Community Guidelines

LangX is for practising a language with a stranger. These are the rules that make that possible, and what happens when somebody breaks them.

They apply everywhere in the app: chats, profiles, the feed, and anything you write about somebody else.

#What is not allowed

Harassment. Repeated contact after someone has stopped replying, insults, threats, or following somebody across the app to keep talking at them.

Hate speech. Attacking someone for who they are rather than what they said — including their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, or age. Slurs are hate speech whether or not they are aimed at anybody in particular, and “it is a joke in my language” is not a defence. This is the rule we are strictest about, because the people it protects are the ones who cannot simply avoid the problem by logging off.

Sexual content and unwanted advances. LangX is not a dating app. Sexual messages to somebody who has not invited them, sexual content in a profile or photo, and asking anybody for intimate images are all out.

Sexualising minors, in any form, in any context. There is no threshold and no second chance for this one.

Lying about who you are in a way that matters: pretending to be a specific real person, or claiming an age you are not. The minimum age is 16.

Posting somebody else’s private information — their address, workplace, phone number, accounts, or photographs — without their say-so.

Spam and scams. Bulk identical messages, promotion, recruitment, links to things you profit from, and anything that asks for money or payment details.

Disagreeing with somebody is not harassment. Talking about politics, religion, or sexuality is not prohibited — a language is not much use if you can only discuss the weather in it. What is prohibited is directing hostility at a person for being one.

#What you can do

Block. One tap, from any profile or chat. It takes effect immediately and runs both ways: neither of you can see or reach the other afterwards. The person you blocked is not told, and your profile returns “not found” to them rather than “blocked” — which would be the same as telling them. You can undo it in Settings → Blocked.

Report. From a profile, a message, a post, or a review. Pick the reason that fits and add anything that helps us understand; the person you report is never told who reported them.

Hide a review. Once you and somebody have talked for a while, each of you can write a short review on the other’s profile. Every review on your profile is yours to hide, and to show again later, from Me → Reviews. The person who wrote it is not told. A review is public and signed with its author’s name, so the rules above apply to it the same as to anything else you write.

Blocking and reporting are separate on purpose. Blocking is for you and works instantly. Reporting is for us and takes longer.

#What a report actually does

We would rather say this plainly than imply more than is true.

A report is stored and queued for review. When three different people have open reports against the same account, that account automatically stops earning tokens. It takes three separate reporters, not three reports — otherwise one person could freeze anybody they had an argument with. Freezing is reversible and invisible to everybody else; it stops earnings, and nothing else.

Everything beyond that is a human decision. Suspending or removing an account is not automatic and is not instant, and we do not currently run a moderation console — reviews happen by hand. We are not going to pretend that is a fast process. If somebody is making the app unusable for you right now, block them: that is the part that is immediate.

When a review does end in a suspension, it is either for a stated period or permanent. The suspended account is shown which, with the end date when there is one and the reason it was reported for, and can appeal once from that screen; a person reads every appeal. While a suspension is in force the account cannot use the app, and the profile is out of Discover, out of search and out of the shared link — though somebody who already has a conversation with them can still open the profile, marked as suspended. Some conduct does not get a temporary suspension: the “no second chance” cases below lead straight to a permanent one.

You will not be told the outcome of a report you filed, and the person suspended is not told who reported them. Those are the same rule from both ends.

For anything urgent, or involving a minor or a credible threat, write to [email protected] rather than only filing a report.

#If you are on the receiving end

You do not owe anybody a conversation, an explanation, or a reply. Leaving a chat is not rude. Blocking somebody is not an escalation. You are allowed to use both freely and you do not have to justify it to us.

These guidelines sit alongside the Terms & Conditions and the Privacy Policy. Suggestions are welcome — this file lives in a public repository, and you can open an issue or a pull request against it.