Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Standards

Last updated: 16 May 2026 · Manzil Trust & Safety

Our position: zero tolerance

Manzil has a zero-tolerance policy for any content, conversation, behaviour or account that sexualises, endangers, exploits or otherwise harms a child. Manzil is a marriage-minded dating app strictly for adults aged 18 years or older. We do not permit minors on the platform, and we treat every credible signal of child sexual abuse material ("CSAM"), grooming, sextortion or trafficking as a critical incident requiring immediate action and external reporting. This document explains our standards, our age controls, our detection mechanisms, our reporting channels and the Indian and international laws that frame our work. It is published in compliance with Google Play's Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Policy and is binding on every Manzil team member, contractor and user.

Legal framework

Manzil operates from India and our Child Safety Standards are designed to meet or exceed the requirements of the following statutes and rules, which we reference by name:

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 ("POCSO Act 2012") — the principal Indian statute criminalising sexual offences against children below 18, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, sexual harassment, the use of children for pornographic purposes (Section 13), and the mandatory reporting obligation under Sections 19–22.
POCSO (Amendment) Act, 2019 — enhanced penalties, including death penalty for aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child, and stricter rules on storage and transmission of child pornographic material.
Information Technology Act, 2000, Section 67B — criminalises publishing, transmitting, browsing, downloading, advertising, promoting, exchanging or distributing material in electronic form depicting children in sexually explicit acts. Punishable with imprisonment up to 5 years and a fine up to ₹10 lakh for first conviction, escalating thereafter.
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 — under Rule 3(2)(b), intermediaries must remove content depicting a child in sexually explicit conduct, or impersonating a child, within 24 hours of receipt of a valid complaint or order. Rule 3(1)(b)(ii) prohibits content that is "harmful to child", and Rule 3(1)(g) requires retention of user records for 180 days after account closure.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — India's general criminal code, applicable to grooming, kidnapping, trafficking (Section 143) and sexual offences not specifically covered by POCSO.
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 — defines the welfare framework for any child found in contact with the platform.
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 — applicable to trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation.
United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 2258A — requires US-accessible electronic service providers to report apparent child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline.
Google Play Developer Program Policies — CSAE — to which Manzil is bound as a Google Play distributed app.

Minimum age & access

Manzil is strictly limited to users aged 18 and over, as required by POCSO Act 2012 (which defines a "child" as a person below the age of 18) and by Google Play policy. Account creation requires the user to (a) confirm a date of birth establishing 18+ status, and (b) accept our Terms of Service and these Child Safety Standards. The app is listed on Google Play under the appropriate mature rating and is not promoted, marketed or surfaced to minors. We do not run ad creatives on platforms primarily used by minors and we maintain advertising audience exclusions for under-18 segments wherever the ad platform supports them.

Age verification mechanisms

Because no single age check is perfect, Manzil layers multiple controls so an under-18 individual is filtered out at the earliest possible point in the user journey:

Date-of-birth gate at sign-up — a date of birth that resolves to under 18 immediately blocks account creation, blacklists the device fingerprint for 30 days against age fraud and, where the user is logged in via a Google account, flags the Google sub for review.
Google account age signal — Manzil supports Google Sign-In and uses Google's "ageBracket" signal where exposed. Accounts flagged as under-18 by Google are denied registration even if the user attempts to enter a 18+ date of birth.
Selfie / liveness check — every profile must pass a real-time selfie verification before becoming visible to other users. Our verification reviewers are trained to flag any selfie whose visible age cues suggest the subject is, or may be, under 18; flagged profiles are routed to a senior reviewer and, if any doubt remains, the account is suspended pending government-issued ID confirmation. We may decline to verify an account at our sole discretion where age is in question.
Photo screening — uploaded profile photos are run through automated age-estimation as a soft signal; below-threshold scores trigger manual review.
IP and device-based cues — sign-ups originating from networks or devices associated with school environments, juvenile facilities, or repeated under-18 attempts are throttled and routed to additional manual review.
Government-issued ID — where age remains in question after the above, we require an Aadhaar (masked), PAN, Voter ID, passport or driving licence to confirm 18+ status. Where the user cannot or will not provide ID, the account is removed.
User reports — any user can report a suspected minor with a single tap. Reports involving minors are prioritised, the account is auto-suspended within 1 hour, and we investigate within 24 hours. If we cannot conclusively rule out that the account belongs to a person under 18, the account is permanently removed.

Prohibited content & conduct

The following is strictly prohibited on Manzil. Any user found posting, sharing, soliciting or attempting any of the below is permanently banned, has their account data preserved for law enforcement, is reported to the relevant authorities, and forfeits any right to refund under our Terms of Service:

Child Sexual Abuse Material ("CSAM") of any kind, in any format, real, simulated, animated or AI-generated.
Sexualised depictions of minors, including cartoons, AI-generated, edited, deepfaked or otherwise synthetic content.
Grooming behaviour, sexual solicitation of minors, or attempts to contact, befriend or build trust with a minor for sexual purposes.
Sharing the personal contact details, school name, address or other identifying information of any minor.
Sextortion involving minors or threats to publish intimate material of a minor.
Trafficking, advertising or arranging the sexual services of a minor.
Posing as a minor, or asking other users to roleplay as minors in sexual conversations.
Any other content, communication or activity that endangers, sexualises or exploits a child.

