Hotpot Community & Safety Guidelines

Last updated: 2026-10-28 · Effective date: 2026-10-26

Version: guidelines-2026-10-20.7.

These Community & Safety Guidelines (the "Guidelines") explain how to behave on Hotpot, what is not allowed, and what happens when someone crosses a line. They are written by Hotpot Technologies Ltd ("Hotpot", "we", "us", "our"), the provider of the Hotpot app. Who we are and who the data controller is are explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 1 (Who we are).

Who the contract is between and what accepting it covers is explained in the Terms of Service on hotpot.dating, section 1 (Acceptance and the parties). Where these Guidelines mention what we do with your information, the full detail is in our Privacy Policy, and how our automated tools work is explained in our AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice.

Contents

1. Our safety commitment
2. Who can be here
3. How to treat people
4. What is not allowed
5. Voice-specific norms
6. Safety features you can use
7. Reporting, and what happens next
8. Enforcement and appeals
9. In an emergency
10. Child Safety Standards
11. Changes to these Guidelines
12. How to contact us
13. Key terms

1. Our safety commitment

A like is a recorded voice note. It takes your own voice and a few seconds of your time, every time.

Our commitment to you is simple:

• You should be able to be heard without being harassed, threatened, or degraded.
• The pace is yours. We will not push you, rush you, or pressure you to reply.
• We act on what you tell us. When you block or report someone, that carries weight.

A person on our team reviews each report, and a closure can be looked at again on request.

2. Who can be here

Anyone who takes part with respect is welcome. Who may use Hotpot, how age is checked today, and what happens to an account that belongs to someone under 18 is explained in the Terms of Service on hotpot.dating, section 3 (Eligibility (18+)).

• You may hold only one Hotpot account. Do not create an account for anyone else, or create an account using another person's identity or details.
• Never help anyone under 18 get onto Hotpot, and never present yourself as an adult if you are not one.

If you come across an account you believe belongs to someone under 18, report it (see Section 7) and say so in the box on the report form. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 18 has created an account, email contact@hotpot.dating and a person will read it. For anything involving a minor, see Section 4.

3. How to treat people

Be respectful. Speak to people the way you would want to be spoken to. Disagreement, a lack of interest, or "no" are all normal parts of dating. Accept them gracefully. Silence is an answer too — no one owes you a reply, and no one owes you a reason.

Respect consent — in and out of the app. Consent is ongoing and can be withdrawn at any time. If someone stops responding, asks you to stop, unmatches, or blocks you, that is the end of the conversation. Do not try to reach them another way. Never pressure anyone for personal contact details, photos, money, or anything sexual. Consent given for one thing is not consent for another.

Be real. Be honest about who you are. Do not pretend to be someone else, use another person's voice or photo, or misrepresent your age, situation, or intentions. People are here to meet a real person, heard first.

4. What is not allowed

The following are prohibited on Hotpot. This applies to everything you record or send — your voice recordings, transcripts, spoken answers, voice "likes", chat, and your profile — and, where it affects the safety of another member, to your conduct off the platform too. Do not post, record, or send content that is unlawful, hateful, discriminatory, sexually exploitative, defamatory, or that promotes violence or self-harm. Our automatic checks catch some of this: graphic sexual content, and insults, threats or demeaning language aimed at a person or group, in a spoken answer or in the voice note you send with a like, and swimwear, underwear or nudity, hate symbols, weapons, gore, drugs or an apparent minor in a photo. The check on spoken answers and like voice notes also listens for a speaker who says they are under 18, an adult who says they want someone under 18, an offer to sell or supply illegal drugs or a request to buy them, and a request to hand over money or anything worth money; these, and an insult or threat the check is unsure about, wait for a person to listen rather than being refused. A voice message you send in a chat is not checked, and nobody at Hotpot hears it, with one exception: when one of the two of you reports the other, the person reviewing that report can hear the voice messages and like voice notes the two of you exchanged in the window set out in section 7, and nothing else from that chat or from any other.

4.1 Harassment and bullying

No targeting, intimidating, demeaning, or repeatedly contacting someone who does not want to hear from you. No mobbing, no coordinated pile-ons, no using Hotpot's features (likes, reports, repeated sign-ups) to hound a person. A block ends the connection in both directions, and the automatic checks in section 4 catch some of this; the rest of this rule we act on when someone reports it.

