Hayate provides a platform for users to share experiences, connect with others, and explore a wide array of content. Our community guidelines are designed to support a safe and respectful environment for all users. These guidelines apply universally across the platform and outline permissible activities and content. Regular updates to these guidelines reflect our commitment to addressing emerging risks and maintaining community standards. Users are encouraged to exercise judgment and treat others with respect to uphold the community's integrity. Your cooperation is essential in maintaining a respectful and safe space for every user.

These Community Guidelines were last updated on August 18, 2024.

Content Moderation

At Hayate, we balance the promotion of free expression with the need to prevent harm. This balance is maintained through the removal of content that violates our policies, whether shared in public or private communications. Content that may not be suitable for all audiences is specifically restricted to adult users to safeguard younger users. Furthermore, content failing to meet our recommendation standards will not be prominently featured. To aid users in managing their interactions on the platform, we provide various tools and resources, such as content filters and safety settings. These tools help users customize their experience and engage with the content responsibly.

Community Principles

At Hayate, we uphold core principles guided by our commitment to safety and respect for human rights, influencing both our daily operations and our approach to enforcement decisions. These principles draw upon international legal frameworks and industry best practices, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the International Bill of Human Rights. We engage with our community, safety experts, public health professionals, and Advisory Councils to refine these guidelines continually.

Preventing Harm: Safety underpins everything we do at Hayate. We are dedicated to mitigating risks to physical, psychological, financial, and privacy harms both to individuals and the community. Our strategy includes imposing content restrictions that are necessary and balanced, striving to minimize the impact on free expression.

Enabling Free Expression: Creativity and expression drive the vibrant community at Hayate. We support the freedom to share diverse content, actively addressing behaviors that inhibit others' speech. However, the right to free expression is balanced against potential harms, and not all content is automatically recommended.

Fostering Civility: Civility is essential for maintaining respectful interactions on our platform. By promoting dignity in every interaction, we facilitate constructive dialogue, especially concerning public figures and social issues, ensuring discussions remain respectful.

Respecting Local Context: Our global platform connects users from various cultural and legal backgrounds, necessitating a tailored approach to content moderation that respects local sensitivities while adhering to universal human rights.

Championing Inclusion: Diversity and inclusivity are pillars at Hayate. We are committed to fostering an environment where all users, irrespective of their background, feel welcomed and respected, actively addressing inequalities that affect marginalized communities.

Protecting Privacy: Privacy protection is paramount. We are diligent in safeguarding the personal information and intimate privacy of our users and those featured in content, ensuring that personal details are not improperly exposed.

Providing Transparency and Consistency: We strive for transparency in our guidelines and consistency in their application. Hayate is committed to equitable enforcement, providing clear explanations of our policies and their application, and maintaining open communication about our moderation practices.

Being Fair and Just: Fairness and justice are fundamental to our content moderation processes. We ensure that all content decisions are impartial, evidence-based, and offer remedies through notifications of enforcement actions and the opportunity for appeal.

Youth Safety and Well-being

Hayate is committed to ensuring a safe and positive experience for users under the age of 18. Users must meet the minimum age requirement of 13 years to create an account on our platform, with additional age-related restrictions based on local laws in certain regions.

In specific jurisdictions, such as the United States, Hayate offers a tailored experience for users under 13 that includes additional safeguards. These safeguards restrict interactive features and ensure content suitability through collaborations with child safety networks, alongside a dedicated privacy policy tailored for this age group. Accounts found to be held by users below the minimum age requirement are promptly banned, with an appeal process available for those who believe such a ban was in error.

Hayate proactively removes content that could endanger the psychological, physical, or developmental well-being of young people. Severe violations, including sexual offenses against youth, result in immediate account termination and reporting to appropriate child protection and law enforcement agencies. We are committed to cooperating fully with authorities to ensure the safety of young people.

To provide a developmentally appropriate and safe space for youth, Hayate has implemented several measures:

• Restrictive default privacy settings to protect young users.
• Development of content levels to restrict exposure to inappropriate material, supplemented by content filtering options for all users.

