Community Guidelines

1. Our values and how these rules apply

Two ideas shape everything on Hangout: who can see and join a plan, and where that plan is in its life (upcoming, live, ended). Our guidelines protect both the people in the feed and the people who actually meet up.

These rules apply to everything you create or do on Hangout, including hangouts you host, posts, comments, direct messages, communities and group chats, usernames and display names, profile bios, and any photos or posters you upload. They also apply to your behavior at a hangout itself. What happens when people meet because of Hangout is part of our community, and conduct in person can lead to action on your account.

A simple test for almost anything: would you be comfortable if the person it affected, and the wider community, saw it? If not, do not post it, send it, or do it.

You must be at least 13 to use Hangout and at least 18 to host a hangout. Some rules below ask for extra care because of this mixed-age community.

2. Harassment, bullying, and unwanted contact

Everyone should be able to take part without being targeted or worn down. We do not allow:

• Targeted insults, slurs, or degrading content aimed at a person, including in hangout comments or group chats.
• Repeated unwanted contact after someone has said no, blocked you, declined your hangout, or stopped replying, including making new accounts to reach them.
• Sexual harassment: unwanted sexual comments, advances, requests, or images in messages, comments, or at a meetup.
• Coordinated pile-ons, encouraging others to harass someone, or sharing a person’s hangout or profile to invite abuse.
• Intimidation, stalking, or blackmail, online or in the real world.

Joining or messaging through a hangout is an invitation to make plans, not a license to pursue someone who is not interested.

3. Hate speech and discrimination

Hangout is for bringing people together, not pushing them out. We do not allow content that attacks, dehumanizes, mocks, or promotes hatred or exclusion of people based on protected characteristics, including race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, religion, caste, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or serious medical condition.

• Slurs, hateful stereotypes, or dehumanizing comparisons.
• Hateful symbols or imagery in posters, photos, or profiles.
• Hangouts, communities, or group names organized around excluding or demeaning a protected group.

You can run a hangout or community focused on a shared identity (for example, a group for a specific community or interest). What you cannot do is use that space to attack or exclude others based on who they are.

4. Violence, threats, and incitement

Do not use Hangout to threaten or organize harm to people. This includes:

• Threats to hurt, kill, or sexually assault someone, whether stated directly or implied.
• Calling for, encouraging, or celebrating violence against a person or group.
• Organizing or promoting a hangout whose purpose is a fight, an ambush, or an attack on a person, group, or place.
• Promoting, fundraising for, or representing terrorist or violent extremist organizations.

If a threat looks credible and specific, we may preserve information and report it to law enforcement.

5. Dangerous and illegal activities

Because Hangouts turn into real meetups, plans that put people at risk are taken seriously. Do not post or host content that:

• Organizes or facilitates crimes, including theft, trafficking, assault, or property destruction.
• Promotes dangerous challenges, stunts, or activities likely to cause serious injury.
• Uses a hangout as cover to lure someone to a location to harm, rob, or deceive them.
• Encourages dangerous behavior such as drunk or impaired driving to or from a meetup.

Hosting a hike, a climb, a swim, or a night out is welcome. Be honest about the risks, the skill required, and what people should bring. See our Safety page.

6. Regulated goods and activities

Do not use Hangout to sell or facilitate access to regulated or restricted goods, including:

• Illegal drugs, or the sale or solicitation of any controlled substance.
• Providing alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, or vaping products to minors, or hosting a hangout that does so.
• Firearms, ammunition, explosives, or other weapons, and trade in them.
• Illegal gambling or unlicensed betting pools.
• Counterfeit goods, stolen property, or other unlawful sales.

A hangout at a bar, brewery, or 19-plus or 21-plus venue is fine. Set the right expectations and never serve or supply minors.

7. Sexual content and nudity

Hangout is a public, mixed-age space for making plans, not for adult content. Do not post:

• Pornography, explicit sexual imagery, or sexual nudity.
• Hangouts, communities, or messages whose purpose is sexual services, solicitation, or commercial sexual activity.
• Sexually explicit usernames, posters, profile photos, or bios that appear in public feeds.

Casual language and dating-style hangouts are allowed. Keep public surfaces (titles, posters, comments, group names) free of explicit sexual content, and never pressure anyone sexually in messages or in person.

8. Child safety: zero tolerance

We have zero tolerance for any content or behavior that sexualizes, endangers, or exploits a minor (anyone under 18). This includes:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any sexualized depiction of a minor, real, drawn, or AI-generated.
• Grooming, sexual or romantic solicitation of a minor, or trying to move a young user to private contact for those purposes.
• Sextortion, sharing or threatening to share a minor’s intimate images, or any child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE).
• Trafficking, endangerment, or normalization of harm to children.

