Community Guidelines
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Usage and Content Policies: Rules for Using Meetup
Be Real
Meetup profiles are intended to represent real people in a local area. Meetup member profiles must be honest and authentic.
Be Honest: Intentions, Affiliations, Transparency
All members should be open about who they are, their intentions, and their affiliations. All Meetup group and event descriptions should be accurate, to allow members to make informed decisions about their participation.
Be Yourself: Fake Accounts & Impersonation
Creating fake accounts, malicious accounts, or accounts meant to impersonate another person, is prohibited on Meetup.
Be Respectful
Respecting people's time, attention, personal choices, and personal boundaries is essential to creating safe and trusting communities. Be respectful in interactions with people and in content posted on the platform. Meetup monitors and restricts behaviors that are dishonest, undermine the integrity of the platform, violate personal boundaries, or serve to intentionally upset people.
Message Respectfully: Don't Spam
Content sent to a member that is irrelevant, impersonal, unsolicited, promotional, or repetitive is spam.
Set Appropriate Expectations and Honor Them: Don't Tamper with Meetups
Converting or changing events in a Meetup or a Meetup group so that they no longer align with the expectations and purpose set by the organizer and leadership team is misleading and not allowed.
The intentions of the Meetup group should remain consistent with member expectations as set in the Meetup group description.
Converting
Stepping up as organizer to a Meetup in order to change the focus of the Meetup, to close the Meetup, to send or post promotional content, or to send or post content not aligned with the original description of the Meetup, is prohibited. If it is your intention to change the meaning or purpose of a Meetup, we advise that you start a new Meetup instead. If a Meetup group gets a new organizer, the mission of that Meetup group should stay the same. Events in a Meetup group should reflect intentions expressed in the Meetup group description.
Tampering
Altering the content or settings of a Meetup group without permission from the main organizer, or in a way that is not aligned with the purpose of that Meetup group, is prohibited. Any use of Meetup tools or features to disrupt the Meetup or destroy content for the purpose of undermining or undercutting the established community is a violation of our policies.
Honor Requests for Distance: About Block and Ban Decisions
If you are blocked, you’re blocked. Members must accept and respect any organizer’s decision to ban a member from a group, or a member's decision to block a member from contacting them. Creating new accounts to circumvent block or ban decisions is prohibited.
Sexual Content and Nudity
Pornography is not allowed on Meetup. Publicly shared photos must be appropriate for general audiences. Nude or sexual photos are not allowed in public spaces.
Nudity
If nudity or sexuality is part of a Meetup's identity or lifestyle, organizers must keep the group Private in order to limit access to this content to members of that group. Meetup expects leadership teams to monitor this content.
Sex Solicitation and Prostitution
Meetup prohibits groups that, or individuals who, use Meetup to proposition for sex, or to promote or engage in prostitution. For policies on Meetup groups that may contain such content, please see Sexual Interests and Adult Interests and Identities in Meetup Group Policies.
Shocking, Disturbing, and Violent Content
Gratuitously graphic, disgusting, obscene, or violent content is prohibited. We don't allow content posted to upset, shock, or disturb a Meetup community or its members.
Child Exploitation
Meetup has a zero tolerance policy regarding child pornography or anything Meetup HQ believes exploits, sexualizes, or fetishizes minors. Such content will be removed from the platform and the uploader will be banned. Meetup reports all child pornography to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Ask for Permission: Consent
Meetup defines consent as welcomed communications and actions to engage with a member. Engaging with anyone in a non-consensual way is strictly prohibited. If ever in doubt, ask permission.
Respect Privacy: Don't Post Other People's Private Information
Posting other people's private information without their explicit consent is prohibited. …
Members and organizers should always be mindful of privacy and use discretion when sharing any private content that belongs to themselves or to other members. For example, phone numbers, social security numbers, addresses, financial information, passwords, and government identification are considered private information.