4.2 Hate speech and discrimination

No content that attacks, dehumanises, or promotes hatred or discrimination against people because of a protected or personal characteristic — including race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or serious illness. Slurs and dehumanising language are not welcome here.

4.3 Threats and violence

No threats of violence against anyone, no incitement or encouragement of violence, and no glorifying violent acts or violent groups. Threats to a person's safety are among the most serious breaches.

4.4 Sexual content, explicit audio, and nudity

Hotpot is not a place for sexual content.

• No sexually explicit audio, sexual role-play, or graphic sexual descriptions in recordings or chat.
• No nudity or sexually explicit images, and no requesting, sending, or soliciting them.
• No sexual harassment — unwanted sexual advances, comments, or pressure of any kind.

Where the automatic checks draw the line depends on who will hear or see what you made. A spoken answer on your profile, which any member can hear, and a voice note you send with a like, which only that person hears, are refused for graphic sexual content: describing a sexual act, a sexual fantasy about what you would do to or with someone, physical sexual detail about a body or an encounter, or wanting to find out what brings someone to orgasm. Attraction, romance, kissing, flirting, chemistry, or calling someone hot or beautiful are not refused. A recording you make while setting up is not refused for sexual content. A profile photo is refused where swimwear or underwear is the outermost garment on any part of the body, and for anything more revealing than that.

How the content-safety check and the self-harm signal work: what is checked, what can be withheld, what a check that cannot run does, and the support card is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.4 (Content-safety classification and crisis support).

4.5 Anything involving minors — zero tolerance

There is no tolerance, and no second chance, for content or conduct that sexualises, exploits, or endangers a child.

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM), or any sexual content involving a minor, is absolutely prohibited. This includes real, drawn, computer-generated, or AI-generated content.
• No sexualisation of minors, no grooming, no attempts to contact or meet a minor for any sexual purpose, and no soliciting sexual content from anyone who is, or appears to be, under 18.

The automatic check listens to the recordings you make when setting up, your spoken answers and the voice note you send with a like for a speaker who says they are under 18 and for an adult who says they want someone under 18. It refuses neither: the recording waits for a named person on our team to listen, who can let it through or close the account, and cannot ask for it to be recorded again. What waits, and who can see you while it does, is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.4.1 (A recording that waits for a person).

We take the action the law requires, including reporting to the National Crime Agency, keep what the law requires us to keep, and close the account. Where the closure rested on an image, the account is reopened only if you ask us to check the decision to close it, as section 8 explains, and the person who checks it finds the decision was a mistake, and only if it has not yet been deleted. Once the account itself has been deleted, twelve months after the closure or earlier if you asked, nothing of it comes back: what is lifted is the block on your number, so you can sign up afresh.

Our published Child Safety Standards, with the point of contact for child safety matters, are section 10.

4.6 Solicitation, spam, and scams

No advertising, promotion, or selling; no recruiting for a business, cause, or platform; no soliciting money, gifts, investments, or "opportunities". No romance scams, no phishing, no fraudulent schemes, no requests for money or financial help. No bots, mass-messaging, or repetitive unwanted contact. The automatic check listens to your spoken answers and the voice note you send with a like for a request to hand over money or anything worth money, or to pay for or invest in something the speaker promotes; it does not refuse the recording, which waits for a named person on our team to listen, as explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.4.1 (A recording that waits for a person).

4.7 Impersonation

Do not pretend to be another person, a public figure, or an organisation, and do not use someone else's voice, name, or photo. Do not create an account to deceive, mislead, or evade a block or ban.

4.8 Illegal activity

Do not use Hotpot to commit, arrange, promote, or facilitate anything illegal — including the sale or supply of illegal drugs or weapons, trafficking, or exploitation of any kind.

4.9 Sharing other people's private information

Do not share or threaten to share information about another person without their consent — including their full name, home or work address, phone number, financial details, private messages, or any recording or photo of them. This includes "doxxing" and threats to expose someone.

4.10 Recording or sharing another person without consent

Do not record, capture, or share the voice, image, or private communications of another person — whether a Hotpot member or someone outside the app — without their consent. Do not re-share, repost, screen-record, or leak another member's recordings, photos, or messages off the platform. Do not record or share sexual content involving anyone who has not consented, or any content involving a child.

