Legal & policies.

Greywatch is an independent investigative initiative. It is not a company, a charity, an association or a public body. It is currently unincorporated, which means it has no separate legal personality, no registration number, no charitable status and no formal institutional standing of any kind.

Greywatch is not a law enforcement agency. It exercises no public power, conducts no enforcement, and does not act on behalf of, or in association with, any government, authority, platform or organisation. No partnership, endorsement or affiliation is claimed or implied anywhere on this website.

Where this website uses institutional language such as “initiative”, “research” or “programme”, it describes independent work. It does not describe a legal structure.

This website exists to explain what Greywatch researches, to receive concerns from the public, and to publish the policies under which that work is carried out.

Nothing here is legal advice, investigative instruction, a service commitment or a guarantee of any outcome. Descriptions of research areas describe intended areas of work; they are not claims of completed research, certified capability or published results.

Reports submitted through this website are read by Greywatch and logged with a reference code. Submitting a report does not create an obligation on Greywatch to investigate, to respond within any period, or to take any particular action.

Greywatch cannot take action against any person, cannot remove content from any platform, and cannot provide victim support, counselling, legal advice or emergency assistance.

Do not send material depicting abuse. Do not send material you obtained unlawfully, or that you are not entitled to hold. A description, links and identifiers are sufficient and are what the channel is designed for.

If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. If your country has a dedicated child protection or cybercrime reporting line, use it: those routes can act in ways an independent initiative cannot.

Reports may be reviewed internally and may be referred to a competent authority where there is a credible risk of serious harm to a child, or where the law requires it.

We do not publish reports. We minimise what we hold. Absolute confidentiality cannot be promised by an unincorporated independent initiative, and it is not promised here.

We collect the content of a report. We collect a name and an email address only if you choose to provide them. Anonymous reports carry no name or email address and are reviewed in exactly the same way.

We do not add advertising, profiling or cross-site tracking to this website. Our hosting and infrastructure providers necessarily process technical data such as IP addresses and request metadata in order to serve and secure the site. When a report is submitted, the IP address of the connection is recorded with it to prevent abuse of the reporting channel, including a limit of one report per connection every 8 hours. Recorded IP addresses are deleted automatically after 30 days. Report contents are delivered to our reviewers through a private group on the Telegram messaging service.

Reports are retained while they remain relevant to research or to a referral, and are reviewed periodically. Anonymous reports cannot be located or deleted on request, because there is no way to link them to you.

No report, contact detail or research record is sold, rented or shared for commercial purposes.

Where data protection law applies, requests concerning access, correction or erasure can be made through the reporting channel. Because Greywatch is unincorporated and receives anonymous reports, such requests may be limited by our inability to verify identity.

Greywatch works only with lawfully accessible, publicly available information, or information supplied responsibly by a third party.

We do not access accounts, systems or devices without authorisation. We do not use stolen, purchased or breached data. We do not conduct social engineering against persons of interest.

We do not contact, confront or attempt to identify any person suspected of an offence. Public identification of offenders is a matter for competent authorities.

Where research would require obtaining material that is unlawful to possess, we do not obtain it. We rely on descriptions, metadata and lawful observation instead.

Greywatch has published no research to date. The publication register on the homepage is kept accurate: it currently contains no entries, and nothing on this website should be read as a published finding.

When publication does occur, it will follow fixed standards: no identification of victims or witnesses; no material that impairs a live investigation; redaction by default; attribution stated only where the evidence supports it; and corrections published in full.

Where a finding cannot be published safely, it is retained internally or referred. It is not published in weakened form in order to appear productive.

The safety of children takes precedence over research, publication and reputation. Where those interests conflict, safety decides.

We do not identify children, and we do not publish details that could re-identify a child, including locations, schools, dates or family circumstances.

We do not approach a child, a family, a witness or a person of interest. Where there is a credible risk of serious harm, a referral takes priority over any research question.

Greywatch may refer information to a competent authority (for example a national law enforcement body, a child protection agency or a platform's trust and safety function) where it is lawful, proportionate and in the best interests of a child.

Greywatch does not act as an agent of any authority, does not conduct investigations at their direction, and claims no affiliation with them.

We do not accept instructions to identify, monitor or report on individuals for any authority, platform or private party.

The Greywatch name, its geometric mark and the text of this website belong to the initiative. Short extracts may be quoted with clear attribution and a link. The material may not be presented as another's work, or used in a way that implies endorsement.

Any third-party name or mark referenced on this website remains the property of its owner. Reference is descriptive and is not a claim of affiliation.

This website and its content are provided as they are, for information only, without warranty of any kind, express or implied.

Greywatch accepts no liability for loss arising from reliance on this website, from inability to use it, or from any action taken or not taken in response to a report.

Because the initiative is unincorporated and has no legal personality, it cannot be a party to contracts or proceedings in its own name. That fact does not remove any liability that arises under applicable law.

These policies will be updated as the initiative develops. The revision date at the top of this page records the latest version. Material changes appear here; they are not announced elsewhere.

There is no general correspondence address. The reporting channel is the only route by which information reaches Greywatch.

Requests relating to these policies, including data requests and correction requests, can be submitted through that channel, with the word “Policy” at the start of the description.

This page is published for transparency. It is not legal advice.