We want to let you know about a couple of changes to the Community, where we will be introducing Pre Moderation and Age Verification.
These updates are about making sure Community continues to be a safe space. Even though some parts are still being worked on we wanted to inform you as early as possible to give you the opportunity to ask any questions ahead of the changes.
To make these changes happen, we’ll need to update the look and theme of the Discussion Boards. This might cause a few technical glitches at first, but we’ll be working closely with our platform team to fix anything as quickly as possible if it comes up.
What will be changing?
Age verificationAs we began to share in March 2025, we will soon be introducing age verification on Community to make sure the people using our spaces are within our age range (13–25) and to help keep everyone safe. This means we’ll be using a trusted external provider -
YOTI - to check ages, without storing photos or personal images. We’ve been testing this carefully and working closely with our provider to make sure it meets safeguarding and legal requirements. Our plan is to roll this out for everyone after the end of January 2026, and we’ll always give you clear notice before anything changes, along with information about what it means for you.
Pre-moderation of Discussion Boards
We will also be moving the Discussion Boards to a fully pre-moderated system, which means posts and comments will be checked by our team before they go live. This is an extra safety step to help us respond more quickly to high-risk posts and meet expectations under the Online Safety Act. To make this work, we’ve increased staffing and are changing how moderation works so posts can be approved as quickly as possible. A further long term aim is to prevent overnight posting (between the hours of 10pm-9am) to help encourage members to engage with our services during the daytime operational hours, but also to discourage members from posting in crisis overnight when there is no staff available to support them.
We realize this is a significant change, and will be sure to keep you updated on when this will come into effect.
While it may feel different at first, this change is about keeping the Community safe, supportive and sustainable for everyone who uses it.
We know that changes like this can raise questions or worries. If anything feels unclear, or you just want to talk it through, you can share your thoughts by sharing your thoughts below on this thread or submitting a question anonymously via this Google Form:
https://forms.gle/sobYaEUFBXKFAqWF7.
Please note, it may take the team a number of days to respond to questions as we work together with our internal teams to give you accurate answers, but we will respond as fast as we can.
Thank you so much for being part of our Community and for the care and thought you bring to the space. We’re committed to doing everything we can to keep the Community supportive, welcoming and safe for everyone.
Take care,
The Community Team
