Straits & Canton is a private media house built for independent creators, serious discussion and members who want an alternative to public social media.

These Community Rules apply to all member activity, including videos, posts, comments, chat messages, creator pages, profile information, direct interactions and reports.

By using Straits & Canton, you agree to follow these rules alongside the Terms of Membership and, where applicable, the Creator Terms.

1. Speak freely, but act responsibly

Straits & Canton exists to support independent opinions and honest discussion.

Members and creators may:

• express strong views;
• criticise governments, institutions, companies, public figures and ideas;
• disagree with other members;
• challenge popular or mainstream opinions;
• discuss controversial subjects;
• share personal experiences and perspectives.

Freedom to speak does not remove responsibility for what you publish.

Disagreement is allowed. Threats, harassment, fraud and deliberate abuse are not.

2. Treat other members as people

You do not need to agree with another member, creator or moderator.

You must not:

• repeatedly target someone with personal abuse;
• follow another member across the platform to provoke them;
• organise others to attack or intimidate someone;
• send unwanted threatening or abusive messages;
• deliberately humiliate or degrade another member;
• encourage others to harass someone;
• continue contacting someone after being clearly asked to stop.

Criticise the argument. Do not turn disagreement into a campaign against the person.

3. No threats or encouragement of violence

You must not:

• threaten physical harm;
• encourage another person to commit violence;
• celebrate or promote violence against an identifiable person or group;
• make indirect or suggestive threats intended to frighten someone;
• offer rewards for harming another person;
• publish instructions intended to facilitate serious violence.

Credible threats may be reported to the appropriate authorities.

4. No doxxing or exposure of private information

Do not publish, request, threaten to publish or help distribute another person’s private information without permission.

This includes:

• home addresses;
• personal telephone numbers;
• private email addresses;
• financial information;
• identity documents;
• precise real-time locations;
• private family information;
• medical records;
• login details;
• non-public employment information;
• photographs or records intended to expose or endanger someone.

Information being available somewhere online does not automatically make it appropriate to republish for harassment or intimidation.

5. No impersonation or deceptive identity use

You must not:

• pretend to be another person;
• create an account intended to mislead members about who operates it;
• falsely claim to represent Straits & Canton;
• copy another creator’s identity, branding or profile deceptively;
• use altered or AI-generated media to falsely present yourself as another person;
• create fake endorsements, testimonials or affiliations.

Pseudonyms may be permitted, but they must not be used to deceive or impersonate.

6. No spam or low-value promotion

Straits & Canton is not an open advertising board.

You must not:

• repeatedly post the same message;
• flood comments or chat with links;
• send unsolicited promotional messages to members;
• use automated posting tools without permission;
• create misleading engagement bait;
• post irrelevant promotions across multiple discussions;
• create accounts mainly to redirect members elsewhere;
• artificially inflate views, comments, referrals, votes or reactions.

Creators may promote their own relevant work within the tools and limits provided by the platform.

7. No scams, fraud or manipulation

You must not use Straits & Canton to:

• run a scam;
• make knowingly false financial claims;
• solicit money through deception;
• offer fraudulent investments;
• manipulate creator referrals;
• create fake member accounts;
• abuse refunds or chargebacks;
• misrepresent a product, service or partnership;
• falsely claim that Straits & Canton endorses you;
• sell access to member-only content;
• collect personal information through deception.

Suspected fraud may result in immediate account restriction while it is investigated.

8. No account sharing or access resale

Membership access is personal.

You must not:

• share login credentials;
• allow multiple unrelated people to use one account;
• sell or rent access to your account;
• stream member-only content to non-members;
• create shared household or business accounts unless expressly permitted;
• bypass membership controls.

9. Protect member-only content

Content inside Straits & Canton is provided for members.

Without permission, you must not:

• download and republish videos;
• screen-record member-only content;
• copy substantial parts of creator posts;
• redistribute private chat messages;
• publish screenshots intended to expose private member discussions;
• provide member content to public platforms;
• create summaries designed to replace the paid content;
• use creator content to train external systems or commercial tools.

Short quotations for genuine discussion inside the platform may be allowed where reasonable and properly attributed.

10. Respect intellectual property

Only upload material you own or are authorised to use.

You must not upload:

• pirated videos;
• copyrighted broadcasts without permission;
• stolen creator content;
• unlicensed music where a licence is required;
• paid courses or subscription content belonging to others;
• copied articles presented as your own;
• another person’s logo or branding deceptively.

Creators are responsible for ensuring they have the necessary rights to anything they publish.

11. No malicious or technically harmful activity

You must not:

• distribute malware;
• publish phishing links;
• attempt to obtain another member’s password;
• probe or attack the platform;
• interfere with video delivery, chat or account systems;
• scrape member information without permission;
• use bots to manipulate engagement;
• attempt to bypass security restrictions;
• exploit vulnerabilities instead of reporting them.

Security concerns should be reported privately to Straits & Canton.

12. Illegal content and activity

You must not use the platform to organise, promote or facilitate unlawful activity.

This includes content intended to facilitate:

• fraud;
• theft;
• hacking;
• exploitation;
• trafficking;
• serious violence;
• illegal weapons transactions;
• non-consensual intimate imagery;
• sexual exploitation;
• prohibited drugs or controlled substances;
• other serious criminal conduct.

Discussion, reporting, criticism or documentary treatment of illegal activity may be allowed where it does not promote or facilitate wrongdoing.

13. Sexual content and exploitation

Straits & Canton is not an adult-content platform.

