Venturo User-Generated Content & Community Guidelines

1. Welcome to the Venturo Community

Venturo is built around discovering things to do, meeting people with similar interests & helping people spend more time experiencing the world around them.

Community features may allow Users to:

• post content;
• comment;
• participate in communities;
• submit reviews;
• rate activities;
• upload photographs;
• interact with other Users;
• contribute recommendations; and
• share their experiences.

These Guidelines explain what is acceptable when contributing content or interacting with others through Venturo.

They apply together with the Venturo Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

By posting or contributing User-Generated Content through Venturo, you agree to follow these Guidelines.

2. What Is User-Generated Content?

User-Generated Content, or UGC, includes content created or submitted by Users rather than Venturo.

Examples include:

• reviews;
• ratings;
• comments;
• community posts;
• profile photographs;
• uploaded photographs;
• event discussions;
• recommendations;
• replies;
• usernames or display names; and
• other information submitted through community-facing features.

3. The Simple Rule

Use Venturo in a way that helps people discover, participate & connect safely.

Treat other people with respect.

Share information you reasonably believe to be genuine.

Do not use Venturo to harm, deceive, threaten or exploit other people.

4. Respect Other Users

Venturo does not permit content or behaviour that targets another person with:

• harassment;
• bullying;
• intimidation;
• threats;
• humiliation;
• persistent unwanted contact;
• malicious ridicule;
• stalking;
• abuse; or
• encouragement for others to harass someone.

Disagreement is allowed.

Personal attacks, threats & targeted abuse are not.

5. Hate & Discrimination

Users may not post content that promotes hatred, serious discrimination, dehumanisation or violence against people based on characteristics protected by applicable law.

Content intended primarily to intimidate, degrade or attack individuals or groups may be removed.

Discussions involving sensitive social issues may be permitted where they remain respectful & lawful.

6. Threats & Violence

Users may not:

• threaten physical harm;
• encourage violence;
• organise violent activity;
• glorify serious violence in a way that creates a safety risk;
• threaten venues, businesses or other Users; or
• use Venturo to facilitate criminal activity.

Credible threats may be escalated to the appropriate authorities where reasonably necessary or required by law.

7. Sexual & Explicit Content

Venturo is an activity, event & community discovery platform.

Pornographic or sexually explicit material is not permitted in public community areas.

Content involving sexual exploitation, sexual violence or sexual content involving minors is prohibited.

Venturo may remove sexually suggestive material where it is inappropriate for the feature, community or audience in which it appears.

8. Children & Minors

Users must not post content that exploits, sexualises, endangers or inappropriately identifies a child.

Users should take particular care when uploading photographs containing children.

A User should only upload identifiable photographs of children where they have an appropriate right or permission to do so.

Venturo may remove content involving children where there is a legitimate privacy or safety concern.

Serious concerns relating to child safety may be referred to the appropriate authorities.

9. Personal Information & Privacy

Do not publish another person's private or sensitive information without an appropriate reason or permission.

This includes information such as:

• private telephone numbers;
• residential addresses;
• identity numbers;
• financial information;
• passwords;
• confidential communications;
• private photographs;
• medical information; or
• other information that could create a safety or privacy risk.

Venturo may remove personal information where publication could reasonably cause harm or violate applicable privacy law.

10. Reviews & Ratings

Reviews should reflect a genuine experience with the relevant activity, business, event or service.

Users should aim to describe what happened rather than deliberately attacking the people involved.

Reviews must not be:

• fabricated;
• purchased;
• posted in exchange for undisclosed compensation;
• submitted through multiple fake accounts;
• intentionally misleading;
• used for blackmail or extortion; or
• submitted primarily to manipulate a business's rating.

A negative review is not automatically a violation.

Venturo will not remove a review simply because a business disagrees with it.

Venturo may investigate reviews where there is evidence that they are fake, abusive, fraudulent or otherwise breach these Guidelines.

11. Businesses Reviewing Themselves

Businesses, employees, owners, agencies or closely connected persons must not submit misleading reviews intended to artificially improve the rating of their own business.

Businesses must also not create fake accounts to post negative reviews about competitors.

