Law Enforcement Guidelines

Last updated: 31 July 2026

This page sets out how Kindrd responds to law enforcement and child-protection authorities: how to make a lawful request for information, how we handle emergencies, how we preserve evidence, and how we escalate cases involving human trafficking or child sexual abuse material (CSAM). It is published openly so that our members can see the rules we operate under, and so that an officer needing to reach us does not have to guess.

Kindrd is an independent dating service for LGBTQ+ adults, operated from the United Kingdom and available internationally. It is a user-to-user service, and this protocol reflects our safeguarding obligations as one. Nothing here waives any right, is a submission to any jurisdiction, or is legal advice.

Emergency requests — imminent risk of death or serious harm

If a member of the public is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first — 999 in the UK, 112 across the EU, 911 in the US and Canada. We are not an emergency service and cannot dispatch help.

Making a standard request

Send lawful requests to hello@kindrdlove.app with LAW ENFORCEMENT REQUEST in the subject line. Send it from an official government or law-enforcement email domain, on headed paper, signed, and with the requesting officer's name, rank, badge or warrant number, agency, and a direct contact number we can call back on. We verify the requester before disclosing anything; if we cannot verify you, we will not respond with data.

What your request must contain

• The legal basis for the request, and a copy of the process relied on (court order, warrant, production order, statutory notice, or equivalent).
• The account identifier. The email address on the account is the most reliable. A profile URL, display name, or the user id shown in the address bar of a profile page will also work; a display name alone often will not, as names are not unique.
• The specific data sought, described narrowly. We refuse fishing expeditions and requests for “all data on all users matching X”.
• A date range. Requests without one will be narrowed by us to what is proportionate.
• Your case or reference number, and whether there is a non-disclosure order attached.

What legal process we require

We disclose data only where we are satisfied there is a valid legal basis. As a general rule we require compulsory process — a court order, warrant, or equivalent statutory notice — for the content of communications, and we will accept a properly authorised request under the applicable data-protection exemption for basic subscriber information. Requests that are overbroad, unclear, legally defective, or that appear designed to identify people by protected characteristics rather than to investigate a specific offence will be refused or returned for narrowing, in writing.

Response times

• Emergency disclosure requests: we aim to respond within 24 hours.
• Preservation requests: acted on within 48 hours of receipt.
• Standard requests: acknowledged within 5 working days, with a substantive response as soon as reasonably practicable and in line with any deadline in the process itself. Kindrd is a small, independent service; if a deadline is unworkable we will tell you promptly rather than miss it silently.

We do not charge law enforcement for responding to requests, and we do not require a subpoena to be domesticated before we will preserve data.

Evidence preservation

We will preserve account records pending service of valid legal process. Send a preservation request to the address above with PRESERVATION REQUEST in the subject line, the account identifier, and the date range.

• We preserve a snapshot of the account and its associated content for 90 days, renewable for further 90-day periods on written request.
• Preservation is a hold, not a disclosure. Nothing is handed over until valid process arrives or an emergency threshold is met.
• Preservation overrides deletion. If the user deletes their account, or asks us to erase their data, during a live preservation period, the preserved snapshot is retained regardless. This applies equally to a data-subject erasure request under the UK GDPR, which does not extend to data we must keep for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims or for compliance with a legal obligation.
• We do not notify the account holder that their account has been preserved.
• Where we ourselves identify content indicating a serious offence, we preserve it on our own initiative, without waiting to be asked.

What data Kindrd holds

Being straight about this saves everyone time. Subject to valid process and to what still exists at the time of the request, we may hold:

• Account records — email address, date of birth (used only for the 18+ check), account creation date, last sign-in, account status, and whether the account is banned.
• Profile content — display name, bio, city if the member entered one, interests, prompt answers, and uploaded photos.
• Identity data — gender identity, orientation, pronouns, and who the member is seeking. This is special-category data and we disclose it only where the request specifically justifies it.
• Activity records — matches, likes and passes, blocks, reports made and received, and message metadata (sender, recipient, timestamps).
• Message content — the text of messages and any attachments, where still present. Messages deleted by a user are removed from the service.
• Billing records — held by our payment processor, not by us. We hold the processor's customer and subscription identifiers, not card numbers.
• Limited technical records — IP addresses are processed transiently for security and rate limiting and are not retained as a historical access log. If you need IP data for a specific account, send a preservation request early; we cannot produce what was never stored.

