Vivastreet – Online Safety Act Policy

Vivastreet takes compliance seriously. We are committed to operating our platform in a responsible manner, promoting safety and security, and working collaboratively with partners. We operate robust safety checks and security measures across our platform, as well as working closely with stakeholders such as law enforcement, policy makers, and the voluntary sector.

In our Transparency Report, we set out a range of safety and security measures we have in place, as well as the partnerships we maintain with a range of law enforcement agencies and charity operators. Through this approach, we work to continually implement strategies to try to improve our service and make our part of the internet safe for the individuals and businesses who use Vivastreet.

As part of our ongoing commitment to safety and compliance, we have written this Online Safety Act Policy to explain how we are approaching our obligations and duties under the Online Safety Act.

What is the Online Safety Act?

The Online Safety Act 2023, also referred to as the OSA, is a law in the UK which aims to protect children and adults from harm online. The OSA places certain requirements and duties on a variety of services, such as websites, apps, social media platforms, search engines and online messaging and sharing platforms.

Some services are also required to publish information about how they comply with the OSA. The OSA was passed into law in 2023, but it came into force in stages to allow services time to comply.

Ofcom is the UK's regulator which provides guidance to services about how to comply with the OSA and is responsible for enforcing the Act.

Vivastreet is a service which needs to comply with the OSA. We do not have to publish information about how we comply with the OSA, but we have written this policy to be transparent about the work we do and our approach.

This policy sets out what we are currently doing to comply with the OSA's requirements and duties, and what we intend to do going forward.

What Are We Doing About Illegal Content?

The OSA requires that action is taken against illegal content, such as extreme pornography, fraud and terrorism. Where illegal content or activity is found on a service, the OSA requires that actions are taken to reduce the risk of harm this content poses.

By 16 March 2025, all services that are regulated by the OSA needed to carry out certain risk assessments to decide how much of a risk illegal content on their service poses to individuals and determine what actions should be taken to reduce those risks and remove illegal content as it arises.

Vivastreet has completed an OSA risk assessment ahead of the 16 March 2025 deadline. This included a review of the tools and methods we use to help keep our users safe.

These tools and methods include:

• Verifying the identity of a subset of those posting adverts.
• Matching posts against hashed databases of images known to have been posted previously without the consent of the individual featured.
• A human moderation team checking posts for compliance with our guidelines.
• AI-assisted review processes that can, for example, flag potentially high-risk keywords.

Reducing the risks of our platform being involved in human trafficking and sexual exploitation are particular focuses of our moderation team. The team also has a much broader role, seeking to ensure that our posting guidelines are complied with at all times.

We have not gone into significant detail on the specific keywords we look for as part of our moderation processes because disclosing the keywords we look for would undermine the effectiveness of our moderation processes.

We will continue to periodically review and update the assessment and decide whether the actions being taken are sufficient, or whether further actions can be taken to mitigate risk and reduce harm.

What Are We Doing to Protect Children?

All services that are regulated by the OSA and are user-to-user services must assess whether children are likely to access the service. If children are likely to access the service, the service must assess the risks it poses to children.

All user-to-user services must complete a Children's Access Assessment (CAA) to determine whether children are likely to access the service.

Vivastreet has completed a Children's Access Assessment ahead of the 16 April 2025 deadline. This included a review of moderation practices and recommender systems.

We will continue to periodically review and update the assessment and determine whether the actions being taken are sufficient.

Part 3 of the Act places legal duties on services that allow pornographic content, including the need to introduce highly effective age assurance for users by 25 July 2025.

Vivastreet has introduced age assurance for its Escorts and Massage categories using a third-party provider. All other categories, including the Personals categories, continue to be subject to strict moderation processes.

Users are not permitted to upload sexually suggestive imagery in categories where such content is prohibited.

What Else Are We Doing?

As part of our continuing commitment to the safety of individuals and businesses who use Vivastreet, we will continue to engage with new guidance and Codes issued by Ofcom.

We will continue to review our safety and compliance processes and make improvements where appropriate to help reduce risks and promote a safer online environment.

Last updated: 13 Sept 2026