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Community Rules

Last updated 9 November 2026.

Explore is where New Zealanders share what they know and experience when they visit places. These rules keep it useful and friendly. They apply to everything shared on the Explore city sites and in the Explore New Zealand app.

The rules

  1. About places, from your own visit. Be accurate and helpful. Honest, fair criticism of a place is welcome.
  2. No people in focus. No close-ups of strangers, no identifiable children, and no names of private people.
  3. No personal details. No phone numbers, addresses or number plates.
  4. No ads or businesses. No selling, no links to your own business, and no reviews of businesses (cafes, shops, operators): those belong on Google.
  5. Be decent. No abuse, hate, threats, swearing, sexual content or scams.
  6. Keep people safe. Don’t give advice that puts people at risk. Point people to the official source: DOC, the council, Surf Life Saving, MetService.

What you can share

  • A rating and a few tags (shade, toilets, fenced, good for toddlers and more). Takes about 10 seconds.
  • A tip for the next visitor.
  • Photos of the place, up to 4 at a time.
  • Conditions now: muddy, closed, busy, something broken. These show for 14 days.
  • A correction if something on our page is out of date. It comes to us, and we fix the page.

How checking works

Everything shared goes through automatic checks first: a word filter, a photo check and an AI check against these rules. A new account’s first 3 contributions are then checked by a person before they go live; once all 3 are approved you become a Local, and what you share appears straight after the automatic checks. Locals with 25 approved contributions and nothing taken down in 90 days become Trusted locals.

If something breaks the rules it is taken down and you’re told why. Three take-downs in 30 days stop an account from sharing for 7 days.

Reporting

Every tip and photo has a Report button. Reports are looked at within a day. If something shared about you is harmful, you can make a formal complaint under the Harmful Digital Communications Act from the same button: we pass it to the person who shared it within 48 hours and remove it if they agree or don’t reply. In the app you can also block a person so you no longer see what they share.

See also the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Questions: admin@explorenewzealand.kiwi.