Legal

Child Safety Standards

Our standard against child sexual abuse and exploitation, how to report it, and who to contact.Last updated 2 November 2026 · Version 2026-11-02

This page is our published standard against child sexual abuse and exploitation. It explains what is forbidden, how to report it, what we do when a report arrives, and who to contact.

Treehouse is run by RunCodesRun in the Philippines. Reports are decided by people rather than by a system, so what follows is what a person actually does, not a description of machinery we do not have. Photos, including those in messages, are also checked by a computer program before they are shown, as our content policy describes.

Treehouse is for adults

Treehouse is 18 and over. Everyone is asked for their date of birth before an account is created, and anyone under 18 is turned away at that point.

An account we later believe belongs to somebody under 18 is removed, not corrected. We do not move them to a restricted experience, because we do not build one. Anybody can report an account as under age from inside the app, and those reports are treated as urgent.

We know a date of birth can be typed falsely. That is why the rules below exist and why under-age reports jump the queue.

What is forbidden

Anything that sexualises a child is forbidden on Treehouse. There are no exceptions, no settings that permit it, and no context that excuses it.

This covers:

child sexual abuse material, in a post, a photo, a group or a private message
drawings, edited images, animation and text, as well as photographs
sexualised depictions of real children, whether or not abuse is shown
grooming, solicitation, or any attempt to make sexual contact with a minor
sextortion, or threatening to publish images of a minor
trafficking, advertising or arranging the exploitation of a child
asking another person to produce or send any of the above

It also covers accounts that exist to collect, trade or signpost this material, whatever is actually posted on them.

Sexual content of any kind is already forbidden on Treehouse, for every user and at every age. The rules above are not a narrowing of that. They are the part we treat as an emergency.

How to report it

From inside Treehouse. Every post, comment, message and account can be reported, and Child safety is one of the reasons you can choose. A report made this way reaches the moderation queue immediately and is marked urgent. Child-safety reports are read only by our most senior moderators. If you do not see Report on a message in the app yet, update the app, use Treehouse in a web browser, or email us.

By email. Write to support@thetreehouse.me from any address. You do not need a Treehouse account, and you do not need to be the person affected. Say where the content is and what you saw.

You can report without blocking, and block without reporting. Doing one does not do the other. The person reported is never told who reported them.

If you believe a child is in immediate danger, contact your local police first. In the Philippines that is 911. Reporting to us is not a substitute for that.

What happens after a report

Child safety reports are read before everything else. We aim to reach them within 24 hours. Other reports have a 72 hour target; these do not share it.

When a report is upheld:

The content is removed from everywhere it appears. A removed message leaves only a note in the chat saying that it was removed.
The account is closed. There is no warning first, and no second chance. This is the one rule where the account goes rather than the post.
The evidence is preserved. The moment the report is made, we keep a record of what was reported and stop its photos from being deleted. For a message, the record includes the words of the messages around it. It survives the post or message being deleted, the account being deleted, and any other retention rule in our privacy policy. Nobody can delete it in the ordinary course of using or running Treehouse, because evidence that can be erased is not evidence. Only our lead moderator can let it go, with a written reason, and every time that happens it is recorded.
It is reported to the authorities where the law requires, and we cooperate with lawful requests for what we hold.

We would rather be wrong in the strict direction here. If we have judged something wrongly, that conversation happens after the report has been acted on, not instead of it. Appeals go to the contact address below.

Preventing it

An adults-only app. The age gate is the first and widest control.
No sexual content at all, which removes the grey area that these rules usually have to live in.
Private by choice. An account can be set private so that only approved followers see its posts. A private account's follows need approval, and groups are invite-only.
Blocking is mutual and complete. A blocked person disappears in both directions and cannot contact or find the person who blocked them.
Photo checks. A computer program checks photos, including those in messages, before they are shown, and blocks nudity and sexual content among other things.
Human review. Every upheld decision is written down with its reason, so it can be checked later.

Our point of contact

For anything about this page, about a report, or for a lawful request from an authority:

support@thetreehouse.me

A person reads that address. For urgent child safety matters, put CHILD SAFETY in the subject line.