Legal
Child safety standards
LOAM does not tolerate child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) of any kind. This page sets out what LOAM's rules prohibit, how abuse material is dealt with on a LOAM network, what we do ourselves, and how to raise a concern. LOAM is published by Magic Zebra Ltd.
Our standards
LOAM's rules prohibit any sexual content involving anyone under 18. That covers child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in any form, including drawn, edited or generated images. The rules also prohibit using LOAM to groom, sexualise, exploit, threaten or extort a child, or to share or ask for this material.
The app shows these rules, and every member agrees to them before they can post. Members also confirm that they are 18 or over. LOAM on Google Play is for adults.
How LOAM works, and what that means
LOAM has no central server. Each network runs on its host's own phone, laptop or Raspberry Pi, and everything posted on it stays on that device (if the host links it to another LOAM network, public channels and their pictures and files are copied to that network too). Magic Zebra Ltd never receives, sees or stores any network's messages. That is how LOAM protects people's privacy, and it also means we cannot look inside a network or remove content from it.
The people who can act on a network are its host and the moderators the host appoints. LOAM gives them the tools to do it.
How abuse material is handled on a network
- Report. Any member can report a message or a user to the network's moderators from inside the app.
- Remove and ban. The host and moderators can remove any message and ban the person who posted it.
- Block. Any member can block another member, which stops direct messages between them in both directions.
When someone starts their first network, LOAM tells them that they are responsible for what is posted on it, and that if they find sexual content involving a child they must remove it and report it to the police.
If you come across this material, don't copy, screenshot, download or forward it, even to report it. Note where you saw it and tell the police or one of the services below. They will tell you what they need.
What Magic Zebra Ltd does
- We prohibit CSAE in LOAM's rules, and every member agrees to them before posting.
- We build the tools hosts and moderators need to remove content and ban users.
- We read and respond to every report sent to our child safety contact below.
- We cooperate with law enforcement. We should be honest about the limits here. We hold no messages, accounts or user data from any LOAM network, so we have nothing from inside a network to hand over. We will share what we do hold, and help investigators understand how LOAM works.
- We act on the places we control. If abuse material or a link to it appears on our GitHub repository, this website or anything else we run, we remove it and report it to the relevant authorities.
Compliance with child safety laws
Magic Zebra Ltd complies with the child safety laws that apply to it. When we become aware of child sexual abuse material on anything we control, we report it to the relevant authority, such as the Internet Watch Foundation in the UK or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US. Hosts must follow the laws where they run their network.
Where to report
- If a child is in immediate danger, call your local emergency number or the police now.
- In the UK, report images and videos of child sexual abuse to the Internet Watch Foundation. Report concerns about a child being groomed or abused online to CEOP, part of the National Crime Agency.
- In the US, report to the NCMEC CyberTipline.
- Elsewhere, find your country's hotline through the INHOPE network.
- On the LOAM network itself, report the message or user in the app so the moderators can remove it, and tell the host.
Contact
Our child safety point of contact is Joseph Maynard, Director of Magic Zebra Ltd. You can reach him at opensource@magiczebra.co.uk. Use this address for concerns about child safety on LOAM, about our compliance with these standards, or for requests from law enforcement.
Please don't attach abuse material to an email. Describe what you saw and where, and we will follow up. Changes to these standards are published on this page with a new date. See also our privacy policy.