AlignMates Community Guidelines

AlignMates exists to help people find people, not followers.

You should be able to share what is on your mind, join communities around things you care about, meet people outside your existing circle, and have genuine conversations without needing to build a public persona first.

That freedom depends on everyone having some basic boundaries.

These Community Guidelines apply across AlignMates, including:

• Public Communities;
• Private Communities;
• posts;
• comments;
• Audio Posts;
• images and videos;
• polls;
• usernames and profiles;
• community names and descriptions;
• community posts;
• friend interactions;
• private messages where relevant to reports or platform safety;
• voice notes;
• other content or behavior using AlignMates.

These Guidelines work together with the AlignMates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

If something violates applicable law, our Terms, or these Guidelines, it may be restricted or removed even if these Guidelines do not describe the exact situation.

1. The Basic Rule

Be a person. Treat others like people.

AlignMates is designed for honest, spontaneous conversation.

You can:

• disagree;
• debate;
• criticize ideas;
• joke;
• vent;
• discuss difficult topics;
• have unpopular opinions;
• leave communities you dislike;
• block people you do not want to interact with.

You do not have to agree with everyone.

But disagreement does not give anyone permission to threaten, stalk, exploit, deceive, expose, or repeatedly harass another person.

2. Public and Private Communities

AlignMates supports both Public Communities and Private Communities.

The same platform-wide safety rules apply to both.

Public Communities

Public Communities are intended to be discoverable spaces where people can find conversations around shared interests.

Depending on AlignMates functionality, Public Communities may appear in:

• search;
• community discovery;
• recommendations;
• community browsing;
• public profiles;
• feeds or other discovery areas.

Content posted in a Public Community should be treated as content that may be seen by people outside your existing social circle.

Do not post something publicly if you would be seriously harmed by another person seeing, copying, quoting, screenshotting, or sharing it.

Private Communities

Private Communities provide more controlled access.

They may require:

• approval;
• invitation;
• membership;
• another access mechanism provided by AlignMates.

However:

Private does not mean exempt from AlignMates rules.

Private Communities may not be used as hidden spaces for:

• illegal activity;
• sexual exploitation;
• non-consensual intimate material;
• harassment campaigns;
• doxxing;
• threats;
• scams;
• fraud;
• hate-based violence;
• ban evasion;
• sharing stolen content;
• coordinating attacks against other users;
• other prohibited conduct.

AlignMates may review content from a Private Community when reasonably necessary in connection with:

• user reports;
• safety investigations;
• abuse prevention;
• security;
• Terms or Guidelines enforcement;
• legal obligations.

Private Community membership does not create a guarantee of confidentiality.

Other members can potentially:

• take screenshots;
• record their screens;
• copy content;
• save information;
• share information outside the community.

Only share information you are comfortable trusting to the people who can access that community.

3. Community Rules

Community owners and administrators may create additional rules for their own communities.

For example, a book community might require posts to relate to books.

A programming community might prohibit job advertisements.

A support-oriented community might restrict jokes or off-topic debates.

Community-specific rules may be stricter than AlignMates' platform-wide rules.

They may never be weaker than AlignMates' platform-wide rules.

For example, a community administrator cannot create a rule saying:

"Doxxing is allowed here."

or:

"Scams are allowed because this is a Private Community."

Platform rules always take priority.

4. Community Owners and Administrators

Running a community gives you moderation tools. It does not give you ownership over the people inside it.

Community owners and administrators should:

• clearly communicate important community-specific rules;
• moderate in good faith;
• respond appropriately to serious abuse;
• avoid using moderation powers to harass users;
• avoid retaliating against someone simply for making a good-faith report;
• protect the purpose and integrity of the community;
• comply with AlignMates' Terms and Guidelines.

Administrators must not misuse their role to:

• threaten members;
• demand passwords or account credentials;
• impersonate AlignMates staff;
• falsely claim access to information they cannot see;
• demand sexual content;
• demand payment under false pretences;
• pressure users into revealing their offline identity;
• coordinate harassment;
• conceal serious prohibited activity.

Community administrators are users of AlignMates.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, they are not employees, representatives, legal agents, or official spokespersons for AlignMates.

