Content Reporting & Removal Policy

5.1 Purpose and Scope

This Policy explains how users of The Sporting Network ("the Platform") can report content or behaviour that may breach our Terms and Conditions, our Community Guidelines, or the law; how we assess and act on those reports; and how a user affected by our decision can appeal it.

It forms part of our Terms and Conditions and should be read alongside our Community Guidelines and Privacy Policy. It applies to all users, all content, and all communications on the Platform, on both web and mobile.

This Policy is operated by The Sporting Network LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (Company Number 16989082), registered office 14 Hollywell Row, London, EC2A 4JB.

5.2 What Can Be Reported

Any registered user can report:

• Profiles — including impersonation, fake accounts, fabricated credentials, or an account we should not have accepted
• Posts — including images and video
• Comments
• Direct messages — including messages received in your request inbox from users you are not connected with

You do not need to be the person affected. If you see something that concerns you about another user, you can report it.

Reports may cover anything prohibited by our Community Guidelines, including harassment and bullying, hate speech, threats, impersonation, fabricated sporting achievements, sexual or violent content, scams and fraud, spam, doxxing, and any conduct that puts a young person at risk of harm.

5.3 How to Report

There are two routes:

• In the app or on the web Platform — use the report option available on the profile, post, comment or message concerned. This is the fastest route and gives us the context we need automatically.
• By email — write to main@thesportingnetwork.com. Please include a link to or description of the content, the username involved, and what you believe the problem is. Use this route if you cannot access the in-app option, or if you are a parent, guardian, school or organisation reporting on behalf of someone else.

5.4 Who Reviews Reports

A named director decides every report. All reports are seen by Charles Heffron (Director and Designated Safeguarding Lead) or Daniel Lindley (Director), both of whom have access to the review inbox. Charles holds decision-making responsibility for safeguarding matters and for referrals to law enforcement. Daniel acts as deputy where Charles is unavailable. No account is banned, and no content is permanently removed, except by one of them.

We are a small team and we say so openly: our review capacity is limited, and we prioritise accordingly. Reports involving risk to a young person are always dealt with first.

Two automated systems assist that process. Neither replaces it.

Automatic hiding of widely reported posts

Where three separate users report the same post, that post is hidden from view immediately, before a director has read the report. This is deliberate. Content that several people are reporting at once is the case where waiting for a human to reach the queue does the most damage.

The control is deliberately limited:

• it can only hide a post — it can never delete content, warn a user, or ban an account;
• reports we have already dismissed do not count towards the three;
• the author of the post cannot restore it themselves; and
• a director then reviews it and either restores it or decides on a further outcome under section 5.7.

If a post of yours has been hidden this way and you believe that was wrong, you do not have to wait for the review to conclude — email us at main@thesportingnetwork.com and we will look at it.

Prioritisation of the queue

When a report is filed, an automated classifier assesses it and suggests a category, a level of urgency, and whether a young person may be at risk. This helps us decide what to look at first, and helps make sure a report involving a child is not sitting behind a report about spam.

It is advisory only. It takes no action of its own, it cannot remove content or restrict an account, and every outcome is decided by one of the two directors named above.

5.5 Timescales

These are the timescales we work to. Where a report is complex, or where we need further information from you, it may take longer — we will tell you by email if that is the case.

5.6 How We Assess a Report

When we receive a report we will:

• Confirm what content or behaviour is being reported and by whom
• Review the content itself, and where necessary the surrounding context, including message history where a report concerns messaging
• Consider whether the content or behaviour breaches our Community Guidelines, our Terms and Conditions, or the law
• Consider the age of the users involved, and apply greater caution where any user is under 18
• Consider whether the reported user has a history of previous breaches
• Decide on the appropriate outcome under section 5.7 and record the decision

Where a report concerns private messages, we access message content only in the circumstances set out in our Privacy Policy and in clause 3.7 of our Terms and Conditions, which include where a message or user has been reported.

5.7 Possible Outcomes

Following review, we may:

• Take no action — where the content does not breach our rules
• Restore a post that was hidden automatically under section 5.4
• Remove a post
• Delete a comment
• Issue a formal warning to the user concerned
• Ban the account — removing the user's access to the Platform
• Delete the account and its content
• Refer the matter to law enforcement or a safeguarding authority, where we consider there is a risk of harm or a possible criminal offence

Separately from the outcomes above, a post may be hidden pending review by the automatic control described in section 5.4. That happens before review rather than following it, and it is always reversible by a director.

