Offensive Conduct Policy

These policies are intended to ensure that all Olio users feel safe and respected while sharing and communicating on the Olio app.

Any behaviour that breaks our offensive conduct policy outlined below will result in an immediate ban from the app.

🔴 Which offensive conduct I should report to Olio?

🔴 What should I do if I have received offensive messages ON the Olio app? 

Please use the flag within the app Messages themselves to report any offensive messages. 

Keep in mind that disagreeing with a post or a message is not a reason to report it. This slows down our ability to remove content that is truly offensive. Continued reports of messages that do not break our Offensive Conduct policy may result in the reporting user being banned.

🔴 What should I do if I have received offensive messages OUTSIDE the Olio app? 

We will not review any reports outside of the app. This is because even if you provide screenshots from other platforms (e.g., Whatsapp conversations, Facebook posts), we won’t be able to consider them valid proof as we don’t have the means to verify their authenticity. 

The only exception to this rule is if you provide Olio with a valid police report reference for a serious incident that occurred outside the app. In this case, we will take immediate action to ban the offender from the app, and will fully support the police in their investigation into the matter. Please note that we will require evidence of your police report (eg. a screenshot or photo of the report confirmation)

🔴 What should I do if I need to report multiple incidents together to prove repeated offensive behaviour (e.g. trolling, inciting a hostile environment)?  

FWHs can get in touch using a FWH Issue Report which you can find in the Volunteer Hub, in My Collections tap ‘Report an Issue’.

If it does not concern another FWH, please use the “Need help” button on our FAQs.

Please provide screenshots of any in-app communication in question, as this will help us investigate more quickly.

🔴 Incidents reported by a government official or business partner

Olio will immediately remove volunteers from the app / FWH programme if they are reported to us by a government official (e.g. a food safety official reporting a health hazard at a user’s home) or by a business partner (e.g. a store manager reporting rude behaviour towards store staff).

This is because such reports can jeopardise Olio’s ability to continue running the FWH Programme. As Olio doesn’t have the resources and authority to investigate incidents involving other third-party staff (e.g. a store’s manager), we will act according to the report received from our partners. 

🔴 What happens when someone is reported for offensive conduct?

Olio will open an investigation into the claims made in the complaint. 

Clear evidence: If there is clear evidence of our guidelines being broken, we will immediately ban the user from the app or the FWH Programme. 

No clear evidence: If we aren’t able to verify claims made in a complaint, we will make a note on the user’s account for future reference. If several people in the local community report a specific issue multiple times, we will ban the user from the app or the FWH Programme.

Why has Olio renamed its policy from bullying to offensive conduct?

Bullying is defined as  “The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.’

In reports from our community, we rarely see all four elements (hurtful, repetition, power imbalance, intentional) present in their entirety. Therefore, we renamed our policy to reflect our aim of enforcing a respectful, inclusive, and safe environment for all our users.