5. AlignMates May Intervene in Communities

Community administrators are usually free to manage their own spaces.

However, AlignMates retains authority over the platform as a whole.

We may take action involving a community when reasonably necessary for:

• user safety;
• platform integrity;
• repeated Guidelines violations;
• illegal activity;
• serious moderator abuse;
• impersonation;
• spam;
• fraud;
• ban evasion;
• security;
• abandonment;
• compliance with applicable law.

Depending on the circumstances, we may:

• remove particular content;
• restrict a community;
• temporarily disable features;
• remove or restrict an administrator;
• transfer or restore administrative control where appropriate;
• prevent new memberships;
• remove a community from discovery;
• suspend a community;
• permanently remove a community.

A community being Private does not prevent AlignMates from taking these actions.

6. Harassment and Bullying

Do not use AlignMates to seriously or repeatedly target another person with abuse.

Prohibited behavior may include:

• repeated unwanted contact;
• targeted intimidation;
• credible threats;
• stalking;
• coordinated harassment;
• encouraging others to attack an individual;
• creating accounts or communities primarily to harass someone;
• repeated unwanted sexual comments;
• threatening to expose someone's private information;
• deliberately following a blocked user through alternative accounts.

Not every rude comment is harassment.

Context matters.

People are allowed to disagree, criticize, and disengage from one another.

But blocking someone is a clear signal that they do not want further contact.

Do not use another account or another community to circumvent a block or platform restriction.

7. Doxxing and Personal Information

AlignMates is built around pseudonymous interaction.

Do not attempt to destroy that for another person.

You must not publish, solicit, threaten to publish, or encourage others to obtain another person's sensitive private information without lawful justification.

This may include:

• home addresses;
• private phone numbers;
• personal email addresses;
• government identification numbers;
• private financial information;
• passwords;
• precise private location;
• non-public workplace or school details when shared to facilitate harassment;
• another person's real-world identity when they have deliberately kept it private.

Do not pressure someone into revealing:

• their real name;
• face;
• phone number;
• Instagram account;
• home location;
• other offline identity information.

People may voluntarily share information about themselves.

That does not give others permission to spread it maliciously.

8. Threats and Violence

Do not make credible threats of violence or encourage others to commit unlawful violence.

We may remove content or take immediate account action involving:

• credible threats to kill or seriously injure someone;
• instructions directed toward attacking a particular person;
• attempts to coordinate violent attacks;
• celebration or encouragement of an imminent attack;
• threats against another person's family or property;
• content reasonably indicating an immediate serious safety risk.

Discussion of violence in contexts such as:

• news;
• history;
• fiction;
• education;
• personal experience;
• prevention;

is not automatically prohibited.

Context matters.

9. Sexual Exploitation and Non-Consensual Intimate Content

AlignMates has strict rules against sexual exploitation.

You must never use AlignMates to:

• distribute intimate images or videos without consent;
• threaten to distribute intimate material;
• engage in sexual extortion;
• secretly recorded sexual activity;
• use manipulated or AI-generated intimate imagery to depict a real person without consent;
• solicit another person's intimate material through threats, fraud, or coercion;
• facilitate sexual exploitation or trafficking.

Serious violations may result in immediate permanent account action and may be reported or preserved where required or permitted by law.

India's current intermediary rules specifically provide expedited handling requirements for certain complaints involving private areas, nudity, sexual acts, or electronic impersonation, including artificially morphed imagery.

10. Children and Sexual Content Involving Minors

AlignMates is intended for users aged 18 and above.

Content involving the sexual exploitation of children is absolutely prohibited.

Never:

• upload child sexual abuse material;
• request sexual content from a minor;
• sexualize a known minor;
• distribute sexual imagery involving a minor;
• facilitate grooming;
• encourage sexual exploitation of children;
• direct users to external sources for such material.

This applies regardless of whether the material is:

• real;
• manipulated;
• generated;
• illustrated;
• AI-generated,

where prohibited by applicable law or where it sexualizes or exploits a child.

The current IT Rules define a child as a person below 18 and explicitly prohibit information harmful to children; the IT Act separately addresses sexually explicit material involving children.

