Sexual Content and Conduct
Community Guidelines Explainer Series
Updated: March 2026
Overview
We strive to protect Snapchatters from unsolicited sexual content or abuse. Our policies prohibit sexual exploitation of any kind – including the sexual exploitation of children. We also prohibit sexual harassment and sharing, promoting or distributing sexually explicit content and conduct, including pornography, sexual nudity or offers of sexual services.
Prohibited Conduct
We prohibit the following sexual harms:
Any activity that involves sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor, including sharing child sexual exploitation or abuse imagery; grooming for sexual purposes; sexual extortion (sextortion); or attempts to persuade, trick or coerce a minor with the intent of sexual abuse or exploiting the sexualisation of children. We report any child sexual exploitation that we’ve identified, including attempts to engage in such conduct, to the appropriate authorities, including the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), in line with legal requirements.
The sexualisation of minors or sharing of minor nudity, whether involving real individuals or fictional, synthetic or digitally created representations, regardless of whether it rises to the level of child sexual exploitation.
Adult sexual exploitation, including non-consensual sexual content, sextortion and deceptive sexual practices, such as efforts to coerce or entice users to provide nude imagery.
Producing, sharing or threatening to create or share non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) – including sexual or intimate photos or videos taken or shared without permission, depictions of private acts (such as bathing or using the bathroom), as well as "revenge porn" or behaviour that threatens to share, exploit or expose individuals' intimate images or videos without their consent.
Sharing or creating AI-generated sexual content, including offering or promoting "nudify" services or applications.
Sexual harassment, which may include making unwanted advances, sharing graphic and unsolicited content, or sending obscene requests or sexual invitations to other users.
Promoting, distributing or sharing pornographic content, including photos, videos or highly realistic animation, drawings, or other renderings of explicit sex acts, or nudity where the primary intention is sexual arousal.
Offers or solicitation of sexual services (whether paid or unpaid), including both offline services (such as, for example, erotic massage) and online experiences (such as, for example, offering sexual subscription services, or sexual chat or video services).
We do allow for non-sexual nudity in certain contexts, such as breastfeeding, medical procedures and other similar depictions provided the subject has provided their consent.
Takeaway
We prohibit sexual exploitation and sexually explicit content of any kind, including the sexual exploitation of children, sharing non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), sextortion, sexual harassment, pornography and offers of sexual services. Never post, save, send, forward, distribute or ask for nude or sexually explicit content involving anyone under the age of 18 (this includes sending or saving such images of yourself). When we discover severe harm involving sexual content, we lock the offending account and report it to authorities where appropriate.
We want users to feel safe and comfortable using Snap. If you ever feel unsafe or believe you may be in immediate danger, consider contacting your local law enforcement, where appropriate, and block offending users. We also encourage you to report violating content or accounts to Snapchat so we can take appropriate action.
Up Next: Threats, Violence, & Harm
Our efforts to protect users
We aim to consider both safety and privacy in our approach to protecting users. We use a combination of automated tools and human review intended to prevent users from being exposed to pornographic content or other sexual harms or exploitation on public surfaces (such as Spotlight, Public Stories, and Maps).
We use automated tools to help identify and remove certain known illegal child sexual exploitation photos and videos, including:
Microsoft’s PhotoDNA (to detect duplicates of known illegal images)
Google’s CSAI Match (to detect duplicates of known illegal videos)
Google’s Content Safety API (to aid in detecting novel, “never-before-hashed” imagery)
We use similar technology to help identify and remove certain non-consensual intimate imagery. We participate in the Take It Down program run by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), receiving and leveraging hashes of nude or partially nude imagery supplied by minors that they want to prevent from spreading online. We also participate in StopNCII, a similar programme for people who are 18 or older, run by South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) based in the UK. In addition, in some cases, we use behavioral “signals” to identify potentially illegal or harmful activity so that we can proactively remove bad actors and report them to authorities as appropriate.
When we become aware of sexually explicit or exploitative content, we act swiftly to remove the offending content, enforce against the violating account, and where appropriate, escalate to NCMEC and/or law enforcement. We work closely with NCMEC and law enforcement to maintain a feedback loop on the effectiveness of our policies.
