Groom is restricted to users aged 18 and over. Minors are not permitted to use the Service, and we do not market it to anyone under that age. We recognise, however, that no age gate is perfect, and that adults can use any online service to harm children even where no children are present on the platform. Combatting CSAE is therefore a baseline responsibility of every online service, and one we take seriously regardless of who our users are.
Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) means any conduct or content that sexually abuses, exploits, or endangers a person under the age of 18. This includes — without limitation — grooming, sextortion, soliciting sexual contact or sexual content from a minor, trafficking minors for sex, or otherwise sexualising a child for adult purposes. The conduct is prohibited whether the minor is real, fictional, AI-generated, or depicted in artificial form.
Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) means any visual depiction — photograph, video, drawing, animation, computer-generated image, or live stream — of a minor engaging in or being subjected to sexually explicit conduct. CSAM is illegal in France under Article 227-23 of the Code pénal and is criminalised in every country in which Groom is available.
We maintain a zero-tolerance policy on CSAE and CSAM. The following are strictly prohibited on the Service:
These rules form part of our Terms and Conditions. They are enforced regardless of the actor’s role, location, or relationship to the Service.
Groom is restricted to users 18 years of age or older. At signup, every user is required to provide their date of birth and to confirm that they meet the minimum age. Accounts that we identify as belonging to a minor are closed promptly and the data is deleted, save where the law requires us to retain certain records (for example, where a report of an offence is filed).
If you are a parent or legal guardian and you believe your child has created a Groom account, write to support@groomapp.fr with the nickname or email address used on the account, and we will act promptly.
Our approach has three layers.
User reporting and blocking. Every message and every user profile in the Groom app carries a Report function and a Block function. Users can flag content that is sexual in nature, including content involving minors, and can block any other user from contacting them. Users may also write to support@groomapp.fr to attach screenshots, URLs, or additional context.
Human review. Our moderation team reviews every report. Decisions affecting child safety are not made by automated systems alone; suspected CSAE is examined by a person, and these reports are treated as the highest priority and reviewed without delay.
Account-level investigation. When a report leads us to believe a user is engaging in CSAE conduct, we examine that account’s wider activity, within what our retention windows preserve (see our Privacy Policy), to identify other affected users and remove related content.
We are open about the present scope of our system. Today, Groom does not run automated CSAM hashing such as PhotoDNA, automated grooming-language classifiers, or AI image detection. We rely on 18+ gating, user reporting and blocking, and rapid human review. As Groom grows, we will add proactive detection capabilities in line with the Tech Coalition’s Developer Good Practices for Combating Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and with French and EU regulatory developments.
When we obtain actual knowledge of CSAM on Groom — through a user report, our moderation activity, or an authority — we act immediately:
We do not warn the user that we are reporting them, and we preserve all metadata necessary for the investigation.
If you encounter CSAE or CSAM on Groom, please report it to us. You have several options.
Inside the app:
tap the Report button on the message or profile, choose Sexual content as the reason, and use the description field to indicate that the report concerns a minor. Reports flagged as involving minors are treated as the highest priority and reviewed without delay.
By email:
write to support@groomapp.fr
Use this if you have screenshots, URLs, or other context to share, or if you cannot access the in-app form.
In an emergency where a child is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. Do not wait for our response.
You can also report illegal content directly to the relevant national authority. We strongly encourage this in addition to (not instead of) reporting to us, because national authorities have investigative powers that we do not have.
In France:
Outside France:
• Elsewhere, find your national hotline through the INHOPE network: inhope.org
For Google Play, regulator, or law-enforcement correspondence relating to child safety on Groom, including notifications about CSAE content found on our platform:
Email: support@groomapp.fr
Role: Child Safety Officer, Groom – Live social places
This contact is monitored and is positioned to discuss our enforcement procedures and to take action when notified. We aim to acknowledge correspondence within 24 hours.
Groom operates from France and complies with applicable child safety laws, including:
We follow the Tech Coalition’s Developer Good Practices for Combating Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse as living guidance. We review our policies and our moderation procedures at least annually, and more frequently in response to changes in law, new threat patterns, or regulator guidance. We will publish a transparency report covering child safety and broader content-moderation activity once we reach the scale at which the EU Digital Services Act requires it.
This policy is part of our Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy, and should be read together with them. The most recent version of this page is the version that governs our conduct.