Serious cases may be preserved or reported to the appropriate authorities where required by law.

11. Pornographic and Sexually Explicit Content

Even though AlignMates is an 18+ platform, it is not intended to operate as a pornography platform.

Do not post:

• explicit sexual acts;
• pornographic videos or images;
• explicit genital imagery intended for sexual purposes;
• sexual services advertisements;
• fetish material that is primarily pornographic;
• links whose primary purpose is distributing prohibited pornography.

Non-explicit conversations about:

• relationships;
• dating;
• sexual health;
• sexuality;
• personal experiences;
• education;

may be allowed when they otherwise follow the Guidelines.

Private Communities are not exempt from this rule.

12. Hate and Targeted Dehumanization

Do not use AlignMates to encourage violence, serious hostility, or dehumanization against people based on protected characteristics.

This may include targeting someone based on characteristics such as:

• race;
• ethnicity;
• nationality;
• religion;
• caste;
• sex;
• gender;
• sexual orientation;
• disability.

Discussion, criticism, satire, political debate, religion-related debate, and disagreement about ideas are not automatically hate speech.

We consider context, target, severity, and intent.

Content intended to incite violence between religious or caste groups is also specifically addressed by India's current intermediary rules.

13. Impersonation and Deception

You may use a pseudonym.

You may not impersonate another real person or organization in a way intended to deceive others.

Do not:

• pretend to be another AlignMates user;
• impersonate AlignMates staff;
• impersonate a public authority;
• create deceptive accounts using another person's identity;
• falsely claim official community authority;
• use manipulated media to deliberately misrepresent another person's identity or statements in a harmful or deceptive way.

Parody, satire, and fan accounts may be permitted when a reasonable person would understand that they are not the actual person or organization.

14. AI-Generated and Manipulated Media

Creative use of AI-generated or edited media is not inherently prohibited.

However, you must not use manipulated or synthetic media to:

• impersonate another person;
• create non-consensual intimate material;
• fabricate evidence for fraud;
• seriously deceive someone for financial gain;
• falsely portray a real person committing harmful or illegal acts;
• facilitate harassment or exploitation.

Where AlignMates provides a mechanism for labeling synthetic or manipulated media, users may be required to use it where applicable.

India's updated 2026 intermediary framework now contains specific provisions around certain synthetically generated information and deceptive synthetic depictions.

15. Scams, Fraud and Financial Abuse

Do not use AlignMates to deceive people for money, property, credentials, or other benefits.

This includes:

• phishing;
• fake giveaways;
• advance-fee scams;
• fake investment schemes;
• romance scams;
• impersonating support staff;
• credential theft;
• fraudulent fundraising;
• knowingly selling nonexistent items;
• Ponzi or pyramid schemes;
• attempts to obtain account passwords or verification information.

Be especially cautious when someone you recently met asks you to send money or move communication outside AlignMates.

AlignMates does not guarantee the legitimacy of another user.

16. Spam and Platform Manipulation

Do not degrade the experience for everyone else.

Prohibited behavior may include:

• repeatedly posting identical promotional material;
• mass unsolicited messaging;
• automated account creation;
• bots used to manipulate engagement;
• fake likes or interactions;
• coordinated artificial engagement;
• excessive irrelevant mentions;
• creating communities solely for spam;
• misleading link farming;
• ban evasion;
• attempts to manipulate discovery systems.

Reasonable sharing of your:

• project;
• art;
• community;
• work;

may be allowed when relevant to the context and community rules.

17. Malware, Hacking and Security Abuse

Do not use AlignMates to attack AlignMates or other people.

You must not:

• distribute malware;
• share credential-stealing links;
• intentionally transmit malicious files;
• attempt unauthorized access to accounts or systems;
• exploit vulnerabilities to obtain other users' information;
• interfere with the availability of AlignMates;
• conduct phishing attacks;
• sell or distribute stolen account credentials.

Good-faith security research should be reported privately to AlignMates rather than exploited against users.

18. Illegal Goods and Services

Do not use communities to facilitate illegal transactions.

This may include unlawful sale, distribution, or procurement of:

• controlled drugs;
• prohibited weapons;
• stolen goods;
• fraudulent documents;
• hacked accounts;
• illegally obtained personal information;
• other illegal goods or services.