Certain types of content on Hayate are restricted to adult users to ensure the safety and appropriateness of the viewing experience. A brief guide of content restricted from younger audiences includes:

• Disordered Eating and Body Image: Content promoting unhealthy weight management practices or idealizing body types linked to harmful behaviors.
• Dangerous Activities and Challenges: Content showing or encouraging physically risky behavior.
• Nudity and Body Exposure: Content featuring significant semi-nudity.
• Sexually Suggestive Content: Content showing explicit adult interactions.
• Shocking and Graphic Content: Content depicting graphic violence or the aftermath of violent events.
• Gambling: Content showing or promoting gambling.
• Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs: Content discussing or depicting the use of regulated substances, excessive alcohol consumption, or the promotion of tobacco and alcohol products.

Safety and Civility

Hayate is committed to fostering a platform where physical and psychological safety are the foundation of well-being, and civility is crucial to a thriving community. Civility requires recognizing everyone's inherent dignity and engaging with respect in actions, words, and tone.

Violent and Criminal Behavior

We strive to unify people in ways that avoid physical conflict. We understand that content depicting or related to violence can translate to real-world harm. Consequently, we prohibit any content that involves violent threats, the promotion of violence, incitement to violence, or any criminal activities that could potentially harm people, animals, or property. Specific and credible threats to human life or severe physical injury are promptly reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

Content Guidelines

Content that depicts but does not promote violence is managed under our Shocking and Graphic Content guidelines, detailed further in the relevant section.

• Not Allowed: Expressions or threats of physical injury towards individuals or groups, the promotion or incitement of violence, theft, property destruction, or environmental damage, and instructional content on committing criminal acts.
• Allowed: Depictions of violence in fictional settings are permitted under certain conditions.

Hate Speech and Hateful Behavior

Our platform is enriched by diversity, and we believe differences should foster unity rather than division. Hate speech, hateful behavior, or the promotion of hateful ideologies are strictly banned. This policy covers both explicit and implicit content that discriminates against or attacks any protected group based on inherent or immutable characteristics.

• Not Allowed: Promoting violence, segregation, discrimination on the basis of protected attributes, or any hateful ideologies such as supremacy claims, conspiracy theories targeting protected groups, or dehumanizing statements.
• Allowed: Educational content about hate speech harms, reclaimed derogatory terms within cultural contexts by targeted communities, and discussions on social issues affecting protected groups as long as they do not attack individuals based on protected attributes.

Handling of Violent and Hateful Organizations and Individuals

We do not permit violent extremists, criminal organizations, violent political groups, or hateful entities to operate or be promoted on Hayate. This includes non-state actors involved in political violence and groups inciting hatred based on protected attributes.

• Not Allowed: Content from or supporting violent or hateful organizations or individuals, including any material support such as fundraising, recruitment, or promotional activities.
• Allowed: Content discussing these groups in an educational or documentary context that does not support or promote their activities.

Youth Safety

Protecting young individuals from abuse and exploitation is paramount. We do not allow content that shows, promotes, or engages in youth sexual or physical abuse, including all forms of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), grooming, and sextortion.

• Not Allowed: Any engagement in or promotion of activities harmful to minors, including romanticizing adult-minor relationships, depicting physical or psychological abuse, or any form of sexual exploitation.
• Allowed: Educational and documentary content discussing the dangers and impacts of abuse or exploitation, provided it does not show or graphically describe the abusive content.

Adult Safety

Our commitment extends to ensuring a respectful and supportive environment for adults, emphasizing gender equity and intimate privacy. We do not tolerate any form of adult sexual or physical abuse, exploitation, or harassment.

• Not Allowed: Non-consensual sexual acts, image-based sexual abuse, or any content promoting or engaging in physical abuse, sextortion, and sexual harassment.
• Allowed: Survivor stories shared by individuals about their own experiences, and educational content aimed at raising awareness about sexual exploitation and gender-based violence.

