Community Guidelines

1. The Community We Are Building

Trusted Rw exists to make trust visible. We believe that when consumers can share honest experiences and businesses can demonstrate genuine accountability, the entire commercial ecosystem benefits. Every review, every verified profile, and every good-faith interaction on this platform contributes to that shared infrastructure of trust.

These guidelines define what we ask of you as a participant, and what we commit to you in return. They apply to every person and every business that uses the platform, without exception.

We hold ourselves to the same standard. The rules here are not a shield for us to act arbitrarily, they are the framework within which we govern consistently, transparently, and fairly.

2. Our Commitments to the Community Platform Standards

Trusted Rw makes these binding commitments to all community members:

• Consistent moderation: We apply these guidelines evenhandedly, no user or business receives preferential treatment in enforcement
• Transparent decisions: When we take action on content or an account, we will tell you what rule was applied and why
• Due process: Except in cases of serious or immediate harm, we issue warnings before suspensions and provide a meaningful appeal process
• Reporter protection: Users who report violations in good faith are protected from retaliation. We do not reveal reporter identities to subjects of reports
• No arbitrary removal: We do not remove content because a business finds it unflattering. Honest negative reviews are protected; only fraudulent, harmful, or prohibited content is removed
• Accessible process: We will respond to moderation appeals within 14 business days and provide a clear outcome
• Policy stability: We will not change these guidelines retroactively. Changes take effect prospectively, with 30 days' notice for material changes

3. Authenticity and Honesty

The platform's value depends entirely on the authenticity of its content. Every participant must uphold these principles:

3.1 Reviews and Ratings

• Only review businesses, products, or services you have actually used, visited, or received
• Share your genuine experience, positive, negative, or mixed, without exaggeration or fabrication
• Be specific: describe what happened, when, and what you expected vs. what you received
• Do not review a business you are affiliated with, employed by, or have a financial interest in
• Do not submit the same review multiple times across accounts
• Do not coordinate with others to flood a business with positive or negative reviews

3.2 Profiles and Identities

• Use your real identity or a consistent persona you genuinely represent
• Do not impersonate other individuals, businesses, public figures, or institutions
• Do not create multiple accounts to circumvent limitations or enforcement actions
• Business profiles must represent real, operating businesses and must be managed by an authorised representative

4. Respect and Civil Conduct

You may express strong opinions, including criticism, without crossing into conduct that harms others. We draw the line here:

4.1 Always Permitted

• Honest, candid negative reviews, including low ratings and pointed criticism of service quality
• Describing a difficult or disappointing experience in direct, specific terms
• Disagreeing with other users' reviews or opinions
• Pointing out misleading business practices or unmet expectations

4.2 Never Permitted

• Personal attacks, insults, or abusive language directed at any individual, including business staff
• Harassment: repeated unwanted contact, threats, intimidation, or sustained targeting of an individual
• Hate speech: content that attacks, degrades, or dehumanises people based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, or other protected characteristics
• Revealing private information about individuals, addresses, contact details, financial information, without their explicit consent
• Threats of violence, property damage, legal action made in bad faith, or reputational harm as retaliation

5. Platform Purpose and Scope

Trusted Rw is a commercial trust platform. Its features, reviews, surveys, polls, live sessions, feeds, campaigns, and marketplace, exist to serve legitimate business and consumer purposes. Maintaining this focus preserves the platform's value for everyone.

5.1 Not Permitted on This Platform

• Campaigning, canvassing, or electioneering for or against any political party, candidate, or electoral initiative
• Fundraising or mobilising support for partisan political causes
• Registering political parties, partisan movements, or campaign organisations as business profiles
• Using any platform feature to advocate for or against partisan political positions
• Distributing partisan propaganda, campaign materials, or politically divisive messaging through any platform channel
• Using platform data, analytics, or audience reach for partisan profiling, voter targeting, or political influence operations

This does not prohibit discussion of business regulation, consumer protection law, or publicly relevant commercial matters. The distinction is purpose: commercial context is welcome; partisan political activity is not.

