1. Our Commitment
The purpose of this Policy is to set out Letbird's institutional approach and commitments regarding the protection of the best interests of children and of their rights, dignity, privacy, and safety in the context of the application provided by Letbird.
Letbird enforces a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). No content, conduct, or account that sexualizes, endangers, or exploits children is permitted on our platform.
These standards apply worldwide, without exception, to all users, all content, and all interactions.
2. Definitions
Child
Any individual who has not completed the age of eighteen and/or has not reached legal adulthood is considered a child.
Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE)
An umbrella term covering both child sexual abuse (CSA) and child sexual exploitation (CSE).
Sexual abuse and exploitation covers any sexual conduct and form of abuse carried out for sexual gratification or material benefit by taking advantage of a child's inability to comprehend the meaning and consequences of the sexual act, of a power imbalance, coercion, or manipulation, or by using force, threat, deception, or a similar means that affects the child's will — including contact offenses as well as non-contact abuse such as exposing the child to pornographic content.
This includes, but is not limited to, driving a child into prostitution; gaining the child's trust, building a bond, and/or leaving the child vulnerable through manipulation for sexual purposes (grooming); subjecting the child to sextortion by making demands under threat of disseminating the child's sexual photos, videos, or messages to others; and/or using the child in the production of sexual material.
Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
Any obscene content — including images, footage, photographs, and images created/altered by technological means — in which a child is depicted visually, textually, or audibly for sexual purposes or in a sexually suggestive manner. This scope includes the production, uploading, sharing, reproduction, distribution, solicitation, linking, making available, possession, and/or storage of such material.
NCMEC CyberTipline
A centralized, global reporting system that collects reports of the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
3. Prohibited Conduct
On Letbird, any content and conduct falling within the scope of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE), and the production, uploading, sharing, reproduction, distribution, solicitation, linking, making available, possession, and/or storage of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), is strictly prohibited. A breach of any of these provisions results in immediate account termination.
The following prohibited behaviors are shown by way of example and are not exhaustive. If Letbird detects that any of these behaviors has occurred, the account is terminated immediately:
- The production, uploading, sharing, reproduction, distribution, solicitation, linking, making available, possession, and/or storage of CSAM.
- Sexualizing a child in any form, including text, images, audio, avatars, emoji, or coded language.
- Gaining a child's trust, building a bond, and/or leaving the child vulnerable through manipulation for sexual purposes (grooming).
- Subjecting a child to sextortion by making demands under threat of disseminating the child's sexual photos, videos, or messages to others.
- Requesting or arranging sexual contact with a child on or off the platform.
- Trafficking children or advertising children for sexual purposes, on or off the platform.
- Sharing a child's personal or location information in order to enable harm.
- Using coded terms, tags, or slang to signal, search for, or trade CSAE content.
- Providing false information to circumvent age-verification mechanisms, or encouraging/assisting another user to do so.
- Directing a child to encrypted or unmonitored communication channels off the platform in order to remove them from oversight and safety mechanisms.
4. Age Requirement and Preventive Measures
- The minimum age to open a Letbird account is eighteen (18). Users declare their date of birth at registration; accounts that fail age verification are blocked.
- We apply safety-by-design. We offer private profiles by default and restriction options for unsolicited contact from unknown accounts.
- Accounts suspected of being underage are suspended until verification is complete and terminated if they cannot be verified.
- We monitor for known CSAE signals; where technically feasible we apply hash-matching against known CSAM databases together with keyword- and behavior-based detection.
- Anonymous or random matching with unverified accounts without safety controls is not permitted.
5. In-App Reporting and Feedback Mechanism
Every Letbird user can report abuse directly from within the app:
- Report: Accessible via the Report option on every letter. The report categories explicitly include "Child safety / Sexualization of a child."
- Block: Available on every profile; blocking takes effect instantly and cuts off communication.
- Feedback: Settings → Help and Support → Contact Us sends a message directly to our safety team.
Our response commitment: All child-safety reports are handled with the highest priority and reviewed by a human moderator within 24 hours. Confirmed violations result in immediate content removal and permanent account termination.
6. Combating CSAE and CSAM
When CSAE and/or CSAM is detected or reported on Letbird:
- The content is immediately removed by disabling access to it.
- The responsible account is permanently terminated.
- The content and related account data are preserved in a secure, access-restricted environment for the period required by applicable law, solely for the purposes of reporting to authorized authorities and preventing the commission of crime.
- We report the incident to the NCMEC CyberTipline (report.cybertip.org); to the BTK İhbar Web (ihbarweb.org.tr) and the Cybercrime Department of the Directorate General of Security under Law No. 5651; and to other competent authorities in the country where the incident occurred.
- We fully cooperate with lawful requests from law enforcement.
Preserved material is kept under strict access control and is not used for any purpose other than legal reporting and cooperation.
7. Legal Compliance
Letbird complies with the child-safety legislation of the country in which it operates. These include:
- The Turkish Penal Code No. 5237, in particular its provisions on the sexual abuse of children, on the offense of driving children into prostitution, and on the offense of obscenity;
- Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications on the Internet;
- Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK);
Letbird is aligned with the Google Play Child Safety Standards policy regarding CSAM reporting. It is shaped in accordance with the Tech Coalition's best-practice guidance for developers.
8. Child Safety Point of Contact
For questions and reports regarding child safety:
- Email: child-safety@letbird.com
- Organization: Zoihub LLC
- Address: Acarkent 9. Cadde Colesium, No 1/30. 5th Floor, Acarlar Beykoz / Istanbul
Reports sent to this address are reviewed by the relevant team and answered within 24 hours.
9. Enforcement
A violation of these standards results in permanent account termination without prior warning. We may restrict access to associated accounts and devices and refer the matter to law enforcement.
Users whose accounts are terminated may appeal via child-safety@letbird.app; however, an appeal does not suspend the enforcement action.
10. Review and Updates
These standards are reviewed at least once a year and whenever there is a material change in our product, applicable legislation, or platform requirements. The current version is always published at https://letbird.app/child-safety.