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How AltEd keeps conversations between families and tutors safe without getting in the way of them: what it checks, what you'll see when it notices something, how to report a message or a person, and what happens next.
What it does
Every message sent on AltEd is checked as it is sent, by AltEd's own rules on AltEd's own servers — no AI, and nobody else reads it. It is checked as the other person will see it — formatting such as bold or italics doesn't change what the check notices, and a link is checked by where it really goes. Almost every message is delivered exactly as you wrote it. Only a message the rules flag, or someone reports, is read any further (see Who decides below). When the check notices something, what happens depends on what it is:
Swearing is delivered, with the words hidden from the person reading it (f***). You see your own words, with a line saying some are hidden.
Ready to follow along in the app?
No password, no card — a magic link and you're in.
Contact details — a phone number, an email address, a messaging app such as WhatsApp, or a link to a social profile — are delivered, with a notice to both of you that AltEd can't see or moderate a conversation once it moves elsewhere. When a tutor shares contact details, the family is also told, in the bell and by email.
Bank details are delivered, and the family reading them gets a word of caution about checking them before paying.
Signs of a scam — being asked for gift cards, cryptocurrency, a money-transfer service, or a link that hides where it goes — are delivered with a warning to the person reading them, and shown to AltEd's moderators.
Abuse, threats, slurs, sexual content, and anything that puts a child at risk — a tutor asking for a child's own social media, asking a parent to keep something secret, or asking for pictures of a child, for example — are shown to AltEd's moderators. The most serious are held: only you can see a held message, marked Held for review, until it's either delivered or removed.
You can also report any message someone sends you, or the person you're talking to. In a group, you report a message (its sender is who it's about). The person you reported isn't told who reported them.
Groups follow the same rules: a provider's messages in a group are checked for a child's safety as they are one to one, and when a provider shares contact details in a group, every family in it is told.
Where a learner is in the conversation — a learner's conversation with a tutor, or a group with a learner in it — the learner's parent or guardian is always in it too. Every adult's messages are checked for a child's safety (except a parent writing to their own child), including what's said to the learner directly. Held: asking for their social media or pictures of them, commenting on their body, asking to meet them or whether they're alone, offering a phone, money or a gift, asking them to keep a secret or delete messages, or to talk privately or on another app. Sent to a moderator: asking for their own number, email, address or postcode, or where they live, or a comment on their looks. Anything flagged or reported there is decided by a person, never by AI. When a learner shares contact details, their parent or guardian is told. If the parent or guardian's account is suspended or deleted, the learner's messages close until they're back — nobody can write to the learner meanwhile.
Who decides
A flagged or reported message is read first by AI, with the few messages before it in the conversation — never anyone's name. When the AI is sure the message is fine, it's delivered (or the report is closed); when it's sure the message breaks the guidelines, it's removed and its sender is told which guideline, in AltEd's own words. Anything it isn't sure about goes to a moderator, with its view beside it. Usually this takes a minute or two.
Some things are always decided by a person: anything about a child's safety, anything urgent, a report about a person rather than one message, and warnings, restrictions and suspensions. The AI never decides the same words twice — if you think it got something wrong, report the message again and a moderator will look.
When someone keeps breaking the guidelines, AltEd's moderators can act on the person as well as the message: a warning; a restriction on sending messages and asking to connect, for a day, a week or 30 days; or a suspension of the account. A suspended person is told why and can appeal once — if the appeal is upheld the account comes back, and if it's rejected the decision is final.
Where to find it
Messages: /dashboard/messages — Messages under Provision in the side menu, for families and providers alike.
Report — the small link after the name and time under any message the other person sent you.
Report _their name_ and Staying safe in messages — the ⋯ (Conversation options) button at the top right of a conversation.
Safety notifications — Settings › Notifications, under Safety and your account.
Report this request — under a request to connect that is waiting for your answer — at the top of Providers (a family) or Learners (a provider).
Your standing — Settings › Standing.
The whole of it, for anyone deciding whether to join — alted.ac/safety.
Step by step
Report a message
Open the conversation in Messages.
Under the message, select Report.
Under What's wrong?, choose the closest reason:
I'm worried about a child's safety
Sexual or inappropriate
Harassment, bullying or threats
Hate or slurs
A scam or fraud
Spam
Something else — tell us what's wrong in the box.
Add anything we should know in Anything we should know? (optional unless you chose Something else).
Select Send report. You'll see Thank you for telling us.
Choosing I'm worried about a child's safety tells AltEd's moderators straight away, and shows who to contact if it can't wait: if a child is in immediate danger, call 999; you can report online abuse to CEOP at ceop.police.uk or call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.
Report the person rather than one message
Open the conversation and select ⋯ at the top right.
Select Report _their name_.
Choose a reason, add what's been happening, and select Send report.
AltEd keeps a copy of the last twenty messages in the conversation with your report, so a moderator can read what happened even if the conversation later ends.
Report someone, or read how to stay safe, from the conversation's … menu
Share contact details
Just write them in your message. While you type, a line above the box says you're sharing contact details and that AltEd can't see or moderate a conversation once it moves elsewhere. For a tutor, it also says the family will be told. The message is delivered as normal, with a notice under it for both of you.
Following a link to another website
A link to anywhere outside AltEd — in a message, a note, a shared resource, a provider's page, a guide, or anywhere else on AltEd — opens You're leaving AltEd first; a link in a message opens it in a new tab, and any other link where it would have opened. It shows the whole address with the site it belongs to picked out, and warns you when the address isn't secure (http://) or uses letters from another alphabet that can make it look like a site you know. Only continue if you trust who sent it — never type your AltEd password or a code AltEd sent you anywhere else, and report a message that asks you to pay outside AltEd. A link that isn't a web or email address isn't followed at all. See Messages & notifications.