4.11 Off-platform harm

Behaviour that happens outside Hotpot can still put people here at risk. Where we have credible information that a member has harmed, threatened, or seriously endangered another person — on Hotpot or elsewhere — we may act on their Hotpot account to keep the community safe.

4.12 Terrorism

Do not record, upload or send anything that encourages, supports or glorifies terrorism; when it is reported, a person on our team reviews it and may close the account, which takes it down, and may report it to the police.

5. Voice-specific norms

• Abuse by voice is abuse. Abuse delivered by voice, shouting someone down, mocking, sexual or threatening audio, is treated exactly like abuse in text. How your voice is turned into text, where that happens on an iPhone and on Android, and what it means for where your recording travels is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.1 (Turning your voice into text (transcription / speech-to-text)). There is no "I was only joking" exception for audio that a reasonable person would find abusive.
• Do not record other people without their consent. Only record your own voice, meant for Hotpot. Do not record a phone call, a conversation, or another person and upload it. Do not use another person's voice — including a cloned, synthetic, or AI-generated voice — to deceive.
• Do not try to capture or leak other members' recordings. Recordings you hear on Hotpot are shared with you in confidence within the app. Re-recording, ripping, or sharing them elsewhere is not allowed.

6. Safety features you can use

6.1 Blocking

You can block anyone. When you block someone, they can no longer reach you, and if you were matched, that connection ends. Blocking is quiet and does not tell the other person why.

6.2 Reporting

You can report a member or a specific recording, message, or "like". Block and report sit behind one control, wherever that person is on screen: browsing, a like, a chat, or one of your matches. A report asks you for a reason and lets you add a short description in your own words. A person at Hotpot reads every report, as Section 7 explains. Reporting someone does not automatically tell them who reported them. If someone shares an intimate image of you without your consent, report it from their profile or email contact@hotpot.dating, and unless we find it is not such an image, we take it down within 48 hours of your report. If you email, say that it is an intimate image of you, or that you are writing for the person it shows, that you are reporting in good faith and believe what you say is true, enough for us to find the image, and how we can reach you.

6.3 A small circle by design

How Hotpot works: the recordings, the spoken like, the match, the six-match cap and when your photo is shown is explained in the Terms of Service on hotpot.dating, section 5 (How Hotpot works).

6.4 Meeting someone safely

When a connection moves from Hotpot into the real world, a little care goes a long way. Take it at your own pace, and trust your instincts — if something feels off, you do not have to go.

• Talk first. A voice or video call before you meet in person tells you a lot, and there is no rush to move offline.
• Meet somewhere public. For a first meeting, choose a busy public place and stay there. Somewhere with other people around is easy to arrive at and easy to leave.
• Tell someone where you'll be. Let a friend or family member know who you're meeting, where, and when, and check in with them afterwards.
• Sort your own way there and back. Arrange your own transport so you can leave whenever you like, without depending on anyone else.
• Never send money. Whatever the reason given, do not send money, gift cards, or financial details to someone you have met here. A request for money or financial help is a common sign of a scam — see Section 4.6.
• Keep personal details yours for now. There is no hurry to share your home or work address, financial details, or other private information. Share them only when you are ready and you trust the person.

6.5 Crisis and self-harm support

Which support lines the app offers in the United Kingdom, Samaritans and Shout, and how to reach each is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.4 (Content-safety classification and crisis support). What waits for a person after the self-harm signal, what the wait means for who can see you, and what the reviewer may do is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.4.1 (A recording that waits for a person).

What we store, and what we do not. How your voice, your transcripts and what you tell us about who you are seeking are treated as special-category data, the consent that covers them, how it is withdrawn and what withdrawal does is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 5 (Voice and special-category data). Where a recording waits for a person, the words you spoke are put in front of the reviewer while they work and are kept no longer than the recording itself.

A note on the law. Why we use each kind of data and the lawful basis for each use, including which uses rest on your consent, which rest on the contract, and which cannot be switched off is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 4 (How and why we use your data). We rely on this signal to help keep people safe, so it is not something you opt into: we handle it as a safeguarding matter, under the condition for the safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk.

