Community Guidelines & Platform Use
StreetBuzz exists to keep locals informed, connected, and empowered. To make sure this space stays valuable and respectful for everyone, here are a few important ground rules
1. Purpose of StreetBuzz
StreetBuzz is a community-driven platform designed to help neighbourhoods stay informed, connected, and safe through real-time local updates.
The platform enables residents to share:
- Public safety announcements
- Crime and suspicious activity alerts
- Lost, found or stolen reports events with helpful context and urgency
- Road hazards and urgent risks
- Positive community stories and local heroes
- Important neighbourhood discussions
StreetBuzz exists to empower locals to share real information about real events — The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly — while maintaining safety, responsibility, and accuracy. StreetBuzz is not intended for harassment, misinformation, panic-driven behaviour, or personal attacks.
2. Our Core Values
StreetBuzz operates on three guiding principles:
Accountability
We believe individuals and institutions should be held to a higher standard through transparent and responsible community reporting.
Reality
StreetBuzz focuses on real events as they unfold, without unnecessary sensationalism or distortion.
Truth
We aim to combat misinformation by encouraging verified, factual, and responsible contributions.
3. Respectful Community Conduct
StreetBuzz is designed to feel like a neighbourhood — not an anonymous outrage forum. Healthy debate is welcome. Abuse is not. Users must:
- Treat others respectfully
- Avoid threats, intimidation, bullying or harassment
- Avoid discriminatory or hateful language
- Avoid encouraging violence or panic
4. Accuracy & Responsible Reporting
StreetBuzz is for awareness — not investigation or vigilante action. Content that intentionally misleads or creates unnecessary fear may be removed. Before posting, users should:
- Share information truthful to the best of their knowledge
- Clearly label unconfirmed or developing situations
- Avoid speculation presented as fact
- Avoid accusing individuals without evidence
5. Safety First — Emergency Services
StreetBuzz does not replace police, ambulance or fire services. If someone is in immediate danger, call 000 first.
- Never interfere with emergency response operations
- Avoid posting content that could compromise active incidents
- Prioritise personal safety over capturing footage
6. Location Relevance & Alert Integrity
StreetBuzz distributes alerts based on geographic relevance. Misuse of location tagging may result in reduced visibility or removal. Users should:
- Tag posts in the correct suburb or area where the incident occurred
- Avoid posting irrelevant content across multiple locations
- Provide useful local context where possible
- Duplicate posts in multiple suburbs will be deleted
7. Appropriate & Prohibited Content
Content We Encourage:
- verified crime or safety alerts
- suspicious activity observations
- road hazards and urgent risks
- lost and found reports
- positive community updates
- useful local information
Content Not Allowed
- hate speech or discrimination
- harassment or targeted abuse
- false or misleading emergency information
- graphic violence without strong public interest justification
- vigilante coordination or retaliation planning
- doxxing or sharing private personal data
- pornographic or sexually explicit material
- scams, spam or unauthorised commercial promotions
- excessive abusive or offensive language
8. Identity, Credibility & Moderation Scrutiny
Users are required to register with a real name and verified phone number. This helps maintain trust, credibility, and community safety.
However, users who:
- use aliases
- avoid using real names
- cannot be reasonably identified
may be treated as anonymous-style users and may face:
- Stricter moderation scrutiny
- Reduced content reach
- Increased reporting sensitivity
- Suspension or permanent ban
9. Media, Privacy & Filming Responsibilities
Users may upload incident footage where lawful and in the public interest. Transparency matters — but legality and safety always come first.
- Avoid sharing full names, private addresses or contact details
- Avoid identifiable close-ups of minors (unless authorised by authorities)
- If a post is necessary, blur out children's faces in all circumstances
- Respect dignity when filming vulnerable individuals
10. Moderation & Enforcement
StreetBuzz uses a hybrid moderation approach including:
- automated detection systems
- human moderation review
- community reporting tools
Enforcement actions may include:
- content removal
- reduced visibility
- temporary suspension
- permanent account termination
Repeated or serious breaches may impact user reputation and platform privileges.
Users may appeal moderation decisions by contacting support.
11. Commercial Content & Promotions
StreetBuzz is a community-driven social media and news platform with the most active, engaged audience in the country. Our business advertising feature will only be introduced in late 2026/early 2027. Promotion and advertising before this time is not currently allowed. Businesses may promote content only through approved channels such as:
- Buzz Your Post
- Verified partnerships
- Sponsored alerts
12. Content Ownership & Licensing
Users retain ownership of submitted content. Third parties, including media organisations, must obtain permission from StreetBuzz before reproducing or using content from the platform. By posting, users grant StreetBuzz a worldwide, non-exclusive licence to:
- Host and distribute content
- Republish content across StreetBuzz channels
- Licence content to media organisations where appropriate
13. Using StreetBuzz
How To Create a Post
StreetBuzz is designed for fast, structured and responsible reporting.
Step 1 — Select Type of Alert
Choose the urgency level:
- Urgent Alert (High Risk)
Active threats or serious immediate dangers (event must be unfolding, or have happened within a 2 hour timeframe). - Non-Urgent Alert (Moderate Risk)
Recent incidents, suspicious activity or safety concerns. - Discussion (Low Risk)
General neighbourhood conversations or awareness topics.
Correct selection ensures alerts reach the appropriate users.
Step 2 — Choose Category
Select the category that best matches your update, such as:
- Hit-and-run or suspicious activity
- road hazard or fire
- lost or found
- community update
- positive story or community win
Accurate categorisation improves relevance and feed distribution.
Step 3 — Select Location
Choose the suburb or area where the event is occurring.
Location accuracy helps alerts reach nearby users who may be affected.
Step 4 — Add Clear Details
Include:
- what happened
- when it happened
- where it happened
- helpful identifying details
Stick to clear, factual observations rather than assumptions. Posts that do not provide meaningful or useful information to the community may be removed at StreetBuzz’s discretion. Vague or low-effort posts will be removed. More detailed posts generally achieve better reach and engagement on the platform.
Step 5 — Upload Images or Video (Highly Recommended)
Adding photos or video can significantly improve the clarity, credibility, and impact of your post. Visual evidence often helps other users better understand what is happening in their area.
Posts that include relevant supporting media are also typically more engaging, which may improve:
- awareness reach within the community
- user interaction and trust
- overall performance in the StreetBuzz feed
When uploading media, users must ensure:
- the content is lawful to share
- private individuals are not unnecessarily exposed
- close-up identifiable images of minors are avoided or blurred (unless clearly in the public interest or released by authorities)
- content does not interfere with active emergency operations
Always prioritise personal safety, legality and responsible reporting when capturing or sharing footage.
Step 6 — Post Responsibly
Before publishing, consider:
- Does this post genuinely help, inform or protect others?
- Is the information accurate or clearly labelled as developing?
- Could posting this place me or someone else at risk?
If unsure, delay posting and contact authorities where appropriate.
14. Platform Evolution
As StreetBuzz grows, policies and features may evolve.
Major updates will be communicated through:
- in-app notifications
- email updates
- website announcements
Continued use of StreetBuzz signifies acceptance of updated guidelines.
15. Contact & Support
For moderation enquiries, guideline questions or media licensing requests: