Safety & Reporting

Cantina is an 18+ platform. We use age verification technology to make sure everyone on Cantina meets our minimum age requirement. Here's everything you need to know about how it works.

Why am I being asked to verify my age?

We may ask you to verify your age if:

• The date of birth you entered suggests you may be under 18
• Our automated systems have flagged your account for a potential age concern
• Our moderation team has reviewed your account and placed a hold pending verification

How does age verification work?

You'll be given two options:

• Video selfie: Take a short selfie video. An AI system will estimate your age based on your facial features. No image or facial data is sent to or stored by Cantina.
• ID scan: If your selfie is inconclusive, you may be asked to scan a government-issued photo ID (driver's license, passport, or similar). Your date of birth is extracted to confirm you're 18 or older. Your ID image is not retained by Cantina.

Who processes my data?

Cantina partners with Cinder, a trust & safety platform, to power our age assurance workflow. Cinder uses FaceTec technology to perform biometric processing including analyzing your selfie or ID scan. Cinder processes your data on servers in the United States and retains biometric data only for as long as necessary to complete the verification process, after which it is deleted in accordance with its retention policies. Cantina does not receive your images or any biometric identifiers.

What data does Cantina actually receive?

Cantina receives only the outcome of the verification, for example, whether you are over or under 18, along with a reference number for audit purposes. If you verify via ID scan, Cantina receives your date of birth to calculate age eligibility. Cantina does not receive or store your selfie, face geometry data, biometric templates, or ID document images.

How long is my data retained?

Cinder retains biometric data only for as long as necessary to complete the verification process, after which it is deleted in accordance with Cinder's retention policies and applicable law. Cantina retains your age eligibility result and reference number for the life of your account.

What happens if I don't verify?

Your account will remain locked until you complete the verification process. If verification confirms you are under 18, your account will be permanently suspended. If you believe there has been an error, please contact our support team.

Is my data used for anything other than age verification?

No. All data collected through the age verification process is used solely to confirm that you meet Cantina's age requirement. Neither Cantina nor Cinder sells, leases, trades, or otherwise profits from your biometric data. It is never used for advertising, recommendation algorithms, or any other secondary purpose.

Cantina is committed to creating a respectful, safe environment for everyone on the platform including Cantina Ambassadors, employees, contractors and moderators. These individuals support the community, run programming, moderate content, and maintain shared spaces depending on their role. Their profiles display a verified checkmark.

Interactions with Cantina staff are expected to remain professional and respectful at all times. We do not tolerate behavior that makes any Cantina team member feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or targeted. 

This policy complements our Bullying & Harassment, Sexual Content, and Violence & Threats of Harm policies and provides additional protections for staff. This is particularly important for our Ambassadors, who are here to support you, share their best practices about building and interacting with bots, and to enhance your experience in Cantina. They maintain key spaces such as The Welcome Lounge and The Bot Place and they deserve to feel safe and respected.

Unacceptable behavior toward Cantina staff

The following conduct is not allowed when directed at Cantina ambassadors, moderators, or staff:

• Unwanted contact or boundary violations
  Attempting to contact staff through personal or off-platform channels (such as personal email, phone numbers, social media, or in-person interactions) unless explicitly invited.
• Unwanted sexual or romantic advances
  Flirtation, sexual comments, suggestive behavior, or repeated romantic attention that is not clearly welcomed or reciprocated.
• Harassment, fixation, or over-attachment
  Persistent personal attention, requests for private interaction, pressure to share personal information, or creating bots or content based on a staff member’s likeness without consent.
• Abusive language, threats, or intimidation
  Personal attacks, threats, doxxing, coordinated harassment, or attempts to intimidate staff, including threats to report them to “higher-ups” or get them fired.
• Spamming or disruptive conduct
  Flooding chats, derailing conversations, or persistently demanding attention in ways that disrupt programming or community spaces.

Enforcement and safety

Because Cantina staff are performing official duties, violations of this policy may result in heightened or immediate enforcement, including warnings, restrictions, suspension, or permanent account removal.

