Content safety and refusals
What happens when Merki will not serve a request, on any tier.
Quick path
- A refused request returns
409 refusedand bills nothing. - Refusals are final for that request. Do not retry verbatim.
- Age gating is a compliance control, not a licence: prohibitions apply everywhere.
Details
| Topic | Decision |
|---|---|
| Shape | 409 with error.code: "refused". No partial output, no charge. See Errors and Usage. |
| Always prohibited | Child sexual abuse material, non-consensual intimate imagery, and any other illegal content — at every tier and every age. See the Acceptable use policy. |
| Tier differences | Roleplay (18+, age-assured) can serve adult content that Regular cannot. Cybersecurity adds accountability, not content latitude. See Access tiers. |
| Appeals | If a benign request was refused, rewrite it and retry once. Persistent false refusals: contact abuse@merki.dev with the request ID. |
| Enforcement | Violations may suspend or terminate accounts, including linked accounts. See the Acceptable use policy. |
Checklist
- [ ] Clients surface refusals to the operator instead of looping.
- [ ] Logs record the refusal code, not the refused content.
- [ ] Age-gated flows do not assume broader latitude.
Next step
The enforceable prohibitions: Acceptable use policy.