Harassment and Bullying

We promote respectful expression of viewpoints and safeguard the right to speak without fear of degradation or bullying.

• Not Allowed: Harassing, degrading, or bullying behaviors and content, especially severe forms of harassment like doxxing or threats of severe physical harm.
• Allowed: Constructive criticism related to content or actions, counterspeech against harassment or bullying, and critical discussions about public figures provided they adhere to community standards.

Mental and Behavioral Health

At Hayate, we prioritize the well-being of our users, aiming to foster an environment of happiness, enrichment, and community belonging. We encourage users to engage in shared experiences and connections that promote a sense of community, always in a supportive space that safeguards both physical and psychological health.

Suicide and Self-Harm

It is crucial for Hayate to be a safe platform where users can discuss emotionally complex topics without increasing the risk of harm. Consequently, we strictly prohibit any content that depicts, promotes, or provides methods for suicide or self-harm.

For those experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, we urge you to seek immediate help from local emergency services or suicide prevention helplines in your region. In cases where there is a specific, credible, and imminent threat to life or serious injury, Hayate may intervene by contacting emergency services.

• Not Allowed: Display or promotion of suicide or self-harm methods, related challenges, or sharing of suicide plans.
• Allowed: Messages of hope, personal recovery stories related to overcoming suicide or self-harm without specific methods, and educational content on prevention and warning signs.

Disordered Eating and Body Image

Hayate promotes self-esteem and body positivity and does not endorse content that encourages disordered eating or unsafe weight management practices. We apply age restrictions and content advisories to ensure that all shared material is appropriate and safe.

• Not Allowed: Content that shows or promotes harmful dietary habits, misuse of medication for weight control, excessive exercise, or any commercial promotion of weight loss or muscle gain products.
• Restricted: Content intended for adult viewers that involves risky weight management techniques or cosmetic procedures without adequate risk explanation.
• Allowed: Content that discusses eating disorders or weight management in a factual or educational context, showcases competitive eating within safe limits, or provides information on medically necessary dietary practices under professional supervision.

Dangerous Activity and Challenges

While Hayate encourages participation in fun and creative activities, we do not support content that poses a significant risk of injury. We restrict content that shows dangerous activities likely to be imitated by non-professionals.

• Not Allowed: Promotion or display of activities involving significant risk of injury, misuse of dangerous tools, or consumption of harmful substances.
• Restricted: Content showing activities that pose moderate risk but are likely to be imitated and could result in physical harm.
• Allowed: Demonstrations of cultural or ceremonial use of tools or practices, educational content about extreme sports performed by professionals, and discussions on preventing injuries related to popular challenges.

Sensitive and Mature Themes

Hayate is committed to providing content that suits a wide range of audiences, from family-friendly to more mature themes. Recognizing the diversity of our global community, our content guidelines are informed by developmental and cultural sensitivities. We strive to respect local contexts and avoid imposing the norms of one region upon another, adapting our guidelines accordingly.

Sexual Activity and Services

Hayate is a platform where discussions on sexuality, sex, or reproductive health can be conducted in an educational and respectful manner. We are mindful of the potential for content to be unsuitable for younger audiences or considered offensive by some, and we strictly prohibit content that involves sexual activity or services. This includes any behavior related to sexual arousal, fetishes, kinks, or solicitation of sexual services.

• Not Allowed: Any depiction of sexual acts, arousal, fetish activities, or commercial sexual services.
• Allowed: Content focusing on reproductive health and sex education that discusses medical or scientific aspects of sexual health procedures, surgeries, or examinations without sexualizing the subject matter.

Nudity and Body Exposure

At Hayate, we celebrate body positivity and encourage users to feel comfortable with how they present themselves. However, we understand that perceptions of body exposure vary significantly across cultures, and we reflect these differences in our guidelines.