If behavior becomes threatening, abusive, or escalates toward real-world harm, Cantina may take additional steps to protect its employees, including working with law enforcement where appropriate.

Cantina is a platform for creativity and exploration but respect is non-negotiable. Protecting the people who support and moderate the community is essential to maintaining a safe, inclusive, and enjoyable environment for everyone.

Cantina respects intellectual property rights and is committed to protecting copyrighted content. This policy explains how to submit a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown request to have the content removed. Below, we outline how to submit a claim, how Cantina processes claims, and what to do if your content was removed in error.

This policy applies to all content on Cantina, including user uploads, bot-generated content, AI-generated media (images, video, audio, and text), and avatars.

Submitting a DMCA Copyright Claim 

If you are a copyright owner or an authorized representative, you may request removal of allegedly infringing content by submitting a DMCA takedown notice. Your notice must include:

1. Your contact information: Your full legal name, email address, and physical address
2. Description of the copyrighted work: A clear description of the copyrighted material you believe has been infringed
3. Location of the infringing content on Cantina: A direct URL or sufficient information for us to locate the material on Cantina
4. Good-faith statement: A statement that you believe the use is not authorized by you, your agent, or the law
5. Statement under penalty of perjury: Confirming the accuracy of the notice and your authority to act.
6. Your electronic signature.

You can submit a DMCA takedown request by selecting Intellectual Property, Copyright Infringement on our reporting form. 

What happens after a DMCA request is submitted 

Once we receive a valid DMCA notice:

• The identified content may be removed or disabled
• The user who posted or generated the content will be notified  
• The user may submit a counter-notice if they believe the removal was made in error

If a request is incomplete or invalid, we may request additional information before taking action. 

Cantina acts as a service provider responding to DMCA noticed and does not adjudicate ownership disputes.  

Filing a Counter-Notice

If you believe content was removed due to a mistake or misidentification, you may submit a DMCA counter-notice including:

1. Your full name, email, and physical address.
2. Identification of the removed content and its prior location
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that the removal was in error
4. Consent to jurisdiction of a U.S. federal court 
5. Your physical or electronic signature.

You can also download the sample counter-notice form attached at the bottom of this article and fill it with the relevant information. Counter-notices may be sent to copyright@cantina.com.

If the original copyright holder does not file a legal action within 10 business days, we may restore the content when appropriate.

Repeat Infringement Policy

Cantina may, in appropriate circumstances, suspend or terminate accounts of users who repeatedly upload or generate infringing content.

We encourage users to share only content they own or have the legal right to use, including when using AI-powered tools.

Important notes

• Submitting knowingly false or misleading DMCA notices may have legal consequences.

• Abuse of the DMCA process may result in action under Cantina’s policies.

If you have any questions about our DMCA policy, please visit our Terms of Service or reach out to our Trust & Safety Team at copyright@cantina.com.

These guidelines are for law enforcement and government agencies only. If you are not a law enforcement or government official, please submit your request via our Help Center.

Cantina is a social AI platform that enables user-generated content, messaging, and AI-powered interactions. For product details, please refer to this link. These guidelines explain how law enforcement agencies may request user information from Cantina. 

Cantina is committed to protecting user safety, security, and privacy. As part of that commitment, we store and maintain private and personal information as described in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. We disclose non-public user information only when required by law or when permitted under applicable legal standards.

Requests for User Information

Cantina’s disclosure of user information is governed by the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2701, et seq., which requires that we disclose user information to law enforcement only in response to specific types of legal process. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more details  about the types of user information that Cantina collects.

Categories of user information

For purposes of legal process, user information may include:

• Subscriber information (e.g., account identifiers and registration details)

• Non-content metadata (e.g., account activity information, where retained)

• User content (e.g., messages, prompts, uploaded media, and AI-generated outputs associated with a user account, subject to retention limitations)

Cantina does not create or retain additional records for investigative purposes beyond what is described in our Privacy Policy.

