Our official terms of use can be found at this link.

 

YouNow Rules & Community Guidelines

YouNow is committed to maintaining a safe, inclusive community. The following standards have been established toward that end and are applicable to all YouNow users. Violation of these standards may result in account suspension or a permanent ban. To protect the integrity of the community, as the provider of the service, YouNow reserves the right to suspend or remove any account at any time for any conduct that is determined to be inappropriate or harmful.

Violent behavior and/or self-harm is not permitted.

Safety is YouNow's top priority, and we take threats of violence and self-harm very seriously. We may ban users whose content breaches these terms and may also report it to law enforcement if we perceive a genuine risk of physical harm or a direct threat to public safety.

Violent behavior includes but is not limited to:

• threats to physically harm or kill others
• threats to hack, DDOS, or SWAT others
• threats or attempts to self-harm

YouNow strictly prohibits threats and threats to self harm. We encourage any user considering self-harm to seek help. The 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255. Please visit YouNow’s Trust Page here for other international emergency hotlines.

No sexually explicit content, nudity or abusive behavior.

Sexual dancing is not OK. Are you a great dancer? Awesome. Entertain your audience. But please avoid sexually suggestive moves, such as grinding, twerking, or mimicking sex. If you aren’t sure, err on the side of caution.

Do not broadcast sexual content or nudity. This includes content displayed in other apps during your broadcasts (including Parlor, PartyLine, Basechat, Omegle or other apps used for chat). Remember that you are a community leader and example to others. Encouragement of nudity or sexual conduct is prohibited on YouNow.

Users are not allowed to:

• Use vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language on camera or in the chat.
• Display offensive or sexually explicit images on camera.
• Perform sexual or sexually suggestive acts, show sex toys onscreen, or dance in a sexually suggestive manner.

Reported content will be reviewed based on context, commentary, attire, environment, camera angle and focus as well as other information including but not limited to broadcast titles, custom thumbnails, and profile descriptions.

Stricter rules for those under 18. Users of all genders under the age of 18 must be fully clothed on camera. Any user under the age of 18 without a shirt may be subject to a suspension or permanent ban. This means no underwear, lingerie, or revealing tops/shorts. Users of all ages may not expose genitalia in any way.

Bullying, harassment, or hate speech is not permitted

Though we encourage YouNow users to express themselves freely within the community guidelines, upholding respect for all community members is paramount. Users who taunt, bully, use hate speech, or in any other form of harassment risk being suspended or permanently banned. Remember the Golden Rule, and always be kind! YouNow will review any reported content or activity based on its intent and context.

Vulgar language used on broadcast and in chat is against the rules. Cursing out other users isn’t just unprofessional, it is abusive.

YouNow defines bullying as any behavior that is intended to be hostile, aggressive, abusive, coercive or threatening to hurt another individual physically, mentally or emotionally.

Examples may include:

• Abusive or offensive language towards others, especially when used with the intention to intimidate or harass;
• Offensive and repeated name calling with the intent to embarrass or harm someone;
• Telling someone to hurt or kill themselves, with the intent to encourage self-harm;
• Creating user accounts dedicated to harassment or hate;
• Disclosing someone’s personal information against their will with the intent to harm or embarrass them;
• Encouraging harassment of others.

YouNow prohibits using the platform to facilitate hateful conduct or harassment. We may take action against users for hateful conduct or harassment that occurs off YouNow services that is directed at YouNow users.

Illegal substance use is not permitted onscreen

On-screen legal drug consumption, drug paraphernalia, smoking, and the consumption of alcohol by users under the age of 21 are prohibited. Any attempt to purchase, promote, abuse, sell, or trade prescription or illegal drugs are not allowed, and the consumption of all illegal drugs is prohibited. Users must comply with applicable laws according to where they reside and carefully consider their audiences with regards to the content they are producing.

You must be at least 13 years old to use YouNow

YouNow is intended for individuals ages 13 and older. If we become aware of an account that belongs to an individual under 13, that account will be terminated. Users who are older than 13 may have guests on camera who are under 13, but underage guests may not appear alone on broadcast.

Revealing private contact information is not permitted.

Revealing an individual's personal information, including email addresses, real names, location, ID, phone numbers, home addresses, and others, is forbidden. We also strongly recommend that you keep your personal information private.

Prank calls to emergency authorities or hotlines is not permitted

YouNow does not permit prank calls to emergency authorities or emergency hotlines, and any user who engages in such will be subject to a permanent ban.

