Community Guidelines

Who Soula is for

Soula is for adults, 18 and over, who want to meet someone properly. The whole app is built around that: five considered introductions a day, connections that start from something specific you said, and conversations that have room to breathe.

That only works if people trust each other. These guidelines are the standard for everyone, and they apply to your profile, your messages, your Moments, your Out & About posts and your behaviour towards other members. They form part of our Terms of Service.

Be a real person

The single most important rule. Be yourself.

• Use your own name and your own recent photos.
• Do not impersonate anyone, real or invented, including celebrities and brands.
• Do not use another person’s photos, images taken from elsewhere online, or AI-generated images presented as you.
• Do not run a profile on behalf of someone else, or share an account.
• Do not make yourself out to be a different age. Everyone here has confirmed they are 18 or over.

Verifying your profile takes about two minutes and makes a real difference to how people respond to you. Verification confirms that a live selfie matches your photos. It is not an identity check, and a verified badge is not a character reference.

Respect and consent

Consent is not only about sex. It is about attention, pace and contact.

• Take no for an answer, the first time.
• If someone declines your request, blocks you or stops replying, that is your answer. Do not create a new account to reach them.
• Do not send sexual messages, photos or voice notes to someone who has not invited them.
• Keep sexual content out of your profile photos, videos, prompts and Moments entirely.
• Do not pressure anyone into meeting, into sharing photos, into moving to another app, or into anything physical.
• Do not comment on someone’s body, race, religion, disability or gender in a way you would not say to a stranger you respected.

Disagreement is fine. Being persistent after being told to stop is not.

Zero tolerance

The following lead to immediate and permanent removal, with no warning, and reports to the relevant authorities where the law requires or allows it.

• Anyone under 18, and any content that sexualises a minor. We remove the account, delete the data and report child sexual abuse material to the relevant authorities, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children where applicable. If you suspect a minor is using Soula, email safety@soulalove.com immediately.
• Non-consensual intimate imagery. Sharing, threatening to share, or asking for intimate images of someone who has not agreed.
• Sexual violence, and threats of violence. Including describing or endorsing sexual assault, and any credible threat to harm someone.
• Human trafficking, coercion and exploitation. Including any indication that a person is being controlled by someone else.
• Commercial sex work and escort solicitation. Advertising or seeking paid sexual services, sugar arrangements, or transactional dating.
• Terrorist and violent extremist content. Including promotion of, or support for, violent groups.
• Financial scams and romance fraud. Asking for money, gift cards, cryptocurrency or bank details. Investment or trading pitches, including the pattern often called pig butchering. Fake emergencies, fake customs fees, fake travel costs.
• Doxxing. Publishing or threatening to publish someone’s private information.
• Hate speech and slurs targeting race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, religion, disability, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

We do not negotiate on these, and appeals are not available for them.

Also not allowed

• Spam and promotion. Selling anything, promoting a business, driving traffic to your own links, or messaging in bulk.
• Off-platform recruiting. Recruiting members to other apps, content platforms, group chats, jobs, agencies or investment schemes.
• Drugs and weapons. Selling or sourcing drugs, prescription medication, firearms or weapons.
• Promotion of self-harm. Encouraging, instructing or glorifying self-harm, suicide or eating disorders.
• Other people’s privacy. Posting screenshots of Soula conversations, sharing someone’s contact details, photos or private facts without their agreement.
• Serious off-app behaviour. If someone’s conduct outside Soula credibly threatens the safety of people on it, we may act on their account.

If you are struggling

There is a difference between promoting self-harm and living through something hard. If you are in distress, we would rather surface support than remove you. Where it is safe to do so, we show local crisis resources rather than taking action against the account. If someone appears to be in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first, then let us know at safety@soulalove.com.

Reporting someone

Reporting is quick, it is confidential, and it genuinely gets read.

How to report

You can report from almost anywhere in the app:

• A profile: open the profile, tap the menu, choose Report.
• A message or voice note: press and hold the message, choose Report.
• A prompt answer, a Moment, or an Out & About post: use the menu on that item.

Pick the closest reason, and add detail if you have it. Specifics help: what happened, when, and whether anyone is at risk.

Blocking

Blocking is separate, immediate and does not require a report. When you block someone:

• It takes effect straight away.
• It works both ways. Neither of you appears to the other in Daily 5, Nearby, Moments or Out & About.
• It is silent. They are not told they have been blocked.

You can block first and report afterwards. Many people do.

What happens next

• Your report goes to our safety team with the content attached.
• We review most reports within 24 hours. Reports involving risk to a person, minors or non-consensual imagery are prioritised and handled first.
• We look at the report, the content, the account history and any related accounts.
• We take action if the guidelines have been broken, and we may act on an account even if the person you reported did not message you directly.
• The person you report is never told who reported them. They see the outcome, not your name.
• We will not always be able to tell you what action we took, because we have privacy obligations to everyone involved. We do tell you that your report was reviewed.

Where there is a credible risk to life, or where we are legally required to, we share reports and related information with law enforcement.

How enforcement works

We try to match the response to what actually happened. Most people who break a rule are not dangerous, and a clear warning is enough. Some situations skip straight to the end of the ladder.

1. Warning. An explanation of what broke the rules and what happens if it continues.
2. Content removal. The photo, prompt, post or message comes down.
3. Feature restriction. For example, no new connection requests, or no Moments, for a period.
4. Temporary suspension. The account is locked for a set time.
5. Permanent ban. The account is closed and cannot be reopened.
6. Device and account-level blocks. Applied where someone repeatedly tries to return after a ban.

We use both automated detection and human review. Automated systems flag patterns and obvious violations. Anything that restricts an account can be reviewed by a person.

Appealing

If we have made a mistake, tell us. Reply to the notice we sent, or email safety@soulalove.com with your account email and what you think we got wrong. A person who did not make the original decision will review it, including decisions first made by an automated system.

Appeals are not available for the zero-tolerance list above.

Looking after yourself

Nothing on this page replaces your own judgement, and none of it makes another person safe by default. We do not run criminal background checks on members.

A few things that help:

• Keep chatting inside Soula until you are comfortable. Moving to another app early is a common scam pattern.
• Video or voice call before meeting.
• Meet somewhere public, arrange your own travel, and keep your drink with you.
• Tell a friend where you are going and when you expect to be back. On Premium, use the check-in feature.
• Never send money, gift cards or crypto to someone you have not met, no matter how convincing the reason.
• Trust the feeling that something is off. You do not owe anyone an explanation.

More detail, including what to do after a bad experience, is in our Safety Centre. To report a concern, email safety@soulalove.com or use Contact. Our full rules are in the Terms of Service, and what we do with your data is in the Privacy Policy.

Thank you for helping keep this place worth being in.