Community Guidelines

Last updated: May 11, 2026

SettleUp is meant to be fun for everyone — settlers and city-builders alike. These guidelines describe what's expected of players in chat (text and voice), how to report problems, and what happens after. They apply everywhere chat appears: in-game, online lobbies, AI chat, and any other player-to-player communication in the app.

What's encouraged

Friendly trash talk, jokes, and gameplay banter
Negotiating trades, congratulating opponents, calling out a great move
Helping new players learn the game
Reporting behavior that breaks these guidelines — every report helps

What's not allowed

The following will get a chat message removed and may result in a chat mute or account suspension:

Harassment

Targeted insults, repeated mocking, sexual harassment, threats, or anything intended to make a specific player feel unsafe. Includes following them across multiple games to continue the behavior.

Hate speech

Slurs or attacks targeting people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or similar protected characteristics. Zero tolerance.

Threats and violence

Threats of physical harm, encouraging self-harm, or graphic violence — even as a "joke" — are not allowed.

NSFW / sexual content

Sexually explicit text, voice, or display names. SettleUp is open to all ages — keep it clean.

Spam and disruption

Repeated identical messages, link spam, off-topic advertising, or deliberately stalling games to drain the turn timer.

Cheating, exploits, or impersonation

Using bugs to gain an unfair advantage, sharing exploits, or pretending to be a SettleUp staff member or another player.

Sharing personal information (doxxing)

Don't share your own or anyone else's real name, address, phone number, school, employer, or other identifying details — yours or theirs.

How to report

From any chat message in-game: long-press the message → Report. From a player's profile: tap the Report button.

You'll be asked to pick a reason (harassment, hate speech, spam, offensive content, or other) and can add an optional note. The report is sent to our moderation team — your identity is never shared with the person you reported.

Block & Report is the recommended option for serious or repeated abuse — it submits the report AND prevents the player from messaging you or being matched with you ever again. You can manage your blocked-users list any time in Settings → Privacy → Blocked Users.

What happens next

The reported player is automatically muted for the rest of that game so you don't have to keep seeing them while we investigate.
Our moderation team reviews the report (usually within 24 hours).
Depending on severity and history we may: take no action, warn the player, remove the message, mute them from chat for a period (24 hours up to permanent), or suspend their account.
Reports are anonymous — the reported player is never told who reported them.
You won't get a per-report status email — but if a report leads to action, that player's mute or suspension takes effect immediately.

Light-touch alternatives to reporting

Sometimes a report is overkill. Lighter options:

Mute for this game: long-press a chat message → Mute. Hides their messages for the rest of the game only — doesn't persist.
Block: from a player's profile or any chat. Permanent — they can never message you or be matched with you again. You can unblock from Settings → Privacy → Blocked Users.

If your message was filtered

SettleUp uses an automated content filter that catches obvious slurs and abuse. If your message didn't appear and you saw a "your message wasn't sent" notice, the filter caught something it considered out of bounds. We deliberately don't tell you exactly which word triggered it (otherwise the filter would be trivial to evade), but in our experience: if the message was clean and normal-sounding, this almost never happens. If you think the filter is wrong about your message, please contact support.

If you're muted or suspended

Mutes are time-limited (24 hours, 7 days) or permanent. While muted you can still play games — you just can't send chat messages. Suspensions are an account-level restriction; if you think yours was applied in error, contact support and our team will review.