Where Venturo identifies organised review manipulation, relevant reviews may be removed and the associated account or business may be restricted.

12. Honest Experiences

Users should distinguish between:

• what they personally experienced;
• what another person told them;
• assumptions;
• allegations; and
• confirmed facts.

Users remain responsible for the statements they publish.

Knowingly false accusations, fabricated claims or unlawful defamatory content may be removed.

13. Photographs & Videos

Only upload photographs or videos that you have the right to share.

This may include content:

• created by you;
• supplied to you with permission;
• appropriately licensed; or
• otherwise lawfully used.

Do not upload photographs or videos simply because they were found online.

Where identifiable people are the primary subject of an image, Users should consider whether those people reasonably expect or have agreed to the image being publicly shared.

14. Copyright & Intellectual Property

Users must respect copyright, trademarks & other intellectual property rights.

Do not upload or reproduce content that belongs to another person or organisation unless you have permission or another lawful basis to do so.

This includes:

• photographs;
• videos;
• artwork;
• logos;
• written content;
• music;
• graphics; and
• other protected material.

Copyright complaints may be submitted to:

copyright@venturo.co.za

Venturo may temporarily restrict or remove disputed content while investigating a legitimate intellectual-property complaint.

Further information may be provided in Venturo's Copyright & Intellectual Property Policy.

15. Impersonation & Misrepresentation

Users may not deliberately impersonate:

• another User;
• a business;
• an employee;
• an event organiser;
• Venturo;
• a public figure; or
• another organisation.

Parody or commentary must not be presented in a manner intended to deceive Users into believing it is an official account.

16. Spam & Unwanted Promotion

Venturo communities should remain useful to the people participating in them.

Users may not repeatedly post:

• irrelevant advertisements;
• unsolicited promotional links;
• referral spam;
• misleading competitions;
• repetitive messages;
• mass promotional posts; or
• unrelated commercial offers.

Businesses may promote themselves only through features or communities where commercial participation is expressly permitted.

17. Scams & Fraud

Users may not use Venturo to:

• defraud another person;
• collect money deceptively;
• promote fake events;
• sell fraudulent tickets;
• conduct phishing;
• steal login information;
• promote investment scams;
• misrepresent an activity or service; or
• manipulate another User into making an illegitimate payment.

Suspected fraud may result in immediate restriction of the relevant account while the matter is investigated.

18. Illegal Activity

Content that facilitates or actively encourages unlawful activity may be removed.

Venturo may restrict accounts being used for illegal purposes.

Where reasonably required by law, Venturo may preserve relevant records or cooperate with authorised law-enforcement or regulatory authorities.

19. Dangerous Activities

Venturo is built around discovering activities, some of which may naturally involve physical risk.

Users may discuss legitimate recreational activities such as hiking, climbing, cycling or adventure experiences.

Users should not encourage others to deliberately ignore safety requirements, trespass, bypass venue restrictions or participate in activities in an obviously dangerous or unlawful manner.

20. Self-Harm & Serious Safety Concerns

Content encouraging, glorifying or instructing people to seriously harm themselves may be restricted or removed.

Where Venturo reasonably believes there is an immediate & credible risk to someone's safety, appropriate action may be taken.

21. Community-Specific Rules

Individual Venturo communities may have additional rules based on their purpose.

For example, a hiking community may set rules relating to:

• event organisation;
• attendance;
• safety;
• promotional posts;
• conduct;
• equipment; or
• community relevance.

Community-specific rules apply in addition to these Guidelines.

Where community rules conflict with these Guidelines or applicable law, these Guidelines & applicable law take priority.

22. Reporting Content

Users should be able to report content that they believe breaches these Guidelines.

Reports may relate to:

• harassment;
• inappropriate content;
• spam;
• fraud;
• threats;
• impersonation;
• copyright;
• privacy;
• misleading information; or
• another concern.

Reports should be made using the reporting functionality available within the Venturo Platform where possible.

Users may also contact:

support@venturo.co.za

Copyright-related reports may be sent to:

copyright@venturo.co.za

Venturo will review legitimate reports as soon as reasonably possible.