When your message is held
If a message you send is held, a Held for review note appears as you send it, and the message stays in the conversation with a dashed amber outline and Held for review — _their name_ can't see it yet. You'll get a notification either way:
Your message to _their name_ has been delivered — a moderator, or AltEd's automatic check, found it fine ("AltEd checked the message that was held and delivered it"). The other person gets it as a new message.
A message you sent to _their name_ was removed — with the reason. The other person never saw it.
Report a request to connect
The note someone sends with a request to connect is checked the same way as a message. To report a request, find it at the top of Providers (a family) or Learners (a provider) and select Report this request. You can still decline it. If the note you sent with a request is held, your Waiting on them list says it's being checked; the request goes without its words until a moderator passes the note on or removes it.
If you're warned or your messages are restricted
A warning arrives in the bell and by email, with the guideline you broke. Nothing else changes.
A restriction means you can't send messages or ask to connect until it ends. Messages shows You can't send messages until … at the top, with the reason, and the message box is replaced by a line saying your messages are restricted. You can still read your conversations and use the rest of AltEd. You're told when it's lifted early.
See your standing
Settings › Standing lists what AltEd's moderators have decided about your account in the last year, with the reason you were given each time, and any restriction still in force. With nothing to show, it says you're in good standing.
If your account is suspended
You're emailed the reason. When you sign in, you land on Your account is suspended, which shows when and why, and nothing else in AltEd opens for your account. (A learner's own page, if you shared one with your child, is theirs and keeps working.) If you've forgotten your password, sign in with an email link instead — passwords can't be reset while you're suspended. You can't download your data while you're suspended; to ask for a copy, email the address on that page and AltEd will answer within a month, as the law requires. The families or tutors you work with see your account as not active — their conversations with you say it isn't active on AltEd at the moment — and your listing leaves Find a class. Your records are kept.
To appeal:
Sign in. You'll be on Your account is suspended.
Under Appeal this decision, write Your appeal — why you think the decision is wrong, and anything the moderator should know. You can appeal once, so include everything.
Select Send my appeal. The page then says when your appeal was received, and you're emailed to confirm it.
A moderator reads your appeal beside the reason for the suspension and emails you the decision. If it's upheld, the suspension is lifted and you can sign in and carry on. If it's rejected, the page says the suspension stands. This decision is final, and the suspension can't be appealed again. Sign out is at the foot of the page.
When a message is removed
A moderator can remove a message after it was delivered. Both of you then see Message removed by AltEd's moderators. in its place. The person who sent it also sees Why: and the moderator's reason, and gets a notification.
What each screen shows
Under a message you may see:
Contact details shared. Both people see this under a message with a phone number, an email address, a messaging app or a profile link.
Be careful: this has signs of a scam… The person reading a message with the hallmarks of a scam sees this. AltEd never asks for a code or a password.
Before paying by bank transfer… A family reading their tutor's bank details sees this.
Some words in this message are hidden from _their name_. The sender of a message with swearing sees this; the reader sees the words with stars.
Above the message box, while you type, a line tells you when you're sharing contact details or when some words will be hidden.
In Settings › Notifications, under Safety and your account:
Contact details shared — rings the bell (always) and is emailed unless you turn its email off. Families only.
Account notices — AltEd's moderators delivering, holding back or removing something you sent, a warning, or a restriction on your messages. Always on. (A suspension and an appeal's decision are always emailed, since a suspended account can't open the bell.)
Your reports — what happened to something you reported. Bell by default.
Tips and good to know
Keep payments on AltEd. Paying through AltEd puts the payment on your ledger with your tutor. If you pay by bank transfer, check the details with them in person or by phone first — scammers copy real tutors' messages — and record the payment in AltEd.
Keep your child's contact in your hands. A tutor shouldn't need your child's own phone number or social media. If one asks, you can report it.
Moving to WhatsApp or email is your choice, and many tutors run a class group that way. AltEd simply can't see or help with anything said there.
Reporting is private. The person you report isn't told who reported them, and nothing changes in the conversation until it's decided.
If the automatic check got it wrong, report the message again — the second time, a person decides.
A report of the same message twice is answered with "You've already reported this" — the first one is enough.
If you'd rather not hear from someone again, end the connection — under Your connections on Providers, or Families on Learners. That closes the conversation.
The checks are rules, not a person reading your messages. If something you wrote was held by mistake, it will be delivered — usually within a few minutes.
Troubleshooting
Problem
What to try
My message says Held for review
Nothing to do — it's being checked. You'll get a notification when it's delivered or removed.
There's no Report link under a message
You can only report what the other person sent you, once it has arrived. Your own messages, and anything already removed, can't be reported.
"You've already reported this"
Your first report is being dealt with. You'll hear when it is. (After the automatic check closes it, reporting again goes to a person.)
"You've sent a lot of reports today"
Reports are limited to twenty a day. Try again tomorrow, or email us if it's urgent.
"You've sent a lot of messages in a short time"
Messages are limited to 120 an hour. Wait a little and send again.
Some words in a message I received are stars
Swearing is hidden from the reader. You can report the message if it was aimed at you.
I was told my tutor shared contact details, but I asked for them
That's fine — the alert is for your information. You can turn its email off in Settings › Notifications.
"You can't send messages or ask to connect until …"
A moderator has restricted your messages for a while. The message says until when, and why.
"This account isn't active on AltEd at the moment"
The other person's account is suspended. You can read the conversation but not send to it.
"Your account is suspended" when I use AltEd
Sign in again and you'll see why, and how to appeal.
"This suspension has already been appealed…"
A suspension can be appealed once. If the appeal was rejected, that decision is final.