When students connect online, safeguarding and moderation are essential to ensuring those conversations happen in a safe, inclusive, and supportive space.
The Unibuddy Community platform is designed with built-in safeguarding tools that protect both Ambassadors and prospective students - whether in 1:1 chat via DMs, Community Groups, or private group discussions.
From content moderation and keyword flagging to Admin oversight and clear escalation pathways, these features empower universities to maintain trust, reduce risk, and create a digital environment where students can engage with confidence.
Admin and Ambassador Permissions
Both Ambassadors and University Admins have dedicated permissions which help to keep your Community safe, and ensure posts shared are appropriate and accurate.
Both Ambassadors and Admins are able to:
Delete messages.
Report messages (report is flagged to University Admins).
Report users (report is flagged to University Admins).
Block users from contacting them, just like in our Unibuddy Chat platform.
In addition to this, Admins are able to:
Block users directly from the Community altogether, within the University Dashboard if a user has been reported, or within the Community itself directly from an inappropriate message/post.
You can read more about Account Roles and Permissions here.
Accessing the Community
When you invite students to join your Community, you have the option to use the Private invite tool. This is an entirely gated invite method, and means that only the owner of the email address you have invited can access. Even if someone should forward the email on, anyone who does not have access to the invited email address cannot join.
All users invited to your Community must go through email verification. This means that when they join, we verify every user's email to ensure they actually own/have access to that email address.
Please note: The Shareable invite URL/QR code is an open invite method. This means that anyone with this invite URL or QR code can sign up to join.
Find out more about Community invite methods here.
Deleting messages or posts
Any user can delete their own message - if they realise that they have misspelled something, for example!
Admins and Ambassadors can delete any message (NB: Ambassadors cannot delete Admin messages) so if you or your Ambassadors spot something inaccurate - i.e. an incorrect application deadline, or broken event link - you can delete the message.
Please Note: Following familiar WhatsApp functionality, any deleted messages are replaced with a This message has been deleted note.
Reporting messages
Any user can report a message, either sent to them directly, or posted within a public or private Group.
By hovering over a message on desktop, or long-press and holding it in the App, a selection of icons will appear. Report is the small triangular icon, with an exclamation point within it. Clicking or tapping this will bring up the Report message prompt:
Users can choose why they are reporting this message, and have the option to add additional context if need be. They are also assured that the person being reported will not be informed of the report, and only the University Admin(s) will see it.
Reporting users
A user can be reported in Community from their profile. Each profile has a Report user option.
For full instructions on how to report a user, see below:
Blocking users
Students and/or Ambassadors within the Community can block a specific user from contacting them - this means that the user won't be able to send them a direct message.
To do this, a user can simply select the Block user option on another user's profile. This change is made instantly.
AI Content Moderation
As well as comprehensive reporting and safety features triggered by users, we also have full AI-oversight to ensure inappropriate messages don't slip through the cracks. This means that inappropriate or abusive language is spotted, censored, and flagged to you as an Admin.
To ensure that you're receiving these flagged reports via email, ensure your Community report notifications are enabled under Settings > Email notification preferences in your University Dashboard.
PLEASE NOTE: Admins can still block users from the Community altogether, directly within Group chats if swift action is needed. Just hover over or click on the user's message in a group chat, and select the Block icon (see below)
Moderation in the University Dashboard
For more information on how to moderate and take action on reported messages and users in your Community, please see this article.