These rules apply throughout RoomMate, including named and anonymous activity, profiles, course reviews, listings, messages, images, reports and appeals.
1. Respect people and privacy
Good-faith criticism and disagreement are welcome. Harassment, threats, stalking, hate, unlawful discrimination, impersonation and repeated unwanted contact are prohibited. Do not evade blocks or expose someone's hidden identity unlawfully.
Do not share another person's private details, messages, intimate material or location without a lawful reason and appropriate permission. Never pressure anyone for intimate material, identity documents, financial information, passwords or verification codes.
2. Keep activity safe and honest
Do not post pornography, nudity, explicit sexual content or sexual services, or engage in unwanted sexual solicitation, grooming, sextortion or non-consensual intimate sharing. Respectful, non-explicit health, identity and safety discussion is allowed.
Do not facilitate violence, terrorism, trafficking, fraud, theft, illegal drugs, weapons or other unlawful activity, or encourage self-harm. Supportive discussion is allowed.
Malware, unauthorised access, scraping user data, security bypasses, spam, referral schemes, fake engagement and interference with reports or deletion are prohibited.
3. Listings and study content
Market and housing are for private student-to-student activity, not traders. Describe offers honestly, verify arrangements, avoid unsafe advance payments and meet safely.
Course reviews must reflect genuine experience, without rewards or coordinated rating attacks. Share only material you may lawfully use, including course, exam and student information.
4. Report, block or appeal
Report a concern
Use in-app reporting or email support@roommate.ac. Identify the content, its location and your concern. Share only necessary evidence; do not knowingly submit false or abusive reports.
For an illegal-content notice, explain why the content is illegal, provide your name and email, and confirm that you believe the report is accurate and complete. Your name and email are not required for notices concerning child sexual abuse material. For a rights notice, identify the right and your authority to act.
Follow the child-safety instructions in section 6 for suspected child sexual abuse material. Do not copy or forward that material as evidence.
What blocking does
Community blocking hides that account's current and future named and anonymous contributions from you. It does not hide yours from them; visibility changes may reveal that contributions share an author.
A Market block stops new messages in both directions while preserving the conversation. Blocking does not send a report.
Appeal a decision
Use the available appeal action or email with Moderation appeal. The Terms of Service explain decisions, reasons and human review. Support payments never influence enforcement.
5. Automated content checks
Local word and phrase checks and OpenAI's automated text and image moderation can refuse content before RoomMate publishes it, delivers it to another user or saves the change you requested.
Signup does not ask for a display name or OpenAI sharing permission. When you first use a feature requiring an OpenAI check, the app explains what will be shared and why, and asks permission unless you already have a saved choice covering that check. We remember an account-wide choice; earlier name-only or per-submission permissions remain limited to those checks. Accepting these Rules or the Terms, or acknowledging the Privacy Policy, does not grant sharing permission.
New post, listing and profile photos are checked before upload. You can review or withdraw permission in Settings → Data and privacy → Content moderation. Withdrawal stops future checks but cannot recall content already sent; checks in progress may finish. Existing RoomMate content remains unless you remove it.
If you decline, withdraw or checking is unavailable, submissions that need a check cannot be completed. You can keep editing. Follow any displayed wait before retrying. We ask again before sharing under a materially changed data scope or purpose, or with a different provider.
Checks can miss violations or refuse acceptable content. Image checks cover a narrower range of harmful material than text checks and do not assess every rule or its context. Existing photos are not retrospectively checked. If content is refused, edit it or contact support for human review.
The Privacy Policy explains what is shared, the saved choice, withdrawal and retention.
6. Child safety
RoomMate prohibits child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), including grooming, sextortion, trafficking and sexual exploitation of anyone under 18. Do not request, create, possess or share child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including visual depictions of sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone under 18, or solicit their sexual images.
Report in-app or email support@roommate.ac with Child safety and the content's location.
Do not download, save, screenshot or forward suspected CSAM. For immediate danger, call 112 in the Netherlands or the local emergency number. RoomMate reports and emails are not emergency channels.
RoomMate removes or restricts access to confirmed CSAM and reports it to the appropriate authority where required. Necessary evidence may be preserved with restricted access. The Privacy Policy explains data handling.
Material rule changes receive notice where required and may require fresh acceptance under the Terms.