Participation in the No Child Harmed certification program is for websites, publishers, service providers, vendors, and event organizers, to certify that they are allies in the fight against child sexual abuse, and that they have taken reasonable steps to avoid harming children.
The full legal text of the program criteria is found below, but here are some of the highlights:
- For publishers: Sexual content should be tagged and hidden from minors by default. Real minors are not allowed to be shown in a sexual context, and there are strict limits on showing nudity.
- For websites: Websites must make clear what content users can and can’t upload. If minors are allowed, there must be ways to keep them out of adult areas. Nudity of minors can’t be permitted to be uploaded.
- For events: Organizers must set a no non-consensual touching or photography rule. Age-appropriate events that allow minors must have at least two adults supervising, and a way to report misconduct.
- For products: Dolls that can be used in sex can’t be modeled after real minors, they must be sold with an informative disclaimer about consent, and must respect legal limits that apply where they are sold.
No Children Harmed certification criteria
Version 0.25, September 2019
1. Introduction
1.1. About this program
Prostasia Foundation’s “No children harmed” certification program is intended for organizations that provide goods or services exclusively or predominantly for adults, to certify that these activities are conducted in a manner that minimizes the risk of directly harming minors.
1.2. Program requirements
Those who have been certified under this program are defined as “Participants” in this document. Those applying to become Participants must self-certify their compliance with all relevant provisions of this document, and provide Prostasia Foundation with unrestricted access to all relevant records and other documentation to provide evidence of their compliance.
Upon evaluation by Prostasia Foundation of their compliance with these criteria and the payment of an annual license fee, the newly certified Participant will be issued a revocable annual license to display the “No children harmed” certification seal, which (where possible) shall be linked to the certification program website where the Participant’s certification can be verified.
Prostasia Foundation may require an applicant for certification as a Participant to undergo additional verification steps, which may include site visits, mystery shopper purchases, and interviews with staff, customers, users, or partners of the Participants. The costs of these additional verification measures are to be borne by the Participant as a condition of their certification.
New versions of these criteria will be released from time to time at Prostasia Foundation’s discretion and continued display of the certification seal will be conditioned on the Participant’s re-certification with the revised program criteria. Participants that fail to pass certification or that fail to pay annual license fees must no longer display the certification seal.
2. Terms and conditions
2.1. Publishers
This section applies to Participants who publish their own original content, whether in digital or physical form, and to those who actively curate or moderate such original works. In this section “Publisher” is defined accordingly.
Participants shall:
- Ensure that their content abides by all applicable laws in the Participant’s jurisdiction.
- Clearly specify whether minors are permitted to access their content, and if they are not, to require users to attest that they have attained the age of 18 years before being permitted access to that content.
- Provide effective mechanisms to allow members of the public to choose to avoid encountering sexually explicit content. These mechanisms must also be enabled by default for users who are minors (if applicable).
- Take additional measures to specifically label, flag, or mark any lawful content that depicts imaginary minors engaged in sexual activity or that depicts nudity of real or imaginary minors.
Participants shall not:
- Publish any content that depicts actual minors in a sexual context.
- Publish any content that portrays actual minors, or artistic representations of actual minors, engaged in sexual activity.
- Publish any content that promotes the sexual abuse of actual minors. In this context, fictional content is not defined as promoting the sexual abuse of actual minors.
- Publish any content depicting the nudity of actual minors in a non-sexual context (for example, sex education, journalism, nudism, or fine art) without taking reasonable steps to ensure that the consent both of the minor, and of the minor’s parents or guardians, has been obtained to the publication of the content in that context.
2.2. Social media websites
This section applies to Participants who operate social media websites, which are defined here as online services that allow the service’s users to contribute their own content, without pre-moderation by the Participant. In this section “the Service” is defined accordingly.
Participants shall:
- Abide by each of the conditions specified in section 2.1 above, and incorporate those conditions into the terms of service to which users are required to agree as a condition of using the Service.
- Specify, in detail, what types of sexual content are permitted to be posted using the Service.
- Provide a mechanism for users of the Service to label, flag, or mark their account or individual items of content as containing sexually explicit content.
- Provide an effective mechanism for reporting minors who post sexually explicit content or who enter areas of the Service that have been designated as being off-limits to minors.
- Appoint a trust and safety officer to receive reports of inappropriate content involving minors.
- Notify users if their content will be automatically scanned against a database of restricted content, and if so, how that database is compiled and what outcomes will result from restricted content being uploaded.
- Allow third parties who are depicted in sexually explicit content uploaded by a user to request that that content be removed from the Service.
- Allow third parties who are depicted as minors in content uploaded by a user to request that that content be removed from the Service.
- Provide users with detailed notice when content uploaded by them has been removed from the Service, and allow them the opportunity to have this decision reviewed.
Participants shall not:
- Allow users to upload depictions of full nudity of actual minors in any context (notwithstanding section 2.1.8 above).
2.3. Events
This section applies to event organizers and venues. In this section “the Venue” is defined to include an event held at a venue.
Participants shall:
- Ensure that no unlawful conduct is permitted at the Venue.
- Require attendees to agree to a code of conduct that specifies that no non-consensual touching or photography is permitted.
- Clearly specify whether minors are permitted to access the Venue, and if they are not, to require proof that they have attained the age of 18 years before being permitted access to the Venue.
- If minors are permitted but not all activities or locations are open to them, minors shall be issued a visible identification tag or bracelet to allow them to be excluded from these activities or locations.
- Ensure that any activities or locations at which minors are permitted include at least two trained adults in supervision at all times.
- Appoint a safeguarding officer to receive reports of inappropriate behavior towards or concerning minors.
Participants shall not:
- Allow access by minors to witness sexually explicit activities, depiction, or enactments.
- Allow minors to stay overnight at the Venue except in the company of their parents or legal guardians.
2.4. Dolls and mannequins
This section applies to manufacturers and distributors of anatomically-correct dolls, mannequins, robots, or action figure models. In this section “Doll” is defined accordingly.
Participants shall:
- Ensure that they abide by all applicable laws in the Participant’s jurisdiction.
- Require users to attest that they have attained the age of 18 years before being permitted to place an order or to access sexually explicit photographs of Dolls.
- Ensure that any persons used as models for body and face design of Dolls sold by the Participant are of legal age.
- Provide purchasers with the following notification:
This doll is not intended to be used to provide instruction in sexual activities with a human partner. Unlike a doll, a human partner must provide consent to sex and must be over the legal age of consent.
Participants shall not:
- Sell a Doll to a purchaser in a jurisdiction that prohibits the sale or importation of Dolls outright.