Sincerely Child Protection and CSAE Standards
Sincerely Operated by Mad Science Software B.V. (the "Company", "we", "us")
Effective date: July 11th, 2026 Last reviewed: July 11th. 2026 Version: 1.0
1. Our commitment
Sincerely is a location-based community app for adults and older teenagers. We have a zero-tolerance policy toward child sexual abuse and exploitation ("CSAE") and child sexual abuse material ("CSAM").
There is no context, no framing, no artistic, comedic, educational, or "ironic" justification under which CSAE content or conduct is permitted on Sincerely. Accounts engaged in it are removed permanently and reported to the relevant authorities.
This document is our publicly available CSAE standard. It supplements, and should be read alongside, our [Terms of Service], [Community Guidelines], and [Privacy Policy].
2. Scope and definitions
This policy applies to all users of Sincerely, all content posted or transmitted through Sincerely (including posts, comments, direct messages, images, profile fields, display names, and location data), and all Company staff and contractors.
For the purposes of this policy:
A child or minor is any person under the age of 18, regardless of the age of majority or age of sexual consent in their jurisdiction.
CSAE means child sexual abuse and exploitation: any content or behaviour that sexually exploits, abuses, or endangers a child. This includes grooming, sextortion, trafficking, sexualised solicitation, and the production, solicitation, possession, or distribution of CSAM.
CSAM means any visual depiction — photographic, video, drawn, animated, or computer- or AI-generated — involving a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, or otherwise constituting child sexual abuse material under applicable law.
Important: Sincerely's minimum age is 16 (see Section 3). This does not mean no children use Sincerely. Users aged 16 and 17 are minors, and every protection in this policy applies to them in full.
3. Minimum age: 16 years
No person under the age of 16 may create an account on, or otherwise use, Sincerely. Sincerely is not directed at children under 16 and we do not knowingly permit them to register.
3.1 Rationale
Sincerely surfaces real-world locations and connects users to people physically nearby. This carries risks we do not consider appropriate for younger children.
16 is the digital consent age under Article 8 GDPR as implemented in the Netherlands, the Company's country of establishment.
Where local law sets a higher minimum age for services of this kind, the higher age applies. Users are responsible for complying with the law of their own jurisdiction.
3.2 Age assurance
All users must confirm their date of birth at registration. Registration is blocked where the stated date of birth indicates an age under 16.
We use a neutral date-of-birth entry (no pre-filled or suggestive default) and do not prompt users to re-enter a different date after a failed attempt within the same session or on the same device.
We reserve the right to require additional age verification where we have reason to doubt a user's stated age, and to suspend the account pending that verification.
3.3 Users discovered to be under 16
Where we obtain actual knowledge, or have a reasonable belief, that an account holder is under 16, we will:
Suspend the account immediately and remove it from public discovery and location surfaces.
Terminate the account and delete the associated personal data, except where retention is required by law or is necessary to preserve evidence of a child safety incident (see Section 8.3).
Review the account's history for any indication that the child was targeted, groomed, or exploited by another user, and escalate under Sections 7 and 8 if so.
Anyone may report a suspected underage user via the channels in Section 6.
4. Prohibited conduct and content
The following are strictly prohibited on Sincerely and will result in immediate, permanent removal:
4.1 CSAM and sexualised content involving minors
Sharing, soliciting, requesting, linking to, promoting, or facilitating access to CSAM, in any medium.
Sexualised depictions of minors, including drawn, animated, fictional, or AI/computer-generated depictions, and material where a real minor's likeness has been synthetically manipulated.
Sexual or sexualised commentary about a minor, including a user's own children or minors visible in shared content.
Non-sexual imagery of a minor shared or captioned in a manner intended to sexualise the child.
Sexual content of any kind directed at, or shared with, a user known or believed to be under 18.
4.2 Grooming, solicitation, and exploitation
Grooming: building a relationship, trust, or emotional connection with a minor in order to sexually abuse, exploit, or traffic them.
Soliciting a minor for sexual purposes, for sexual imagery ("self-generated" CSAM), or for a real-world meeting for sexual purposes.
Sextortion: threatening to release a minor's intimate imagery or private information to coerce them into producing further imagery, sexual acts, money, or anything else of value.
Trafficking of a minor, or advertising, recruiting for, or facilitating the trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation of a minor.
Attempting to move a minor off Sincerely to another platform, or to an unmonitored channel, for any of the above purposes.
Adults seeking romantic or sexual contact with minors, however framed.
4.3 Location-specific prohibitions
Because Sincerely is location-based, the following additional prohibitions apply:
Using Sincerely's proximity, discovery, or mapping features to locate, follow, approach, surveil, or arrange to meet a minor for any sexual, exploitative, or otherwise harmful purpose.
Posting or sharing a minor's home address, school, routine, or precise location, whether or not you know the child.
Photographing or filming minors in public spaces and posting that content in a manner that identifies where the child can be found.
Creating posts, events, or gatherings designed to attract minors for the purposes described in Section 4.2.
