Terms of Use

PorchTalk is run by Halite & Ember Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16634355. Our registered office is 509 Barking Wharf Square, Barking, England, IG11 7ZS.

In these terms, "we", "us" and "our" mean Halite & Ember Ltd. "You" means anyone using PorchTalk, with or without an account.

• Support and complaints: porchtalk@haliteandember.com
• Legal questions and notices: legal@haliteandember.com
• Privacy and your data: privacy@haliteandember.com

These email addresses are also our single point of contact for users and for public authorities. You can write to us in English.

PorchTalk is a place for Africans and the diaspora to share what they are going through, anonymously, and get support from other people. Replies come from other users and from Imorans, who are volunteer advisers we have checked.

PorchTalk is not:

• therapy, counselling or any kind of healthcare
• medical, legal, financial, immigration or other professional advice
• an emergency or crisis service. We do not watch posts around the clock and cannot send help to you

What people say on PorchTalk is their own view, shared to help. Use your own judgement and speak to a qualified professional before making important decisions about your health, money, legal position or safety.

Some posts that mention serious harm are shown with helpline details automatically. This is a safety net, not a promise that we will spot every post where someone is at risk.

• You must be 18 or over to use PorchTalk, whether or not you create an account.
• By using PorchTalk you confirm that you are 18 or over and able to agree to these terms.
• If we have reason to believe someone is under 18, we will remove their content and account.
• You must not use PorchTalk if we have previously banned you.

You can post without an account. Your device keeps a random code so you can find your own posts again. If you create an account, called Your Porch, we ask for an email address and password only. Your email is never shown to other users.

Keeping yourself safe

• Do not include your name, phone number, address, workplace, church, school or social media handles in posts.
• Change small details, like places and dates, that could let people who know you recognise your story.
• Do not share photos or screenshots that show you or other people.
• If you use a shared device, sign out when you finish.
• Keep your password private and use one you do not use anywhere else.

We work hard to protect your anonymity, but we cannot stop someone who knows you from recognising a story you tell. You are responsible for what you choose to share.

You are responsible for activity on your account. Tell us straight away at porchtalk@haliteandember.com if you think someone else has used it.

PorchTalk only works if people feel safe. When you use it, you must not post or do anything that:

• Harasses or bullies. This includes threats, insults, mocking someone's pain, or following someone around the platform.
• Encourages self harm or suicide. This includes sharing methods, or telling anyone to hurt themselves. Talking honestly about your own struggles is welcome.
• Identifies people (doxxing). This includes trying to find out who an anonymous user is, or sharing anyone's name, contact details, location, photos or other private information without their consent.
• Impersonates. This includes pretending to be another person, an Imoran, a Community Space leader or our team.
• Is hateful. This includes attacks based on race, ethnicity, nationality, tribe, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age.
• Is sexual or violent. This includes sexually explicit content, glorifying violence, and any sexual content involving children, which we report to the authorities.
• Is spam or a scam. This includes adverts, promotions, chain messages, fake accounts, and asking anyone for money, gifts or personal contact.
• Is illegal. This includes content that breaks the law where you are or in the UK, such as fraud, terrorism, trafficking or selling illegal goods.
• Infringes rights. This includes copying other people's writing or images without permission.
• Harms the service. This includes hacking, scraping, overloading our systems, getting round a ban, or using bots.

Our Community Guidelines explain these rules in more detail and form part of these terms. Our Child Safety Standards explain how we deal with any risk to children.

How we review content

• Every post on the public feed is checked by our team before anyone else can see it. Automated tools help us spot words linked to crisis, abuse or offensive language, and a person makes the final decision.
• Posts and replies inside a Community Space appear straight away to its members. Members can flag them, and the space leaders and our team review those flags.
• We may decline, hide or remove any content that breaks these terms or the law, or that puts someone at risk.
• If someone appears to be in immediate danger, or the law requires it, we may share information with emergency services or the authorities.

How to report something

• Use the flag button on any post or reply. You stay anonymous when you report.
• Or email porchtalk@haliteandember.com with a link to the content and why you are reporting it. This includes reports of illegal content.
• We aim to review reports within 24 hours and act on illegal or harmful content quickly.

What happens if you break the rules

Depending on how serious it is, we may remove the content, give you a warning, stop you posting for a time, or close your account. Serious or repeated breaches, including any risk to children, lead to a permanent ban. Where we can contact you, we will tell you what we did and why.

Appeals: asking us to look again

If you think we got a decision wrong, you can appeal. This applies if we removed or declined your content, limited or closed your account, or did not act on something you reported.

• Email porchtalk@haliteandember.com with the subject Appeal within 6 months of the decision.
• Tell us which post or account it is about and why you think the decision was wrong.
• Someone who did not make the first decision will review it where possible, and we will reply within 14 days.
• If we got it wrong, we will put the content back or lift the restriction.