Be Kind
Bullying, harassment, exploitation, and acts of hate undermine community building in safe spaces where people can trust one another. Building real relationships requires us to be more compassionate and kinder towards one another. Meetup enforces against behaviors that are threatening, intentionally malicious, or personally harmful--physically, emotionally, or mentally.
Be Compassionate: Don't Harass, Bully or Shame
Harassment and bullying are not allowed on Meetup. Meetup will honor requests to remove content that publicly shames or degrades a private individual.
Members should first contact the uploader or the organizer to request that content be removed.
Harassment is persistent or non-consensual contact from another member. Bullying is the intentional posting of mean content for the purpose of hurting or embarrassing another.
Meetup will honor requests to remove nude, lewd or shaming photos if the subject of that content reports it. Content targeting a public figure, organization, or anyone who has gained news attention, is not subject to these policies.
Act with Integrity: Do Not Manipulate or Exploit
Any attempt to use someone's insecurities or vulnerabilities for personal gain is considered manipulation or exploitation and is prohibited.
Hate and Supremacy
Hate speech, supremacy, or behavior that incites hate or violence against individuals or groups of people based on who they are or their beliefs, is prohibited.
Be Safe
All organizers and members should take ownership over their personal safety and should never put themselves or others in danger. We expect all organizers and members to be mindful of local laws when engaging with their Meetups. Where appropriate, organizers should also set guidelines for their Meetups to ensure their members are participating safely.
No Threats, Violence, or Personal Endangerment
Using Meetup to promote, facilitate, or organize violent, criminal, or non-consensual actions that endanger anyone, physically, mentally or emotionally, is prohibited.
Credible threats of violence or aggression will be removed and are grounds for removal.
Self-Injury
Meetup does not allow any content that encourages or glorifies self-injury or encourages others to harm themselves.
Copyright and IP
Intellectual Property
We respect the intellectual property rights of others. Posting content that violates another party's intellectual property rights is prohibited.
When provided with the requisite information, Meetup will remove or disable access to material that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others or remove accounts of those who may be repeat infringers. Please note that simply holding a Meetup around a similar topic in a shared location is generally not considered a violation of our policies.
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Meetup Group Policies: Standards for Meetup Groups
All Meetups must fulfill three basic requirements:
Be Community Focused
Meetup groups are expected to create opportunities for members to participate in the Meetup and connect with each other. Belonging to a Meetup community means sharing a purpose, goal, interest, identity, or activity.
Meet in Real Life
Meetups occur when people meet face-to-face, in real life. Meetups must be hosted in person, by an event host or member of the group's leadership team, who supports members and interacts with the community the Meetup is building.
Be Local
Meetup is intended for building local community. Meetup should not be used primarily for scheduling online meetings, conference calls, or webinars across geographies. Instead, Meetup's features should be used to build the group's capacity and create opportunities for meaningful connections within a local community.
Group Conduct Policies
Be Safe
All organizers and members must take ownership over their safety, and must never put themselves or others in danger. We expect all organizers and members to be mindful of local laws when engaging with their Meetups.
When appropriate, Meetup encourages organizers to set guidelines for their Meetups to ensure their members are participating safely.
Honesty and Transparency: Accurately Describe Meetups
All Meetup groups and events should be accurately described in the title and description fields to allow members to make informed decisions about their participation.
Organizers must be honest in the way they conduct their Meetup activities and upfront about the nature of their group's activities, interests, membership requirements, intentions, business affiliations, and/or official organization affiliations.
Set Reasonable Expectations
Businesses and services must ensure they disclose reasonable expectations and aspirations. Meetup cannot verify promises or assurances of health cures, mental cures, or financial gains, so these are prohibited on Meetup.
Restricted Meetup Groups
Businesses, Services, Venues, Products, and Promotion
Meetup supports businesses and organizations that want to build local communities on Meetup. Businesses and brands do not have to be focused on community building in order to use Meetup, but if they start a Meetup group, that Meetup group should be. Meetup does not support groups created for the sole purpose of soliciting or promoting a business, service, brand, product, or venue.
