Introduction

We’re cultivating a space for a community that wants to play a part in changing how the world works together. We’ve built a global network of writers, designers, producers, videographers, business owners, and professionals across hundreds of industries, who use Ndiwano every day to create something they believe in. We’re inspired by each and every one of our community members. We value their perspectives, beliefs, and views—they are what makes Ndiwano so dynamic.

In order to maintain a respectful, inclusive, and safe environment for everyone, we’ve created a set of community standards to serve as a moral compass for behaviour on our platform. These standards help define what is acceptable in the Ndiwano community and marketplace, both in face-to-face interactions and online communications. They aren’t tied to any law but are used to govern our platform policies. They reflect our attitudes, expectations, and social norms. Our community standards are rooted in our core values — respect, safety, acceptance, support, and open-mindedness.

Just like our community, these standards will continue to grow, evolve, and change. We have embedded examples in the community standards for unacceptable activities on Ndiwano. Please note that these are intended to be examples only and not a complete list.  

We encourage our community to use our reporting tools when encountering anything that is unacceptable. We want to create the best experience for all community members and ask that you respect and follow these guidelines.

Integrity and Authenticity

Coronavirus (COVID-19) policies 

At these sensitive times, we are cautious regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19) related services that we allow on Ndiwano. For example, We do not allow users to offer or ask for services that are related to healing Coronavirus or creating content regarding Coronavirus that may be used for spreading misleading information. 

Should you see an item that violates our policies, please don’t hesitate to report it.

Please Do not Offer or ask for:

• Services that are intended to heal, prevent or treat Coronavirus (COVID-19), including emotional therapy. 
• The creation of medical, scientific or informative content exclusively on Coronavirus (COVID-19). Ndiwano is committed to fighting the spread of fake news regarding Coronavirus. Therefore, if a service is reported or flagged as being used to create or promote the spread of fake news; we will investigate and take action accordingly.
• Donations or investments. 
• Face Masks. Creating a handmade mask as part of our Arts & Crafts subcategory is allowed.  

We do allow services that support businesses, marketers, or individuals during these times, for example, business communications or online lessons. 

Misrepresentation

Misrepresentation is defined as fraudulent, negligent, or innocent misstatements, or an incomplete statement of a material fact.

Misleading profile information

Do not:

• Post a fake name, location, gender, or photo in your user profile. 
• Present a fake document(s) if asked to verify your identity. 
• Write misleading content in your profile description, skills, or education. 
• Provide Licensed services without the right license.

Misrepresenting Gig elements 

Do not:

• Copy Gig descriptions, packages, and other gig elements from other users.  
• Raise the price of your Gig service in personal messages before or after purchase. Bait-and-switch marketing is not acceptable.
• Have someone else present you at your gig. 
• Post non-original images or images you do not have the right to use in your Gig.
• Do not post non-original videos or videos that you do not have the right to use in your Gig profile. 
• Deliver non-original work or send non-original work samples.

Spam

We define spam on Ndiwano as a messaging activity that is unwanted, repeatedly occurring, and disruptive to the experience of recipients. Spam can take many forms ranging from unwanted offers to commercially-motivated solicitations that aim to drive traffic or attention to websites, products, and services outside of Ndiwano.

Please respect our members’ privacy by not contacting them with offers, questions, suggestions, or anything which is not directly related to their Gigs or orders.

Do not:

• Contact our users with offers, questions, suggestions, or anything unrelated to their Gigs or orders.
• Send multiple unsolicited or deceptive messages. 
• Abuse our communication tools to distribute mass messages. 

Prohibited Services

Ndiwano is an open marketplace where users can offer or request a great variety of services. However, for a number of reasons, we prohibit certain types of services on Ndiwano. Some services can pose unwanted risks for our users like legal or financial risks; others are simply not in line with our values and policies.

Here are the types of services prohibited on Ndiwano: 

Services that can pose legal risks for our users

 Do not offer or ask for:

• Illegal services.
• Services that are meant to support any illegal activity.
• Fake documents — the creation, changing, or editing of official documents such as IDs, passports, driver’s licenses, bank statements, or death and birth certificates.

Services that can pose financial risks for our users        

 Do not offer or ask for:

• Services that require getting access to the buyer’s sensitive financial information.
• Opening, managing, or implementing changes in a financial account. 
• Providing loans.
• Trading signals or indicators.

Services that have a high risk of piracy or hacking

 Do not offer or ask for:

• Verification services.
• Hacking or cracking services. 
• Services involving hacked or cracked software products (themes, templates, etc).  
• Setup pirate accounts. 