We remove this content, ban the accounts involved, preserve evidence, and report to the appropriate authorities, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and, where required, law enforcement in Canada and the United States. If you ever see content that sexualizes a minor, report it immediately and, if a child is in danger, contact local emergency services.

9. Self-harm and suicide

We care about people in distress and want Hangout to be a place that helps, not harms. Do not encourage, promote, instruct, or glorify suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders, and do not pressure or dare anyone toward self-harm.

Talking about your own struggles or supporting a friend is allowed and welcome. When we see content suggesting someone may be at risk, we may share supportive resources and crisis-line information, and we may limit content that could be harmful to others. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services such as 911. In the US and Canada you can also call or text 988 to reach a suicide and crisis line.

10. Spam, scams, fraud, and financial exploitation

Hangout is for real plans, not for selling, recruiting, or tricking people. We do not allow:

• Bulk or repetitive posting, irrelevant hangouts, mass unsolicited messages, or link spam.
• Scams and fraud, including phishing, fake giveaways, advance-fee schemes, crypto or investment cons, and fake ticket or deposit requests.
• Romance scams: building a fake connection through hangouts or messages to ask for money, gift cards, or financial help.
• Multi-level marketing, pyramid schemes, or paid recruitment disguised as a social hangout without clear, upfront disclosure that it is a sales or business pitch.
• Pressuring people to send money, share payment details, or pay deposits to attend.

Be cautious if a new contact quickly steers you off Hangout, asks for money, or pressures you to act fast. Report it.

11. Impersonation and fake accounts

People should know who they are making plans with. Do not:

• Pretend to be another person, a brand, a venue, or an organization you do not represent.
• Use someone else’s name, photos, or identity to gain trust or deceive.
• Run networks of fake or duplicate accounts, or operate accounts on behalf of banned users.

Parody or fan accounts must be clearly labeled as unofficial and must not be used to deceive, harass, or impersonate a real host.

12. Misleading or fake hangouts

The integrity of a hangout is everything: people change their day around it. Do not misrepresent:

• Time or place. Posting a location or start time you do not intend to honor, or sending people somewhere under false pretenses.
• Host. Claiming a hangout is run by a person, venue, or organization that has not authorized it.
• Intent. Advertising one kind of gathering while planning another, such as a casual meetup that is really a sales pitch, a recruitment event, or a setup to harm or rob attendees.
• Fake events created to harvest contact details, inflate numbers, or draw a crowd you have no plans to host.

13. Harmful misinformation

Do not post false or misleading content that creates a real risk of physical harm, public-safety harm, or interference with people’s ability to stay safe. Examples include dangerous health claims, fake emergency or safety alerts, or manipulated media presented as real in a way that could put people at risk. Honest opinions, jokes, and everyday conversation are not the target here. We focus on falsehoods that can hurt people.

14. Privacy violations and doxxing

Respect other people’s privacy, online and in person. Do not:

• Share someone’s private or identifying information (home address, phone number, workplace, real-time location, financial or ID details) without their consent.
• Post non-consensual intimate images, or threaten to share intimate images of someone.
• Secretly record, photograph, or livestream people at a hangout in a way they would not expect or agree to, especially in private settings.
• Reveal someone’s attendance, check-in, or membership in a private community to people who were not meant to see it.

15. Intellectual property

Only post content you have the right to share. Do not upload posters, photos, logos, music, or text that infringe someone else’s copyright or trademark, and do not pass off another brand or venue as your own. If you believe content on Hangout infringes your rights, contact legal@myhangout.xyz. We respond to valid notices and may remove content and act against repeat infringers.

16. Platform manipulation and security

Keep Hangout authentic and secure. Do not:

• Artificially inflate joins, follows, likes, reposts, zaps, or comments, or buy or sell engagement and accounts.
• Use bots, automation, or scripts to post, message, or interact at scale.
• Scrape or harvest data, profiles, or contact details from the Service.
• Evade bans by creating new accounts after enforcement action.
• Probe, hack, overload, or interfere with Hangout’s security or infrastructure.

17. Hosting responsibly

Hosts set the tone and carry real responsibility for the people who show up. When you host:

• Be accurate. Use a truthful title, time, place, and description so people know what they are joining.
• Choose the right openness. Set visibility (public, followers, or a specific community) to match who the plan is really for, and use approvals when you want to vet who attends.
• Manage capacity and plus-ones. Be clear about how many people fit and whether guests can bring others, and do not oversell a space.
• Look out for guests. Pick safe, public-friendly locations where you can, welcome people, keep an eye out for anyone being made uncomfortable, and step in or remove someone if needed.
• Remember you must be 18 or older to host, and you are responsible for the conduct of a hangout you create.