Private Communities do not provide an exception.

19. Self-Harm and Dangerous Behavior

People should be able to talk openly about difficult experiences.

Discussion of:

• depression;
• recovery;
• addiction;
• self-harm experiences;
• mental health;

is not automatically prohibited.

However, do not use AlignMates to:

• encourage another person to harm themselves;
• pressure someone toward suicide;
• celebrate or glorify suicide in a way intended to encourage imitation;
• target vulnerable individuals with harmful instructions.

We may restrict or remove material where we reasonably believe doing so is necessary for user safety.

20. Misinformation and False Claims

AlignMates is not intended to be a service where every disagreement over facts becomes a moderation dispute.

Being mistaken is not automatically a violation.

However, we may act against deceptive content where circumstances involve things such as:

• fraud;
• impersonation;
• manipulated evidence;
• coordinated deception;
• serious safety risks;
• knowingly false claims used to harass someone;
• unlawful deceptive conduct.

India's intermediary rules also address certain knowingly and intentionally communicated false or misleading information and deceptive origin of messages.

21. Copyright and Other People's Work

Do not post material you do not have the right to use.

This includes unauthorized copies of:

• photographs;
• artwork;
• music;
• videos;
• books;
• software;
• other copyrighted material.

Sharing:

• commentary;
• criticism;
• quotations;
• memes;
• transformative content;

may sometimes be legally permitted depending on applicable law and context, but users remain responsible for ensuring they have the right to submit what they post.

Rights holders may contact AlignMates through the reporting or grievance mechanism.

22. Community Names, Descriptions and Branding

A community's identity is also subject to these Guidelines.

Community names, icons, descriptions, and themes must not be used for:

• impersonation;
• fraud;
• targeted harassment;
• prohibited sexual exploitation;
• unlawful hate or violence;
• deceptive claims of official affiliation.

Do not create a community that falsely suggests it is an official AlignMates community unless AlignMates has actually authorized it.

23. Keep Communities On Topic

Community owners may establish their own scope.

Members should make a reasonable effort to respect it.

For example:

Books

should normally contain book-related discussion.

Indie Developers

should normally contain development/product discussion.

Late Night Thoughts

may intentionally allow broader conversation.

Off-topic content is primarily a community moderation matter unless it also violates platform-wide rules.

24. Do Not Abuse Reporting

Reporting exists to protect the community.

Do not knowingly submit false reports to:

• harass another person;
• silence someone you disagree with;
• overwhelm a community administrator;
• retaliate after an argument;
• manipulate moderation.

A report being unsuccessful does not automatically mean it was abusive.

Good-faith reports will not be penalized merely because moderators ultimately decide no violation occurred.

25. Blocking Means Stop

If someone blocks you, do not deliberately circumvent that decision.

Do not:

• contact them through another account;
• ask friends to harass them;
• create a community targeting them;
• repeatedly mention them to draw them back into contact.

Blocking exists to let people end unwanted interactions.

Respect it.

26. Friend Requests and Private Messages

Do not use friend requests or DMs to:

• repeatedly contact someone who has declined;
• send unsolicited explicit sexual material;
• threaten users;
• conduct scams;
• obtain passwords;
• manipulate or extort users;
• evade blocks;
• coordinate prohibited activity.

Private messaging is not a moderation-free zone.

Where a participant reports a conversation, AlignMates may review relevant information according to our Terms and Privacy Policy.

27. Community Moderator Decisions

Community moderators may:

• remove posts;
• restrict participation;
• reject membership;
• remove members;
• enforce community-specific rules;

within the tools AlignMates provides.

A moderator removing your post does not necessarily mean that you violated AlignMates' platform-wide rules.

For example:

A moderator can remove a football post from a photography community simply because it is off-topic.

That does not make football content prohibited on AlignMates.

28. Platform Enforcement Is Separate

AlignMates may separately take action when conduct violates platform-wide rules.