• Not Allowed: Display of nudity including bare genitalia, full buttocks, and breasts in non-educational or non-medical contexts; explicit body exposure in content involving young people.
• Restricted: Semi-nudity of adults, which includes minimal clothing that covers only a small portion of intimate body parts, is restricted to an adult audience.
• Allowed: Non-sexualized nudity in certain cultural practices, educational content, and medical contexts, such as breastfeeding, traditional celebrations, or medical procedures. Content that depicts culturally expected body exposure like swimwear at a beach or athletes in competitive attire is also permissible.

Sexually Suggestive Content

While Hayate supports creative expression and cultural celebration, we ensure that content does not promote sexually suggestive behavior that could be offensive or exploit young individuals.

• Not Allowed: Content from young people that is sexually suggestive, or any sexually explicit language.
• Restricted: Depictions of intimate kissing, sexualized framing, or overtly sexualized behavior by adults.
• Allowed: Artistic content with sexual references, such as song lyrics, and non-intimate kisses like greetings or brief pecks on the cheek.

Shocking and Graphic Content

Hayate is designed to be an engaging platform but is not a venue for content that intentionally shocks or disturbs users. We prioritize psychological well-being and ensure content does not trigger extreme discomfort.

• Not Allowed: Real-world graphic violence, torture, and other extreme forms of violence.
• Restricted: Content displaying blood, extreme physical fighting, or graphic footage of significant events unless it serves a public interest.
• Allowed: Professionally organized sports, educational content involving blood in a scientific context, and artistic depictions that do not glorify violence.

Animal Welfare

Respecting animal life is paramount at Hayate. We do not condone content that depicts or promotes cruelty, neglect, or exploitation of animals.

• Not Allowed: Content involving animal abuse, harm, or illegal trade.
• Allowed: Educational and documentary content about animal welfare, and food-related practices involving animals, provided they are depicted respectfully and within the bounds of legal and ethical standards.

Integrity and Authenticity

At Hayate, we prioritize fostering a community built on trust and authenticity, encouraging users to engage with reliable information, discover original content, and interact genuinely. This foundation supports a trustworthy community environment both on and off our platform.

Misinformation

Recognizing the diversity within our global community, while individual opinions naturally vary, we strive to maintain a commitment to accuracy. Misinformation, particularly when it could significantly harm individuals or the community, is strictly prohibited. Our approach includes collaborating with independent fact-checkers, adhering to public health guidelines, and using a comprehensive database to verify facts.

• Not Allowed: Content that poses a risk to public safety, induces panic during crises, spreads health misinformation that discourages seeking essential medical care, undermines scientific consensus on critical issues like climate change, or propagates harmful conspiracy theories.

We apply warning labels to content flagged as potentially misleading to guide users toward making informed decisions about the information they share and consume.

Civic and Election Integrity

Elections inspire significant public discourse, crucial for democratic engagement. We balance enabling discussions around elections with our commitment to promoting unity and preventing divisiveness. Thus, we do not allow paid political promotion or fundraising by political entities.

• Not Allowed: Misinformation about voting processes, voter eligibility, or election outcomes that could interfere with electoral integrity or disrupt peaceful transfers of power.

We emphasize transparency in our handling of election-related content, applying cautionary measures to ensure information reliability.

Edited Media and AI-Generated Content

As digital editing and artificial intelligence technologies evolve, so does the creativity they enable. However, to maintain our integrity, we require that all AI-generated or significantly edited content that mimics realism be clearly labeled to distinguish between real and altered content.

• Required Disclosure: Content that appears realistic but has been generated or altered by AI must be clearly labeled to prevent misinformation.
• Not Allowed: Misleading AI-generated content or edited media that inaccurately depicts crisis events, authoritative sources, or public figures in potentially damaging scenarios.

We ensure that personal likenesses are used respectfully and with permission, protecting individuals' privacy and authenticity.

Fake Engagement and Unoriginal Content

Genuine interaction is vital for maintaining the integrity of our platform. We actively prevent any attempts to artificially inflate engagement metrics or deceive our community.