18. Attending responsibly

Joining a hangout is a commitment to be a decent guest. When you attend:

• Show up respectfully, follow the host’s and venue’s rules, and keep the vibe welcoming.
• Respect consent and boundaries at all times. No means no, for physical contact, photos, and contact afterward.
• If you RSVP and your plans change, update or cancel so the host can plan.
• Trust your instincts. If something feels unsafe, you can leave at any time. Tell a friend where you are going and consider meeting in public, especially the first time.
• Report a hangout or person if you see something that breaks these rules.

19. Check-ins and location

Check-ins are designed to be safe and consent-first. A check-in is a single, confirmed action you choose to take, never a live dot, continuous tracking, or a silent broadcast.

• Only check in when you want to, every time. It is always opt-in.
• Be honest. Do not fake a check-in to a place you are not, or to mislead people.
• Respect others’ privacy. A check-in inherits the hangout’s openness, so do not re-share who is where with people who were not meant to see it.

20. Communities and group admins

Communities are spaces people join to find their crowd, and admins help set the tone. If you create or run a community:

• Set clear group rules and apply them fairly, in line with these guidelines.
• Moderate your space: remove rule-breaking content, address harassment, and manage who can join when membership is gated.
• Do not use admin powers to bully, exclude protected groups, or shield abusive behavior.

Admins are responsible for the hangouts and content they post, and patterns of abuse in a community can lead to action against the community and its admins.

21. Messaging and zaps

Direct messages and zaps are for genuine connection, not pressure or spam. Do not send unsolicited promotions, mass messages, scam links, or repeated contact to someone who has not engaged or has asked you to stop. The harassment, hate-speech, child-safety, and privacy rules above apply in private messages just as they do in public. Casual conversation between people who want to talk is exactly what messages are for.

22. Minors and meetups

Hangout includes users as young as 13, so extra caution is required. Do not arrange to meet a minor you do not know in person, and adults must never seek out, message, or set up private meetups with minors they do not have a genuine, appropriate relationship with. Any sexual or romantic contact with a minor is strictly prohibited and reported (see Section 8). If you are an adult hosting a gathering that minors may attend, take responsibility for keeping it appropriate, public-friendly, and safe.

23. How we enforce

When something breaks these guidelines, we choose a response that fits the situation. Depending on context, severity, and history, we may:

• Remove a hangout, post, comment, message, image, or community.
• Issue a warning or require you to fix or take down content.
• Limit features (for example, posting, messaging, hosting, or discovery reach).
• Temporarily suspend an account.
• Permanently ban an account or person, including for severe or repeated violations.

We weigh context (what was meant and where it appeared), severity (the real risk to people), and repeat behavior (a pattern is treated more seriously than a one-off). The most serious categories, such as child sexual exploitation, credible threats, and severe safety risks, can lead to an immediate permanent ban with no prior warning. We may also act on off-platform conduct when it creates a real risk to the Hangout community, for example dangerous behavior at a meetup or threats made elsewhere against people you met here.

24. Reporting and blocking

Reporting helps us keep Hangout safe, and we review every report. You can report directly from the thing in question:

• A hangout: open it and use the menu to report it.
• A post or comment: use the menu on that post or comment to report it.
• A message: report it from the conversation.
• A profile: open the profile to report or block the person.

Blocking stops someone from contacting you or interacting with your content, and hides much of their activity from you. Blocking is private to you. You can also report and block at the same time. If you cannot reach a report tool, or want to flag something urgent, email support@myhangout.xyz.

25. Appeals

If we remove your content or act on your account and you think we got it wrong, you can ask us to take another look. Reply to the notice we send, or email support@myhangout.xyz with what happened and why you believe it was a mistake. A team member will re-review the decision. We may keep the action in place, restore content, or adjust the outcome.

26. Emergencies

These guidelines and our review process are not an emergency service. If someone is in immediate danger, being threatened, or has been harmed, contact your local emergency services first, such as 911 in Canada and the United States. Once everyone is safe, report it to us so we can take action on the accounts involved, and we will cooperate with law enforcement where appropriate.

27. Contact

Questions about these guidelines or something to report? Email support@myhangout.xyz. For legal or intellectual-property notices, email legal@myhangout.xyz. See also our Terms, Safety guidance, and Privacy Policy.