Child Safety Standards

Our commitment

These standards are published by MatchBD, the developer of the MatchBD app, a business registered in Bangladesh under registration number TRAD/DSCC/001678/2026. They apply to the MatchBD mobile app, the MatchBD website and every service we operate, and they apply to everyone who uses them.

MatchBD exists to help adults find a partner for marriage. There is no version of that purpose that involves a child. We therefore prohibit child sexual abuse and exploitation outright — not as a matter of degree or context, but absolutely — and we enforce that prohibition by removing the content, terminating the account and referring the matter to law enforcement.

By CSAE we mean child sexual abuse and exploitation: any content or behaviour that sexually exploits, abuses or endangers a child. This includes child sexual abuse material (CSAM), grooming, sextortion, child trafficking and any other sexualisation of a child. A child means anyone under the age of 18, which is also how the Children Act, 2013 of Bangladesh defines a child.

Who may use MatchBD

MatchBD is strictly for adults. Two rules apply together, and both are enforced when an account is created:

Nobody under 18 may hold a MatchBD account under any circumstances — not with a parent’s permission, not through a guardian, not on a relative’s behalf, and not with an account registered in someone else’s name. Creating an account for a person under 18, or helping one to register, is itself a breach of these standards.

The two different minimums are not arbitrary. MatchBD is a platform for arranging marriage, and under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2017 the minimum legal age of marriage in Bangladesh is 18 for women and 21 for men. We will not introduce anyone to a marriage prospect that the law of Bangladesh does not permit them to enter, so our registration ages match the legal marriage ages exactly.

This also matches what the app stores require of us. Google Play treats matrimonial and dating apps as adults-only, and Apple’s App Store rates them 18+. MatchBD is distributed with an adults-only content rating on both stores and is not directed at children in any way — we do not design for children, market to children, or knowingly collect any personal information from a child.

What is prohibited

The following are prohibited on MatchBD without exception. Each one leads to permanent removal from the platform, and where the law requires it, a referral to the authorities:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — any image, video, drawing or text that sexualises a person under 18 — whether shared in a profile, a photo, a message or a link.
• Grooming: befriending or building trust with a child in order to sexually abuse or exploit them, on or off the platform.
• Sextortion: threatening to publish a sexual image of someone in order to extract money, more images or anything else.
• Child trafficking, child marriage brokering, or offering, advertising or seeking a person under 18 for marriage, sex or any sexual purpose.
• Sexualising a child in any way, including describing a child in sexual terms or seeking sexual conversation about children.
• Impersonating a child, or creating an account for or on behalf of a person under 18.
• Linking to, advertising or directing anyone to CSAM or to services that facilitate CSAE, on any other site or app.

These rules apply to conduct that begins on MatchBD even if it continues somewhere else. Moving a conversation to another app does not put it outside these standards.

How to report a child safety concern

Anyone can report CSAE to us — a member, a parent, or someone who does not use MatchBD at all. You never have to leave the app to do it, and you never have to identify yourself to us.

Tell us who is involved and what happened, and where you can, include the profile or the phone number the account uses. Do not send us the material itself: forwarding a sexual image of a child is itself an offence, even when it is done to report abuse. Describe it instead, and we will retrieve what we need from our own records.

Reports are confidential. We never tell the reported person who reported them, and reporting someone does not open a conversation between you.

How we respond to a report

A CSAE report is reviewed by a person, not only by an automated system, and it is prioritised over every other kind of report we receive. Where the report is substantiated:

1. 1We remove the contentContent reported as CSAE is taken out of view while it is reviewed, so no one else can see it in the meantime.
2. 2We terminate the accountAn account confirmed to have engaged in CSAE is permanently banned. We also ban attempts by the same person to register again.
3. 3We preserve the evidenceAccount records and the reported material are preserved securely for the authorities, separately from the ordinary deletion timeline, and are not returned to the account holder.
4. 4We report it to the authoritiesApparent CSAM and credible threats to a child are reported to law enforcement in Bangladesh and, where the case reaches other countries, to the relevant hotline — including the NCMEC CyberTipline.

We act on what we find ourselves in the same way. We do not wait for a report before removing CSAE that our own moderation surfaces, and we do not treat a deleted account as the end of the matter — closing an account does not withdraw a report or erase preserved evidence.

How we prevent it

Enforcement after the fact is not enough on its own. MatchBD is built so that the conditions CSAE relies on — anonymity, unsolicited contact with strangers, and unverified accounts — are difficult to create in the first place.

Legal compliance

We act in accordance with these published standards and with the laws that apply to us. In Bangladesh, where MatchBD is registered and operates, that includes:

• the Children Act, 2013, which defines a child as a person under 18;
• the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2017, which sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men;
• the Pornography Control Act, 2012, which criminalises the production, possession and distribution of child pornography;
• the Prevention of Oppression Against Women and Children Act, 2000, covering trafficking and sexual offences against children; and
• the Cyber Security Ordinance, 2025, which governs offences committed through digital services.

Where a case involves someone outside Bangladesh, we cooperate with the law enforcement agency and the reporting hotline with jurisdiction over it, and we respond to lawful requests for preserved records.

These standards also meet the requirements the app stores place on us: Google Play’s Child Safety Standards policy — published standards against CSAE, an in-app reporting mechanism, action on CSAM in line with the law, and a named point of contact — and Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines on user-generated content, which require content filtering, a way to report offensive content, the ability to block abusive users, and published contact details. All four exist on MatchBD and are described above.

These standards sit alongside our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. Where anything appears to conflict, the stricter child safety rule applies.

Child safety point of contact

MatchBD designates a named individual who is ready and able to speak to our CSAM prevention practices and our compliance with these standards. Regulators, law enforcement, app store reviewers and child protection organisations can reach them directly:

This is the contact for questions about our child safety practices and policy compliance. To report a child at risk on MatchBD, use the reporting channels above instead — those reach the team that can act on the account the same day.

Getting help

If you are a child being pressured, threatened or asked for sexual images by anyone — on MatchBD or anywhere else — none of it is your fault, and telling someone is the right thing to do. These services exist to help:

• National Emergency Service (Bangladesh) — 999: for anything happening right now.
• Child Helpline (Bangladesh) — 1098: free, confidential, day and night.
• NCMEC CyberTipline: reports child sexual exploitation from anywhere in the world.
• INHOPE: finds the CSAM reporting hotline for your country.

For anything else about your MatchBD account, our help centre has answers on reporting, blocking and privacy, and account deletion explains how to remove an account and its data.