Hotpot is not a crisis service. We cannot provide emergency help or monitor for emergencies. If you or someone else is in danger, see Section 9.

7. Reporting, and what happens next

How to report. You can report a member, or a specific recording, message, or "like" of theirs, from any screen that shows them: browsing, a like, a chat, or one of your matches. Open the control that holds block and report, choose to report, pick the reason that fits and, if you want, add a short description in your own words. Sending a report also blocks that person, so the two of you will not see or hear each other on Hotpot again. Once the report has gone, the app tells you it was sent. If you are not a member, or cannot use the app, you can report by emailing contact@hotpot.dating.

1. We receive the report. A report sent from the app includes the reason you chose, anything you wrote, and which screen you reported from. It also files a copy of what passed between you and the member you reported in the 72 hours before the report, or the latest six messages between you, whichever holds more (where all six are from one of you, it reaches back to include the other person's last messages before those six): the voice messages each of you sent the other in your chat, both sides, and the voice note each of you sent the other with a like. Nothing either of you exchanged with anyone else is in it. The copy is deleted 30 days after the report, even if the member you reported deletes their account first. Before you send a report, the form tells you that we aim to have a person look at it within two working days. When your report reaches us, the app confirms it was sent, and the person you reported is blocked for you.

2. A person reads it. Each report sent from the app alerts a person at Hotpot as it arrives, and that person reads it on our review page, with the copy filed with it, anything of the reported member's that is waiting for a person, and any earlier reports about them. Reports that someone may be under 18, of a scam or a request for money, or of a threat to share intimate images are read first; the rest follow, oldest first. We aim to look at every report within two working days of receiving it. A report sent by email is read by a person at Hotpot too.

3. We decide. We weigh the report against these Guidelines, and there are two outcomes:

   • we close the report and take no action on the reported account; or
   • we close the reported account. The closure takes effect at once.

   Where the law requires it, or where we reasonably consider it necessary to protect someone from serious harm, we may also report content or conduct to the police or other authorities.

   For our duty to report suspected child sexual abuse material, what is kept for that report, and what happens if the member asks to delete the account, see section 10 (Child Safety Standards).

4. What each of you is told. We do not tell you the outcome of your report. The member you reported is not told about the report, who sent it, or the copy. If we close their account, the next time they open the app or sign in they see that it is closed and the address to write to; it does not say why, and it does not name you.

5. Once you have blocked, skipped or unmatched someone, no notification that names that person reaches you again, whatever happens between you afterwards.

If you disagree with what happened after a report, whether you sent it or it was about you, see section 8.

Please report in good faith. Deliberately false or abusive reports, or using the report tool to harass someone, is itself a breach of these Guidelines.

How long each kind of data is kept, what account deletion removes and what survives it is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 10 (How long we keep your data).

8. Enforcement and appeals

How we decide. We weigh what happened, how serious it was, whether it was a one-off or a pattern, the risk to others, and the context. A report ends in one of two ways (Section 7): no action on the account, or the account is closed. Sexual content or conduct involving a minor (Section 4.5) always means the account is closed. A closure takes effect at once, without a warning first, and the notice you see when you next open the app or sign in says that the account is closed and where to write, not why. You can ask us to check the decision, as set out below.

Automated tools. How the model reads your onboarding and what it infers is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.2 (Understanding your onboarding). The automatic safety check acts on what you recorded: no account is closed or suspended by it. If something of yours is withheld and you disagree, email contact@hotpot.dating and we will route it to a person. Every answer and every like voice note the check refuses is also kept for our own team for twelve months, and our team is told of each refusal, never what was said, so that someone breaking these rules again and again can be seen; the copy reaches no other member and changes nothing on your account by itself. What the copy holds and when it is deleted is in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 6 (AI and automated processing). How our automated systems work, and your rights in relation to automated decisions, are set out in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice and the Privacy Policy.

Complaints and appeals. Anyone can complain to us, whether or not they are a member, by emailing contact@hotpot.dating. You can complain:

• about something on Hotpot that you think is illegal;
• that we are not doing what we should about illegal content, about reports, or to protect freedom of expression and privacy;
• that something you recorded or uploaded was refused or taken down, or that your account was closed or restricted, and you think the decision was wrong, including where you think our automatic check acted on something these Guidelines and the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice do not say it checks; or
• that you reported someone and disagree with what we did.

