Community

Be the person you are at your grandmother’s table.

Ashlonk is private by design, which means we cannot and do not police your conversations. These guidelines are about the parts we can see — profiles, group names, and the people you send things to — and about the kind of community we want. The legal version is in our Terms, section 4.

01The short version

  • Talk to people who want to hear from you.
  • Do not use Ashlonk to hurt, threaten, deceive or expose anyone.
  • Keep it legal — Iraqi law applies to what you send, the same as anywhere else.
  • When in doubt: would you say it to their face, in front of their family?

02Not okay, ever

  • Threats and harassment. Threatening, blackmailing, stalking or repeatedly contacting someone who asked you to stop.
  • Exposing people. Sharing someone’s private photos, messages, location or secrets without their consent — including "leaked" chats. This is a crime under Iraqi law and the fastest way to lose your account.
  • Terrorism and violence. Promoting, planning, financing or glorifying terrorism or violence against anyone.
  • Sexual content involving minors. Zero tolerance; we report to the competent authorities.
  • Fraud and scams. Fake giveaways, phishing for verification codes, "send money and I will double it", impersonating a bank, ministry or a real person.
  • Spam. Unsolicited bulk messages, mass-adding people to groups they did not ask for, or automating accounts.
  • Hate. Attacking people because of their religion, sect, ethnicity, gender, disability or where they come from.

03If you run a group

Admins set the tone. You are expected to:

  • Give the group a name and description that say what it is, and are not deceptive or hateful.
  • Remove members who break these guidelines, and content that does.
  • Use the "only admins can add" setting for large groups so people are not dragged in.
  • Not use the group to distribute pirated films, music or software.

Groups whose admins repeatedly ignore reports can be dissolved.

04Names, photos and "about" lines

Your profile is visible to your contacts and the groups you are in. It may not impersonate another person or organisation, contain sexual imagery, promote violence, or include someone else’s private information. Business accounts should say they are a business.

05Reporting and what happens next

  • Block first: open the chat, tap the name, tap Block. They cannot message or call you again.
  • Then report: Report in the same menu sends us the account and, if you choose, the last five messages — decrypted on your device by you, never by us.
  • A human on the team reviews every report. Outcomes range from a warning to permanent removal; we tell the reporter that action was taken, without details.
  • Knowingly false reports break these guidelines too.

Emergencies: if someone is in immediate danger, contact the Iraqi police on 104 or emergency services on 122 first. We are not an emergency service.

06What we do not do

We do not scan your messages, we do not have a list of banned words, and we do not remove content from private chats because we cannot see it. Enforcement is based on reports and on what is publicly visible to us. This is deliberate: a messenger that can read your messages to protect you can also read them for other reasons.