Groups Policy

Last updated: 10th March 2021

You can now create or join groups ("Groups") on ShareChat to connect with your friends and other like minded individuals on our platform. Groups are communities with shared interests, that exchange information, create content, and participate in various activities on our Platform.

While this section sets out specific guidelines for Groups, please note that as with any information on our Platform, your activities on Groups are subject to the ShareChat Content and Community Guidelines, ShareChat Privacy Policy, and our ShareChat Cookie Policy (collectively the "Terms").

How do Groups work?

You can join or create a Group on any topic, theme, issue, or activity. We may reject your request to create, join, or participate in a Group, should the subject matter, your past behaviour, or your activities violate our Terms.

You can join a Group by searching for a topic or by searching for Groups on the Platform. You can also be invited to join a Group by a friend or a connection on ShareChat.

On joining a Group you will receive notifications of your activities and those of your Group members from time to time.

To leave a Group, you can go to the homepage of the group and select the ‘leave group’ option. Upon leaving a Group, your name will be removed from the members list, and you will no longer receive updates of activities on the Group.

Types of Groups

There are two types of groups: Public and Private.

• Public Groups: Public Groups are freely searchable. Non-members can view the Group members as well as see the posts being published on the Group.
• Private Groups: Only members can view the list of people on the Group, and the content posted by them. Private Groups are accessible only via a link from a member. Groups are also classified based on membership. Some Groups may require prior approval of the Admin/ Moderator to join, while others are open for all to be a member.

Communication on Groups

The ShareChat platform allows you to communicate with Group members via text, images, video or audio chats. You also have the option of ‘pinging’ Group members to speak to them directly.

Please note that your behaviour towards Group members even in direct conversations will be bound by our Terms of Use ("Terms"), and any violation thereof may result in your removal from the relevant Group, suspension, or cancellation of our services among other measures.

Sometimes the content you post on a Group may not be visible to others. This may be dependent on the viewership setting of other users (for example if they choose to view trending/ popular posts first). In some cases, if your post has been classified as spam, flagged as inappropriate by other uses, or is undergoing review by our teams, as a result it will be restricted or available for limited viewing. We may also suspend your post in such cases if we find it to be in violation of our Terms or Content and Community Guidelines.

You may need to notify your Group Admin/ Moderator, if you think your content has been suspended unfairly or cannot be seen by other users.

Protecting your privacy on Groups

Please check the settings of any Group that you join. As an Admin or a Moderator you can also view and modify the settings of your Group from time to time.

The privacy settings allow you to modify the ability to search for your Group on ShareChat, see what members can view, and identify Admins/ Moderators from time to time.

Please note that depending on the privacy settings of a Group, our teams, third party contractors, or other parties may be able to view actions taken by users in a Group. These rights may be used for the purposes of moderating content, taking action against complaints, enforcing our internal Terms/ policies, reviewing the performance of the ShareChat Platform, to improve our services, or take other actions as permitted by our Terms.

Please note that only Admins and Moderators can update the privacy settings for Groups on the Platform. ShareChat may prevent frequent changes to a Group’s privacy setting.

An Admin or a Moderator cannot make changes to a Group’s privacy policy once a Group crosses 3,000 members. However, such changes may be carried out by the ShareChat teams based on user requests or on other considerations.

Admins and Moderators

Group management roles

Managing a Group is a voluntary role undertaken by Admins and Moderators (collectively "Group Managers") on ShareChat’s groups. Admins have the additional rights to remove members, and delete Groups. Admins and Moderators can both develop the rules of the Group, provide the description / tags of the Group, remove posts, review complaints or temporarily suspend members.

They can either be self-appointed at the time of creating a group, or be appointed by prior Admins/ Moderators.

However, they can only exercise their authority within the Group. Admins/ Moderators do not have any relationship with ShareChat. ShareChat, can at its discretion limit or revoke a user’s Admin/ Moderator rights at any time for any reason, including a breach of any Terms.

Some key roles and responsibilities of Group Managers are:

Key function	Admin	Moderator
Can appoint other Admins	✓	×
Can appoint other Moderators	✓	✓
Can limit, suspend posts	✓	×
Can suspend, limit posts and remove members of a Group	✓	✓
Issue warnings/ notices to users for non compliance with the Group’s terms	✓	✓

By agreeing to manage a Group, a Group Manager gives consent to:

• Follow our applicable guidelines
• Receive reports/ complaints from other Group members, and take actions such as removing posts, suspending users or any other measures required to enforce the guidelines
• Perform moderation actions in return
• Create Group specific rules and enforce them (as long as they do not conflict with the Terms or any other policies applicable to the Admin or Moderator)
• Not receive any remuneration to carry out their functions

Values and good practices for Group Managers

Group Managers must endeavour to:

• Provide clear guidelines on the do’s and don’ts for their Groups
• Be active. As a group manager provide leadership to your community – issue warnings where relevant, provide feedback to users, and if needed take actions to limit and suspend posts
• Promote healthy, and engaging conversations within your community. Look out against any conversations that may violate our Community Policy
• Develop your team of Group managers, appoint co-Admins, and Moderators to help you in this task.

