Legal
Child Safety Policy
Effective Date: July 2026
1. OUR COMMITMENT
Afripods have zero tolerance for content or conduct that sexualises, endangers, exploits, or otherwise harms children. This commitment applies across every part of the Platform and takes priority over all other considerations, including revenue, growth, and freedom of expression. This Policy sets out how we put that commitment into practice.
2. SCOPE
This Policy applies to all Content on the Platform, all Users (Listeners, Creators, guests featured in Content, and Advertisers), and all Afripods staff, contractors, and moderators. It applies wherever a child may be affected by the Platform as a User, as a person featured in Content, or as a person targeted by another User's conduct.
3. THE RISK FRAMEWORK WE USE
We assess child safety risk on the Platform using five categories, adapted from established child-online-safety frameworks:
- Content risks: exposure to material that sexualises, endangers, or is otherwise inappropriate for children, including as a Listener or as a subject of an episode.
- Contact risks: a child being contacted, groomed, or solicited by another User through the Platform's features.
- Conduct risks: a child's own conduct on the Platform causing harm to themselves or others, including through Content they upload.
- Consumer risks: a child being exposed to inappropriate commercial pressure, including advertising, in-app purchases, or monetisation features not suited to their age.
- Cross-cutting risks: risks that touch several categories at once, such as data privacy risks specific to children, or the use of AI tools to generate or manipulate content involving a child.
4. AGE REQUIREMENTS AND VERIFICATION
The Platform is intended for Users aged 13 and above. Users aged 13-17 may listen to age-appropriate Content but may not register as a Creator, receive payments, or engage with advertising features without verifiable parental or guardian consent, as set out in our Terms & Conditions, Section 3.
We use (insert internal age-verification method, e.g. self-declared date of birth with escalation on inconsistency signals) at registration. Where we identify signals that a User may be under 13, or may have misrepresented their age, we restrict the account pending verification, consistent with our Privacy Policy, Section 7.
5. PARENTAL AND GUARDIAN CONSENT
Where a User aged 13-17 wishes to register as a Creator, receive payments, or engage with advertising features, a parent or legal guardian must provide verifiable consent in writing, via email to our Data Protection Officer and may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting our Data Protection Officer , at which point the relevant activity is suspended.
6. CONTENT AND CONDUCT THAT ARE NEVER ALLOWED
The following are prohibited without exception, and are enforced through the zero-tolerance fast-track described in our Content Moderation Policy, Section 5:
- Child sexual abuse material in any form, including content that appears to depict a minor even where the subject's age cannot be confirmed.
- Grooming, solicitation, or any attempt to initiate a sexual or exploitative relationship with a person known or reasonably believed to be a minor.
- Non-consensual intimate imagery of a minor, including images or audio that are digitally altered or AI-generated, consistent with the standards behind the US TAKE IT DOWN Act and equivalent international measures.
- Content that sexualizes a minor, whether or not the content is otherwise legal in the jurisdiction where it was created.
- Any attempt to use the Platform's messaging, comments, or discovery features to locate or contact children for a harmful purpose.
7. CREATOR OBLIGATIONS WHERE A MINOR APPEARS IN CONTENT
Where a Creator's episode features a minor as a guest, interviewee, or subject the Creator must obtain verifiable consent from the minor's parent or legal guardian before publication, in addition to the general guest-consent obligations in our Creator Agreement, Section 6. Content featuring minors must not be used to sexualize, endanger, or commercially exploit the child, and must comply with our Community Guidelines.
8. DETECTION AND REPORTING
We use a combination of automated screening and human review, described in our Content Moderation Policy (Sections 2 and 5), to detect content and conduct that may violate this Policy. All Afripods staff and contractors are required to report any suspected child safety concern immediately through (link to complaints page or DPO email), and must not attempt to independently investigate, view further, or share suspected child sexual abuse material beyond what is strictly necessary to make the report.
Confirmed or reasonably suspected violations may be reported to the appropriate authority without delay to the appropriate Directorate of Criminal Investigations in your country/jurisdiction. We preserve relevant evidence to support any resulting investigation and do not alert the User under investigation where doing so could compromise that investigation.
9. STAFF AND MODERATOR VETTING AND TRAINING
- Staff and contractors with access to content moderation tools or unreleased Content undergo background screening appropriate to their role before being granted access.
- Access to any retained child safety evidence is restricted to the smallest group of people necessary to investigate and report the matter.
10. EDUCATION AND PREVENTION
We may provide age-appropriate safety information for younger Users and their parents or guardians, including how to report a concern and how account and privacy settings work on request. We review this information periodically to keep it current with the risks described in Section 3.
11. DATA PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN
How we collect, use, and protect the personal data of Users we know or reasonably believe to be children is set out in our Privacy Policy (Section 7). That section takes precedence over this one on data protection matters; this Policy takes precedence on content and conduct matters.
12. WORKING WITH AUTHORITIES
We cooperate with law enforcement and regulatory authorities investigating child safety matters, including through lawful data requests processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable law. We maintain records of reports made and their outcomes, consistent with our Data Retention and Deletion Schedule.
13. HOW TO REPORT A CONCERN
If you believe a child is at risk, or you have found content that may violate this Policy, report it immediately using the in-platform reporting mechanism or to the DPO, which triggers our zero-tolerance fast-track. If a child is in immediate danger, please also contact local emergency services or police directly, in addition to reporting to us.
14. GOVERNANCE AND REVIEW
This Policy is handled by our Data Protection Officer and is reviewed at least annually, or sooner if our risk assessment, applicable law, or platform features materially change.
16. CONTACT US
Non-urgent questions about this Policy: contactus@afripods.com To report a concern, use the in-platform reporting tool referenced in Section 13 or directly contact our DPO.