Staying Safe on ChatNow

1. Protect your identity

Anonymity is your strongest protection here, and it only works if you keep it. Other users see your username, the gender, age and city you entered, and whatever you choose to put in your bio and gallery. Nothing else is shown to them: not your email address, not your IP address, not your real name.

• Pick a username that is not your real name, your email handle or a username you use on other sites; those can be searched.
• Do not share your surname, home address, phone number, workplace, school, car registration or daily routine, however friendly the conversation feels.
• On webcam, check what is behind you. Post, bills, photographs, uniforms, street views through a window and school or work badges all give away more than you intend.
• Do not reuse your ChatNow password anywhere else, and do not give it to anyone. ChatNow staff never ask for your password.
• Do not click links sent to you in chat unless you were expecting them. Links can lead to phishing pages or malware.

2. Recognise romance scams

Romance fraud is organised crime. The person you are talking to may be using a stolen photograph and a script, and may be working through many targets at once. The pattern is consistent:

• Fast, intense affection ("you are different from everyone else") within days.
• A reason they cannot meet or video-call: working abroad, on an oil rig, in the armed forces, a poor connection, a broken camera.
• A pressure to move off ChatNow to a messaging app where there is no moderation.
• Then a crisis that only money can solve: a medical bill, customs fees, a plane ticket, a frozen bank account, an "investment" opportunity. The first amount is small and is followed by larger ones.

If you have already sent money, contact your bank immediately, then report to Action Fraud (0300 123 2040) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or to Police Scotland on 101. Report the user to us too, so we can remove the account and warn others.

3. Sextortion and intimate images

Sextortion is blackmail using intimate images or recordings. Typically a stranger flirts, moves quickly to webcam or to swapping photos, records or captures what you share, and then demands money with a threat to send it to your family, employer or contacts. Sometimes the images are fabricated. The perpetrators are usually organised groups abroad, and the target is most often a man aged 18 to 30.

• Do not pay. Paying does not make the images go away; it marks you as someone who pays and the demands continue.
• Stop all contact but do not delete the conversation: screenshot the messages, usernames, any payment details and dates. This is evidence.
• Report the account to us using the report button or by email to safety@chatnow.fr with the category "intimate images". We remove non-consensual intimate content within 48 hours of a valid report and block the account, IP and device.
• Report to the police on 101 (999 if you are in immediate danger). Sharing or threatening to share an intimate image without consent is a criminal offence under section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and blackmail is an offence under section 21 of the Theft Act 1968.
• Stop the images spreading. StopNCII.org lets you create a hash (a digital fingerprint) of your image on your own device, without uploading the image itself; participating platforms, including ChatNow, use the hash to block matching uploads. ChatNow also matches every uploaded image against StopNCII hashes.
• Get support. The Revenge Porn Helpline (0345 6000 459, adults in the UK) gives free, confidential advice and helps get content taken down from other sites.

If you regret sharing an image with someone who has not (yet) threatened you, the same steps apply: ask them to delete it, keep a record, pre-register the hash with StopNCII.org, and tell us if it appears on ChatNow.

4. Consent and respect

Some ChatNow rooms are set aside for sexual conversation between consenting adults. Consent is specific, can be withdrawn at any moment and is never implied by being in a room, by a username or by a profile photo.

• No means no, and silence, a topic change or leaving the conversation also mean no. Asking again after a refusal is harassment, and we treat it as such.
• Sending a sexual image, or exposing yourself on webcam, to someone who has not asked for it is prohibited everywhere on ChatNow, including in adult rooms and private messages. It is also a criminal offence: cyberflashing under section 66A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 carries up to two years' imprisonment. We report it where the law requires and ban the account, IP and device.
• Nobody owes you a reply, a photo, a webcam session or their real name. Pressure, guilt-tripping and threats to leave are red flags; if you experience them, block and report.
• Racist, homophobic, transphobic and other hateful abuse is prohibited in every room. Our Community Rules set out what happens to accounts that break this.

5. Webcam and screenshot risks

ChatNow relays webcam and voice streams between users in real time and does not record or store them. That protects you from us, but not from the person on the other end. Anyone can record their screen or point a phone at it, and there is no technical way for any chat service to prevent that.

