Terms and Conditions

1. About Friends Nearby

Friends Nearby is a UK-focused friendship social network. It is designed to help adults find genuine local and online friendships through profiles, posts, groups, interests, messages and community features.

Friends Nearby is not a dating site, matchmaking service, professional advice service, emergency service, counselling service or safeguarding authority.

The site is intended to support friendly social connection, but you remain responsible for your own decisions, conversations, arrangements and personal safety.

2. Who can use the site

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or use Friends Nearby.

By using the site, you confirm that:

• you are 18 or over;
• the information you provide is accurate and up to date;
• you will not create an account for another person without permission;
• you will not use the site if you have previously been banned or removed;
• you will use the site lawfully, respectfully and safely.

If we believe you are under 18, have given false information or present a risk to other users, we may restrict, suspend or delete your account.

3. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your account login details secure. You must not share your password or allow another person to use your account.

You agree to tell us as soon as possible if you believe your account has been accessed without permission or used in a way you did not authorise.

We may ask you to update information, verify details, change your username or remove content where needed to protect users, prevent misuse or keep the site working properly.

4. Friendship and community use

Friends Nearby is for friendship, community and genuine social connection. You must not use the site to pressure, exploit, manipulate or mislead other users.

You agree not to use the site for:

• dating, sexual solicitation or adult services;
• harassment, intimidation, stalking or unwanted repeated contact;
• scams, fraud, financial manipulation or misleading offers;
• hate, abuse, threats or discriminatory behaviour;
• sharing illegal, harmful, exploitative or unsafe content;
• impersonating another person or pretending to represent an organisation without permission;
• collecting user data without consent;
• sending spam, automated messages or promotional content without permission.

Friendly disagreement is allowed. Abuse, pressure, threats, intimidation and unsafe behaviour are not.

5. Safety and meeting people

We want Friends Nearby to feel warm and welcoming, but you should always be careful when speaking with or meeting people you do not already know.

If you choose to meet someone, we strongly recommend that you:

• meet in a public place;
• tell someone you trust where you are going;
• arrange your own travel to and from the meeting;
• avoid sharing your home address too early;
• do not send money or financial details to someone you meet on the site;
• leave immediately if you feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

You are responsible for your own offline arrangements. Friends Nearby does not carry out full background checks on users and cannot guarantee that another user is who they say they are.

If you believe someone is in immediate danger, contact the emergency services by calling 999.

6. Content you post

You are responsible for the content you post, upload, send or share on Friends Nearby. This includes profile information, photos, videos, messages, comments, group posts and reports.

You must not post content that:

• is illegal, abusive, threatening, hateful, obscene or exploitative;
• contains another person’s private information without permission;
• infringes copyright, trademarks or other rights;
• contains malware, harmful code or attempts to interfere with the site;
• encourages self-harm, violence, harassment or dangerous behaviour;
• contains sexual content, nudity or adult material;
• targets, exploits or endangers children or vulnerable people.

You keep ownership of content you create, but by posting it on the site you give Friends Nearby permission to store, display, process, moderate and share that content within the site as needed to operate the service.

We may remove, hide, restrict or moderate content if we believe it breaks these terms, creates risk, causes harm or affects the safe running of the community.

7. Messages and private conversations

The messaging system is provided to help users have friendly and respectful conversations. You must not use messages to harass, pressure, threaten, scam, exploit or repeatedly contact someone who does not want to hear from you.

Private messages are not guaranteed to be completely private from site moderation or technical review. We may access or review messages where needed to investigate reports, protect users, comply with legal duties, prevent misuse or maintain the service.

If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, you should stop replying, use the block or report tools where available, and contact us if you need help.

8. Groups and community areas

Groups are intended to help users connect around shared interests, local areas and friendly community topics.

Group creators and members must keep groups respectful, safe and suitable for an adult friendship community. We may remove groups, posts or members if a group is misused or becomes unsafe.

Private groups are still subject to these terms. A group being private does not mean harmful, illegal or abusive behaviour is allowed.

9. Credits

Friends Nearby may offer credits or similar account features. Credits may be used for site features, promotions or other tools made available from time to time.

Unless we clearly state otherwise, credits:

• have no cash value;
• cannot be transferred outside your account;
• cannot be exchanged for money;
• may be adjusted, removed or corrected if issued by mistake or obtained through misuse;
• may be changed, paused or withdrawn if the credit feature changes.

If paid credits are introduced in future, additional payment terms may apply.

10. Reporting concerns

You can report content, behaviour, profiles, messages or groups that you believe break these terms or create a safety concern.

When you submit a report, we may review relevant account information, content, messages, technical logs and other details needed to understand the issue.

We may not always tell you the full outcome of a report, especially where doing so could affect another person’s privacy, safety or an investigation.

11. Moderation and enforcement

We may take action if we believe these terms have been broken or if we believe action is needed to protect users, the site or the wider community.

This may include:

• removing or hiding content;
• issuing warnings;
• restricting features;
• limiting visibility;
• suspending or deleting accounts;
• blocking sign-ups or access from certain devices, IP addresses or accounts;
• reporting serious issues to relevant authorities where appropriate.

We may act without notice where we believe there is a safety, legal, security or misuse risk.

12. Privacy and personal data

We process personal data to operate the site, provide accounts, show profiles, manage posts, send messages, support safety tools, respond to reports and protect the service from misuse.

You should only share information that you are comfortable sharing with other users. Avoid posting sensitive personal information, financial details, private addresses or anything that could put you or someone else at risk.

You should also read our Privacy Policy when available, as it explains how we collect, use, store and protect personal data.

If you want to contact us about privacy or your personal data, email: support@friendsnearby.co.uk.

13. Site availability and changes

We aim to keep Friends Nearby available and working well, but we cannot guarantee that the site will always be uninterrupted, error-free or available at all times.

We may update, change, suspend or remove parts of the site at any time. This may include features, groups, credits, messages, account tools, layout, rules or safety processes.

We may also carry out maintenance, security updates or emergency changes without notice.

14. Responsibility and liability

Friends Nearby provides a platform for users to connect, but we do not control every interaction, verify every statement or guarantee the behaviour of users.

To the fullest extent allowed by law, we are not responsible for:

• user-generated content posted by other users;
• offline meetings or arrangements between users;
• losses caused by another user’s behaviour;
• losses caused by your decision to share personal or financial information;
• temporary site downtime, errors or data loss outside our reasonable control;
• third-party websites, services or links.

Nothing in these terms limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so.

15. Closing or restricting accounts

You may stop using the site at any time. Where account deletion tools are available, you may request or carry out account deletion through your account settings or by contacting us.

We may restrict, suspend or delete your account if:

• you break these terms;
• you create safety concerns;
• you misuse the site;
• you provide false information;
• we are required to do so for legal, security or operational reasons.

Some information may be retained where needed for legal, safety, fraud prevention, moderation or record-keeping reasons.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the “last updated” date on this page.

If the changes are significant, we may also provide a notice on the site or ask you to accept the updated terms before continuing to use certain features.

If you continue to use the site after changes are made, you will be treated as accepting the updated terms.

17. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes will be handled by the courts of England and Wales, unless consumer law gives you the right to bring a claim somewhere else.

18. Contact us

If you have questions about these terms, want to report a concern, or need help with your account, you can contact us.