Common issues for Group Managers and users

As members of the ShareChat Groups communities, please be watchful and identify/ report against behaviour that may put other users at risk. If you think any activity on the Groups violates our Policies, please report this to us or to your Group Managers on our application.

Prohibited practices

Specifically please note that Groups cannot indulge in the following:

• Scams/ Fraudulent Activity: Promoting activities such as get rich quick schemes, fake jobs, or other activities that intended to mislead, scam or defraud users.
• Illegal or regulated items: Promote the sale of illegal goods or services, or even regulated goods or services, that the user does not have the authorisation to provide. For example, the promotion of gambling, illegal lotteries, drugs and controlled substances, or the sale of prescription medicines.
• False association: Groups or activities on groups must not give the impression that they are acting on behalf of an individual, brand, or organisation, unless authorised to do so.
• Promoting harmful speech or individuals: Groups must not promote criminal activity or individuals / organisations that promote such activities. You must also not use Groups to co-ordinate any criminal activity, hate speech, violence and illegal activities amongst each other.
• Promoting non-consensual activities: Groups must not promote content that exploits or endangers any person, or facilitates posting of pictures for purposes of encouraging or soliciting prostitution or escort services; child pornography (including without limitation creation, promotion, glorification, transmission or browsing of child pornography); content on rape, gangrape, sexual objectification, non-consensual activities and molestation.

Data collection

Please communicate clearly and explicitly to the users that this data collection exercise is not conducted by ShareChat, but by you. Data is to be used solely for the purposes as stated in your request. Please use any data collected only for the purposes specified and in accordance with applicable laws.

Users are also prohibited from automated and mass collection of data on our Groups – without specific approvals from ShareChat.

Conducting promotions, contests, and other activities

While you may use Groups for conducting contests, games or other promotional activities, users are responsible for ensuring that such activities are in compliance with applicable laws. Each contest game must have the necessary permissions required – from brands, authorities and any other party as needed. Any prizes offered must also be in compliance with applicable Indian laws.

Contests must also clearly specify that these activities are not conducted by ShareChat and ShareChat is not responsible or liable for them.

Brands and Intellectual Property use

Please use brand names, trademarks, copyright and other intellectual property in compliance with applicable laws. Please also provide disclosures and disclaimers where necessary, of your association with a brand/ organisation or the commercial nature of your activities.

Where your Group is a fan/supporter club or meant to discuss certain organisations, individuals, or brands, please issue disclaimers and clearly mention that you are not associated with such actors, individuals, brands or organisations and do not represent them in any manner.

Group names and identification

Group names must clearly denote the reason and the purpose of the group. They must, wherever relevant, not use foul language, be extremely generic in nature, and must not promote the conduct of illegal activities or promotion of illegal / harmful persons or organisations.

Job postings

Please provide clear directions in any job or internship positions offered on groups – on how to apply, eligibility criteria, contact details and other such information. Groups cannot be used to conduct job scams, or other deceptive practices. Moreover, you cannot advertise for illegal, fraud or harmful jobs, in violation of applicable laws. Job postings must also not unlawfully discriminate against individuals.

Reporting Group and User behaviour

Users can report any activities if they believe that they do not conform to our Terms, including this Group Policy, or applicable laws. Reports can be made to either (i) a Group Manager, or (ii) ShareChat in certain cases.

As a Group Manager, you will be notified when someone reports any activity on a Group to you. You can then manage the report by either:

• deciding not to take any action,
• issue a warning to the user
• moderate the post
• suspending the user
• removing the user from the group.

In addition, we may also review complaints by users on activities within the Group. In such cases we may enforce the rules by:

• asking for enforcement of certain rules or providing warnings
• temporary suspensions
• removal of privileges,
• removing content or limiting the access/ reach of the content
• removing users from Groups
• preventing additions of new members to a Group
• banning / closing the Group

General

Groups on the Platform can be used as a building tool to create meaningful connections, communicate with like-minded individuals, share your opinions and interests as well as have insightful discussions. To foster a safe and growing community, it is pertinent to adhere to the above set of guidelines and comply with the Terms of the Platform. We encourage our users to help us create a safe space and promote diversity and inclusion on the Platform through the Groups feature. We also urge our users to be kind, courteous and stay away from hate speech, harassment, bullying, spam and illegal activities.