• Not Allowed: Services that promote artificial engagement, such as selling likes or followers; content that manipulates user interaction without substantive value; spreading content violations across multiple accounts to evade enforcement.

We uphold strong intellectual property rights protections, removing content that infringes upon the creative works of others.

• Not Allowed: Use of copyrighted or trademarked material without authorization or creative transformation.

Regulated Goods and Commercial Activities

Hayate recognizes the importance of a secure platform where users can share and discover information about regulated goods and engage in commercial activities responsibly. We are committed to ensuring that our platform remains a safe space for learning without exposing our users to undue physical or financial risks. This commitment extends to careful moderation of content related to goods or activities that are risky, addictive, dangerous, fraudulent, or otherwise sensitive.

Gambling

Gambling is a popular form of entertainment globally, but it also carries the risk of serious financial losses and mental health issues. Hayate does not allow the facilitation or promotion of gambling or gambling-like activities due to the potential harm they pose, particularly to younger audiences.

• Not Allowed: Facilitating or promoting gambling or gambling-like activities.
• Restricted: Content that shows or glamorizes gambling is limited to adult viewers to minimize exposure to potentially harmful activities.

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs

While recognizing that adults have the autonomy to make personal choices regarding alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, Hayate does not permit the trade or promotional display of these substances due to associated health risks.

• Not Allowed: Trading, displaying, or using drugs; promoting or facilitating the trade of alcohol and tobacco products.
• Restricted: Discussions or depictions of drug use or excessive alcohol consumption are restricted to an adult audience to ensure appropriate viewership.

Firearms and Dangerous Weapons

The responsible use and ownership of firearms and other weapons are subjects of serious concern due to the potential for severe injury or death. Our platform does not allow trading or marketing firearms or explosive weapons.

• Not Allowed: Facilitating the trade of or offering instructions on creating firearms or explosive weapons; promoting or showing these items outside of safe and appropriate settings.
• Allowed: Displaying firearms and weapons in professional, recreational, educational, or fictional contexts that ensure safety and appropriateness.

Trade of Regulated Goods and Services

Regulated goods and services play a critical role in society but require stringent oversight to prevent illegal or harmful practices. Hayate prohibits the trade or marketing of any regulated, prohibited, or high-risk items.

• Not Allowed: Trading or marketing items such as firearms, explosive weapons, alcohol, tobacco products, drugs, counterfeit goods, and wildlife products; promoting services or goods that facilitate engagement in harmful or illegal activities.

Commercial Disclosure and Paid Marketing

Transparency in commercial activities is crucial for maintaining trust. If you are promoting a product or service, whether for yourself or on behalf of a third party, such disclosure must be clearly indicated to avoid misleading our community.

• Required Disclosure: Any content that involves marketing or promoting a product or service must clearly disclose the nature of the commercial relationship.
• Not Allowed: Undisclosed paid political marketing or any promotional content that lacks clear commercial disclosure.

Frauds and Scams

We strive to protect our community from financial scams and fraudulent activities that could result in financial loss or compromise personal information.

• Not Allowed: All forms of scams and fraudulent activities, including financial scams, identity theft, phishing, and other deceitful practices that exploit users for financial gain or personal information.

Privacy and Security

At Hayate, we recognize the importance of protecting your privacy rights and ensuring the security of your personal information. Maintaining trust and safeguarding your safety are paramount to our operations.

Personal Information

The vast reach of content shared online mandates a strong commitment to privacy. We are dedicated to ensuring that personal information, whether shared intentionally or inadvertently, does not lead to adverse consequences such as stalking, violence, phishing, fraud, identity theft, or financial exploitation. Any content that includes sensitive personal information that could pose these risks is strictly prohibited.

• Not Allowed: Sharing non-public personal phone numbers, home addresses, financial and payment information, login credentials, identity documents, or any content that encourages or threatens the sharing of such information.

If you encounter a privacy violation on Hayate, we urge you to report it promptly so we can take appropriate action.

