Rules

The following rules apply to all users registered on this instance or federating with this instance. Bots, group accounts, mirror accounts, etc., must also comply with the corresponding Additional Rules. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding these rules, please Contact Us.

Note

We adopt a prudent approach to content usage restrictions and encourage users to autonomously manage their platform experience. Our intervention is primarily directed at content that is publicly posted, federated to this instance, reported by users, or involves direct interaction with (or is posted by) our users. We recommend that you first utilize the Filtering, Muting, and Blocking features to control the content you see. We reserve the right to take necessary measures when required.

Prohibited Content and Conduct

Harassment and Bullying

• Definition: Unwelcome malicious behavior directed at others that is intended to, or objectively causes, intimidation, insults, or emotional distress.
• Includes but is not limited to:
  • Verbal insults, ridicule, malicious comments, threats, etc.
  • Proselytizing to others without permission.
  • Repeatedly contacting users who have blocked you (attempting to evade blocks).

Discrimination and Hate Speech

• Definition: Abusive, hateful, or threatening content or behavior that expresses prejudice against a group or individual based on their affiliation, such as religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, or other characteristics.
• Includes but is not limited to:
  • Transphobia, homophobia, racism, chauvinism, etc.
  • Publishing judgmental comments about others based on religious identity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
  • Inciting or calling for the assassination or murder of individuals or groups.
  • Promoting or supporting violent organizations or events.

Personal Attacks

• Definition: Malicious comments or insults directed at another person's appearance, abilities, background, etc., describing individuals in a way that denies or demeans human dignity.
• Includes but is not limited to: Abuse, belittling, mockery.

Impersonation

• Definition: Creating account profiles using the name, image, likeness, or other characteristics of another person or organization without permission, with the intent to mislead others.
• Includes but is not limited to:
  • Impersonating official institutions or other users.
  • Publishing artificially generated or manipulated content with the intent to mislead users into believing it is authentic.

Deliberate Disinformation

• Definition: Intentionally spreading false or misleading information.
• Includes but is not limited to: Fake news, false accusations, rumors, etc.

Improper Display of Sensitive Content

• Definition: Improper use or display of sensitive topics, images, or videos.
• Includes but is not limited to: Setting NSFW content as avatars, headers, or profile information; failing to add content warnings when posting NSFW content, etc.

Abuse of Server Resources Will Ban Without Warning

• Definition: Abnormal use of gotosocial.social related services.
• Includes but is not limited to:
  • Using technical means to batch scrape posts from this instance not sent by you for purposes other than personal viewing.
  • Abuse of the API.
  • Content farms, account farms (sockpuppets), and account trading.
  • Using multiple accounts to manipulate engagement metrics.
  • Using media storage as an image host for other services without administrator permission.
  • Content or behavior deemed by administrators as intended to deceive or harm other users.

Privacy Violations Will Ban Without Warning

• Definition: Publicizing others' private information without permission (Doxing).
• Includes but is not limited to:
  • Leaking personal contact details, addresses, or financial information.
  • Posting or sharing intimate images or videos of others without consent (or after consent has been previously withdrawn).
  • Threatening to leak private information (e.g., blackmail/sextortion).

Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Will Ban Without Warning

• Definition: Any content involving the sexual exploitation or abuse of children.
• Includes but is not limited to: Publishing real or computer-generated child pornography, child sexual abuse material, child grooming material, or federating/interacting with corresponding content/publishers (following, liking, commenting, boosting, bookmarking, calling APIs to load related content, etc.).

Content and Conduct Requiring Caution

NSFW Content

• Scope: Includes but is not limited to nudity, sexual acts, sexual innuendo, gore, and violence.
• Regulations:
  • NSFW content must not be posted with "Public" visibility.
  • When posting NSFW content, a Content Warning (CW) must be added, explicitly declaring the content as NSFW and specifying the type within the warning.
  • NSFW content must not be used for avatars, headers, or account descriptions.

Commercial Promotion

• Scope: Advertising, promotion, sales, and other profit-driven activities.
• Regulations: Commercial promotional content must comply with the additional rules for promotional content.

Reposting Others' Content

• Scope: Content created by others.
• Regulations: The author and source must be clearly identified, regardless of whether the content is a direct repost, excerpt, compilation, remix, or rewrite.

AI-Generated Content

• Scope: Content generated by AI.
• Regulations:
  • If the content you publish contains AI-generated material (regardless of whether there are traces of human modification), you must clearly disclose the use of AI.
  • Accounts that exclusively post AI-generated content will be treated as bot accounts unless explicitly permitted by administrators, and must comply with the corresponding Additional Rules.