What are the Guidelines?

Guidelines are not recommendations. These are the rules we ask everyone to follow. No exceptions. The rules ensure that every community member will feel safe and protected from unwanted content or behavior. If you don't respect the rules, you might be warned or even blocked depending on the type of violation.

How do we moderate?

We have an automated system and a team of moderators who review all user-generated content. Although we use some artificial intelligence to help us with moderating content, all the rejections, warnings, and suspensions are done by humans (moderators) and none of it is done automatically by the algorithms.

HORNET GUIDELINES

SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT

We understand that you might want to show literally all the beauty of your body but as on any other social network, there are limits that shouldn't be violated. Otherwise, Hornet might get kicked out of the Apple and Google markets. Besides, not everyone wants to see your porn or dick pics on the app.

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No porn or masturbation. Even covered or cropped;
No dick pics or butt shots or anuses;
No partial naked butts, side-butts;
No overly suggestive nudes;
No imitation of sexual intercourse;
No erection or genital outline through clothing;
No grabbing, holding, or intentional touch of genitals or genital area. Also through clothing;
No photos with underwear, when you can clearly see the genital outline;
No pronounced, protruding, or skintight bulges (this is a subjective point, we allow photos with a bulge in the genital area when it's in a natural position. But if you can clearly see the shape of the penis or testicles as if they are sealed in a vacuum, the photo will be rejected);
No focus on the genital area or buttocks (even through clothing);
No close-up of the genital area or buttocks (even through clothing);
No suggestive positions, bending, or sexually provocative dances;
No covering genitals with any objects, including emojis and stickers. Retouching private parts with a brush in a photo editor will not help either;
No pubic or pubic hair (2-3 hairs is fine);
No sexualization of non-sexual objects;
No discussion of fetishes, sex stories, or tips for improving sexual performance;
No text referring to genital size and description of sexual acts or private parts;

UNPLEASANT CONTENT

Everything that you post on Hornet, shouldn't make other users feel uncomfortable, disgusted, scared, or shocked. Other users might be more sensitive to the content you feel okay about.

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No real blood, heavy cuts, or injuries;
No feces, urine, semen, vomit, or anything that imitates it. Even if it's a silly joke;
No photos of the dead, victims of disasters, crashes, or military conflicts;
No suicide or self-harm;
No human/animal cruelty;
No photos of diseases and their consequences (allowed for educational purposes on the feed);
No used condoms;
No dirty underwear;
No indecent, dirty, or insulting gestures;
No weapons and firearms;

If you noticed something from the list above on the app, please report the profile and choose the Image Violation reason.

DISCRIMINATORY CONTENT

People are different and we celebrate this diversity. We don't tolerate mocking or rejecting other users just because they don't fit your search range. Any content of such nature will be removed. This applies to any kind of discrimination, namely:

Race, ethnicity, nationality, religion;
Orientation, gender identity;
Age, height, or weight;
Disability, genetic information.

AUTHENTICITY

Be genuine. We don't allow uploading other people's or fake photos. Deceiving other users and pretending to be someone else is a very bad thing to do. We understand that in some regions it's very dangerous to upload your genuine photos and we don't need your face or anything that might disclose your identity. A photo without a face is absolutely fine. It can be even a photo of your hand or a tree or anything else but the photo must be taken by you.

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No other people's photos (celebrities, your ex, a guy you hate, a guy you liked in a subway, etc);
No profile photos taken from the internet;
No impersonations;
No multiple accounts.

It's important to differentiate between Fake Identity and Fake Photo cases:

If you notice that someone is using another person's photos on their profile to deceive users and pretend to be someone else, please report the profile and choose the Fake Identity reason.
If someone has uploaded photos obviously taken from the Internet instead of their genuine ones, please choose the Image Violation reason.

COPYRIGHT

All the content that you upload should belong to you. We don't allow using copyrighted content. Be sure we will definitely reject at our discretion everything that has watermarks and what we might consider copyrighted. Besides, if your genuine video contains copyrighted music, it will get rejected for the same reason.