Services that infringe third parties’ terms of service

We do not allow the infringement of third parties’ terms of service on Ndiwano. As a valued member of the Ndiwano community, we ask you to respect the broader Internet community and refrain from such violations in your Gig offerings. Gigs that are flagged for violations of third parties’ terms of service will be removed from the marketplace. 

Do not post, offer, or ask for services that infringe third parties’ terms of service. 

Misleading Services

Do not post, offer, or ask for:

Paid reviews

Positive or negative feedback on any product, service, or performance.

Testimonials

A written or spoken statement of a person extolling the virtues of a product or a service.  

Fake engagement and traffic

Followers, traffic, visitors, fans, views on social media platforms, or any other fake engagement on any platform.

Deepfakes

Deepfakes are created using artificial intelligence technology that superimposes the movements and words of one person onto another.

Services that promise outcomes that are not in your control 

In certain instances, sellers may be tempted to promise outcomes of their service which is not in their control. For example, guaranteeing to restore your Amazon account or promising an exact amount of viewers for a Youtube video by its digital promotion. Please refrain from promising outcomes that are not in your control because it misleads buyers. 

Homework and academic services

Ndiwano’s marketplace is open for sellers to offer any creative and productive service they wish to propose. With that being said we ask you to refrain from offering or asking for any academic work. Taking part in doing someone else’s academic work (which will likely be submitted as the student’s own work) or requesting academic work to be done for you, is unethical since it violates most schools’ Honor Codes and may constitute copyright infringement. Ndiwano does not allow these types of fraudulent activities and they will not be permitted on our platform.

Do not post, offer, or ask for:

Writing of: Homework, academic papers, bibliography, letters of recommendation, college applications, etc.

Services That involve sharing personal information of third parties 

We do not allow services that breach 3rd-party rights and lead to spamming individuals. In order to ensure this policy, we ask that the data provided in these services will be unique to each order and will only contain business data. 

 Do not post, offer, or ask for:  

• Lists with data (such as email addresses or phone numbers) of individuals, only business data.
• Premade lists containing personal data.
• Scraping social media platforms to obtain information about others.  

Medical-related services

We do not allow services that are meant to provide any medical treatment, advice, or supply.  

Do not post, offer, or ask for:

• Medical treatment, advice on any medical condition, or pharmaceutical advice. 
• Any kind of medical drugs or pharmaceuticals.  
• Medical equipment or pharmaceutical supply.

Objectionable Content

Hate Speech

Ndiwanor defines hate speech as words or ideas that are designed to incite violence or hatred against a person, or group of people, defined on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, religion, age, disability, or other similar ground. Ndiwano is committed to moving swiftly and aggressively to investigate conduct that has been flagged as hate speech, and will respond in a manner that is consistent with existing laws and the values of the company. We take hate speech violations very seriously, and anyone using hate speech towards another user or towards our customer support representatives will be removed from Ndiwano. We will also take action against any user asking or delivering hate speech-related content on Ndiwano.

Do not:

• Use violent or dehumanizing speech against a person or group of people defined on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, religion, age, disability, or other similar grounds. 

We do allow people to offer or ask for content regarding the research of hate speech or content that is related to the prevention of hate speech.

Discrimination

Under Ndiwano’s community standards, discrimination means unfair or unequal treatment of an individual or group based on age, disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

Ndiwano will investigate claims of discrimination on a case-by-case basis, and defend protected groups whenever possible.

Do not:

• Express your unwillingness to work with a person or a group of people based on age, disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, race, religion, sexual orientation, or other similar grounds.
• Publish, offer, or ask for any content that expresses or supports discriminatory ideas. 
• Offer or ask for the writing or editing of texts that support discriminatory ideas or practices.

Adult, Nudity, and Sexual Activity

Explicit content meant to be sexually gratifying is not allowed on Ndiwano. If detected or reported, sexually explicit content will be blocked and participants could be banned from the marketplace. Gigs and deliveries portraying violent, graphic, or humiliating fetishes are also not allowed. 

Sexually explicit content featuring minors and content that seeks to sexually exploit minors is prohibited on Ndiwano. We immediately report content that violates this policy to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which works with global law enforcement agencies.

Do not post, offer or ask for:

• Nude or adult-related images, or videos.
• Sex or sexual partners.
• Sex chats or conversations.
• The execution of fetish scenarios.
• Sexually gratifying modelling.
• Sexually gratifying voiceovers.
• Content that depicts explicit sexual activity, unless the conditions for “documentary exception,” as listed above, exist.

