Zeno is a place to practise speaking. That only works if people feel safe enough to sound like beginners — to mispronounce things, to pause, to get a word wrong and try again. These guidelines exist to protect that, and they apply everywhere on Zeno: live Spaces, voice rooms, private messages, profile names and avatars.
They are short on purpose. If you are unsure whether something is allowed, the test is simple: would a stranger practising English in this room feel comfortable if you said or did it? If the answer is no, do not do it.
The basic rules
- Be patient with learners. Everyone here is practising. Correcting someone kindly is welcome; mocking an accent, a mistake or a level is not.
- Keep it appropriate for a mixed audience. Spaces are public and international. Assume a stranger of any age, country and religion can hear you.
- No harassment. Do not insult, threaten, follow, or repeatedly message someone who has not replied. If a person leaves a Space or stops answering, that is an answer.
- No hate speech. Attacks based on nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, caste, disability or appearance are removed and the account is banned.
- No sexual content and no sexual approaches. Zeno is a language app, not a dating or adult platform. Sexual talk, requests for sexual content, and sexual content in names, avatars or Space topics are all prohibited.
- No spam or promotion. Do not use Spaces or private messages to advertise services, sell courses, farm followers, or push people to other platforms.
- Protect your own privacy. Do not share your phone number, home address, bank or payment details, ID documents, or passwords — and never ask another user for theirs.
- One person, one account. Do not impersonate another person, a teacher, a brand, or the Zeno team. Do not create new accounts to get around a ban.
Age rule: Zeno is 18+
You must be at least 18 years old to use Zeno. Spaces are live, unscripted conversations between strangers from many countries, and we are not able to supervise them the way a platform for minors would have to. This is stated in our Terms of Service and it is enforced: if we find that an account belongs to someone under 18, we remove the account.
If you believe a user is a minor, report them. Do not confront them in the Space — use the report option described below, and tell us in the note. Reports about minors are prioritised.
Prohibited content
The following will get content removed and, in most cases, the account banned on the first offence:
- Sexual content involving minors, or any sexualisation of a minor — reported to the authorities, no exceptions, no warnings.
- Nudity, pornography, or sexual acts — in voice, in chat, in avatars or in Space topics.
- Threats of violence, encouragement of self-harm or suicide, or celebration of violence.
- Hate speech and slurs, including "as a joke".
- Illegal activity: drugs, weapons, fraud, stolen accounts or data, hacking services.
- Scams and financial bait — investment or crypto "opportunities", job offers that require a payment, gambling, or any request for money from other learners.
- Sharing someone's personal information without their consent, including screenshots or recordings of a private conversation.
- Recording or streaming a Space without telling the people in it.
- Malware, phishing links, or links that disguise their destination.
How to report someone
Reporting is built into the app and takes a few seconds. You do not need to leave the room, and the person is not told who reported them.
- In a Space: tap the person's name or avatar in the participant list to open their menu, then choose Report.
- In a private chat: open the conversation and use the menu at the top of the chat, then choose Report.
- Pick a reason — harassment, sexual content, hate speech, spam, scam, underage, or something else — and add a short note. The note matters: tell us roughly when it happened and what was said, because it is the fastest way for a moderator to find it.
To stop all contact from someone, use Block in the same menu. Blocking is immediate and mutual: a blocked person cannot message you, send you a friend or follow request, or join a Space preview with you, and you will not see each other's messages. You can review and undo this at any time from Menu → Blocked users.
Blocking and reporting are separate actions and you can do both. Blocking protects you right now; reporting is what lets us act on the account so it does not happen to the next person.
What we do with a report
Reports go to a moderation queue that the Zeno team reviews. Depending on what we find, we may do nothing (not every report is a breach), send a warning, remove content, remove the account from a Space, suspend it temporarily, or ban it permanently. Severe breaches — anything involving minors, credible threats, or sexual content — skip the warning stage.
We look at context, not only the report: what was said, how often, and whether the account has been reported before. Because of that, we do not usually tell you the outcome of your individual report. That is not us ignoring it. It is us not sharing another user's account status with you.
To keep the queue useful, reports are rate limited and you can only report the same person once in a 24-hour period. Deliberately false reports are themselves a breach of these guidelines.
If a decision is wrong
Moderation is done by people and people make mistakes. If your account was actioned and you think it was a mistake, email gamezx@zenocourse.com from the address you sign in with, and tell us what you think happened. We will look again. Do not create a second account while you wait — that turns a temporary suspension into a permanent one.
Hosts have extra responsibility
If you create a Space, you are responsible for what happens in it. You can mute and remove participants, and you are expected to use those tools rather than let a room turn hostile. Setting a Space topic that invites prohibited content — anything sexual, hateful, or designed to sell something — is treated as a breach by you, not only by the people who join.
A note on mistakes, and on kindness
Almost nobody joins Zeno intending to cause harm. Most bad moments come from a joke that does not travel between cultures, or from impatience with someone whose English is slower than yours. If you get it wrong, apologise and move on — that is usually the end of it.
And if you are the one being corrected badly, or made to feel small for the way you speak: that is the behaviour these rules exist to stop. Block, report, and keep practising. You are doing the harder thing by speaking at all.
These guidelines work alongside our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Questions about anything on this page can go to our contact page.