Not a violation:

Drawings, paintings, caricatures, and works of art that were made by you;
Photos of landscapes, animals, etc if they were taken by you.

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All videos containing copyrighted music will get rejected:

No matter if the music is brand new or too old;
No matter if it's genuine or a cover;
No matter if it's a built-in or background music;
No matter where the music is playing: in your automobile/house or in a club/restaurant/barbershop;
No TikTok videos that contain music (the TikTok watermark will not help);

If you want to have music in your videos, please use our AI Music feature. This is the only legit way to include music in your videos.

PRIVATE INFORMATION

Don't share any information or statements about other people no matter if they are truthful or not. This is a serious violation and it might result in blocking your account. Even if someone did something bad to you in real life or online, we can't confirm or disprove it, that's why we don't want to be facilitators of spreading potentially misleading information.

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No defamation or any public statements about other users.
No other people's photos, phone numbers, or usernames.
No public queries about other people;
No screenshots of other users' profiles or chats;
No photos of id cards or other documents that might disclose your or other people's identity.

OTHER

No extremely close-up, obscure, nonsense photos.
No profile photos with text that occupies most of the photo (allowed as feed photos);
No Hornet logos. Only the Hornet staff is entitled to use it.
No photos with dating apps' watermarks.

If you noticed something from the list above on the app, please report the profile and choose the Image Violation or Other reason and write a comment if the violation is a serious one and it needs deep investigation.

COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES

Hornet is not a marketplace and running any kind of commercial activities is strictly forbidden here.

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No escorting, paid massage, trades, or other commercial activities;
No advertising services, goods, events, websites, or smartphone applications;
No links promoting external channels or group chats (especially questionable ones);
No begging and bank account details;
No questionable or illegal job offers.

If you notice that someone is engaged in commercial activities, please report the profile and choose the Commercial Ad reason and leave a comment in the details if the violation is not obvious.

ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES

Everything forbidden by law is also forbidden on Hornet. This includes illegal drugs, illegal sexual behaviors, and all forms of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE), including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Hornet maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy toward CSAE/CSAM and will take immediate action against any account involved, including permanent removal and reporting to the appropriate authorities as required by law.

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Drugs. No queries, no consumption, no distribution. Drug use or demonstration of any drug accessories is a serious violation. This also applies to countries/regions where drug use is legal. Drug sales will result in instant suspension. Don't even try to disguise and mask it. Moreover, even if your cigarette looks suspicious or its smoke looks too thick, we reserve the right to reject the photo.

Perversions (zoophilia, pedophilia, incest, etc) - instant permanent block without the right to appeal.

If you noticed that someone is mentioning or selling drugs or involved in other illegal activities on the app, please report the profile and choose the Other reason and leave a comment in the details.

If your report concerns suspected CSAE or CSAM specifically, you may also contact our dedicated child-safety address: csaereports@hornet.com.

MINORS

Underage users are not permitted. Hornet may only be used by people who are 18 years of age or older.

Photos depicting minors alone are not allowed.

Any attempt to search for users under 18 results in immediate suspension.

The lower age search range must be 18 or higher. Anything below 18 is strictly forbidden..

Hornet actively enforces these protections and complies with all applicable child-safety laws and reporting obligations.

MALICIOUS BEHAVIOR

Treat other users and the app with respect. We don't allow hard language and unwanted behavior across the app no matter if it's your bio information, public comment, or private chat.

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No hard language. We are not your classroom teachers but we are still against severe and aggressive swearing;
No humiliating or offensive remarks about Hornet users or its staff (really? did you think we would let you badmouth us?);
No harassment, threats, bullying, or trolling;
No nazi, neo-nazi or extremist organization symbols or slogans.

If you disagree with someone, there's no need to badmouth each other either publicly or privately. Hate always breeds more hate. If you don't like a user, you can block them and you will be invisible to each other. Save your nerves.