Say what your complaint is about, with enough detail for us to find the content or the decision. A person at Hotpot reads your complaint and, where you are asking us to check a decision, the original decision. Where you are asking us to check a decision, we aim to decide within five working days of receiving your complaint. If the decision was wrong, we put it right as far as we can.

If you reported an intimate image, of you or for the person it shows, and want to complain about that image or about how we handled your report, say so in your email and we deal with it before other complaints.

Your statutory consumer rights are explained in the Terms of Service on hotpot.dating, section 11 (Your consumer rights).

9. In an emergency

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services right away. The number to call, in the UK and elsewhere, is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.4 (Content-safety classification and crisis support).

Hotpot is not an emergency service. We cannot respond to emergencies, we do not monitor Hotpot in real time for danger, and we cannot provide crisis, medical, or police assistance. If a crime has been committed, please contact the police. You can also report the matter to us so we can act on the account, but that is not a substitute for contacting the authorities.

If you are struggling and need someone to talk to, please reach out to a local crisis line or a trusted person. Which support lines you can reach in the UK, and how, is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.4 (Content-safety classification and crisis support).

10. Child Safety Standards

These are Hotpot's published standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation.

10.1 The standard

Child sexual abuse and exploitation material is prohibited without exception.

So is any content or conduct that sexualises a person under 18, and any attempt to contact or meet one for any sexual purpose.

The full rule, and the closure that follows, are section 4.5.

10.2 How this is prevented

Who may use Hotpot, how age is checked today, and what happens to an account that belongs to someone under 18: see section 2 (Who can be here).

How your profile photo is checked: what the check can decide, when a person looks, what a refusal means, when you can ask for a person, who sees a photo while it waits, and when a photo may show someone under 18 is explained in the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice on hotpot.dating, section 3.5 (Checking your profile photo).

The record kept of each photo decision, and the log kept when a person opens your photo, is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 6.1 (Your profile photo: the automatic check and human review).

10.3 Reporting, and what follows

How to report someone from inside the app, on any screen showing that person, where block and report sit behind one control, and the reason and short note a report asks for, is section 6.2 (Reporting).

Anything involving a person under 18, the zero tolerance it meets, the report to the National Crime Agency first, because the law requires it, and the closure that follows is section 4.5.

What is kept when suspected child sexual abuse material is reported, for how long, and what happens if the member asks to delete the account is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 6.4 (Reporting child sexual abuse material).

10.4 Point of contact

Child safety matters, including a report from a member of the public or from an authority, go to contact@hotpot.dating.

11. Changes to these Guidelines

How changes to our policies are made and announced is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 15 (Changes to this policy). How changes to the service and to the Terms are made is explained in the Terms of Service on hotpot.dating, section 14 (Changes to the service and to these Terms).

12. How to contact us

To reach a person about anything in these Guidelines, email contact@hotpot.dating.

How to complain about the Terms and how to contact us is explained in the Terms of Service on hotpot.dating, section 16 (How to complain and how to contact us). How to contact us is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 16 (How to contact us).

For who to contact about child safety, see section 10.4 (Point of contact).

Your data-protection rights. Your data-protection rights, how to exercise them, and how to complain to us or to the Information Commissioner's Office is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 11 (Your rights), under "Your other rights". Your right to object and the processing it reaches is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 11 (Your rights), under "Your right to object".

The law that governs these documents and where disputes are heard is explained in the Terms of Service on hotpot.dating, section 15 (Governing law and jurisdiction).

13. Key terms

• Hotpot / we / us / our — Hotpot Technologies Ltd, the provider of the Hotpot app.
• Member / you — a person who uses Hotpot.
• Block — a tool that stops another member from reaching you and ends any match with them.
• Report — telling us about a member or a piece of content that may break these Guidelines.

What data we collect, including the recordings, the transcripts, the device token, and the record kept of each consent is explained in the Privacy Policy on hotpot.dating, section 3 (What data we collect).

These Guidelines are part of the Terms of Service and should be read with the Privacy Policy and the AI & Matching-Model Transparency Notice.