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Acceptable Use Policy

Last updated: 26 August 2026

This policy is part of our Terms of Service. It says plainly what may not be sent through LightVow, how to tell us when something has been, and what we do about it.

Why this policy is unusual

LightVow is built so that nobody here can read what you write. A sealed message is not opened by us, not scanned for content, and not looked at by a person at any point between the day it is sealed and the day it is delivered. That is the promise, and we do not intend to weaken it.

It has a consequence that we would rather state than hide: we cannot find misuse on our own. A message sealed today is delivered by us years from now to somebody who did not ask for it. If it should not be sent, the only way we will ever know is if a person tells us. That is why the report control exists, and why this page spends as much space on reporting as on rules.

What must not be sent

You must not use LightVow to create, store, or deliver:

  • Any sexual content involving a minor, in any form, real or generated. There is no context in which this is permitted, and it is the one category we report to the authorities rather than merely removing.
  • Threats, or content intended to frighten or intimidate — including a message timed to arrive at a moment chosen to cause distress.
  • Harassment, stalking, or abuse, including sending to someone who has asked you to stop, and including messages about a person sent to third parties.
  • Sexual or explicit content sent to somebody who has not asked for it.
  • Content that is unlawful where you are or where your recipient is — including material that infringes copyright, and including anything promoting or arranging the supply of controlled substances or weapons.
  • Impersonation. Do not send a message as somebody else, living or dead. A message from the past is exceptionally hard to challenge; that is precisely why forging one is exceptionally harmful.
  • Private information about another person that you have no right to share — intimate images, medical or financial records, identity documents.
  • Spam, scams, phishing, or bulk commercial messaging. LightVow is for messages between people who know each other.
  • Malware, or files designed to damage or gain access to a device.

What we also ask

  • Send to someone who would want to hear from you. A recipient can ask us to stop a delivery at any time, and we will honour that without asking them to justify it.
  • Think about the person on the other end of a long horizon. Something written in anger arrives years later to a person who may have no idea it was coming and no way to reply. That is not against the rules. It is worth a second thought.

How to report something

Every delivered message and every handed-over collection carries a “Something wrong with this?” control at the bottom of the page. It takes one tap, asks you to choose what is wrong, and reaches a person. You do not need an account, and you do not have to leave your name or address.

You can also write to hello@lightvow.com. If you are reporting on behalf of a rights holder, please include enough detail to identify the work and the message.

The sender is never told who reported them.

What happens after a report

  1. A person is alerted immediately. Reports involving a child, anything unlawful, or a threat wake somebody rather than joining a queue.
  2. The message can be held. A reviewer can stop a message or a collection from being delivered while it is looked at. Holding is not deleting: a report that turns out to be wrong must not destroy somebody’s letter to their child, so a held message stays intact and is released if the report is not upheld.
  3. A held message is only opened if it has to be. We would rather cancel a delivery than read what somebody wrote. Where a decision genuinely cannot be made without looking, the fact that it was looked at is recorded.
  4. If a report is upheld we remove the content, cancel the delivery, and may suspend the account. Sexual content involving a minor is reported to the appropriate authorities, and the account is closed.
  5. You are told what happened, if you left an address.

If you think we got it wrong

Write to hello@lightvow.com and a person will look again. If a message of yours was removed or a delivery cancelled, say so and we will explain what was decided and why. Content that has been held rather than removed can be released.

Reporting is not the same as deleting

If you simply do not want a message you have written to be delivered, you do not need this page at all — you can delete it yourself from your vault, at any time, without asking anyone. See the terms.