SPAM AND SCAM

No spam in private chats or flood in comments;
No spam with unwelcome dick pics;
No flood with the same posts in the Feed.
No scams or fraud.
No luring money or obtaining personal information;
No fake giveaways or awards;

HOW TO REPORT

Below you will find some guidelines on how to report users appropriately and some common misconceptions users might have about reports.

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It's important that you choose the right reporting reason. When reporting, you have a drop-down list with all the reasons and a box where you can write down your comments to give us more understanding of the violation. If you report a profile and choose the Image Violation reason, it means we will review Profile Photos only. If Text Violation reason, we will review the user's Bio information. If you choose the wrong reason, there's a good chance that we might not notice the actual violation.

Please note that the Text Violation reason is used for violations in the Bio information and it has nothing to do with private chats. Moreover, we cannot check chats. If you were abused in a private chat, you need to choose Offensive Profile or Abusive Use reasons.

Profile and Feed Post reports.
These are 2 absolutely different categories and they have to be used appropriately. If you want to report a feed post but you are reporting the whole profile or vice versa, it's a mistake that might result in overlooking the violation on our end.

If you can't classify the type of violation and choose the reporting reason, choose the Other reason and make sure you write down a comprehensive explanation so we could know where to look at. If you don't, we might not notice the violation if it's not explicit.

The reporting system shouldn't be abused. We review all the reports and if we conclude that you are intentionally submitting fake reports, you will be at least warned, at worst blocked. But no action will be taken against the people you have reported.

FAQ

If you haven't found answers to your questions or you need More Information, please visit our FAQ page. We also encourage you to read our Safety Tips.

Common complaints and how we deal with them

Here, we have collected some of the more common invalid complaints that we receive. Normally these are based on a misunderstanding of the Hornet guidelines. The most widespread issues are listed below:

You rejected my picture with a bare torso. Why aren't you rejecting his???
We have a lot of criteria we pay attention to and there may be a lot of assumptions about why your picture has been rejected and someone else's hasn't. Sometimes having underwear on you is not enough to let your photo through. Your torso may be okay but have you considered other stuff? Perhaps you are showing your middle finger in the photo or smoking something illegal. Or probably you are wearing your pants/shorts too low and we can see much pubic or pubic hair. Maybe your underwear is too tight and we are able to easily see your genitals.
They are wearing underwear!!!
Underwear is another sensitive subjective point. We allow underwear if it's worn properly and your genitals are not clearly defined or exposed. Loose boxer shorts have a high chance of being allowed, a minimal g-string will likely be rejected. If we see half or more of your bare buttocks, we will reject the photo. And please, don't focus on your groin when you are taking a photo of yourself in underwear.
Kinks and fetishes.
We are aware of all your passions but some of them might be too much for our overlords.
The BDSM topic is very sensitive. Any pictures depicting heavy dominance, sadism, masochism, submission will be rejected. Bondage is acceptable. But we will reject a photo if it depicts someone being aroused or suffering.
Okay: blindfolds, hoods, puppy hoods, collars and chokers, nipple clamps, ropes, tapes; Not okay: mouth spreaders, genital clamps, chastity belts, and all sex toys of phallic shape and anything that you might put onto/into your private parts.

Feet and socks, armpits: no licking/kissing/sniffing.

Here's the universal rule: don't upload photos of someone being aroused or suffering.
IT'S A WOMAN!!!
Hornet is an LGBTQ+ platform and we welcome all genders and gender expressions. Users who regularly report other users based on gender, will be removed.
It's advertising and promotion of alcohol/smoking!!!
No, it isn't. Adult people can smoke and drink in a photo and it is neither commercial or promoting these activities.

We are working hard every day to keep the app safe, however, there is always a human factor and sometimes mistakes can be made. We don't mean that but we hope for your understanding.

Also, our team consists of people from various countries and we don't speak all the languages, therefore, there may be mistakes due to translation issues. We hope for your understanding here as well.