Depending on severity and context, actions may include:

• no action;
• warning;
• content removal;
• reduced functionality;
• community removal;
• temporary restrictions;
• suspension;
• permanent account termination;
• device or re-registration restrictions where reasonably necessary;
• preservation of relevant evidence;
• referral or disclosure where required or permitted by law.

We do not promise identical penalties for every violation.

Context matters.

Factors may include:

• severity;
• intent;
• previous violations;
• harm caused;
• immediate risk;
• legal requirements;
• whether the conduct was deliberate;
• attempts to evade enforcement.

Serious conduct may result in immediate action without a prior warning.

29. Particularly Serious Violations

Some behavior may justify immediate permanent restriction or other urgent action.

Examples include:

• child sexual exploitation;
• serious non-consensual intimate imagery;
• credible threats of serious violence;
• sexual extortion;
• organized fraud;
• serious malware or account theft;
• severe stalking;
• attempts to use AlignMates for trafficking or exploitation;
• persistent ban evasion following serious abuse.

Whether additional steps are taken will depend on applicable law and circumstances.

30. Community Enforcement

A community may receive restrictions if its overall purpose or repeated activity violates these Guidelines.

We may consider:

• the community's stated purpose;
• repeated violations;
• administrator behavior;
• whether administrators encourage prohibited activity;
• whether administrators reasonably respond to serious abuse;
• attempts to hide prohibited activity in Private Communities.

A single member violating a rule does not necessarily mean the entire community will be punished.

We look at context and patterns.

31. Admin Abuse

Community ownership is not immunity.

If an owner or administrator repeatedly abuses their authority, AlignMates may:

• warn them;
• restrict moderation permissions;
• remove them as an administrator;
• suspend their account;
• appoint or restore another eligible administrator where functionality permits;
• restrict or close the community.

Examples of admin abuse include:

• using moderator tools for stalking;
• threatening members;
• knowingly protecting serious prohibited conduct;
• forcing members to reveal personal identity;
• running scams through the community;
• retaliating against good-faith safety reports;
• impersonating AlignMates staff.

32. Leaving a Community

You may leave a community using the functionality available in AlignMates.

A community administrator must not threaten, harass, or retaliate against someone simply because they leave.

Private-community owners should understand that membership does not create a legal or personal obligation for someone to remain.

33. Reporting a Community

Report a community when you believe:

• its purpose is prohibited;
• administrators are facilitating serious abuse;
• it is being used for scams;
• it is impersonating another community or organization;
• members are coordinating harassment;
• serious illegal activity is occurring.

Where available, use the in-app reporting system because it can provide AlignMates with relevant technical context more efficiently than a general email.

34. Appeals and Grievances

If you believe AlignMates made an incorrect platform-level moderation decision, you may use any available review or grievance process.

Formal grievances may be submitted to:

Grievance Officer
Asim Nasar Siddiqui
Founder, Operator & Grievance Officer — AlignMates
India
Email: alignmates@gmail.com

Please provide enough information for us to identify the relevant:

• account;
• post;
• community;
• moderation action;
• report;
• other issue.

India's current intermediary rules require a prominently accessible grievance mechanism and generally require acknowledgment within 24 hours and resolution within seven days, with shorter timelines for certain categories of complaints. Eligible grievance decisions may also be appealable through the Grievance Appellate Committee framework.

35. Community Rules Cannot Override Law

No community owner, administrator, member, post, poll, description, or private-community agreement can authorize conduct prohibited by applicable law.

If a community rule conflicts with:

• applicable law;
• AlignMates Terms of Service;
• these Community Guidelines;
• community-specific rules;

the higher rule takes priority in that order.

36. Guidelines May Evolve

AlignMates is actively developing.

As new community features, abuse patterns, laws, or safety requirements emerge, these Guidelines may change.

When materially updated, we will update the Last Updated date and provide additional notice where appropriate or legally required.

37. The Spirit of AlignMates

These rules exist to protect what AlignMates is supposed to make possible.

You do not need followers.

You do not need a public persona.

You do not need to reveal your real-world identity to every stranger you talk to.

You should be able to:

Express yourself.

Find a community.

Discover someone interesting.

Start a conversation.

Make a friend.

Anonymity should make honest conversation easier.

It should never be an excuse to forget that there is another person on the other side of the screen.