You must not publish:

• pornography;
• explicit sexual content created primarily for sexual gratification;
• non-consensual intimate images;
• sexual extortion;
• sexual content involving minors;
• content that exploits or coerces another person;
• links directing members to prohibited sexual material.

Discussion of relationships, culture, law, exploitation or adult industries may be permitted where handled responsibly and without prohibited explicit material.

14. Graphic violence

Graphic material may be restricted or removed where it is:

• posted mainly to shock;
• excessively graphic;
• presented without a legitimate editorial purpose;
• used to celebrate suffering;
• likely to cause unnecessary harm to members;
• shared without appropriate warning or context.

Documentary, newsworthy or analytical material may be allowed where there is a clear reason for including it and suitable warnings are used.

15. Creator standards

Creators have greater reach and therefore greater responsibility.

Creators must:

• provide genuine member value;
• publish honestly;
• avoid repetitive low-effort uploads;
• clearly distinguish opinion from verified fact where relevant;
• disclose significant commercial relationships;
• correct material errors where appropriate;
• avoid manipulating members for artificial engagement;
• follow the Creator Terms;
• comply with moderation decisions;
• respect member privacy.

Creator access may be reviewed if a creator repeatedly fails to provide value or breaches these rules.

16. Creator access is earned

Ordinary members do not receive immediate upload privileges.

Under the current platform model:

• members join and take part first;
• creator eligibility begins after three months of membership;
• eligibility does not guarantee approval;
• applicants may be reviewed for conduct, participation and suitability;
• creators must continue meeting the platform standards after approval.

This structure exists to protect the platform from spam and low-value open uploading.

17. Member feedback and creator voting

Members may be able to:

• comment on creator content;
• rate or review creators;
• report problems;
• provide feedback;
• take part in creator-review votes.

Member voting is an important signal, but it is not the sole decision-maker.

Final decisions about creator approval, visibility, suspension or removal remain with Straits & Canton and may consider:

• member feedback;
• rule compliance;
• creator activity;
• content quality;
• genuine member value;
• evidence of manipulation;
• legal and safety concerns;
• the wider interests of the platform.

Attempts to organise dishonest voting campaigns may result in action against the participating accounts.

18. Reporting content or behaviour

If you believe content or behaviour breaches these rules, use the reporting tool where available or contact:

[support@straitsandcanton.com]

When reporting, provide:

• the relevant creator or member name;
• a link or screenshot;
• the date and approximate time;
• a brief explanation;
• any relevant context.

Do not submit false or malicious reports.

Reporting a person does not guarantee that content or an account will be removed. Reports will be reviewed in context.

19. Moderation

Straits & Canton may:

• remove content;
• limit visibility;
• close comments;
• mute or restrict chat access;
• issue a warning;
• require changes to content;
• temporarily suspend an account;
• remove creator privileges;
• terminate membership;
• preserve information required for an investigation;
• refer serious matters to authorities where appropriate.

Moderation decisions may take into account:

• severity;
• context;
• intent;
• actual or potential harm;
• previous behaviour;
• whether the issue was corrected;
• whether the account attempted to evade enforcement.

We are not required to apply every enforcement measure in the same order.

20. Serious breaches

Some conduct may result in immediate suspension or termination without a prior warning.

This may include:

• credible threats;
• doxxing;
• fraud;
• account compromise;
• non-consensual intimate content;
• exploitation of minors;
• serious harassment;
• distribution of malware;
• deliberate leaking of substantial member-only content;
• impersonation intended to defraud;
• repeated ban evasion;
• coordinated manipulation of referrals, votes or payments.

21. Appeals

Where an appeal process is available, a member or creator may request review of a moderation decision.

An appeal should:

• identify the decision being challenged;
• explain why it may be incorrect;
• provide relevant evidence;
• remain respectful;
• be submitted within the stated period.

Appeals are not an opportunity to threaten moderators, organise pressure campaigns or repeatedly resubmit the same argument.

The outcome of an appeal may confirm, reduce, amend or reverse the original action.

22. Ban evasion

You must not create or use another account to avoid:

• a suspension;
• a creator restriction;
• a chat ban;
• a membership termination;
• another moderation measure.

Accounts reasonably connected to ban evasion may also be restricted.

23. Off-platform conduct

Straits & Canton will not normally police private conduct elsewhere.

However, we may act where there is reliable evidence that off-platform behaviour:

• creates a serious risk to members;
• involves threats or violence;
• targets members because of their involvement with the platform;
• involves fraud connected to Straits & Canton;
• exposes private member information;
• demonstrates that continued access would create a significant safety or security risk.

24. No guarantee of agreement or offence-free discussion

Straits & Canton is designed for independent voices.

You may encounter:

• opinions you strongly disagree with;
• criticism of institutions or ideologies you support;
• blunt language;
• controversial discussion;
• creators with conflicting viewpoints.

Feeling offended or disagreeing with a view does not by itself mean that a rule has been broken.

The distinction is between controversial expression and conduct involving threats, harassment, fraud, unlawful activity or other prohibited behaviour.

25. Changes to these rules

These Community Rules may be updated as the platform develops.

Changes may be made to address:

• new features;
• emerging risks;
• creator tools;
• moderation experience;
• legal requirements;
• feedback from members.

The latest version will appear on this page with an updated date.

Significant changes may also be communicated through the platform or by email.

26. Contact

Questions about these Community Rules can be sent to:

Straits Canton Helliwell Limited
Trading as Straits & Canton
Email: [support@straitsandcanton.com]