4.4 Other endangerment
Content depicting or promoting the physical abuse, neglect, or endangerment of a child.
Impersonating a minor, or misrepresenting your age in order to interact with minors.
Knowingly making false child safety reports.
5. Prevention and detection
We take the following measures to prevent and detect CSAE on Sincerely:
Age gating at registration, as described in Section 3.2.
Text and behavioural signals. We monitor for known grooming and solicitation patterns, and for behavioural signals such as accounts contacting a high volume of younger users, rapid attempts to move conversations off-platform, or repeated proximity to schools and other child-associated locations.
Human review. All child safety reports are reviewed by a trained human reviewer. Automated systems do not make final CSAE enforcement decisions.
Blocking and muting. All users can block another user, which immediately removes mutual visibility including in location-based surfaces.
Staff training. Staff and contractors with moderation access receive training on identifying CSAE, on handling procedures, and on wellbeing support for reviewers exposed to this material.
No retention by reviewers. Suspected CSAM is never downloaded, copied, forwarded, or retained outside the secure review environment.
6. Reporting
6.1 In-app reporting
Every user profile, post, comment, and message in Sincerely carries a Report control. Reports may be submitted anonymously and include a dedicated Child safety category with sub-categories for CSAM, grooming or solicitation of a minor, sextortion, and suspected underage user.
Reports submitted under the Child safety category are routed to a priority queue and are not subject to standard triage delays.
6.2 Reporting outside the app
Child safety concerns may also be reported at any time to:
Child Safety Point of Contact James Youngquist (Founder) Email: james@madsciencesoftware.dev
This address is monitored and is the designated point of contact for notifications from Google Play, Apple, law enforcement, and child protection authorities regarding CSAE content on Sincerely. It is staffed by a person empowered to speak to our enforcement and review procedures and to take action.
6.3 Response times
Child safety reports are triaged within 12 hours and, in any event, within 24 hours of receipt.
Confirmed CSAE content is removed and the offending account ejected within 24 hours of us obtaining actual knowledge.
Where a child appears to be in immediate danger, we escalate to law enforcement without waiting for the completion of our own review.
6.4 If a child is in immediate danger
Contact your local emergency services first. Do not wait for us.
Costa Rica: 9-1-1 (emergencies); Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI) — 1147 (free, 24-hour child protection line); Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) — 800-8000-645.
Netherlands / EU: 112 (emergencies).
Reporting CSAM you have found online: [NCMEC CyberTipline — report.cybertip.org] · [INHOPE / your national hotline].
7. Enforcement
Where we confirm a violation of this policy we will, as applicable:
Remove the content immediately.
Terminate the account permanently. There is no warning, no strike system, and no reinstatement for CSAE violations.
Ban the user from the platform, including through the blocking of associated identifiers where lawful and technically feasible, to prevent re-registration.
Preserve the content, account records, message logs, IP and device records, and location history as evidence, in a restricted-access store, for the period required by law or requested by the relevant authority.
Report to the authorities under Section 8.
Notify and support the affected child or their guardian where doing so is safe, lawful, and appropriate, and signpost to specialist support services.
Attempts to violate this policy are treated as violations. Coordination or conspiracy to violate it is treated as a violation.
8. Reporting to authorities
8.1 CSAM
Upon obtaining actual knowledge of apparent CSAM, we report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) via the CyberTipline, and/or to the competent authority in the relevant jurisdiction, in each case as required or permitted by applicable law.
8.2 Local authorities
We additionally report, as appropriate to the circumstances and the users involved:
Costa Rica: the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI) and, where a criminal offence is indicated (including offences under Ley No. 9048 and the relevant provisions of the Código Penal concerning the online solicitation of minors), the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) / Ministerio Público.
Netherlands / EU: the Dutch police and the competent authorities under applicable EU law.
Any other competent law enforcement or child protection authority with jurisdiction over the child, the offender, or the conduct.
8.3 Evidence preservation and data protection
Our obligations under the GDPR, Costa Rica's Ley No. 8968, and other applicable data protection law do not prevent us from processing and disclosing personal data where necessary to detect, prevent, investigate, or report CSAE, or to comply with a legal obligation, or to protect the vital interests of a child. Where we preserve data for these purposes we restrict access to it, retain it only as long as necessary, and document the basis for the processing.
We do not notify an account holder that they have been reported to law enforcement where doing so would risk the destruction of evidence, the intimidation of a victim, or harm to a child.
9. Cooperation and standards
We align our practices with the Tech Coalition's best practices for combating online child sexual exploitation and abuse and cooperate fully with law enforcement, child protection authorities, NCMEC, INHOPE hotlines, and platform partners, subject to applicable law and valid legal process.
10. Governance and review
Owner: James Youngquist, Child Safety Point of Contact.
Review cadence: this policy is reviewed at least annually, and additionally upon any material change to Sincerely's features (in particular any change to age gating, direct messaging, media sharing, or location precision), or to applicable law or app store policy.
11. Contact
James Youngquist, email: james@madsciencesoftware.dev