Meetup groups are required to disclose any affiliations with companies, businesses, brands or organizations in their Meetup title or description fields. Below is a list of specific prohibitions, restrictions, and requirements for these Meetups.
Promoters, Ticket Sales, Deals, and Packages
Meetup groups that are primarily intended to promote or sell, rather than build member-to-member connections, are not allowed. For example, Meetups positioned primarily to promote parties, sell tickets, advertise deals or travel packages, or publicize events that are misaligned with the Meetup group, are prohibited.
We require promotions to be used only to facilitate group connections and require that groups have a shared identity or interest. For example, a crafts Meetup group that posts a craft fair to attend as a group is allowed, but a crafts group that exclusively posts sales at local crafts stores is not.
Personal or Private Services
Any offerings should be centered on activities that build community connections, rather than on one-on-one activities between a service provider and a client or member. Leveraging a Meetup primarily to redirect members to become private clients is prohibited.
For example, health coaches, fitness trainers, life coaches, and private tutors are not permitted to leverage Meetup in order to actively promote their one-on-one services.
Classes and Workshops
Classes and workshops are allowed provided they list expected costs and requirements upfront, are clear about any business, organization, or school affiliations, set proper expectations for members, and are positioned to build lasting member-to-member connections via in-person group participation.
Products
Products directly associated with a Meetup group must be relevant or directly part of the activities or interests of a community-driven Meetup. Groups with the sole purpose of facilitating the direct sale or promotion of specific products or goods are prohibited.
Venues
Meetup groups associated with a venue must have a clear community-building purpose or interest. Meeting at the same venue over-and-over does not constitute a violation, however, positioning a Meetup to promote a venue or its offerings is prohibited.
Credentialed Services
Meetup does not support activities or practices that involve regulated services that need to be provided by legally licensed professionals in fields such as medicine, psychology, mental health, law, finance, etc.
Meetup does not validate professional credentials or licenses. Any offerings should be centered on activities for the group as a whole, rather than on one-on-one activities. Leveraging a Meetup primarily to redirect members to become private clients for credentialed services is prohibited.
One-time Event Meetup Groups
A one-time event should typically be listed as a Meetup event within a Meetup group. However, a one-time event with the potential to become a Meetup group that has shared interests and the potential for future opportunities to build member-to-member connections is allowed.
Singles and Dating Meetup Groups
Singles groups relating to a specific shared identity, shared set of values, or shared activity based interests that also aim to facilitate participation and community building are supported on Meetup. Dating services do not share the common goal of facilitating local and lasting community amongst groups of people and are prohibited.
In order to provide a quality and more personally relevant experience for our members, Meetups for singles of a certain age, or singles in a certain location, are not specific enough to qualify as Meetup groups.
Prohibited dating services and events include, but are not limited to, speed dating, dating clinics, and date coaching.
Pick-up Artist Meetups
Meetup does not support groups that involve pick-up or seduction techniques, or wingman tactics.
Sexual and Adult Interests and Identities
Meetup respects anyone's choice to build a supportive community for diverse identities or lifestyles provided it is safe, honestly-informed and consensual. This includes those with sexual or adult interests. However, Meetups that participate in, or promote prostitution, or allow for any type of exploitation, are prohibited. If Meetup groups involve sexual interests, or education, organizers must abide by additional requirements for their Meetups.
In a Meetup group title or description, organizers must clearly describe rules of participation and informed consent, be clear and explicit about activities that will occur, and outline safety considerations. They must also always have their group visibility settings set to Private.
Sexual Content and Nudity
Pornography is not allowed on Meetup. Publicly shared photos must be appropriate for general audiences. Nude or sexual photos are not allowed in public spaces.
If nudity or sexuality is part of a Meetup's identity or lifestyle, organizers must keep the group Private in order to limit access to this content to members of that group. Meetup expects leadership teams to monitor this content.
