Child safety standards.

01Our standard

Kuro has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation.

That includes child sexual abuse material (CSAM), grooming, sextortion and any sexual talk or content involving a minor. Anyone who does this is banned at once, their evidence is kept, and we report them to the authorities as the law requires. These standards apply to the Kuro app and everything in it.

02For people 18 and over

• Kuro is only for people 18 and over. Everyone confirms their age before they can talk to anyone.
• The date of birth is checked once on our server, in India time. If it shows someone is under 18, the account is erased at once and its email is locked until the 18th birthday, so a different date can't be tried.
• Faking your age means an immediate ban and erasure. No warning, no second chance.
• Kuro has no profile photos and no video. Conversations are text and voice notes, voices are veiled, and nobody's location or distance is ever shown.
• Sealed photos open only inside a chat that has reached Kindred, the closest stage of trust (at least 24 hours after two people met, both active on two different days, and no reports in that chat), when both people switch them on. They come only from the in-app camera, never from the gallery. Amazon Rekognition checks every photo for nudity before it is stored, and a photo with explicit nudity or sexual activity is never delivered and is deleted.

03Finding signs of a minor

Our server checks messages, Hello notes, bios and the names of rooms people start for signs that the writer is under 18, such as a stated age or a school year, in English, Hinglish and Hindi. When it finds one:

• the message is not delivered (or the room is not opened);
• every open chat of that person pauses, for both people;
• they cannot start new conversations and are hidden from others until our team decides;
• an urgent report goes to a person on our safety team, to be looked at within 2 hours.

Typing a new date of birth does not lift the pause. Only the safety team can.

04Reporting in the app

• Every chat, room and Hello has a Report button (⋯ or Report). One of the reasons is "They may be under 18".
• The person reporting can pick the messages to keep as evidence. Blocking is on by default, and the person reported is never told who reported them.
• Reports about possible minors, and about sexual messages someone didn't agree to or requests for photos or numbers, are urgent: a person looks at them within 2 hours.

05How reports are handled

• A person on our safety team reviews every report, with its evidence, in order of urgency.
• If the person reported is under 18, their account is banned and erased. If an adult has sexualised or exploited a minor, or tried to, they are banned at once.
• A ban stays with the email it was made with (as a keyed hash), so it can't be undone by signing up again or by deleting the account first.
• People who talked with a banned person in the last 30 days get a private notice.
• Reports and their evidence are kept for safety review, and are preserved for the police when the law asks for it.

06Reporting to the authorities

When we find child sexual abuse material, or a child at risk, we preserve the evidence and report it to the Indian authorities, as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 require: to the police and through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in). We cooperate with lawful requests from the police and from child protection bodies such as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

07If you are worried about a child

• If a child is in immediate danger, call 112.
• To report child sexual abuse material or online abuse of a child, use the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal: cybercrime.gov.in ("Report Women/Child Related Crime").
• To complain to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, including through its POCSO e-Box: ncpcr.gov.in.
• For a child who needs care and protection, call Childline on 1098.
• If it involves Kuro, report it in the app as well, or write to us (below), so we can act on the account at once.

08Child safety contact

Our designated child safety contact can answer questions about these standards and how we apply them, including from Google Play and the authorities:

safety@theivies.in