Kindrd does not hold precise GPS location history, device advertising identifiers, contact-list uploads, or third-party ad-tracking profiles. We do not sell member data, and we do not use advertising trackers.

Notice to the people affected

Our default is to notify a member before disclosing their data to a third party, so they have an opportunity to object. We will not give that notice where:

• we are legally prohibited from doing so, or a court has ordered non-disclosure;
• there is an emergency involving a risk of death or serious physical injury;
• the case involves child sexual abuse material, the sexual exploitation of a child, or human trafficking;
• notice would risk destruction of evidence, prejudice an investigation, or endanger a victim, a witness, or an officer.

If your request carries a non-disclosure order or you need notice delayed, say so explicitly in the request and give the legal basis and duration.

Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)

Kindrd has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material and for any sexual interest in minors. Our Terms of Service prohibit it absolutely. When we identify it, or when it is reported to us, we act on the same protocol every time:

• Remove. The content is taken down immediately, ahead of any other queue.
• Preserve. The material and the associated account data, message records and available technical data are preserved in place, in secure storage, for the authorities. We do not delete the evidence in the act of removing the content, and we do not forward it onward.
• Terminate. The account is permanently banned, along with any linked accounts we can identify. We retain the minimum record needed to detect and refuse that person if they attempt to return.
• Report. We report to the appropriate authority without delay: in the United Kingdom to the Internet Watch Foundation and to NCA-CEOP; where the matter has a United States nexus, to the NCMEC CyberTipline; and to the relevant national authority elsewhere. We report the account and the evidence, and cooperate with any follow-up.
• Retain against erasure. This preservation is not defeated by the user deleting their account or making an erasure request. It is an obligation, not a preference.

Please do not send suspected CSAM to us by email, and do not attach it to a request. Refer to it by account identifier, message, or timestamp and we will locate and preserve it. Members of the public who encounter this material should report it in-app, which routes it to a moderator, and report it directly to the IWF or NCMEC.

Human trafficking and sexual exploitation

Human trafficking, sex trafficking, forced labour, and commercial sexual exploitation are prohibited on Kindrd without exception. Reports and detections that indicate trafficking are escalated ahead of the standard moderation queue and handled by the same protocol as above: remove, preserve, terminate, report.

• We treat indicators — scripted or duplicated profiles, third parties speaking for a member, controlled or monitored accounts, coerced commercial solicitation, references to debt or confiscated documents, movement between cities on someone else's instruction — as escalation triggers, not as ordinary spam.
• Suspected trafficking is referred to the police, and in the United Kingdom to the National Crime Agency and, where appropriate, through the National Referral Mechanism. Where the matter has a United States nexus we refer to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
• We preserve the evidence pending contact from the authorities, whether or not the accounts involved are subsequently deleted.
• We prioritise the safety of the person being exploited. A potential victim is not treated as an offender for having been made to use the service, and we will not notify an account holder where doing so could put a victim at risk.

Helplines for anyone who needs them: the UK Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700, and the US National Human Trafficking Hotline on 1-888-373-7888.

Requests from outside the United Kingdom

Kindrd is operated from the United Kingdom, and our data is held with providers we instruct as processors. We will consider a request from a non-UK authority on its merits, and we can act on emergency disclosure requests from any jurisdiction where the risk-to-life threshold is met. For compelled disclosure, authorities outside the UK should generally proceed through a mutual legal assistance treaty, letters rogatory, or an applicable cross-border agreement. Send preservation requests directly and immediately in the meantime — we will act on those without waiting for the treaty route.

Reporting something as a member of the public

You do not need to be an officer to raise something with us. Every profile and every conversation on Kindrd carries a report control, and reporting someone also blocks them for you. Reports naming a minor, trafficking, or child sexual abuse material jump the queue. If you would rather not use the in-app tool, email hello@kindrdlove.app. Our Safety & wellbeing page has the wider guidance, including confidential LGBTQ+-affirming helplines.

Contact

All requests under this policy: hello@kindrdlove.app. Use the subject-line prefix that matches your request — EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE REQUEST, PRESERVATION REQUEST, or LAW ENFORCEMENT REQUEST — so it is routed correctly. See also our Privacy Policy for retention and members' rights, and our Terms of Service for the conduct rules we enforce.