What we do to protect the youngest users
Spray Social prohibits any form of sexual exploitation or abuse of minors. Beyond that ban, we have designed protections that are active by default on the accounts of 16 and 17 year-olds. Here is what they are, and what they cannot do.
Last updated : August 2026
Strict prohibition of CSAE
Spray Social explicitly and without exception prohibits child sexual abuse and exploitation material and behaviour (CSAE), including child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This prohibition covers in particular the solicitation and grooming of a minor for sexual purposes, sextortion, and any distribution, request or production of such content.
It applies across the whole network, in the Feed, in Events and in Prophecies, and forms an integral part of the terms of service that every member accepts at registration.
Reserved for 16 and over
Creating an account is prohibited for people under 16. This threshold is more demanding than the digital majority set at 15 under French law. We chose to raise it.
We distinguish two thresholds. The digital majority, at 16, governs registration. The legal majority, at 18, governs access to certain features. Between the two, specific protections apply.
Protections active by default, that no one can switch off
Accounts of minor users are subject to restrictions enforced server-side. They depend on no setting and cannot be circumvented, neither by the minor nor by a third party.
A minor's account can neither send, nor receive, nor open a private conversation, in either direction. This is the main entry point for grooming attempts: we closed it. It opens automatically on their eighteenth birthday.
XP, levels, leagues, leaderboards, login streaks and challenges are switched off by default on minors' accounts. These mechanics are designed to bring people back: they have no place with the youngest users.
Every registration goes through an automated check that makes sure the account is created by a human being, and not by a bot or a computer program. It is invisible in the normal journey, and runs on our own infrastructure, with no third-party service.
A dedicated reason, child endangerment, is available to everyone, on posts as well as in private messaging. These reports go into a separate alert queue, handled before all others, and may lead to immediate permanent banning.
Age verification relies on a declaration
Our protections rely on the date of birth entered at registration. To date, we do not implement third-party certified age verification. Someone who declares a false date of birth can therefore circumvent them.
We prefer to write it plainly rather than suggest a guarantee we do not have. We follow the European work on privacy-preserving age assurance, and we will adopt a mechanism as soon as one is available that does not require handing over an identity document.
It is for holders of parental authority to supervise the use their minors make of online services, and to ensure the accuracy of the information declared.
Reporting built in, without leaving the app
On a post, reporting is part of the community verification system. Four reasons allow you to flag problematic content.
- ·Child endangerment
- ·Harmful content
- ·Harassment
- ·Spam
In private messaging, which is restricted to adults, five reasons allow you to report a user.
- ·Child endangerment
- ·Sexual or inappropriate content
- ·Harassment or hate speech
- ·Suspicious account, fake profile or automated account
- ·Scam or spam
Whatever the channel, reports concerning child endangerment are isolated in a separate alert queue and handled as a priority.
Reporting is independent of blocking. You can report without blocking, block without reporting, or do both. A blocked account can no longer write to you or approach you.
What protects the community day to day
Every published post is analysed in real time by Mistral AI, a sovereign French AI, which detects in particular sexual content involving minors. The analysis is contextual, not keyword filtering. Private messages, encrypted end-to-end, are never analysed.
The community evaluates and reports problematic content across 14 criteria, with increased weighting for moderators.
Every member can block a user or hide content. The list of blocked accounts remains editable at any time.
Anyone can set their own limits: number of daily opens, daily duration, weekly duration. Once the limit is reached, the app closes and suggests something else to do. This option is open to everyone, at any age.
Our feed profiles no one and is not designed to maximise time spent. No learning recommender, no behavioural targeting.
We never collect our users' location. On the events map, only the places declared by organisers appear.
Our procedure
As soon as we become aware of child sexual abuse material on the network, we remove the content, suspend the account or accounts concerned and report the case to the competent authorities, in accordance with applicable child protection laws.
In Europe, these reports are addressed to the competent national authorities. For cases involving international cooperation, they may be forwarded to reference bodies such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Decisions taken in this context do not follow the usual graduated procedure: the most severe sanction may be applied immediately, without prior warning.
These numbers are faster than we are
If a child is in danger, do not wait for our reply. These services are free, confidential and directly reachable.
116 111 — Child helpline, available in most European Union countries.
116 000 — European hotline for missing children, available across the European Union.
If your country has its own child protection helpline, use it: it will know the local services.
In case of immediate danger, call 112, the emergency number valid throughout the European Union. Do not go through an online report.
Child protection point of contact
For any report or notification relating to child protection, including from an authority or an association:
contact@spraysocial.com