23. Reporting a User

Users may report another User where they believe that person is behaving in breach of these Guidelines.

A report does not automatically mean that the reported User has violated Venturo's rules.

Venturo may review relevant Content, account activity & other information reasonably necessary to investigate the report.

24. Blocking Users

Where supported by the applicable feature, Users may block another User.

Blocking may prevent or restrict the blocked User from:

• contacting you;
• viewing certain profile information;
• interacting directly with you; or
• appearing within certain parts of your Venturo experience.

The exact effect of blocking may depend on the feature involved.

Blocking a User does not automatically report them to Venturo.

Where conduct breaches these Guidelines, Users should also use the Report function.

25. Content Moderation

Venturo may use automated tools, manual review or a combination of both to help identify Content that may breach these Guidelines.

Venturo may:

• leave Content unchanged;
• limit its visibility;
• remove Content;
• request that Content be changed;
• disable comments;
• restrict particular features;
• issue a warning;
• temporarily suspend an account; or
• permanently terminate an account.

The action taken will depend on factors such as:

• severity;
• context;
• previous violations;
• safety risks;
• whether the conduct appears intentional; and
• whether other Users are at risk.

26. Serious Violations

Venturo may take immediate action without prior warning where Content or behaviour involves a serious risk, including:

• credible threats of violence;
• child sexual exploitation;
• serious fraud;
• serious harassment;
• malicious security activity;
• unlawful distribution of private information;
• repeated abusive behaviour; or
• another serious violation requiring urgent intervention.

27. Repeated Violations

A pattern of smaller violations may result in stronger enforcement.

Repeated warnings, repeated removal of Content or attempts to evade moderation may lead to temporary or permanent account restrictions.

Creating another account to evade a suspension or ban may result in the new account also being restricted.

28. Mistakes & Appeals

Moderation decisions may sometimes require additional context.

If you believe Venturo has removed your Content or restricted your account incorrectly, you may contact:

support@venturo.co.za

Provide:

• your Venturo account details;
• the Content or decision concerned;
• why you believe the decision should be reconsidered; and
• any relevant supporting information.

Venturo may review the decision but is not required to restore Content that continues to breach these Guidelines, the Terms & Conditions or applicable law.

29. Business Responses to Reviews

Venturo may allow Activity Providers to respond to reviews.

Business responses must follow the same standards as User Content.

Businesses may:

• clarify factual information;
• explain what happened;
• apologise;
• offer appropriate assistance; or
• respectfully disagree.

Businesses may not:

• threaten reviewers;
• reveal private customer information;
• intimidate Users into deleting reviews;
• offer incentives in exchange for removing legitimate criticism; or
• harass Users.

30. Content Ownership

Users retain ownership of original User-Generated Content they submit.

By submitting Content to Venturo, Users grant Venturo the licence described in the Venturo Terms & Conditions to host, display, store, format & use the Content as reasonably necessary to operate the Platform.

Submitting Content does not transfer ownership of it to Venturo.

31. Removal Does Not Mean Ownership Changes

If Venturo removes Content because it breaches these Guidelines, this does not mean Venturo claims ownership of that Content.

Removal is a moderation decision concerning whether the Content may remain available through the Venturo Platform.

32. Cooperation With Authorities

Venturo may preserve, disclose or provide information to an authorised regulator, court or law-enforcement authority where legally required or otherwise permitted under applicable law.

Venturo will handle personal information in accordance with its Privacy Policy & applicable data-protection requirements.

33. Changes to These Guidelines

Venturo may update these Guidelines as the Platform & its community features develop.

Changes may be made to address:

• new community features;
• new forms of User-Generated Content;
• safety concerns;
• abuse patterns;
• regulatory requirements; or
• changes to Venturo's services.

The latest version will be published through the Venturo Platform or website.

34. Contact Us

Questions or concerns regarding these Guidelines may be sent to:

Venturo Support

support@venturo.co.za

www.venturo.co.za

Copyright or intellectual-property concerns may be sent to:

copyright@venturo.co.za

Privacy-related concerns may be sent to:

privacy@venturo.co.za