Under 18 Participation
Meetup members and organizers must be at least 18 years of age. Therefore, Meetup groups should be targeted at, and only offer opportunities for, those who are over 18.
While Meetups are welcome to provide activities for families, any children present at a Meetup must be supervised and accompanied by an adult guardian.
Hate and Harm
Meetup groups purposed to organize or promote hateful, harmful, threatening, or bullying behavior, will be removed from the platform.
Organizers are expected to moderate their groups and content to prevent such behaviors from occurring and such content from appearing.
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Meetup Social Media Community Standards
Meetup communities thrive when you show up IRL to do what you love — together.
We believe the global Meetup community deserves to feel welcomed, respected, and excited to connect with each other, whether we do that in person or on social media.
Here are the five key tenets of our community on social media:
- Be welcoming. Cultivate a space where everyone feels safe to be themselves: a community driven by kindness — not bullying, trolling, or bigotry.
- Be real. Act as you would act in real life: with integrity and authenticity.
- Be impactful. Contribute to the discussion, and respect everyone’s time. What would you say if you were talking in person at an event?
- Be spirited. Show up with an openness to diverse perspectives and lively debate.
- Be thoughtful. Challenge ideas, not people.
If your posts on social media conflict with any of these tenets:
- Your post may be removed. You will be privately notified, warned, and encouraged to adjust your actions going forward in order to stay a member of the community.
- If you violate any of these tenets again, we have the right to ban you from our community on all social media channels.
Meetup Social Media Channels
If you’re not yet a member of our online community, join the conversation:
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Organizer and Leadership Standards: Best Organizer Practices
Respect the Original Intent: Don't Tamper with Meetups
Converting a Meetup group, changing Meetup events, or adding Meetup events, so they no longer align with the expectations and purpose set by the organizer and leadership team, is prohibited on the grounds that it is misleading.
The intentions of the Meetup group should remain generally consistent with member expectations. While Meetups often evolve and change over time, changes should be agreed upon by group membership and well-communicated, so people can make informed decisions about their continued participation.
Converting
It is prohibited to step up as organizer to a Meetup in order to change the focus of the Meetup, to close the Meetup, to send or post promotional content, or to send or post content not aligned with the original description of the Meetup. If it is your intention to change the meaning or purpose of a Meetup, we advise that you start a new Meetup instead. If a Meetup group gets a new organizer, the mission of that Meetup group should stay the same. Events in a Meetup group should reflect intentions expressed in the Meetup group description.
Tampering
It is prohibited to alter the content or settings of a Meetup group without permission from the main organizer, or in a way that is not aligned with the purpose of that Meetup group. Any use of Meetup tools or features to disrupt the Meetup or destroy content for the purpose of undermining or undercutting the established community is a violation of our policies.
Message Respectfully: Don't Spam Members
Content sent to a member that is irrelevant, impersonal, unsolicited, promotional, or repetitive is spam, and organizers may be blocked for spamming members.
The following are examples of inappropriate spam messages sent by organizers:
- Sending repetitive or unsolicited messages to members who are not in an organizer's Meetup groups.
- Sending messages to an organizer's own Meetup group that do not relate to that Meetup group.
- Sending promotional messages, including promoting an organizer’s Meetup group to members who are not in that Meetup group.
- Abusing the Meetup announcement or invite features by repeatedly inviting members or non-members for whom a Meetup group may not be relevant.
- Creating Meetup groups, events, or accounts for the purpose of cross-promoting Meetups.
Use Respectful Language
Using profanity in an attacking, sexual way, or in a way intended to offend people, is prohibited in Meetup titles, descriptions, or any other area that is publicly promoted or viewable on the platform.
Be Clear & Professional: Editorial Requirements
In order to provide a quality experience to our members, titles of Meetups are to be relevant, useful, and easy to understand. Excessive or improper use of punctuation, symbols, capitalization, spacing, URLs, or repetition, intended to grab attention for a Meetup, will need to be edited.
