Complaints Policy & Procedure
1. Purpose and scope
Friendship Lab (“we”, “us”) operates an online platform that allows users to sign up for courses, create a profile, and participate in a discussion forum where they can post text, images, and videos. Our platform is a user-to-user service regulated under the UK Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA). This procedure sets out how users can raise concerns or complaints about content or behaviour on our platform, how we will handle those complaints, and what users can do if they are not satisfied with our response. It meets the requirements of sections 20 and 21 of the OSA.
Who can use this procedure?
• Any registered user of our platform.
• Anyone who has been directly affected by content on our platform, even if they are not a registered user.
2. What you can complain about
You may use this procedure to complain about any of the following.
2.1 Illegal content or behaviour
The OSA requires us to act against content that involves serious criminal offences. This includes content relating to any of the 17 categories of priority illegal behaviour listed in Appendix A of this document. In plain terms, you can report content that you believe:
• promotes or facilitates terrorism or violent extremism
• shows or promotes child sexual exploitation or abuse (CSEA)
• incites racial, religious or other hatred
• constitutes harassment, stalking or threatening communications
• encourages or assists serious self-harm or suicide
• shows or promotes sexual exploitation or human trafficking
• involves fraud or financial crime directed at users
• shares intimate images without consent (including “deepfakes”)
• sends or shows images of genitals without consent (cyberflashing)
• involves drug or weapons supply
• constitutes any other serious criminal offence where a user is the victim
2.2 Content that is harmful to children
You can also report:
• pornographic content
• content that promotes, encourages or provides instructions for suicide, self-harm or eating disorders
• content that is abusive, bullying or hateful towards a child
• violent or age-inappropriate content
2.3 Any other content that causes concern
This may include, but not be limited to, content that appears discriminatory in any way, promotes animal cruelty, or is otherwise offensive.
2.4 Concerns about how we are running the platform
You can also complain if you believe:
• we are not complying with our duties under the Online Safety Act 2023
• content you posted has been removed or restricted unfairly
• your account has been warned, suspended or banned unfairly
Not sure if your concern counts?
Please submit it anyway. We will review it and let you know if it falls outside this procedure. We will not penalise you for raising a concern in good faith.
3. How to make a complaint
You can contact us via:
• Email: [email protected]
• Online: Use this contact form
• Post: 9 Earl Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX2 0JA, United Kingdom.
3.1 What to include
To help us deal with your complaint as quickly as possible, please tell us:
• your name and the email address linked to your account (if you have one)
• a description of what happened and why you are concerned
• a link to, or description of, the content or account involved
• any dates, times or reference numbers you have
• what outcome you are hoping for
You do not have to include everything — we will follow up if we need more information.
4. What happens after you complain
4.1 Acknowledgement
We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days of receiving it. Your acknowledgement will include a unique reference number. Please keep this safe.
4.2 Assessment
We will review your complaint promptly. We will check whether the content or behaviour you have reported:
amounts to illegal content under the OSA;
• breaches our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines;
• requires us to take immediate action (for example, to protect a child or to prevent ongoing harm).
4.3 Timescales for a full response
Type of complaint / Target response time:
• Content involving child sexual abuse or exploitation (CSEA) / 24 hours (we will also report to the National Crime Agency as required by law)
• Terrorist or extremist content / 24 hours
• Other illegal content / 5 working days
• Content harmful to children / 5 working days
• Complaint about account action (warning, suspension, ban) / 10 working days
• Complaint about platform compliance / 10 working days
• All other complaints / 10 working days
If we need more time (for example, because the matter is complex), we will tell you within the target time above and give you a revised date.
4.4 Our response
Our written response will tell you:
• what we found;
• what action we have taken (or why we have not taken action);
• your right to appeal if you disagree with our decision.
4.5 What action we may take
Depending on the outcome of our investigation, we may:
• remove or restrict the content reported;
• issue a warning to, suspend, or ban the user responsible;
• refer the matter to the police or the National Crime Agency;
• take no action if the content does not breach our policies or the law (and we will explain why).
If your complaint is about content created by another user we may inform the user who generated, uploaded, or shared the content that a complaint has been made about it. Where we make such a disclosure, we will explain:
• that a complaint was submitted, and the category of the complaint, but not who submitted the complaint.
Please only submit your complaint if you are comfortable with the above.
5. If you are not satisfied
If you are unhappy with our response, you have the right to appeal. This includes:
• appeals against a decision not to take action on content you reported;
• appeals against a warning, suspension or ban on your own account;
• appeals about any other decision made under this procedure.
5.1 How to appeal
Submit your appeal within 28 calendar days of receiving our response, by:
• Contacting us using the same channels as in Section 3
• Including your original reference number and stating clearly that you wish to appeal.