Detection & enforcement

Manual profile review — every Manzil profile is manually reviewed by our Trust & Safety team before becoming visible to other users. Profile reviewers receive specific training to identify age cues and CSAE indicators.
Hash-matching — uploaded media is scanned against known CSAM hashes using PhotoDNA / Google's CSAI Match where applicable. Any match results in immediate removal, account preservation and a NCMEC CyberTipline report.
Behavioural signals — automated systems flag risky patterns for human review, including age-related deception language, repeated under-18 sign-up attempts from the same device, grooming-style conversational patterns and rapid escalation to sexual topics.
Keyword and link controls — outbound links to known CSAM-hosting domains are blocked at the network layer, and chat scanners flag CSAE-related keywords and slang for review.
One-tap in-app reporting — every profile, photo and message has a Report button. CSAE-related reports are routed to a 24×7 priority queue and reviewed within 1 hour.
Permanent ban — accounts found violating these Standards are banned permanently, the device fingerprint and IP address are blocked from creating new accounts, and the payment instrument is added to our high-risk list.
Account preservation — relevant account data (profile, chats, photos, login history, IPs, device IDs, payment metadata) is preserved for the periods required by Rule 3(1)(g) of the IT Rules 2021 and 18 U.S.C. § 2258A, and shared with law enforcement on receipt of a valid request.

Reporting to authorities

Where we detect or are notified of suspected child sexual abuse material, grooming or exploitation, we report to:

NCMEC CyberTipline — the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as required for service providers offering services accessible in the United States.
National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal of India at cybercrime.gov.in — India's primary online channel for reporting cyber offences, including CSAM under Section 67B of the IT Act 2000.
POCSO e-Box — the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) online complaint mechanism for offences under POCSO Act 2012.
Local law enforcement in India — including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/Investigation (OCSAE) unit, state police cyber cells, and District Special Juvenile Police Units constituted under Section 107 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015.
Childline India (1098) — the national 24×7 helpline operated under the Ministry of Women and Child Development for children in distress.
Google Play Trust & Safety — as required by Google's developer policies for distributed apps.

How to report a concern

If you see something on Manzil that violates these Standards, please report it immediately. Multiple channels are open 24×7:

Inside the app — tap the Report icon on the profile, photo or chat in question. CSAE reports are prioritised for review within 1 hour.
Email — info.flingo@gmail.com with subject line "CSAE REPORT". We aim to acknowledge within 24 hours and resolve within 7 days, in line with Rule 3(2) of the IT Rules 2021.
If a child is in immediate danger, please first contact the police (Dial 112) and Childline India on 1098. Manzil will fully cooperate with any investigation that follows.
National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal — file a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in; this is the recommended channel for any cyber offence within India, including suspected CSAM, sextortion or grooming.
POCSO e-Box — file directly with the NCPCR at pocsoebox.ncpcr.gov.in.

Cooperation with law enforcement

Manzil cooperates fully with valid legal process from Indian and international law enforcement agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the CBI's OCSAE wing, state police cyber crime units, the National Investigation Agency where relevant, the Ministry of Home Affairs Cybercrime division, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Interpol and (for US-accessible content) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). On receipt of a lawful request — a notice under Section 91 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, a court order, a request under Section 79 / Rule 3 of the IT Rules 2021, or an MLAT request — we respond as quickly as the law permits, typically well within statutory timelines.

Employee & reviewer training

Every member of the Manzil Trust & Safety team completes onboarding training on detecting and responding to child sexual abuse content, grooming language and high-risk behavioural patterns. Training is refreshed annually and after any material policy change. Reviewers have access to wellness support, given the nature of the work, and are required to escalate any case where they are uncertain. New product features and ML systems undergo a "child safety review" before launch.

Child Safety Designated Officer

Pursuant to Google Play's CSAE policy and Rule 3(2) of the IT Rules 2021, Manzil has appointed an in-house officer to handle child-safety matters and serve as the point of contact for law enforcement, NGOs and partner platforms:

Designation: Designated Child Safety Officer, Manzil
Email: info.flingo@gmail.com (subject: "Child Safety — Designated Officer")
Acknowledgement of reports: within 24 hours
Resolution target: 24 hours for content removal under Rule 3(2)(b); 7 days for complete investigation

Awareness, prevention & the India context

Child sexual abuse in India is significantly under-reported. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) annual Crime in India reports record tens of thousands of POCSO cases each year, and Indian government and NGO surveys (including the Ministry of Women and Child Development's Study on Child Abuse in India) have long established that the true incidence is many multiples of recorded cases. Online platforms are an increasing vector for grooming, CSAM circulation and sextortion. Manzil takes this context seriously: our policies are written for a country where the legal age of consent and of marriage is 18, where the protection of children online is a specific statutory obligation, and where survivors deserve clear, working channels of redress. We also encourage all users to be aware of the warning signs of grooming, never share photographs or contact details of minors, and report any suspected case via the channels above.

Policy review

We review these Standards at least once every year, and whenever there is a material change to (a) applicable Indian or international law, (b) Google Play, Apple or other platform policy, or (c) our own product. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

Resources

NCMEC CyberTipline — international reporting
National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal of India (cybercrime.gov.in)
POCSO e-Box — NCPCR online complaint
Childline India — call 1098 (24×7)
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India
Google — Protecting Children Online