Platform Security

We invest considerable efforts to protect you and your information on Hayate. Unauthorized access, attempts to procure sensitive information, or abuses that threaten the security, integrity, or reliability of our platform are not permitted.

• Not Allowed: Unauthorized access to Hayate, including the use of fake versions of our platform; sharing malicious files or messages that compromise cybersecurity; phishing or similar deceptive techniques to acquire personal information or access private accounts; and any modifications or derivative works of Hayate that breach our security protocols.

To enhance your security, avoid engaging with suspicious links or communications requesting your account or personal details.

Accounts and Features

Accounts

To maintain a responsible community, users must be 13 years and older to hold an account on Hayate, with additional age restrictions based on local law. For users under 13, we provide a more limited and heavily safeguarded experience to ensure enhanced safety and a dedicated Privacy Policy. Accounts found to belong to users below the minimum age will be promptly banned.

Violations of our guidelines can lead to various enforcement actions, including the permanent banning of accounts for severe or repeated violations, circumvention of our guidelines, or if the account is primarily used for prohibited activities such as hate speech, prohibited goods trading, spam, or impersonation.

Platform Security

Hayate is committed to robust security measures to protect you and your information. Unauthorized access, attempts to gather sensitive information, or abuses that compromise our platform's integrity are strictly prohibited.

• Not Allowed: Sharing access to your account, unauthorized platform access, distribution of harmful software, deceptive practices like phishing, and unauthorized modifications or derivations of Hayate's platform.

News and Government, Politician, and Political Party Accounts

Content from news entities, governments, politicians, and political party accounts is subject to the same content guidelines as other accounts, but given their role in public discourse, we handle enforcement with particular regard to human rights and free expression. Severe violations by these accounts will result in immediate bans, while repeated lesser violations may lead to temporary restrictions.

• News Entities are recognized organizations primarily dedicated to reporting news and must be officially certified or recognized to qualify as such on Hayate.
• Governments and Politicians include those in significant public roles and their accounts are handled with an awareness of their impact on civic processes.

External Links and Direct Messaging

External links must lead to content that complies with our guidelines. Misleading or harmful links are removed, and severe violations can result in account bans. Direct messaging is available to users 16 and older, with advanced features restricted to users 18 and older. Misuse of these communication tools can lead to restrictions or bans.

Monetization

Monetization tools on Hayate are available to users 18 and older, subject to specific eligibility criteria. All monetized content must be clearly disclosed and comply with our monetization policies. Violations can lead to temporary or permanent restrictions on monetization capabilities.

Overall Policy

All users and content on Hayate must adhere to our platform guidelines, which are designed to maintain a safe, secure, and trustworthy environment for all community members. Misuse of account features or failure to comply with policy standards can lead to enforcement actions, ensuring Hayate remains a responsible and positive space for all users.

Enforcement

Public Interest Exceptions

At Hayate, we recognize that certain content, while potentially in violation of our standard rules, may hold significant public interest and contribute to important community discussions. Such content may include documentary, educational, medical, scientific, counterspeech, satirical, or artistic materials. Our moderation approach is consistent across all content, with context being a critical factor in evaluating exceptions. We encourage creators to provide clear context to aid in our assessment, such as through captions or explanatory comments.

• Additional Measures: For content allowed under public interest exceptions, we may implement safety measures like content warnings or restrict its visibility to ensure it does not reach inappropriate audiences. However, we do not permit exceptions for content that could cause severe harm, such as depictions of violence or abuse.

Detection and Reporting

Hayate strives to proactively identify and remove content that violates our guidelines through an automated review process followed by human moderation if needed. This includes high-visibility content or content flagged by our community. Despite our efforts, some violations may occur, and we depend on user reports to enhance our enforcement. You can report potential violations through our in-app tools or website.

Notice and Appeals

We are committed to procedural fairness and will notify users of any actions taken against their content or accounts. Notifications will explain the reason for content removal or account suspension. Users whose content or accounts have been affected can see details in their Hayate analytics and are eligible to appeal these decisions.