6. Prohibited Content

The following content is prohibited across all platform features regardless of context:

7. Business Participant Standards

Businesses listed on Trusted Rw have specific obligations that complement their consumer-facing presence:

7.1 How Businesses Must Engage

• Respond to reviews professionally and constructively, including negative ones. A business response is a signal of maturity, not a battleground
• Do not offer incentives, discounts, refunds, gifts, or payments, in exchange for reviews or changes to existing reviews
• Do not request, suggest, or pressure customers to remove, edit, or adjust negative reviews
• Do not use staff, friends, or connected accounts to submit fake positive reviews for your business
• Do not use fake or third-party accounts to submit negative reviews for competitor businesses
• Keep your business profile information accurate, current, and representative of your actual operations
• Accept verification requests as a condition of maintaining an active, trusted business profile

7.2 Platform Protections for Businesses

• We investigate reports of coordinated fake negative review campaigns targeting businesses
• Businesses may flag reviews they believe are fraudulent or in violation of these guidelines
• We do not remove honest negative reviews on business request, but we do remove reviews that violate our standards
• Businesses have a right to respond publicly to every review on their profile

8. Reporting Violations

You play a central role in maintaining platform integrity. If you encounter content or conduct that violates these guidelines:

• Use the Report button on the specific content or profile, this is the fastest route for most violations
• Select the most accurate violation category from the list provided
• Provide specific context, evidence, or screenshots where relevant, detailed reports result in faster and more accurate review
• For serious violations involving safety, fraud, or illegal activity, contact support@trusted.rw directly

Reporter protection: We treat all reports in confidence. We do not disclose your identity to the subject of a report, and we do not penalise you for submitting a good-faith report, even if it does not result in enforcement action.

Against misuse: Filing false reports to harm other users or competitors is a violation of these guidelines and may result in enforcement action against your own account.

9. Enforcement Framework

We apply a proportionate, graduated approach to enforcement. Our goal is to correct behaviour where possible, not to punish arbitrarily.

9.1 Enforcement Tiers

Tiers 4 and 5 may be applied immediately, without prior warnings, in cases of serious harm, illegal activity, or where user safety is at risk.

9.2 Immediate Action Cases

The following will result in immediate account suspension or permanent ban without prior warning:

• Child sexual abuse material or sexualisation of minors in any form
• Credible threats of violence or calls for harm against identifiable individuals
• Distribution of malware, phishing content, or tools for criminal activity
• Organised fake review operations confirmed through investigation
• Identity fraud or impersonation of Trusted Rw staff or officials
• Ban evasion: creating new accounts to circumvent an existing suspension or ban

10. Appeals Process

You have the right to appeal any enforcement action taken against your content or account. We take appeals seriously and review each one on its merits.

10.1 How to Appeal

• Submit your appeal within 30 days of the enforcement action to appeals@trusted.rw
• Include your account identifier, a description of the action taken, and why you believe the decision was incorrect
• Attach any relevant evidence, context, or supporting information

10.2 Appeal Outcomes

• We will acknowledge your appeal within 3 business days
• A substantive decision will be provided within 14 business days
• If the appeal is upheld, the enforcement action is reversed and the record is corrected
• If the appeal is declined, we will explain the reason with specific reference to the guidelines applied
• Appeal decisions for permanent bans are final

10.3 What Appeals Cannot Do

Appeals cannot reverse enforcement actions that involve illegal content, child safety material, or credible threats of violence. These remain outside appeal scope for safety reasons.

11. Content Moderation Approach

Our moderation combines automated detection, community reporting, and human review:

• Automated detection: pattern recognition for spam, known prohibited content signatures, and rapid abuse detection
• Community reports: user-flagged content is prioritised for human review based on severity signals
• Human review: all significant enforcement actions (warnings, suspensions, bans) are reviewed by a human moderator before being applied
• Contextual judgment: we consider context, intent, and pattern before acting. A single borderline review will be treated differently from a coordinated campaign

We acknowledge that moderation involves difficult judgment calls. We commit to learning from errors and improving our processes based on appeal outcomes and community feedback.

12. Contact and Support

For questions about these guidelines, to report a violation, or to submit an appeal:

General reports: Use the in-platform Report button
Serious violations: support@trusted.rw
Appeals: appeals@trusted.rw
Policy questions: legal@trusted.rw
Location: Kigali, Rwanda

13. Version and Change History

Version: 3.0
Effective date:
Change note: Comprehensive rewrite introducing mutual platform commitments, tiered enforcement framework, formal appeals process, expanded honesty standards, business protections, content moderation transparency, and reporter protection policy.