Community Guardrails

Chowrasta connects Indians abroad across countries and cities. To keep everyone safe and welcome, these guardrails apply everywhere: communities, events, marketplace, and housing.

1. Our Values

• Respect first. Diverse views are welcome; harassment isn't.
• Safety over virality. Quality, helpful content beats drama.
• Local-first. Follow local laws and cultural norms in your country/city.

2. Golden Rules

• No hate speech, harassment, bullying, doxxing, or threats.
• No explicit sexual content or exploitation. No facilitation of prostitution/trafficking.
• No violence, weapons/drugs trading, or illegal activities.
• No scams, spam, fake giveaways, impersonation, or misinformation.
• No posting others' private info; share only what you have rights to.
• Keep religion/politics civil and informational; inflammatory posts will be removed.

3. Marketplace Rules

• Prohibited: illegal items, weapons, drugs/medicines, counterfeit goods, adult content, endangered wildlife, recalled/unsafe items.
• Food listings must comply with local food safety/labeling rules. Buyers accept food at own risk.
• Rides/help are peer-to-peer arrangements; verify identity; agree terms clearly.
• Be accurate in titles, photos, pricing, condition, and pickup/delivery details.

4. Events

• Follow venue rules, permits, and safety guidelines. Respect neighbors and noise laws.
• Mark events appropriately (family-friendly, 18+, paid/free). Refunds follow organizer policy.

5. Housing & Roommates

• No discrimination. Follow fair housing and tenancy laws.
• Do viewings and due diligence. Beware of advance-payment scams.

6. Posting Standards

• Use clear titles, relevant tags, and real photos. Avoid clickbait.
• Share local context (city/area) and availability windows.
• One listing per item/service; update or close when sold.

7. Safety Tips

• Meet in public places; bring a friend when possible.
• Use secure payments; avoid wire/gift cards.
• Verify government IDs off-platform only when necessary and lawful.

8. Reporting, Blocking & Enforcement

• Report content/users in-app on posts, event pages, marketplace, and housing listings, or email contact@chowrasta.app.
• Use block/mute to avoid unwanted contact; blocked users cannot DM or reply to you.
• Actions: content removal, warnings, temporary mutes, suspensions, permanent bans.
• After you report: we triage, may temporarily hide content while reviewing, and aim to respond within 24–72 hours. Imminent harm or child‑safety reports are prioritized and escalated immediately.
• Appeals: email contact@chowrasta.app with details/screenshots.

9. Platform Compliance

We follow Apple's user‑generated content rules and objectionable content restrictions. See: App Store Review Guidelines.

10. Minors

General rule: No exploitation of minors. We are deeply committed to protecting those under 18. Any content referencing minors is moderated with greater caution and severity.

• Grooming: building relationships with a child to manipulate, exploit, or abuse — strictly prohibited.
• Exploitation: benefiting financially or otherwise from a person’s body in a sexual manner — strictly prohibited.
• Sexualization: distributing pornographic images of or engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a minor — strictly prohibited.
• Violations may result in immediate removal, permanent bans, and reports to relevant authorities as required by law.

Report suspected child‑safety issues immediately in‑app or to contact@chowrasta.app.

11. Misinformation

General rule: No false or misleading information. We remove misinformation whether or not there was intent to deceive.

• Medical misinformation
• Manipulated or deceptively edited content (including deepfakes without clear labeling)
• False information about civic processes (elections, voting, census, immigration procedures)
• False claims that incite panic
• Conspiracy theories presented as facts
• Harmful remedies or advice

We may remove or label content, reduce reach, or take account action for repeated violations. Provide credible sources when discussing high‑impact topics; satire or opinion must be clearly indicated.

12. Violence and Gore

General rule: No threats of violence. Users should never be threatened with or subjected to violence. Certain kinds of graphic content are also limited.

• Violence: Do not display, promote, incite, or glorify physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, spiritual, or cultural violence.
• Prohibitions include verbal abuse, intimate partner abuse, neglect, and animal cruelty (including harm to protected species).
• Fictional violence: If you reference video games or fictional characters, make it clearly fictional and non‑targeted.
• Serious threats: Credible threats to life or safety are escalated and may be reported to authorities.
• Gore: Do not post vivid, brutal, or realistic depictions of violence (e.g., graphic injury photos).

13. Bullying and Harassment

General rule: No personal attacks. We don’t allow anything that could be interpreted as bullying or harassment toward individuals or groups.

• Rumors: Don’t spread harmful gossip or encourage others to do so.
• Insults/name‑calling: No malicious commentary about someone’s appearance, intellect, or personality.
• Shaming: No body‑shaming, slut‑shaming, kink‑shaming, or poor‑shaming.
• Dogpiling: Don’t coordinate or rally others to target specific people.
• See something? Report and use block/mute to protect yourself and others.

14. Racism and Bigotry

General rule: No discrimination. Do not promote hatred or discrimination against marginalized communities.

• Discrimination: Includes racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, classism, ableism, and similar prejudice.
• Slurs: Reclaimed terms may be permitted in positive contexts by affected communities; otherwise prohibited.

15. Sexual Assault

General rule: No invalidating survivors. Users may share experiences to seek support; do not attack or dismiss them.

• Invalidating survivors (e.g., “that didn’t happen”) is not allowed.
• Jokes about sexual assault are not permitted. Non‑joke, non‑identifying discussions are allowed.

16. Drugs, Alcohol, and Harmful Activity

General rule: Nothing dangerous or illegal.

• No asking for or selling drugs or alcohol (including cannabis and pharmaceuticals).
• No participation in illegal activity (e.g., counterfeiting, vandalism, extortion, theft, fraud, phishing, human exploitation/trafficking).
• Harmful activity: We may remove content about high‑risk acts/challenges (pranks, stunts, viral challenges, weapons).
• We protect user privacy, but may share content and data with authorities where legally required.

17. Suicide and Self‑Harm

General rule: No promoting self‑harm. Sharing experiences is okay; encouraging or glorifying self‑harm is not.

• Prohibited: content that promotes self‑injury, suicidal ideation, or disordered eating.
• Examples include cutting, burning, hitting, hair pulling, substance abuse, severe food restriction or purging, compulsive exercising, poisoning.
• Humor as coping is acceptable when not targeting survivors or promoting harm.

18. Nudity and Sexual Content

General rule: No excessively sexual content.

• Nudity exceptions: cartoons, instructional images, and non‑photographic art.
• No graphic sexual descriptions, solicitation, or attempts to buy/sell sexual content.
• Sexual harassment: remove unwelcome comments on appearance, sexual remarks, and non‑consensual advances.

19. Spam and Promotion

General rule: No excessive repetition or promotion.

• Spam: repeated posting is removed; use descriptive titles and context.
• Malicious links: forbidden. Share links with clear context and obvious destination.
• It’s fine to promote local events or small businesses when relevant to the community.