Child Safety

This is a translation for convenience only. The German version of this page is the legally binding one.

Last updated: 4 August 2026

This page describes the standards of Zest UG (haftungsbeschränkt) against the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, CSAE) on shiver, as well as our youth protection measures under German law. It is addressed to users, to parents and guardians, to authorities and to the app stores.

Zero tolerance

We tolerate no content or conduct on shiver that sexually exploits or endangers children and adolescents. In this area there is no warning, no graduated response and no second chance: the content is removed, the usage contract is terminated without notice and without prior warning and the account including all associated content is deleted, and the incident is passed on to the law enforcement authorities. This rule applies regardless of whether the depiction is real, drawn, computer-animated or AI-generated.

Minimum age 18 years

shiver may only be used by persons who are at least 18 years old. Age is requested and confirmed during registration. If we become aware of, or if there are concrete indications that, a minor is running an account, we suspend the account pending clarification; if the suspicion is confirmed, we terminate the usage contract and delete the account including the uploaded content in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

The age limit deliberately lies above the one in Art. 8(1) GDPR (16 in Germany), which concerns the capacity to consent under data protection law and not the contractual minimum age.

What is prohibited

Depictions of the sexual abuse of children and adolescents in any form, video, image, audio, text, thumbnail, profile picture or link.
Sexualised depictions of minors, even without an explicit act, including so-called posing footage and sexualising comments on recordings of minors.
Computer-generated, drawn or AI-generated depictions with the same content, as well as the "nudifying" of recordings of real minors.
Initiating sexual contact with minors (grooming), including via direct messages.
Extortion using intimate recordings (sextortion).
Advertising, trading in, brokering or requesting such content, including in encrypted form, in code words or by reference to other services.
Glorification, trivialisation or normalisation of sexual acts involving minors, as well as instructions on how to initiate them.

This content and conduct is a criminal offence under German law, in particular under §§ 176 to 176e, 184b and 184c StGB (the German Criminal Code). It is at the same time a serious violation of our Community Guidelines.

How to report a suspicion

In the app: use the report menu on any video, any comment and any profile and select the reason "Endangerment of minors". These reports are handled with priority.

By email: to info@offline-events.de with the subject line "CSAE". Please state the username and video title or link concerned, what you observed and when. A shiver account is not required for this.

Please do not upload any evidence and do not send us any image files. Possessing and forwarding such recordings is a criminal offence even when done in good faith. A description and a pointer to where the content can be found is entirely sufficient for us.

If a child is in acute danger, please contact the police first on 110. Adults and adolescents can obtain free advice from the Hilfetelefon Sexueller Missbrauch on 0800 2255530, children and adolescents from "Nummer gegen Kummer" on 116 111.

Designated contact person

We have designated a specific person for all questions and reports relating to CSAE:

Contact person for child safety / CSAE: Justin Brandon Pratt
Zest UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Stadtplatz 39, 84529 Tittmoning, Germany
Email: info@offline-events.de, subject line "CSAE"
Phone: +49 1512 9786245
Languages: German, English

Authorities can also reach us through the single point of contact under Art. 11 DSA; the details are set out on the support page.

What happens after a report

Immediate measure. The reported content is withdrawn from display without undue delay as soon as there is reasonable suspicion.
Human review. A trained person reviews the matter with priority, generally within 24 hours.
Account deletion. If the suspicion is confirmed, we terminate the usage contract without notice and delete the account including all associated content; identifiable secondary accounts of the same person are deleted as well.
Preservation of evidence. The content and the associated subscriber and traffic data are preserved for law enforcement purposes and exempted from regular deletion for as long as this is necessary (Art. 6(1)(c) and (f) GDPR).
Report to the authorities. The incident is transmitted to the Bundeskriminalamt (German Federal Criminal Police Office), and in cases of imminent danger additionally to the locally competent police. If there is a connection to the USA or if a US provider operates the redistributing infrastructure, we additionally report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) via its CyberTipline. If there are indications of an immediate danger to a person's life and limb, we inform the competent bodies pursuant to Art. 18 DSA even without an external report.
Feedback. The reporting person receives feedback on the outcome, insofar as this does not jeopardise ongoing investigations.

Preventive measures

On every upload, the title, description and hashtags are screened automatically, against our own word lists and by an external text moderation service. The visual content of the video is currently not screened automatically; a service for this is prepared but not activated. Visual content is therefore only reviewed by a human after a report. Which services are used is disclosed in the privacy policy.
Reporting and blocking are available on every video, comment and profile, and are also reachable by email without an account.
Direct messages can be restricted and senders can be blocked.
Anyone whose account we have deleted on account of a CSAE breach is prohibited from registering again. We do not currently employ a technical procedure that prevents re-registration from the outset; identifiable new and secondary accounts of such persons are deleted as soon as we establish them.
The persons involved in moderation are trained in recognising and handling CSAE cases; the procedures are reviewed at least annually.

Legal framework

We comply with the provisions applicable to us on the protection of children and adolescents, in particular:

StGB (Criminal Code), §§ 176 to 176e, 184b, 184c: prohibition and criminal liability of the distribution and possession of relevant content.
JuSchG (Youth Protection Act), § 24a: structural precautionary measures for service providers that store and provide user-generated content, in particular an easily findable notice and action procedure, safe default settings and a notice system. The competent body is the Bundeszentrale für Kinder- und Jugendmedienschutz (BzKJ).
JMStV (Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media), § 4(1) and (2) (inadmissible offerings), § 5 (offerings impairing development) and § 7 (youth protection officers).
DSA, Art. 16 (notice and action procedure), Art. 18 (notification of suspected criminal offences), Art. 28 (protection of minors, no profiling-based advertising towards minors, on shiver no advertising profiling takes place in any case).
GDPR, Art. 8: age limit for children's consent (16 in Germany); shiver's minimum age of 18 lies above it.
Reports to NCMEC are made voluntarily, or where an obligation under US law (18 U.S.C. § 2258A) applies to a provider involved.

Youth protection officer

Pursuant to § 7 JMStV we designate the following youth protection officer (Jugendschutzbeauftragte(r)):

Youth protection officer (Jugendschutzbeauftragte(r)): Justin Brandon Pratt
Zest UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Stadtplatz 39, 84529 Tittmoning, Germany
Email: info@offline-events.de, subject line "Jugendschutz"

The youth protection officer is the point of contact for users, advises us on the offering and design of the service and must be involved in material decisions about the offering. In this function they are not bound by instructions.

Zest UG (haftungsbeschränkt) employs fewer than 50 people. Under § 7(2) JMStV, the task of the youth protection officer could in this case also be performed by joining a recognised voluntary self-regulation body, such as the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter e. V. (FSM), Beuthstraße 6, 10117 Berlin. We do not currently make use of that option: the role is filled internally and is performed by the person named above.

Enquiries from authorities

Please address requests for information, preservation and removal from law enforcement authorities and courts to info@offline-events.de with the subject line "DSA, Behördenersuchen" (official request). We handle them with priority and generally respond within 48 hours.