Yahoo! Local Safety Guide

What is Yahoo! Local?

Yahoo! Local is a service that lists businesses, events, and attractions in any area. It helps users find local information, pinpoint local businesses on a map, and read other users’ recommendations. To learn more, please read through Yahoo! Local Help.

What are some risks to my child on Yahoo! Local?

Yahoo! Local users are expected to behave in ways that foster community and must abide by the Yahoo! Local Terms of Service.

Just as there may be risks in the community where you live, the Yahoo! Local community may pose certain risks to children. Yahoo! Local provides a number of safety features, but as a parent or caregiver, you are expected to take an active role in protecting your child online.

We suggest that you start by reviewing some general practices for online safety. In addition, please keep the following in mind when your child is using Yahoo! Local:

• Protecting personal information. Yahoo! Local’s content is publicly accessible. If your child posts any personal information in collections or reviews, it could be used by strangers to identify and contact him or her. These users could potentially expose your child to unpleasant, sexually suggestive, or abusive language.
• Harassment. If your child creates a public collection or posts reviews under a real Yahoo! ID, users could potentially identify and contact him or her. Again, possibly exposing your child to inappropriate language.
• Mature content. Yahoo! Local’s Terms of Service does not permit posting adult content. Please report any inappropriate material to Yahoo!.

What can be done to limit these risks? Review Yahoo! Local’s safety features, learn how to report abuse, and read what parents and caregivers can do to help kids be safe on Yahoo! Local.

What safety features should I know about to help protect my child on Yahoo! Local?

Yahoo! Local provides a number of safety features to limit the risks to users. Your child should know how to do the following:

• Manage collections. Collections allow you to save a customized list of your favorite restaurants and businesses in one place. Stranger could potentially use your child's collections to figure out where your child lives or spends time.
  • If your child shares a collection, he or she can choose to be identified publicly as “a Yahoo! Local user” or create an alias rather than display a real Yahoo! ID.
  • Collections can also be made completely private. To set these options, use the pull-down menus displayed when you create a new collection, or go to the My Local page to change the settings for an existing collection.
  • If your child’s collection is public, other Yahoo! Local users may post comments about it. To delete an inappropriate or offensive remark, click the delete link after the comment.
• Post reviews. If your child posts reviews, he or she can choose to be identified publicly as “a Yahoo! Local user” or create an alias rather than display a real Yahoo! ID. Yahoo! Local’s Review Guidelines provide additional details about writing reviews.
• Report inappropriate photos. Yahoo! Local users can add a photo to a business listing. If your child encounters a photo containing adult-oriented or otherwise offensive content, he or she can click the Flag as inappropriate photo link to report it to Yahoo!.
• Report abuse to Yahoo!. Report any offensive content or inappropriate contact with other users by filling out the Yahoo! Local report abuse form. Links to this form can be found at the top of any collection page and beside each review for a business listing.

How can I report problems that my child encounters on Yahoo! Local?

Yahoo! Local provides a customer care form to report abuse. Please complete this form if your child is exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Local Terms of Service. Make sure to provide specific information about the location of the offending content and the identity of the user in question.

Yahoo!’s customer care team receives abuse reports and takes appropriate action as necessary, which may include deactivating an abuser’s account. Reports that indicate activity involving child pornography or solicitation of a minor are dealt with promptly by Yahoo!’s legal team and, when appropriate, reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

What can I do to help my child use Yahoo! Local in a safe manner?

Yahoo! is committed to providing a safe online experience for all users and, accordingly, complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Yahoo! Local provides a number of safety features to limit potential risks to users. However, protecting children online is a responsibility shared with parents, teachers, and other caregivers.

We suggest that you start by reviewing some general practices for online safety. These include safeguarding identity online, keeping passwords secret, being cautious about contact with strangers, and creating a pledge for online safety.

If your child is exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Local Terms of Service, please report the abuse.

And remember, Yahoo! Kids offers all kinds of age-appropriate content and activities for children under 13.