Community Guidelines version 1.0

Purpose of these Guidelines

The anti-litter social media platform Pirika was created to keep litter out of nature and to promote fun cleanup activities. 

Currently, a wide variety of Pirika users from all over the world pick up litter and post it, express their gratitude and support for other posts, groups, or events hosted on the service. Many feel encouraged by getting to see this cleanup.

These Guidelines are designed for all users of Pirika, including individuals and organizations engaging in activities such as those mentioned above. The following four points are the goals of the Guidelines:

・To ensure the safe usage of Pirika.

・To create a safe and enjoyable community on Pirika.

・To prevent problems, and to establish procedures for dealing with problems when they occur.

・To ensure users can get accurate information that is useful for researching and solving environmental problems through Pirika. 

In order to achieve these goals, we ask all users to read and understand the philosophy and intentions behind Pirika.

Safety

When using the platform for cleanup activities, Pirika prioritizes your safety and health above all. Please exercise caution about the issues below.

Cautions about picking up litter

Always abide by laws and rules.

Please make sure to obey traffic rules and other public rules of anywhere you pick up litter. Do not enter restricted or private areas without permission. Never remove or damage property.

Please pay attention to your surroundings and the people around you.

Always stay aware of your surroundings, and avoid getting too absorbed in cleanup to do so. Do not take or post photos while moving, as this may cause inconvenience, property damage, or even injury to others.

Please do not touch dangerous items.

Please do not pick up dangerous items such as sharp objects, medical supplies, or drugs, as they may cause injury. When encountering litter too large or heavy to move safely, please report it to local governments, as they may provide assistance.

Preventing COVID-19 transmission

Please take all precautions to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Pirika recommends wearing masks, frequent hand-washing and -sanitization, and avoiding the ”three Cs” (crowded places, close-contact settings, and confined spaces) in addition to vaccination and other reasonable measures based on scientific evidence. Please observe the following precautions, especially when picking up litter.

Please observe basic infection prevention measures.

Wearing a mask properly, as well as washing and disinfecting your hands frequently, are essential steps to avoid infection. In addition, please avoid crowded places as much as possible and maintain distance from people around you. If you feel sick or suspect that you have been in close contact with anyone infected with a contagious disease, always self-isolate and refrain from going out, including to pick up litter.

Check the latest national and local government information.

Checking and following the most recent infectious disease control policies announced by the national and local governments in your area can prevent infection. Always abide by any event restrictions. Even when large events cannot be held, we hope you will enjoy connecting with others online with Pirika instead.

Prevent contact infection.

If you touch litter directly, there is a risk of contact infection from pathogens on it. In particular, used masks and tissues are likely to have pathogens on them. Please use rubber gloves and tongs to avoid direct contact with litter. For your safety, please put the collected litter in a plastic bag and seal it before disposing of it.

Notes on using Pirika

Handling of personal information

Pirika does not have a private message function. Before exchanging personal information such as phone number, email address, and home address, please think carefully about whether you are willing to share your personal information with anyone in the world who has access to the Internet.

Sharing cleanup locations

In order for users to view cleanup locations and for Pirika to collect data that can be used to help eliminate litter, you can share location information on posts (choose "Location ON” tab and go on to choose “Share”). Please check your location information before posting. If you would like to keep the location information of your photos private, such as when picking up litter near your home, you can choose vague or different locations nearby, or simply choose “Don’t share” under the "Location ON” section.

Modifying or deleting a post

Unintended posts can be modified or deleted using the web version of Pirika (https://www.pirika.org/).

Currently, it is not possible to modify your post using the application.

Use by Children

Users can exchange comments with any user in the world on Pirika. As such, there is always the possibility of accidentally revealing personal information. Users under the age of 13 should always use Pirika under the supervision of a parent or guardian to enjoy it safely and avoid danger.

Creating a fun and safe Pirika community

The Pirika community is a place where users can connect through safe, secure, and comfortable cleanup activities. As such, compulsory activities or mandatory posts should never be handled through Pirika, and instead all cleanup activities in the community should be done voluntarily for personal enjoyment.

To safeguard these principles, Pirika does not allow the following types of posts or contents. Pirika usage is monitored, but if you have concerns with any posts or content, please refer to the following Guidelines and make a decision on whether or not to report them to us.

Posts or content containing harassment, abuse, or bullying

“Harassment” includes offensive and insulting comments, and other behavior that makes the people feel physical or mental discomfort, such as sexual or power harassment.

“Abuse” refers to unilateral acts of physical or mental violence or threats of violence against a person.

“Bullying" refers to unilateral and continuous torment of a weaker person by taking advantage of his or her position in a situation where the other person is unable to resist. Bullying includes physically or mentally insulting, slandering, or threatening others.

Posts or content containing discrimination

Expressions that unfairly discriminate against or treat in an insulting manner any person or group of persons on the basis of race, nationality, physical characteristics, faith, age, biological sex, social gender, sexual orientation, place of residence, social status, affiliation, or other characteristics are not permitted. Such harmful discriminatory remarks and hate speech seriously harm the safety of the community and prevent Pirika and other users from achieving their goal of connecting with people around the world and having fun cleaning up litter.

Explicit sexual or violent content or descriptions, or links to such content

Pirika is used by all ages, including minors. All posts may be browsed by any user, so posts or content containing explicit sexual or violent content or links to such content are not permitted.

