OPERATOR is a
fact only the operator can supply: where a report about a breach
of these rules should go. Fill it in, and have a qualified lawyer
read the result, before presenting this document as binding.
The contact points in these documents are the project's own. If you run your own
instance, replace them with yours before you publish them.
Version: 1.0 ·
Template last revised: 2026-09-20 ·
Effective on this instance:
OPERATOR: the date these rules take effect on this instance
1. Who they apply to
These rules apply to every account on this instance, whoever opened it. That includes people who moderate a community, people who own one, people who build bots or integrations, and the operator. A rule that applies to members but not to moderators is not a rule; it is a preference.
They sit underneath the Terms of Service and underneath any rules a community sets for itself. A community may add rules. It may not remove these.
2. Treat people with respect
Do not harass, threaten, stalk, defame, or incite violence against anyone. That covers direct messages as much as public channels, and it covers the people who moderate the community as much as the people who post in it. Hateful content, and content that targets somebody for who they are, has no place here.
3. Child sexual abuse material is prohibited, without exception
No instance may host child sexual abuse material, and no instance may be used to ask for it, offer it, trade it, or help somebody else to get it. There is no exception for a small community, for a private one, for a community that has a rule against it, for material that is fictional, for material that has been altered or generated, or for material that is described rather than shown.
The prohibition covers every route into the instance: messages, direct messages, files and attachments, profile pictures, avatars, banners, community icons, link previews, uploads that nobody has opened yet, the output of a bot, the result of an extension or integration, and content that arrived over federation from another instance. A route that is technically obscure is still a route.
Attempting it is prohibited as well. Asking for such material, offering it, arranging to obtain it, and helping someone else obtain it are all covered.
Running an instance does not create an exception. An operator who knows such material is present and does not remove it, or who is told about it and does not act, is responsible for that failure under the law that applies to them. Nobody can grant permission to break this rule.
Reports go to OPERATOR: where a report of child sexual abuse material, or any other breach of these rules, is sent on this instance, and, where the law requires it, to the authority in the country where it happened. The Trust and Safety page describes what happens next.
4. Keep what you post lawful
Do not post content that is illegal where it is posted, content that infringes someone else's rights, or content that encourages others to break the law. Do not distribute malware, and do not distribute material you have no right to distribute.
5. Respect other people's privacy
Do not share private information about another person without their agreement, and do not publish material you obtained from somewhere that was not yours to share it from. Direct messages are private and are not federated unless the sender has turned that on. If you are asked to keep something private, keep it private.
6. Do not deceive
Do not impersonate another person, and do not present yourself as somebody you are not in a way that misleads people about who they are dealing with. Do not misrepresent where content came from. Editing a message to change what it says after the fact is allowed; presenting an edited message as the original is not.
7. Do not abuse the service
Do not scrape the service, resell access to it, overload it, or work around rate limits, bans, or permission checks. Do not create accounts to evade a limit or a ban. Do not send bulk unsolicited messages.
A bot, an extension or an integration is allowed, and it is held to the same rules as a person: it may not post what a person may not post, and the person who installed it is responsible for what it does.
8. Respect other people's work
Do not post content that infringes copyright, and do not pass off somebody else's work as your own. If something of yours was used without permission, report it to the operator.
9. Community rules
Communities may set stricter rules for their own members, and breaking them is a matter for that community's moderators first. A community rule may not weaken anything in this document, and it may not make private material public.
The rules for running a community, including what a community owes the people in it, are on the running a community page.
10. What happens when the rules are broken
An operator or a moderator may warn somebody, remove content, time out an account, suspend it, or terminate it. The action should fit the conduct, and the same conduct should get the same answer. The Trust and Safety page describes the steps and the records that are kept.
11. Appeals
Anyone actioned can ask for the decision to be looked at again, and an instance that takes action must offer that route. The Support page explains how to use it. An appeal cannot override the prohibition on child sexual abuse material, and it cannot require anybody to keep or return illegal material.