If you live in the EU, you may also be able to use a certified out of court dispute settlement body, and you can always go to court or a regulator.

• Imorans are volunteers aged 18 or over. We check their applications before they can reply as an Imoran.
• Imorans are not our employees. Unless their profile clearly says so, they are not licensed professionals, and their replies are not professional advice.
• Imorans must follow these terms and our Community Guidelines, and must never ask users for money, personal details or contact outside PorchTalk.
• We can remove Imoran status at any time if an Imoran breaks these rules.

Community Spaces are private areas on PorchTalk for an organisation, such as a church or community group. Members join with a code from the organisation. Each space has its own leaders and may have its own trusted advisers.

If you run a Community Space, you agree to:

• follow these terms and make sure your leaders and advisers do too
• choose your advisers carefully and check they are suitable to support people, including any background checks your organisation would normally require
• take responsibility for your own advisers and leaders, and for what they say and do in your space
• never try to find out which member wrote an anonymous post, or pressure anyone to reveal who they are
• keep your join code private and change it if it is shared too widely
• deal with reports in your space promptly and pass anything serious, illegal or involving a risk to life to us straight away
• follow safeguarding and data protection law that applies to your organisation

Organisations and their advisers are independent of us. We are not responsible for advice or support given by an organisation's advisers, but we can remove content, advisers or a whole space if these terms are broken. Our moderation team can see and act on content in every Community Space.

If you are a member: your posts in a space can be seen by its members, leaders and advisers. Leaving a space does not delete what you posted there. You can delete your account as described in section 13.

• You own the posts and replies you write.
• You give us a free, worldwide, non exclusive licence to store, display, format and share your content on PorchTalk, so we can run the service. This licence ends when your content is deleted, except for copies we must keep by law or that sit in backups for a short time before they are overwritten.
• Posts you choose to keep private are only visible to you and our moderation team.
• You promise that you have the right to share what you post, and that it follows these terms.
• We may shorten or remove details that could identify a person, but we will not otherwise change the meaning of what you wrote.
• PorchTalk itself, including its name, design and software, belongs to us. You may not copy it or use our name without our permission.

PorchTalk is free to use. There are no payments, subscriptions or adverts. If we ever introduce paid features, we will tell you the price and your cancellation rights clearly before you pay, and you will never be charged without agreeing first.

Our Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why, how long we keep it and your rights, including your rights under UK and EU data protection law. Please read it alongside these terms.

We will provide PorchTalk with reasonable care and skill. We cannot promise it will always be available or free of errors, and we may change or pause features, for example for maintenance or safety.

What we do not limit

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by our negligence
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation
• anything else that the law does not allow us to limit or exclude

Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer. For advice about your rights, you can contact Citizens Advice in the UK or your local consumer organisation.

What we are not responsible for

Where the law allows, we are not responsible for:

• what other users, Imorans, organisations or their advisers say or do, or any decision you make based on it, unless we were at fault, for example by failing to remove content we knew was illegal
• loss that was not reasonably foreseeable when you started using PorchTalk
• business losses, such as lost profits or opportunities, because PorchTalk is for personal use
• problems caused by things outside our reasonable control

Because PorchTalk is free, our total liability to you for anything else connected with these terms is limited to £100.

You can leave at any time

• In the app, go to My Porch and tap Delete my account. Your account, posts and replies are deleted permanently.
• On the web, follow the steps on our Delete Your Account page.
• If you posted without an account, email privacy@haliteandember.com with links to the posts you want removed.

When we may suspend or close an account

We may suspend or close an account, or block someone from posting, if they break these terms, put others at risk, or if the law requires it. Unless it would be unsafe or unlawful, we will tell you why and how to appeal. We may also close PorchTalk entirely; if we do, we will give at least 30 days' notice where we can.

Sections 9, 12 and 15 continue to apply after you stop using PorchTalk.

We may update these terms to reflect changes to PorchTalk or the law. The date at the top of this page always shows the latest version.

If a change is significant, we will tell you at least 30 days before it takes effect, by a notice on the website or in the app, and by email if you have an account. If you do not agree with a change, you can stop using PorchTalk and delete your account before it takes effect. Changes needed urgently for safety or legal reasons may take effect sooner.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and you can bring a claim in the courts of England and Wales.

• If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring a claim in your local courts.
• If you live in the EU or elsewhere, you keep the protection of any mandatory consumer laws where you live, and you can bring a claim in your local courts if those laws allow it.

If a court decides part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a term straight away, we can still enforce it later.

If you are unhappy with PorchTalk or with us, please tell us at porchtalk@haliteandember.com with the subject Complaint. We will acknowledge it within 5 working days and aim to resolve it within 14 days.

For legal notices, write to legal@haliteandember.comor to Halite & Ember Ltd, 509 Barking Wharf Square, Barking, England, IG11 7ZS.

If you are in the UK and unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.