Within the United States 

Cantina will respond to legally binding requests from U.S. law enforcement and governmental agencies that include one of the following documents:

• A valid, jurisdictionally sufficient subpoena can be used to obtain basic subscriber information set out in 18 U.S.C. 2703(c)(2), namely: Cantina screen name and username, email address (if provided by user), phone number,  account creation date, IP address, device information.
• A valid, jurisdictionally sufficient court order issued under 18 U.S.C. 2703(d) can be used to obtain other categories of non-content data regarding a user.  
• A valid, jurisdictionally sufficient federal or state search warrant can be used to obtain user content such as photos or written communications.

International Requests

Cantina may require non-U.S. governmental and law enforcement agencies to submit a request for legal assistance to designated government authorities under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (“MLAT”) framework, or a letter rogatory to disclose the contents of a user’s account.

Cantina may, at its discretion, provide limited subscriber non-content information to non-U.S. governmental and law enforcement agencies in response to legal process that is duly authorized in the requesting country.

Requirements for submitting a legal request

For a U.S. or non-U.S. law enforcement request to be honored, it must be issued in accordance with governing law and include all of the following information along with the PDF of the request:

• The following contact information:
  •  
    • Name of issuing agency
    • First and last name of the requesting law enforcement officer
    • Official email from a known law enforcement domain
    • Official direct phone number
    • Badge/ID number of the requesting law enforcement officer
    • Address of agency
• Profile name and URL of the Cantina account in question
• Details regarding the specific information being requested and its relationship to your investigation

Please submit your request for user information here.

All requests should be addressed to:

Cantina, Inc.

10 Jay St, 4th FL

Brooklyn, NY 11201

US

If you have any questions please contact lawenforcement@cantina.ai.

Emergency Requests

Under our Privacy Policy and 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b)(8), we may disclose certain information at our discretion with law enforcement if we have a good faith belief that there is an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to a person that Cantina may have information necessary to prevent. 

When submitting an Emergency Disclosure Request you must include the following information:

• Identity of the individual in danger of death or serious physical injury;
• The nature of the emergency and why it poses a threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury that would justify immediately disclosing the requested information rather than relying on standard legal process; 
• Information in Cantina’s possession you are seeking to obtain on an emergency basis; and
• How the specific information requested will assist in averting the threatened death or serious physical injury.

Please submit your Emergency Disclosure Request here.

Account Preservation

Cantina does not guarantee the existence or retention of particular user data. However, In accordance with 18 U.S.C. 2703(f), we will preserve any user information in our possession that may be relevant in a criminal legal proceeding  in response to a formal and valid request from a law enforcement agency that includes a specific time range for preservation not to exceed 90 days.

Cantina will not produce records to the law enforcement agency without service of proper and valid legal process (e.g., subpoena, court order or warrant). Valid preservation requests should be submitted here.

If you have any questions please contact lawenforcement@cantina.ai.

Child Safety

Cantina will remove any content that comes to our attention that depicts (or may depict) sexually explicit images of minors or appears to sexualize or exploit children, including content drawn to our attention by government requests. We will promptly report this content to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, which may relay this and related information to U.S.- or foreign-based law enforcement agencies. 

If a request involves a child exploitation or safety matter, please specify that in the request so that we may quickly address the request.

Data Retention

In accordance with our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and applicable law, Cantina retains different types of user information for various periods of time. Due to the nature of the information on Cantina, we may store some user information for only a short period of time. Unless we receive a valid preservation request, we generally do not retain information for law enforcement purposes.

User notification

Per Cantina’s Privacy Policy, we will use reasonable efforts to provide notice to our users when we respond to a request for their information unless we are prohibited by law from doing so -for example, by an order under 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b)-, or if we believe that an exceptional circumstance exists, such as child exploitation, the threat of imminent death or bodily injury, or where notification would be counterproductive.