Solicitation or encouragement of rule-breaking is not permitted

• Solicitation of sexual or illegal acts is forbidden. Similarly, it is forbidden for users to request sexual images or personal information from other users.
• Engagement in illegal or inappropriate commercial activities or sales is also strictly forbidden. Such activities include but are not limited to: pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing offers, and homegrown sweepstakes.
• It is forbidden to encourage the violation of community standards either in chat or while broadcasting.
• Encouraging viewers to harass, spam, or report another user is completely unacceptable. It’s unfair to them and constitutes harassment on your part, for which consequences may include suspension or banning. Be a responsible community member and encourage users to be positive.
• Broadcasting, sharing, downloading, or encouraging sexually explicit content can be criminal. Note that we report all instances of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. For more information on reporting to NCMEC, please click here.

Spam is not permitted

It is forbidden to interrupt the flow of chat sessions with the use of repetitive typing or activity that makes it difficult for users to maintain a conversation, as is the posting of links to pornographic or malicious sites.

Impersonation is not permitted

It is forbidden to change your chat name or create a new account in order to impersonate a YouNow user. Claiming to be another person or creating a false presence for an organization undermines the community and violates YouNow's Terms of Use. Additionally, the creation and use of multiple accounts must abide by YouNow's Terms of Use. Any abuse or inappropriate use of one account may result in permanent termination of all accounts.

No copyright infringement

YouNow is committed to protecting the rights of copyright holders and seeks to comply with all applicable laws regarding the protection of intellectual property. Unauthorized copying, distribution, modification, public display, or public performance of copyrighted works is a copyright infringement, and YouNow will undertake appropriate steps against repeat copyright offenders.

Examples of content you cannot share on YouNow without permission from the copyright owners or other authorization include:

• Showing full movies, TV shows, or sports matches
• Playing pirated games or on unauthorized private servers
• Re-broadcasting other users’ content without written permission
• Sharing third-party content from other sites or copy-right protected work of others

For more information, read YouNow's Terms of Use here.

Respect the moderation team & company staff.

The YouNow moderators work hard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep YouNow safe & clean for all users. The moderation team handles millions of users, hundreds of thousands of broadcasts, and hundreds of partners each day. If you receive a warning or message from a moderator, please respect it. If you believe a moderator has made a mistake or behaved inappropriately, please contact us at support@younow.com for any feedback about other company policies, as well as safety issues or concerns.

Users must also respect YouNow staff & employees. We may take action against users for hateful conduct or harassment that is directed at YouNow staff & employees which may occur both on or off YouNow services.

Gaming & screen sharing rules.

Please keep in mind that shared gaming and/or shared screen content should follow all of YouNow’s general Community Guidelines and should abide by YouNow's Terms of Use. Any violation of these rules and terms may result in action taken against your account. Please also keep in mind that you are responsible for all content shared from any third party.

When sharing content from other platforms or your mobile device, please be mindful of other people’s privacy and do not share any personal information without their permission. Revealing an individual's personal information, including email addresses, real names, location, ID, phone numbers, home addresses, and others, is forbidden.

 

Additional gaming rules

• Nudity and Sexual Content: Streaming content that feature pornography, sex and/or blatant sexual content as the primary focus or objective is not permitted. This includes any game or other content that is rated Adults Only (AO) by the ESRB. Occurrences of brief nudity in-game that are part of a story-line are permitted given that they are not the primary focus and/or intention of your full broadcast.
• Cheating or unfair activity: We are committed to creating a friendly and safe environment for all users within the YouNow platform. Any form of cheating, botting or hacking which impacts other players in public multi-player games, or that gives the broadcaster an unfair advantage is not permitted. Any misuse of another individual’s live broadcast for purposes of in-game harassment is not allowed.
• Photosensitive Seizure Warning: Photosensitive seizures are triggered by flashing or flickering lights and in some instances, patterns such as stripes. Any individual who may have an epileptic condition should consult with their physician prior to viewing any video game content on the YouNow platform.

 

Contact authorities for emergencies.

If you believe an offense to be unlawful, or experience illegal activities while on the YouNow service, please file a formal complaint with your local authorities. We are happy to work with law enforcement on their open investigations in any way that we can. If you have further questions or concerns, please let us know here.

Please be advised that in applicable situations, YouNow reserves the right to report suspicious and/or criminal activity to local authorities.

*If you have any questions regarding these Guidelines or the YouNow Rules in general, please feel free to contact Support. We value your opinion and are happy to receive your feedback.

 

 

If you notice inappropriate behavior, bullying, or any other rule-breaking conduct, please use the following safety features:

BLOCK the user by clicking or tapping on his/her name, navigating to the flag icon, and then choosing "block."

REPORT a user. You can use this feature when you need to flag a user but want to include more information than flagging allows. Find the "Report a User" option on the top right section of YouNow's website. Note that this feature does not appear on mobile.

 

Last updated: February, 2021