Staying in contact with Cancer Chat friends is easy with private messaging. It’s a great way to keep in touch, so we’ve put together some tips to help keep you safe while you’re chatting:

- Don’t accept a friend request if you don’t know the person, or don’t feel comfortable talking to them away from the public forum.

- If you accept a friend request and you no longer wish to speak to that person privately, you can unfriend them at any time: See our help guide on managing friend requests

Contact a moderator immediately if, for any reason, you feel uncomfortable about a message you’ve received. This includes anyone sending you spam, unsolicited information, invitations to connect outside of Cancer Chat (e.g. via email or telephone), and offers of help which seem too good to be true. You can contact us at cancerchat@cancer.org.uk or click the 'flag to a moderator' link on the member's profile page

Please be aware that while the Cancer Chat moderation team will not ordinarily view your private messages without your permission, we may occasionally need to access your private messages because:

• Something has been reported to us
• We are made aware of something that may break the terms and conditions.
• We are made aware there may be safeguarding or legal risks (including potential Online Safety Act considerations) and would like assurance that these are being effectively managed

- If you’re thinking of meeting up with a person you’ve chatted with privately, please stay safe. You’ll see from our Terms & conditions that we advise caution if you want to meet another Cancer Chat user. If you do choose to meet another user you do so at your own risk and should take common sense precautions.

- If you would rather not be contacted by private message, you can turn this feature off. See our Help Guide for instructions.