Law enforcement or other official government agencies that do not want Cantina to notify a user of their request should include a court order or reference to other legal authority that bars Cantina from disclosing the existence of the request to the user.

If your request for information draws Cantina’s attention to a violation of our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines, Cantina will take action to prevent further abuse, which may alert the customer to Cantina’s awareness of its misconduct. Your request should explicitly include instruction to Cantina to not take action if you wish to prevent potential awareness on the part of Cantina’s user(s).

Testimony and certification

Records produced in response to law enforcement requests are self-authenticating and do not require the testimony of records custodians. We are unable to provide expert testimony. 

If you need a special certification, please include it in your request.

Cost Reimbursement

Under 18 U.S.C. §2706, Cantina may seek to be reimbursed for any costs we incur in responding to information requests. Unusual or extensive requests may incur additional costs, but we may waive fees at our discretion.

These guidelines are regularly reviewed by Cantina and are subject to change at our discretion.

Cantina's Trust & Safety (T&S) team is dedicated to maintaining a respectful, welcoming, and policy-compliant environment for our community. 

In addition to the tools users can use to manage their own experience, Cantina relies on a combination of automated safeguards and trained human moderators to detect, review, and address violations of our Community Guidelines.

Profiles displaying the Trust & Safety badge are official Cantina accounts.

How we keep Cantina safe

Automated Safeguards

We use automated systems to help identify potentially harmful or policy-violating content across select areas of the platform. These systems are designed to:

• Detect severe or high-risk violations
• Interrupt or limit harmful content when appropriate
• Escalate complex cases for human review

Our automated tools are part of a broader safety strategy and are continuously refined to improve accuracy and fairness.

Human Moderation

Cantina employs a team of Trust & Safety and Support professionals who are available 24/7.

Moderators may:

• Join public rooms
• Review reports submitted by users
• Provide guidance on Community Guidelines
• Take enforcement actions when violations occur

Enforcement actions may include warnings, content removal, feature restrictions, temporary suspensions, or permanent account bans, depending on severity and history.

When behavior presents a credible risk of harm or violates applicable law, Cantina may take additional protective measures, including working with appropriate authorities where required.

Our approach

Our moderation model is designed to be:

• Proactive: identifying risks before they escalate
• Responsive: acting promptly when concerns are raised
• Consistent: applying our policies fairly across the platform
• Proportionate: tailoring enforcement to the severity of the violation

Trust & Safety agents are here to support the community, not to interfere with creative expression, and to ensure that Cantina remains aligned with its guidelines.

Working together

User reports play an essential role in keeping Cantina safe. If you encounter behavior that violates our Community Guidelines, please report it using our in-app tools so our team can review and respond.

Maintaining a positive environment is a shared responsibility between users and the Trust & Safety team.

 

Cantina is an 18+ platform. Users must be 18 years of age or older to create an account or use Cantina, as reflected in our Terms of Service:

Age requirements

• Users must be 18 or older to access Cantina
• Users may not provide false or misleading information about their age
• Users may not change their age after sign-up or create new accounts using a different age

If a user is found to be under 18, their account will be suspended and they will not be permitted to continue using the platform.

How we enforce our 18+ policy 

Cantina uses a multi-layered approach to enforce its age requirements, which may include:

• Age checks during onboarding
• Manual review following user reports
• Automated systems designed to detect signals of underage use during platform activity

Accounts flagged through these processes may be temporarily or immediately suspended while age is verified. Users who cannot confirm they meet the age requirement will have their accounts permanently disabled.

How to report an underage user
If you come across a user you believe is underage, please report them for review:

1. Tap on the member Avatar:
2. Tap ... More
3. Tap Report @username:
4. Select Reason: Underage User
   • Provide as much detail as possible about why you believe this user is underage (e.g., they mentioned their age in conversation, they appear to be a minor, etc.).
5. Tap Send Report

Once your report is submitted, our Trust & Safety team will review it and take appropriate actions to verify the user's eligibility to use this service. 