We consider the following examples to be excessive or gimmicky use of numbers, symbols, punctuation, repetition, or spacing: !!Dance!!!, d*a*n*c*e, DANCE, DaNcE, d a n c e, or d@nce.
Intellectual Property
We respect the intellectual property rights of others. Posting content that violates another party's intellectual property rights is prohibited.
When provided with the requisite information, Meetup will remove or disable access to material that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others or remove accounts of those who may be repeat infringers. Please note that simply holding a Meetup around a similar topic in a shared location, is generally not considered a violation of our policies.
Organizer Access to a Meetup Group
It is the responsibility of an organizer to pay for a Meetup group to operate and continue to be hosted on Meetup. Failure to pay or update payment information to renew an organizer subscription can result in allowing another member to step up and assume the role of main organizer of the group.
Generally, Meetup will not reinstate the former organizer of a Meetup group if the organizer loses their position and another member takes over as the main organizer. However, Meetup may reinstate previous organizers if their Meetup groups were affiliated with a registered third-party organization, entity, or company.
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Super Group Policies: Standards for Super Groups
The Super Group program (currently in beta) celebrates Meetup groups and organizers who build extraordinary in-person communities. Learn more about the Super Group program.
Good standing
Groups must maintain good standing for the six-month period immediately preceding assessment to qualify for the Super Group program.
To be in good standing, groups and organizers must:
- Follow Meetup’s Community Guidelines.
- Have no warnings from Meetup’s Integrity Team.
- Have no unresolved payment issues or member disputes.
Criteria and assessment
To achieve Super Group status your group must meet the Super Group criteria and be in good standing. There’s no need to apply to become a Super Group—eligible groups that meet the program criteria will automatically qualify.
Meetup assesses Super Group criteria and good standing every three months. Super Groups that do not maintain the Super Group criteria will be removed from the program during the next assessment period. If a current Super Group fails to remain in good standing, the group may be subject to immediate removal from the program.
Groups that lose Super Group status because of a lapse in good standing must maintain good standing for the six-month period immediately preceding assessment to rejoin the Super Group program.
Badge usage
The badge is intended as an on-site feature to identify Super Groups. Organizers must not use or display Super Group badges in any way that is inconsistent with Meetup’s Trademark Guidelines.
For example, organizers must not use the badge to:
- Imply that Meetup endorses the Super Group
- Claim that the organizer is an agent or a representative of Meetup
- Monetize their Super Group status (such as by displaying the badge on third-party websites or by selling merchandise with the badge displayed)
Program updates
Meetup reserves the right to update Super Group program policies at any time and without any prior notice. Meetup also reserves the right to remove any group from the Super Group program at its sole discretion. Meetup may also entirely discontinue the Super Group program at any time, with or without notice.
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Meetup Member Restrictions
Meetup takes member account privacy very seriously and has strict rules regarding who can access or create a Meetup account. Please know we reserve the right to suspend or remove any account, or limit access to certain features of the platform, for any reason, at our sole discretion.
Deceased Member Policy
If a member or organizer passes away, Meetup cannot provide access to their account, even to family members or people acting on the behalf of the estate. Meetup will work with families and honor their wishes if they choose to close accounts or Meetup groups, or transfer them to another member.
Under 18 Participation
Meetup members and organizers must be at least 18 years of age. Therefore, Meetup groups must be targeted at, and only offer opportunities for those who are over 18.
While Meetups are welcome to provide activities for families, any children present at a Meetup must be supervised and accompanied by an adult guardian.
Criminal Record
Meetup may remove certain members when we become aware that the member is a convicted sex offender or has been convicted of a violent, fraudulent, or dangerous crime. Meetup may also remove a member based on their criminal record, for safety, or for other concerns. Members with concerns about criminal or illegal activity should always report it to local authorities.
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