Draft for legal review. This document is a working draft. It has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer and is not yet in force.
Amara is for adults who want to meet people with honesty and respect. These guidelines explain what that means in practice. They apply to everything you do on Amara (your profile, photos, messages and Roses) and to how you treat people you meet through Amara, online and offline.
They form part of our Terms of Service. If you break them, we may remove content or take action against your account.
Be real
- Use your own photos. Every photo should be a real, recent photo of you, with your face clearly visible in at least one. No photos of celebrities, friends, cartoons or heavily edited pictures that don’t look like you.
- Be who you say you are. Use your real first name and your real age. Don’t pretend to be someone else, and don’t make an account for someone else.
- One account each. Don’t create extra accounts, and don’t come back after a ban.
- Get verified. Verifying your face is optional and takes about 10 seconds. The verified badge shows others that you match your photos.
- Be honest about your intent. If you’re looking for something serious, say so. If you just want to meet new friends, say that. If you want something short-term, say that too. Clear intent saves everyone time and heartache.
Adults only
Amara is for people aged 18 and over. Never use Amara if you are under 18, and never post photos of children on your own (a family photo where you are clearly the subject is fine, but don’t include children who can be identified). Any sexual content involving someone under 18 leads to an immediate permanent ban and a report to the authorities.
If you think someone on Amara may be under 18, report them with the reason “May be under 18”. We treat these reports as the most urgent.
Respect and consent
- Be kind. Treat people the way you’d want your sister, brother or best friend to be treated.
- No harassment. Don’t insult, bully, stalk or keep messaging someone who hasn’t replied or has said no. If someone unmatches or blocks you, let it go.
- Consent matters. Don’t send sexual messages or photos nobody asked for. Don’t pressure anyone to meet, to share their number, or to do anything they don’t want to do.
- Respect privacy. Don’t share anyone’s messages, photos or personal details outside Amara without their permission. Don’t take screenshots of someone’s profile to mock or expose them.
- No threats. Threats of violence, of exposing someone, or of hurting yourself to control someone are never acceptable. Messages with threats are sent straight to our moderation team.
Short-term doesn’t mean anything goes
Choosing Short-term fun says you’d like something casual. It isn’t consent to anything, and it doesn’t change these rules: no sexual messages or photos nobody asked for, and no pressure to meet. Buying or selling sex is never allowed (see No selling, spam or sex work).
Never ask for money
This is one of the most important rules on Amara. Do not ask anyone for money, in any form, including:
- bank transfers, cash or “small help”;
- airtime, data, or transport fare (“T-fare”) to come and see you;
- gift cards, cryptocurrency or Bitcoin;
- investments, forex, “business opportunities” or loans;
- help with hospital bills, school fees, customs fees or any emergency.
And never send money to someone you’ve only met online. If someone asks you for money, please report them with the reason “Asked me for money”. Our chat warns people when a message looks like a money request, but your report is what lets us act.
No scams, blackmail or sextortion
- No romance scams, fake profiles, “yahoo” schemes or catfishing.
- No sextortion: never threaten to share someone’s intimate photos or videos, or ask for money or more images to keep them private. This is a crime. If it is happening to you, stop replying, don’t pay, keep the evidence, report the person to us and to the police.
- No pulling people off Amara to pay or chat. Asking someone to move to WhatsApp, Telegram or another app straight away is a common first step in scams, which is why contact details unlock only after you have each sent 3 messages.
No hate
We don’t allow content or behaviour that attacks or demeans people because of their ethnicity, tribe, nationality, religion, gender, disability, illness, or any other part of who they are. Saying what you’re looking for in a partner is fine. Insulting groups of people is not.
Keep photos and profiles clean
Photos must not include:
- nudity, underwear-only shots or sexually suggestive poses;
- violence, weapons pointed at people, or gore;
- drugs or illegal activity;
- hate symbols;
- someone else’s face as the main subject, or children on their own;
- text, phone numbers, links or social media handles.
Profile text must not include phone numbers, links, email addresses or social media handles, or messages like “WhatsApp me”. Amara won’t accept them.
Every photo is checked after you upload it. Photos that may break these rules are visible only to you until a moderator reviews them, and photos that break them are removed.
No selling, spam or sex work
Amara is not for business. Don’t advertise products, services, events, pages or other apps. Don’t send the same message to lots of people. Don’t offer or ask for sex in exchange for money or gifts. That includes “sugar” arrangements, where money, gifts or support are offered or asked for in return for dates or sex. Report it with the reason “Nudity, sexual content, or buying or selling sex”.
Nothing illegal
Don’t use Amara for anything that breaks Nigerian law or the law where you are.
Offline behaviour counts
If you meet someone from Amara and they tell us you harmed them, threatened them, or behaved in a way that breaks these guidelines, we may act on your account, even if it didn’t happen in the app.
Reporting and blocking
Blocking someone hides you from each other completely: in discovery, likes and chat. Only the person who blocked can undo it.
Reporting someone is how you tell us something is wrong. You can report a profile or a photo from their profile, and a message from the chat. When you report someone:
- They are blocked for you straight away.
- If you report from a chat, we keep a copy of the conversation as evidence, even if they unmatch you.
- A moderation case is opened. The most serious reports, such as someone who may be under 18 or threats of violence, are handled first, as quickly as we can.
- A person on our team reviews it and decides what to do.
- We tell you when we’ve reviewed your report. We don’t tell you exactly what action we took, to protect everyone’s privacy.
The person you report isn’t told who reported them.
Please report honestly. Making false reports to get someone removed is itself a breach of these guidelines. Only reports from verified members count towards automatically hiding a profile, so fake accounts can’t be used to take someone down.
What happens if someone breaks the rules
What we do depends on how serious it was, and whether it has happened before:
| Step | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | We tell you what was wrong. Nothing else changes. |
| Restriction | For 7 or 30 days, your profile is hidden from new people. Your existing matches and chats still work. |
| Suspension | You can’t use Amara for 24 hours, 72 hours, 7 days or 30 days. |
| Permanent ban | Your account is closed for good, and you can’t sign up again with the same phone number, email, or Google or Apple account. |
We can go straight to a ban for serious harm, such as anything involving someone under 18, threats, scams, sextortion or asking for money. We may also remove a photo or other content, reset your photos, or ask you to verify your face again.
While we review serious reports, we may hide a profile from new people. This happens automatically when three different verified members report someone within 24 hours, or when one reports that someone may be under 18.
Appeals
If your account is restricted, suspended or banned, you can appeal once for each decision. In the app, you’ll see the option to appeal on the screen that tells you about the decision; if you’re suspended or banned, you’ll see it when you try to sign in. Tell us briefly why you think we got it wrong.
Someone other than the person who made the decision will review your appeal. If we overturn it, we lift the restriction, suspension or ban, and let you know. Warnings can’t be appealed, but you can always contact us at [support email] if you think we made a mistake.
If you are in danger
Amara is not an emergency service. If you are in danger, call 112 from any phone, or 767 in Lagos. Then tell us, so we can act on the account.
Questions
Write to us at [support email]. You can also read our safety tips in the Safety Center in the app and on our Safety page.