The italki Community Guidelines

We want people to use the italki community to connect with language learners from all over the world and help each other reach their language learning goals, but not at the expense of the safety and well-being of others or the integrity of our community. You, therefore, agree not to engage in the conduct described below (or to facilitate or support others in doing so):

Violence and Threats

Safety is italki's top priority. We remove content when we perceive a genuine risk of physical harm or a direct threat to public safety. You may not credibly threaten others, or organize acts of real-world violence. We do not allow promoting, planning, or celebrating any of your actions if they have, or could, result in financial harm to others, including theft and vandalism.

Self-Harm

italki takes threats of self-harm very seriously. We remove any promotion or encouragement of self-mutilation, eating disorders, or drug abuse. We also work with suicide prevention agencies around the world to provide assistance for people in distress.

Harassment, Bullying, or Stalking:

italki does not tolerate harassment, bullying, or stalking. We allow users to speak freely on matters and people of public interest, but take action on all reports of abusive behavior directed at private individuals. Repeatedly targeting other users with unwanted friend requests or messages is a form of harassment.  If you feel you are being harassed, you can take action according to What should I do if I'm being harassed?. 

Hate Speech and Offensive Language

Do not post any content, send any messages or otherwise take any actions on the italki Platform that attacks others based on what we call protected characteristics — race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, caste, sex, gender, gender identity, and serious disease or disability. 

Sexually Obscene Content:

italki has a strict policy against the sharing of pornographic content and any explicitly sexual content where a minor is involved. We also impose limitations on the display of nudity.

Political or Religious Discussions

Do not initiate or participate in discussions or post images that relate to political or religious events or groups. Politics and religion are sensitive topics that often lead to polarizing and hateful comments. It is our position to not have these types of discussions on a site that is meant for language learning.

Identity and Privacy

We ask that you refrain from publishing the personal information of others without their consent. Respect others' wishes and preferences when choosing a communication method. Ask for and receive written consent before recording another person.

Do not claim to be another person, or seek to mislead others as to your identity by copying another Member’s avatar, using a username that is misleadingly similar to another Member or otherwise posing as another Member. Do not create a false presence for an organization. 

We also ask that you refrain from publishing your personal information such as your phone number, email address, video chat, and instant message IDs, physical addresses,  credit card numbers, passwords, and/or any other similar personally identifiable information. It is our position to protect our users from unauthorized access to their accounts, online identity theft, and phishing scams.  Private information should only be shared via private direct messaging.

Intellectual Property

Before sharing content on italki, please be sure you have the right to do so. We ask that you respect copyrights, trademarks, and other legal rights.

Phishing and Spam

We take the safety of our members seriously and work to prevent attempts to compromise their privacy or security. Do not send the same message to multiple Members or repeatedly post the same message in the post, exercise, question or other sections of the italki Platform.

We also ask that you respect our members by not contacting them for commercial purposes without their consent.  In addition, do not make posts or comments that are solely for commercial purposes since this detracts from, and does not add anything of value to the language-learning community. 

Reporting Violations

We take any misconduct very seriously. If you believe that a violation of this italki Community Policy or other italki Policies has occurred, please report the violation to us. (See How to report violations)

Actions we may take in response to a violation of this Community Policy include but are not limited to:

-          Remove the violating content;

-          Lose some of the account’s privilege

-          Suspend the italki Account of the Member that committed the violation; and/or

-          Terminate the italki Account of the Member that committed the violation.