• Assume that anything you show on camera, or send as a photo or voice note, could be kept and could one day be seen by someone else. Only share what you could live with becoming public.
• Keep your face out of anything intimate, and remove identifying details (tattoos, jewellery, room features) if you choose to share at all.
• Be wary of anyone who wants to move to webcam within minutes, keeps their own camera off, or whose "video" looks like a loop: these are common sextortion set-ups.
• You can end a webcam session instantly and block the other user from the same screen. Doing so also tells us to review the conversation if you file a report.

6. Meeting someone in person

ChatNow is a conversation service and does not verify who anyone is beyond confirming that they are an adult. If you decide to meet someone you met here:

• Have at least one video call first, so you know the person matches their photos.
• Meet in a busy public place during the day, for a short first meeting such as a coffee. Never at their home or yours, and never in a car.
• Tell a friend or family member who you are meeting, where, and when you expect to be back. Share your live location with them if your phone allows it.
• Arrange your own transport there and back. Do not rely on the other person to drive you, and keep enough money for a taxi.
• Leave if anything feels wrong; you do not need a reason.
• If the person is not who they said they were, particularly about their age, leave and tell us.

7. Block, mute and report

Three tools are available on every profile and every message:

• Mute hides a user's messages from you in public rooms. They are not told.
• Block stops a user from sending you private messages, webcam requests or friend requests, and hides you from them. They are not told.
• Report sends the message or profile, with the surrounding context, to our moderation team. Choose the category that fits best (illegal content, rule breach, or something else). Reports are acknowledged within 24 hours; intimate-image reports are handled within 48 hours; other reports are decided within 7 days. You do not need an account to report: email safety@chatnow.fr.

Our moderators are present in rooms daily, but they rely on reports to see private messages and to catch what automated tools miss. Every report is read by a person. Full details are on the Report content or a user page, and how to challenge a decision is on Complaints & Appeals.

8. Mental health and crisis support

People come to chat rooms at all hours, sometimes because they are lonely, anxious or in distress. If that is you, or if someone you are talking to says they want to hurt themselves, these UK services are free, confidential and open now:

• Samaritans: call 116 123, any time, day or night, or email jo@samaritans.org.
• Shout: text SHOUT to 85258 for a text conversation with a trained volunteer, 24/7.
• NHS 111: call 111 and select the mental-health option, or use 111.nhs.uk, for urgent but non-emergency help in England (NHS 24 on 111 in Scotland, NHS 111 Wales, and your GP out-of-hours service in Northern Ireland).
• 999 if you or someone else is in immediate danger.

If another user tells you they are suicidal, you can point them to these numbers and you can report the conversation to us with the category "something else"; our team will reach out with support resources. Encouraging or assisting suicide or serious self-harm is a criminal offence and is removed and reported.

9. If you are under 18

If you are under 18 and something has already happened, help is available and you will not be in trouble:

• Childline: call 0800 1111 or chat online, free and confidential, for anyone under 19 in the UK.
• Report Remove, run by Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation, helps under-18s get a nude image or video of themselves removed from the internet.
• CEOP Safety Centre: report an adult who has contacted you sexually online to the police's child protection command.

Any account we find belongs to someone under 18 is closed and its data erased. If you think you were wrongly assessed as under 18 by the age check when you are in fact an adult, see the Age Assurance Policy for how to challenge that.

10. Parents and carers

ChatNow is an 18+ service and every visitor completes a highly effective age check, operated by an independent provider, before any room, message, image or webcam is accessible. We do not knowingly hold any data about children. Our full approach is set out on the Child Safety & Safeguarding page.

If you believe a child has used ChatNow, or an adult has used ChatNow to contact a child, tell us at safety@chatnow.fr with the username, the approximate date and time, and anything you know about how the age check was passed. This route is monitored around the clock. We will close the account, preserve evidence and report to the National Crime Agency where the law requires. If a child is at immediate risk, call 999 first.

For guidance on parental controls, device settings and talking with children about online contact from strangers, two UK organisations publish practical, up-to-date resources: Internet Matters and the UK Safer Internet Centre. Both explain how to block specific websites, including this one, on home broadband and on individual devices.