Why we do this

Many players here are kids. Sadly, some people go to Minecraft servers to talk to kids in a sexual way, or to trick them into a secret "friendship." Staff can't be online all the time, so a program on our server reads chat as it happens and stops this the moment it starts, even at 3 in the morning.

We also use the chat we record to make that program better at its job.

What we record

Everything you type on the server:

• public chat and /me
• private messages (/msg, /r, /mail) and guild chat
• nicknames, signs, books, and item names

With each message we record who sent it, when, and where (which chat, or a sign or a book). Private messages are recorded too. They are private from other players, not from the safety system.

What happens to a message

1. Every message is checked by a program running on our own server, the moment it is sent.
2. If a message looks worrying, the player is quietly muted while a second, more careful check reads the whole conversation. That second check is an automated reviewer run by Amazon (Amazon Bedrock). It sees the conversation and the player names in it. It never sees anyone's IP address.
3. Then one of three things happens:
   • If nothing was wrong, the player is unmuted. Nothing else happens.
   • If someone was talking in a sexual way or trying to groom a kid, they are banned.
   • If a kid was the one being targeted, their account is paused to keep them safe, and they get a page with help (totalfreedom.tf/pages/welfare). They are not in trouble.
4. Staff see every decision as it happens, including the message that started the check, so a real person can always look at what the program did.

Who can see your chat

• Other players see what you send them, like always.
• Staff can see chat records and the safety system's decisions.
• The server owner uses the records to build and test the safety program.
• Amazon's automated reviewer sees only the conversations the first check flags, as explained above. Amazon never uses them to train any AI, and never shares them with the company that made the AI.

We never sell your chat, and we never publish it. The safety program's code is public, but the chat we train it on stays private.

How long we keep it

We keep chat logs indefinitely, like most servers keep their server logs. Chat used to train and test the safety program is kept privately.

Questions?

Playing and chatting here means your chat is recorded and checked as described on this page. If you don't want that, please don't chat on the server.

To ask a question, or to ask us to remove your messages, make an account on our forum at totalfreedom.tf and start a thread.

For parents and guardians

Our chat safety system watches every channel on the server, including private messages, signs, and books, for sexual messages and grooming. A message that looks worrying gets the sender muted at once while a second automated check reviews the conversation, and staff see every decision. Adults who target children are banned permanently. A child who was targeted is never punished: their account is paused and they are shown a page with help, helplines, and advice for you.

If you are worried about something that happened on our server, start a thread on our forum at totalfreedom.tf. For what to do right away, see totalfreedom.tf/pages/welfare.