Posts or comments linking or directing users to harmful websites

Harmful websites include phishing sites that steal account logins and passwords, websites that download malicious software to users’ computers, and spam sites asking for personal information.

Posts that repeatedly make a one-sided argument for a particular account, post, group, or event

There are many ways to enjoy Pirika, so there may be users who you especially connect with, or users who enjoy different things that you. One of the joys of the Pirika community is making these diverse connections. However, please refrain from repeating extreme one-sided arguments or attempts to force activities on other users, as this can be viewed as unnecessarily causing trouble.

Accounts, posts, or comments intentionally promoting false or misleading information

This includes accounts, posts, or comments that impersonate another person or group.

Posts or content disclosing personal information about others without their permission

Posting the face, address, or other personal information of other people without their permission is not allowed. When taking photos of litter on the street, please be careful not to capture the faces of other people.

Posts and content that ignore intellectual property rights such as copyrights and portrait rights

Please take care that the content in your profile image, groups, events, and posts does not ignore intellectual property rights such as copyright and publicity rights. Although Pirika is unable to provide legal advice, when you feel these rights are being violated, please use the “Report” function on each post or the “Feedback” function on your “mypage” to report the problem to Pirika. In most cases, we should be able to deal with the issue and help the user in question to improve their posts and content.

Abuse of the report function

If you see any account, post, group, or event that violates the Community Guidelines, the Terms of Service, or the Privacy Policy, you can report it to Pirika using the “Report” function on each post or the “Feedback” function on mypage. These reporting functions are intended to protect the safety of users and the community. As such, users are not allowed to report randomly, or make repeated reports for reasons such as personal disapproval, conflicts, grudges, or preferences.

A request from Pirika

Upholding Pirika’s anti-litter focus

Please make sure your posts are always related to cleaning up litter

All posts in Pirika should include a record of cleanup activities. Pirika welcomes personal stories and heartwarming photos, as long as they are related to cleanup activities.

The content of posts should be accurate and real.

One of Pirika’s goals is to obtain data from posts to help solve the problem of litter and trash pollution in the environment. For instance, Pirika can use submitted information to work with local governments to make it easier for Pirika users and others to engage in cleanup activities. For this reason, we ask that photos show collected litter in its entirety, and that posts include details on the litter count or volume, the date and time of the cleanup, the number of participants, and the area of the activity as accurately as possible. Please be careful not to post the same litter-picking activity on multiple accounts, which results in duplicate records. Thank you for your cooperation.

Modifying or deleting a post

Unintended posts can be modified or deleted from the Pirika website (https://www.pirika.org/). Currently, it is not possible to modify posts from the application.

Definition of “litter”

Garbage that can be regarded as being properly disposed of, such in bags at collection sites and in trash cans, shall not be recorded as “litter” in Pirika. In addition, natural material such as tree branches, leaves, grass, and stones might be collected during cleanup, but shall not be recorded as “litter” in Pirika, since they do not qualify as the pollution that Pirika aims to eliminate. Although this material is not recorded, Pirika still supports and appreciates all efforts to keep environments clean and pathways clear.

Getting the most out of Pirika

One cleanup, one post

In order to maximize efficiency in cleanup and opportunities to connect with other users, we recommend putting one cleanup activity into one post. You can post up to 8 photos, including multiple pieces of litter in one post.

Providing user feedback

If you have any feedback on the Pirika user experience, please check the Community Guidelines and send a message to Pirika through the "Feedback" section. This ensures that diagnostic information such as device ID are safely transmitted from the user to Pirika. To exchange opinions with other users on a given topic, please utilize the group function. The event function should only be used to organize and run a cleanup event.

Reporting a problem

The “Report” function on each post is a way for users to inform Pirika of any accounts, posts, groups, or events that are clearly inappropriate or in violation of Pirika's rules. Pirika wants users to be assured that no one will be treated unfairly as a result of reporting.

Reporting

Any user can report any violations of the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, or Community Guidelines in any post, account, group, or event on Pirika. When you report a violation, your information is not shared with other users, including the user you reported.

Steps when a post, group, or event is reported

Accounts, posts, groups, or events temporarily disappear from the application when reported.

The Pirika management team then checks the content of the reported post, account, group, or event and decides whether to delete or otherwise deal with it, in accordance with the Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy. After posts are deleted, the amount of litter cleaned up will be adjusted accordingly.

If your posts or content are reported or deleted

If you have any questions or concerns regarding a report or deletion, please contact us through the "Feedback" section of the application or Pirika website (https://corp.pirika.org/#_13). Please be sure to include information about the post, account, group, or event in question.

Steps in response to violations of the Guidelines

Even in the absence of a user report, Pirika reserves the right to delete any account, post, group or event without notice if it is deemed to be in violation of the Community Guidelines, the Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, or the law. If you still have questions or concerns regarding a deletion, please contact us through the "Feedback" section of the Pirika application or website (https://corp.pirika.org/#_13). Please be sure to include information about the post or comment in question.

Inquiries about the Community Guidelines

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please contact us through the "Feedback" of the application or website (https://corp.pirika.org/#_13) at any time. You can also check Pirika's operating rules in the Terms of Use or the Privacy Policy.

September 1, 2021 Version 1.0. Effective