Sparkze.
Thank you for being a part of our vibrant community and working with us to maintain a welcoming space for all users.
If you see something that you think may violate our guidelines, please help us by using our reporting tool. If you see something, say something.
If you meet someone you don’t like, but doesn’t violate the Community Guidelines, you can unfavorite or block the person from their profile or one-on-one chat. Haters be gone!
FYI, if you block someone else, they might know you blocked them. We may work with law enforcement, including when we believe that there’s risk of physical harm or threat to public safety.
For more information, check out our Terms of Service.