More than one outcome may apply. Where a breach is serious — in particular any conduct that puts a young person at risk — we may ban an account immediately and without prior warning.

5.8 What We Tell You

Everything in this section happens by email. We do not currently send in-app notifications about reports or moderation decisions.

If you made the report

Where you reported by email, we reply to that email when we have completed our review, and tell you whether we took action. We will not share the details of any action taken against another user's account, as that is their personal data.

Where you reported in the app or on the web Platform, we do not currently send you an automatic acknowledgement, or an automatic notice when the review is complete. Your report is received and reviewed in exactly the same way — what is missing is the message back to you. If you would like an update on a report you have made, email us at main@thesportingnetwork.com and we will tell you where it has got to.

If action is taken against your account or content

We will tell you by email what we have done, which rule we considered was breached, and how to appeal. We will do this at the time we act, unless telling you would prejudice a safeguarding investigation or a law enforcement referral, or where we are asked by the authorities not to.

This applies to the outcomes at section 5.7. Where a post has been hidden automatically under section 5.4 and is then restored on review, we may not contact you separately.

5.9 Appeals

If we remove your content, warn you, or ban your account, you may appeal.

How to appeal

Email main@thesportingnetwork.com within 30 days of our decision, with the subject line "Appeal". Tell us what decision you are appealing and why you believe it was wrong. You may include any additional context you think we did not have.

How appeals are decided

An appeal is reviewed by a different director from the one who made the original decision, wherever that is possible. We will look again at the content, together with anything new you have given us.

We will tell you the outcome within 7 days. We may uphold the original decision, reverse it and restore your content or account, or substitute a different outcome. Our decision on appeal is final within the Platform.

Appeals we may decline to consider

We may decline to consider an appeal that is repetitive, abusive, or that concerns a ban issued for conduct posing a risk to a young person.

5.10 Illegal Content and Safeguarding Referrals

Where we identify content or conduct that we believe may be criminal, or that indicates a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable person, we will:

• Act immediately to remove the content and restrict the account concerned
• Preserve the relevant records, including message content and account data, rather than deleting them, so that they are available to the authorities
• Refer the matter to the police, to CEOP, or to another appropriate safeguarding authority
• Cooperate fully with any subsequent investigation

We may take these steps without prior notice to the user concerned, and without their consent, where notifying them would risk harm to another person or prejudice an investigation. Our lawful basis for this processing is set out in our Privacy Policy.

Suspected child sexual abuse material is reported to the Internet Watch Foundation and to law enforcement, and is not retained on the Platform.

5.11 Record Keeping

We keep a record of every report we receive and every decision we make, including the date received, the nature of the report, the assessment made, the outcome, the decision maker, any appeal and its result, and any referral to an external authority. Where a post was hidden automatically under section 5.4, that is recorded too, together with the director's decision on review.

These records are held securely, are accessible only to the directors named in section 5.4, and are retained in line with our data retention schedule. They support our obligations under the Online Safety Act 2023 and allow us to identify patterns of repeated or coordinated abuse.

5.12 Misuse of the Reporting System

The reporting system exists to keep users safe. Submitting reports that are knowingly false, malicious, or intended to harass another user is itself a breach of our Community Guidelines, and may result in action against your own account. This includes coordinating with others to report a post in order to trigger the automatic hiding described in section 5.4.

This does not apply to reports made in good faith that we ultimately decide do not breach our rules. You will never be penalised for reporting something in good faith.

5.13 If You Are Unhappy With How We Handled Your Report

If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled a report — as distinct from appealing a decision about your own content — contact us at main@thesportingnetwork.com marking your message "Complaint". We will acknowledge your complaint and respond substantively as quickly as we can. Our Complaints Procedure sets out how we handle complaints in full.

If your complaint concerns how we have handled your personal data, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

5.14 Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. Where changes are material we will notify users by email, in-app notification, or a prominent notice on the Platform. The version number and date at the top of this Policy indicate when it was last revised.

5.15 Contact

• The Sporting Network LTD
• 14 Hollywell Row, London, England, EC2A 4JB, United Kingdom
• Email: main@thesportingnetwork.com
• Designated Safeguarding Lead: Charles Heffron

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