---
title: "Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and Exploitation (CSAE)"
description: "Strict zero-tolerance mandate regarding child sexual abuse material, non-retention obligations, and mandatory escalation protocols."
---

## Directive Objective
Enforce an absolute zero-tolerance standard against any form of biological, digital, or communicative sexual abuse and exploitation targeting minors.

---

## 1. Scope and Policy Coverage
This directive strictly prohibits:
- **Media Detection**: Any image, video, file, or hyperlink depicting, suggesting, or facilitating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSAE).
- **Absolute Non-Retention**: Total legal and platform prohibition against saving, re-uploading, caching, forwarding, or archiving CSAM/CSAE files under any circumstance—including saving files as "evidence" in staff channels or moderation tickets.
- **Link Facilitation**: Sharing invitations to external repositories, cloud drives, dark web links, or third-party groups dedicated to distributing CSAM.

:::danger[Absolute Legal Prohibition: Never Cache CSAM]
Under federal and international statutes (e.g., 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251 et seq.), possessing, transporting, or distributing CSAM is a felony with strict liability. Moderators must never screenshot, download, or re-post CSAM content to staff logs.
:::

---

## 2. Exclusion Boundaries and Scope Limits
- **General Underage Chat Activity**: Normal participation by adolescents and teenagers conversing in public channels does not fall under CSAM/CSAE enforcement. For minimum contractual age eligibility and COPPA compliance, refer to **ToS Category 2 (Eligibility & Age Consent)**.
- **Adult Consensual Media**: Consensual adult erotica confined to age-restricted channels is regulated separately under **Category 4.1**.

---

## 3. Mandatory Moderator Enforcement Protocol

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 CSAM / CSAE RESPONSE PIPELINE                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1. Immediate Message Deletion (Do NOT forward or save file) │
│ 2. Immediate Permanent Ban & IP Ban on Offending Account     │
│ 3. Copy Message ID, User ID & Server ID for Official Report  │
│ 4. File Discord Trust & Safety Escalation Ticket Instantly  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

1. **Delete the Content Immediately**: Remove the message and attachments from the channel to prevent exposure to other users.
2. **Permanent Account Ban**: Issue an immediate permanent ban and purge associated messages from the past 7 days.
3. **Escalate Directly to Discord Trust & Safety**: Submit an urgent report via Discord's official Trust & Safety form with user ID, message ID, and channel ID. Discord automatically coordinates escalations with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and relevant law enforcement bodies.