Our Commitment

Cantina does not rely on a single checkpoint to enforce its age policy. We maintain ongoing safeguards across the platform to help ensure that only users who meet our age requirement can participate.

Protecting the integrity of our 18+ environment is essential to keeping Cantina safe, respectful, and aligned with how our community is designed to function.

Cantina takes the safety, mental health, and well-being of our community very seriously.  We recognize the critical importance of fostering an environment where individuals feel supported and safe. We aim to balance providing a platform for open communication and expression with the imperative responsibility to protect our users from content that encourages, promotes, or normalizes self-harm or suicide. It is important to note that we are an entertainment platform and not a mental health service, and our AI tools and bots are not designed to provide counseling, therapy, or crisis intervention. 

This policy exists to help reduce harm, support users in moments of distress, and ensure that Cantina does not become a space where self-harm is encouraged or escalated. We define self-harm as the act of deliberately hurting oneself physically. Examples of self-harm behaviors include intentionally ending one's life, engaging in disordered eating patterns, etc.

What is not allowed

Content or behavior that includes or promotes the following is prohibited on Cantina:

• Encouragement, glorification, or normalization of self-harm or suicide
• Instructions, explicit descriptions, graphic images, or videos depicting suicide or acts of self-harm
• Facilitation of suicide or self-injury (i.e. sharing methods or providing instructions)
• Content that pressures, manipulates, or challenges others to harm themselves
• Roleplay or bot interactions that meaningfully advance or reinforce self-harm ideation

This policy applies to user-generated content and AI-generated content, including interactions with bots.

Exceptions may include content clearly shared for the purpose of support, awareness, or recovery when handled responsibly.

Support-oriented interventions

When users express distress or vulnerability related to self-harm or suicide, Cantina’s approach is to prioritize safety and route users toward appropriate off-platform support.

To do this, Cantina uses a combination of internal safety systems and trusted third-party expertise to:

• Interrupt harmful interactions or content
• Display supportive messages encouraging users to seek help
• Surface crisis resources when appropriate

These systems are designed to be protective, limited in scope, and focused on harm reduction, not diagnosis or treatment.

External support resources 

Cantina partners with Crisis Text Line to provide users with access to trained, human crisis counselors outside the platform.

When appropriate, users may be shown information directing them to text a dedicated Crisis Text Line number for Cantina users, offering confidential, 24/7 support.

If you feel that you are in immediate danger, please contact local emergency services and if you are outside the United States, visit Find a Helpline to find resources for your country.

Additional resources

Suicide Prevention

If you are in need of support, please know that you’re not alone and that immediate help is available for you. 

Crisis Text Line

• Text: IMAGINE to 741741
• Chat

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 

• Call: 988
• Text: 988
• Chat

Eating Disorder Support

If you, or someone you know, are experiencing concerns around body image, food, or exercise, know that you are not alone.

National Eating Disorders Association 

• Call: 800-931-2237
• Text: 800-931-2237

LGBTQIA+ Support

As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community it can be helpful to speak to someone who can relate to your experiences, unique to the community or not.

The Trevor Project 

• Call: 866-488-7386
• Text: START to 678-678
• Chat

Trans Lifeline

• Call: 877-565-8860

Important Limitations

• Cantina and its AI tools do not replace professional medical, psychological, or crisis care. 
• Bots are not permitted to act as therapists, confidants, or emotional substitutes. 
• We do not allow bots to provide advice, reassurance, or dialogue that could worsen a crisis

Our safeguards are intended to reduce harm and encourage real-world support, not to resolve crises within the platform.

Reporting concerns

If you encounter content or interactions that appear to encourage self-harm or pose a risk to user safety, please report it using our in-platform tools by following these instructions so our Trust & Safety team can review and take appropriate action.

Our Commitment

Cantina is designed for creativity and connection, not crisis intervention. When serious mental health risks surface, our responsibility is to pause, protect, and point users toward qualified help.

We continuously review and improve our safeguards in collaboration with external experts to respond responsibly as risks evolve.