Ndiwano will act quickly to block transactions that feature child nudity and will flag the offending account for review.   

Documentary Exception

Ndiwano will allow nudity when the primary purpose is educational, scientific, or artistic, and it isn’t gratuitous. For example, a video edit ordered by a midwife depicting proper breastfeeding technique would be appropriate, while creating a video with clips from the same film but used out of context for the purpose of sexual gratification, would not. Out-of-context nudity from indigenous communities, protests, medical procedures, childbirth, artistic performances, breastfeeding or like, may not meet our documentary exception. 

Fake News

Ndiwano defines Fake News as false or intentionally misleading information or propaganda that is developed and presented as authentic news. If it is reported or flagged that Ndiwano’s platform is being used to create or promote the spread of fake news; we will investigate and take action accordingly. 

Political and Election Policies

Ndiwano will not tolerate attempts to use the Ndiwano marketplace to undermine elections. Election Interference is defined as any attempt to interfere with the voting process or to destabilize and undermine public faith in free and fair elections. 

Political affiliation

A user’s political affiliation is not a basis for rejecting an offer on Ndiwano. 

Do not express your unwillingness to work with a person or a group of people based on political affiliation.

Intellectual Property

Ndiwano content is based on User Generated Content (UGC). If you believe any of the uploaded content violates your copyright or a related exclusive right, you should follow the process described here.

Upon receipt of a report from a rights holder or an authorized representative, we will remove or restrict content that engages in:

• Copyright infringement
• Trademark infringement

Violence and Criminal Behavior

Threats

While we know that people sometimes express frustration or disagreement by threatening or calling for violence in non-serious ways, we can’t risk the safety of our community or the general public by ignoring threats of physical harm. We will attempt to consider language and context when distinguishing casual comments from credible threats to public or personal safety, but Ndiwano will also act quickly to block accounts and may notify law enforcement when threats appear to be credible.

Do not:

• Threaten violence against another community member
• Offer or ask for gigs that threaten violence against individuals, groups, or the general public.

Glorification of violence

Using Ndiwano to create content that glorifies, promotes or expresses support for acts of violence, is not acceptable on Ndiwano. 

Please do not offer or ask for:  orders that promote, support or glorify violence.

Incitement

Incitement means encouraging or asking other people to engage in unlawful conduct.  Be aware that inciting others to commit a crime may be a crime in itself, regardless of the outcome of the request. 

Do not:

• Ask for or instruct people to break the law.
• Engage in activities of questionable legality.

Terrorism

International and domestic terror organizations sometimes use the internet to create and spread propaganda designed to radicalize vulnerable people and to develop materials designed to foster and aid terrorist attacks.

Do not offer or ask for:

• The promotion of terrorist activities.
• Services or products related to terror organizations or terrorists.
• Editing Content linked to terrorist acts.
• Recruitment to terror organizations.

We do allow people to offer or ask for content regarding the research of terror or content that is related to the prevention of terror.

Self-Harm

At Ndiwano, we care deeply about the safety of our community. If someone you’re communicating with expresses suicidal thoughts or is engaging in self-harm, please contact local authorities immediately and flag the content to our Trust and Safety or Customer Support teams.  

If you’re going through an emotionally challenging time yourself or struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, we urge you to seek immediate assistance. For 24-hour free, confidential, and immediate support see: https://www.befrienders.org/

Minors policy

Ndiwano’s Terms of Service require that all users be at least 18 years of age and of legal age to form a binding contract. Users under 18 and at least 13 years of age are permitted to use the site only through an account owned by their parent or legal guardian with their permission. Users under the age of 13 are not permitted to use the site.

Services involving minors

Some gigs on Ndiwano involve minors’ participation in the service, e.g child voice-over, children’s products photography, etc. In all services involving minors, the owner of the account must be the minor’s parent or legal guardian. When this is the case, it must be stated clearly in the gig description. 

Parents or legal guardians are required to follow all child labour local laws and regulations. 

In the following categories on Ndiwano, users under 18 may not take part in providing the service: “Modeling & Acting”, “Dance Lessons”, “Your message on”, and “Greeting Cards & Videos”. 

No adult or harmful content featuring minors

We do not allow sexual or harmful content featuring minors—including but not limited to— NSFW/lewd illustrations, erotic stories, NSFW voice-overs, Loli voice-overs, and anime illustrations. Ndiwano may use broad discretion when removing items that depict minors.

Any violations of this policy can lead to actions taken on the user account.