• Explaining why you believe our original decision was wrong.
5.2 Information shared during an appeal
If we take action on the content and the content creator appeals, we may share information about the complaint with them. This may include the text of your complaint and the relevant section of the Online Safety Act 2023, but no identifying information about you.
5.3 Appeal process
Your appeal will be reviewed by a different member of our team who was not involved in the original decision. We will respond to your appeal within 15 working days.
Still not satisfied?
The Online Safety Act does not currently provide a statutory right to take individual complaints to Ofcom. However, if you believe we are systematically failing to meet our legal duties, you can contact Ofcom (the UK communications regulator) to report your concerns: www.ofcom.org.uk
You can also report illegal content directly to the police or, for CSEA material, to the Internet Watch Foundation at www.iwf.org.uk.
6. Our commitments to you
• We will be accessible. This procedure is available on our website at all times. It is written in plain English. If you need it in a different format (large print, another language, audio), please ask.
• We will be transparent: We will explain our decisions. If we do not act on your report, we will tell you why.
• We will be fair to everyone: We apply our policies consistently. If we take action on your account, we will tell you and give you the right to appeal.
• We will be confidential: We will handle your complaint with care. We will not share your identity with the person you have reported without your permission, unless required by law.
• There will not be retaliation: We will not penalise you for raising a complaint in good faith.
7. Review of this procedure
We will review this procedure:
• at least once every 12 months;
• whenever Ofcom updates its codes of practice or guidance in a way that affects our duties;
• after any significant change to our platform.
The current version of this procedure, along with our Terms of Service, is always available on our website.
Key terms and explanations
Schedule A: The 17 Categories of Priority Illegal Content (OSA 2023)
The Online Safety Act 2023 (Schedules 5, 6 and 7, as amended) requires us to take proactive measures against the following 17 categories of priority illegal content and behaviour. When you report content, we will consider whether it falls into one or more of these categories.
Category / Plain English description:
1. Terrorism offences (Schedule 5) / Content that promotes, encourages, prepares for, or assists acts of terrorism or violent extremism, including glorifying terrorist organisations.
2. Child sexual exploitation and abuse – CSEA (Schedule 6) / Images, videos or other content that sexually exploits or abuses children, or that facilitates such abuse.
3. Hate offences / Content that stirs up hatred against people because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or transgender identity.
4. Harassment, stalking and threatening communications / Messages or behaviour that harasses, stalks, or threatens an individual, including sending threatening communications online.
5. Encouraging or assisting suicide / Content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions for a person to take their own life.
6. Encouraging or assisting serious self-harm / Content that intentionally encourages or assists a person to harm themselves seriously.
7. Sexual exploitation / Content that exploits adults sexually, including through coercion or deception.
8. Human trafficking and modern slavery / Content that facilitates the trafficking, exploitation or enslavement of people.
9. Non-consensual intimate images (“revenge porn”) / Sharing or threatening to share intimate photographs or films of a person without their consent.
10. Cyberflashing / Sending or showing images of genitals without the recipient’s consent.
11. Fraud and financial crime / Fraudulent content aimed at deceiving users for financial gain, including scams, phishing and money laundering.
12. Proceeds of crime / Content that facilitates money laundering or deals in the proceeds of crime.
13. Drug offences / Content that offers to supply or facilitates the supply of controlled drugs.
14. Weapons and firearms offences / Content that offers to supply or facilitates the illegal supply of weapons or firearms.
15. Organised crime and gang-related offences / Content that facilitates serious organised crime.
16. Immigration offences and people smuggling / Content that facilitates illegal immigration or the smuggling of people.
17. False communications / Sending a message known to be false with intent to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to the recipient.
Note: This list reflects the priority offence categories in Schedules 5, 6 and 7 of the Online Safety Act 2023, as amended by the Online Safety Act 2023 (Priority Offences) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 and 2025. We are also required to act on any other illegal content where a user is the direct victim of a criminal offence, even if it is not in the list above. We will update this Schedule whenever the law changes.
Schedule B: Quick Reference Summary
Here's our procedure in simple steps. What to do / What happens:
1. Report or complain / Contact us by email or post (Section 3).
2. Acknowledgement / We acknowledge within 2 working days with a reference number.
3. We investigate / We review the content against the law and our policies.
4. We respond / We tell you what we found and what action we have taken, within the timescales in Section 4.3.
5. Appeal / If unhappy, appeal within 28 days (Section 5). A different reviewer considers your case.
6. Appeal outcome / We respond to appeals within 15 working days.
Emergency: CSEA or terrorism / We act within 24 hours and report to law enforcement.
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(Last updated: 21 July 2026)
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Friendship Lab is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in England. Registration number 1206905.
