App Policies

Discrimination

Bent has a zero-tolerance policy for language or behavior that excludes or demeans marginalized groups. This includes, but is not limited to, language and behavior that is racist, sexist, ableist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, biphobic, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, fat-shaming or that discriminates based on faith, culture, skin color, age, sexual preference, kink, HIV status or other medical conditions and diagnoses. Hate speech of all kinds is forbidden. We also do not allow discriminatory content including, but not limited to, photos, videos, illustrations, GIFs, links, memes, stories or fantasies that fetishizes or otherwise discriminates against marginalized groups.

Everyone’s experience is individual, and people’s identities change and evolve as they grow. We don’t allow language or behavior that invalidates people’s identities, feelings or experiences. This includes accusing others of “faking” something or doing something “just for attention” as well as claiming that some identities aren’t valid or “real.”

We support and encourage communities created as safe spaces for people with specific shared identities or experiences. There is a difference between communities that are built for people and communities that are built with the purpose of excluding marginalized groups. Communities that are built on exclusion may be removed from our platform.

Harassment

Don’t make others feel uncomfortable or unsafe. We want you to be yourself and express yourself freely here, but not at the expense of someone else.

Harassment on Bent includes deliberate misgendering, deadnaming, name calling, micro-aggressions and creating unwelcoming and unsafe environments through trolling, devil’s advocacy, sealioning or otherwise purposefully creating inflammatory, irrelevant or offensive conversations.

Bent is built on consent. You always have the right to say no and set boundaries that make you most comfortable. You may pose respectful questions to others on Bent, but remember that you are not owed an answer. Repeatedly following up in comments or messages constitutes harassment — as does any repeated contact after someone has asked that you leave them alone. Any retaliatory action or harassment against those who may have blocked you will not be tolerated.

Violence

We take threats of harm to public and personal safety very seriously and have a zero-tolerance policy to threatening behavior on our platform. This includes specific threats physical harm as well as threats of stalking, theft, vandalism or other financial harm. If you’ve received a threat to your personal safety that you believe to be serious, please contact your local law enforcement as well as reporting it on Bent.

Please be thoughtful when sharing content that depicts or links to depictions of violence. We understand that people may share this kind of content to discuss newsworthy events or to condemn, raise awareness or educate. Please caption this content accordingly and include warnings about graphic violence. Even so, we may remove depictions of graphic violence to keep Bent safe for everyone. We never allow sharing graphic violence for the purposes of sadistic pleasure or glorifying violence.

Self Harm

Bent is a place for caring, supportive communities — and we know this may include groups where people come together to create awareness or find support for difficult issues such as suicide, cutting, eating disorders, substance addiction or other kinds of self-injury.

Encouraging or urging people to embrace self-injury in any way is not allowed here, and we’ll remove it or disable accounts if it’s reported to us. We also forbid content that identifies victims or survivors of self-injury in order to attack or make fun of them.

Personal Information

For your own safety and the safety of others, be careful about the personal information you share on Bent — even in communities you trust. Do not post any personal information to your public profile (including your phone number and address). Never share financial information or sensitive information such as website passwords, social security numbers or photos of ID. Publishing the private, sensitive and identifying material of others (doxxing) is illegal and forbidden on our platform.

Intimate Content

While Bent does allow adult content in communities, we have a zero tolerance policy regarding sharing or threatening to share nude and otherwise intimate content from others without their permission (revenge porn). This includes screenshots of intimate messages or content from other apps, ‘leaked’ content from celebrities or public figures and content from adult performers shared outside of its intended audience. Linking to this material on other sites and soliciting this material in any way is also forbidden.

To comply with Apple App Store policies, at this time adult content depicting sexual acts or full nudity may not be shared as profile photos or as the cover image for any community.

In order to help all members of any community engage with adult content in consensual ways, we also strongly encourage hosts to create descriptions, channels and guidelines that help their members have clear expectations about the role of adult content in their communities.

Child Exploitation

There is no place on Bent for content that sexualizes or otherwise threatens the safety of children. This includes not only photos, videos and illustrations, but also stories, memories and fantasies that sexualize minors or depict minors in sexual situations.

While we know that people like to share photos of their children, for safety reasons we encourage that you never share partially-nude or nude photographs of your children. Even when this content is shared with good intentions (for example, within a parenting community), it could be used by others in unanticipated ways. Even in well-meaning contexts, we may remove these photographs from our platform.

Impersonation & False Representation

To develop authentic and honest connections, use your real and full identity. You don’t have to use your legal name on Bent, but any information you provide — including age — must be up to date and accurate. Don't impersonate others - including Bent staff or employees. Creating additional accounts for the purposes of misleading others or getting around a ban or other platform restriction is forbidden.

Only share content that you’ve created or have the right to share. Share authentic content and don’t post anything you’ve copied or collected from the Internet that you don’t have the right to post. If your intellectual property has been shared without your consent, you may report it to us here.

Spam

To keep Bent a thriving, valuable and authentic place for communities, don’t engage in spammy behaviors such as posting repetitive comments or content or repeatedly contacting people for commercial purposes without their consent. Don’t offer money or giveaways of money in exchange for engagement. This use of bots or programs that create artificial accounts or engagement of any kind will result in action against your account.

Misinformation

Knowingly sharing false or misleading information is forbidden on Bent. We may remove content if we reasonably believe it could result in damage to physical infrastructure, injury of others, obstruction of civic participation or endangerment of public health.

Follow the Law

We have a zero-tolerance policy towards support or praise for terrorism, organized crime or hate groups. Buying or selling firearms, alcohol and tobacco products between private individuals, and the sale or purchase of non-medical or pharmaceutical drugs are also not allowed.

We don’t allow content that attempts to trade, coordinate the trade of, donate, gift or ask for non-medical drugs. We allow mentions of marijuana, over the counter medication and prescribed medications. However, evidence of misuse or encouraging others to use irresponsibly is forbidden. We do not allow any mention of non-prescription drugs, other than marijuana, unless in the context of addiction recovery. Also, we do not allow communities or profiles focused on illegal drug content.

The sale of live animals between private individuals is not allowed. We forbid the coordination of poaching and the selling of endangered species or their parts.