Coordinating Harm and Promoting Crime

Policy rationale

In an effort to prevent and disrupt offline harm and copycat behaviour, we prohibit people from facilitating, organising, promoting or admitting to certain criminal or harmful activities targeted at people, businesses, property or animals. We allow people to debate and advocate for the legality of criminal and harmful activities, as well as draw attention to harmful or criminal activity that they may witness or experience as long as they do not advocate for or coordinate harm.

We remove:

Harm against people

• Outing: exposing the identity or locations affiliated with anyone who is alleged to:

• Be a member of an outing-risk group; and/or

• Share familial and/or romantic relationships with a member(s) of an outing-risk group; and/or

• Have performed professional activities in support of an outing-risk group (except for political figures)

• Outing the undercover status of law enforcement, military or security personnel if the content contains the agent's name, their face or badge and any of the following:

• The agent's law enforcement organisation

• The agent's law enforcement operation

• Explicit mentions of their undercover status

• Coordinating, threatening, supporting or admitting to swatting, except in the context of awareness raising or condemnation, fictional or staged settings or redemption.

• Depicting, promoting, advocating for or encouraging participation in a high-risk viral challenge, except in the context of awareness raising or condemnation. Where imagery is depicted in these contexts, we include a label so that people are aware that the content may be sensitive.

Harm against animals

• Coordinating, threatening, supporting or admitting to acts of physical harm against animals (in written, visual or verbal form) except in cases of:

• Awareness raising or condemnation

• Redemption

• Survival or defence of self, another human or another animal

• Fictional or staged settings, EXCEPT where it depicts staged animal fights or fake animal rescues

• Hunting or fishing

• Religious sacrifice

• Food preparation or processing

• Pests or vermin

• Mercy killing

• Bullfighting

• Coordinating, threatening, supporting, depicting or admitting to staged animal fights or depicting video imagery of fake animal rescues except in the context of awareness raising or condemnation or redemption.

Harm against property

• Coordinating, threatening, supporting or admitting to vandalism, theft or malicious hacking (in written, visual or verbal form), except in the context of

• Awareness raising or condemnation,

• Redemption,

• Fictional or staged settings,

• Admitting in the context of defence of self, or another human

• depicting vandalism in protest context,

• depicting graffiti or

• speaking positively about vandalism and theft committed by others.

Voter and/or census fraud

• Offers to buy or sell votes with cash, gifts, services or other material goods, except if shared in condemning, awareness raising, news reporting, or humorous or satirical contexts.

• Advocating, providing instructions for or demonstrating explicit intent to illegally participate in a voting (for example, voting twice or fabricating your voting eligibility) or census process (for example, misrepresenting demographic information or how many people are in your household), except if shared in condemning, awareness raising, news reporting, or humorous or satirical contexts.

For the following content, we include a label so that people are aware that the content may be sensitive:

• Imagery depicting a high-risk viral challenge if shared condemning or raising awareness of the associated risks.

For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:

We remove:

• Outing: exposing the identity of a person and putting them at risk of harm:

• LGBTQIA+ members

• Unveiled women

• Non-convicted individuals as predators in the context of a sexual predator Sting Operation

• Individuals involved in legal cases, when their involvement is restricted from public disclosure

• Witnesses, informants, activists, detained persons or hostages

• Defectors, when reported by credible government channel

• Prisoners of war, in the context of an armed conflict

• Imagery that is likely to deceive the public as to its origin if:

• The entity depicted, or an authorised representative, objects to the imagery, and

• The imagery has the potential to cause harm to members of the public.

• Statement of intent, call to action or encouragement to either:

• Block access to essential services when there is confirmation or publicly available confirmation that emergency vehicles are blocked, OR

• Target an individual or specific group of people by blocking their access to essential services or unobstructed passage in a way that may threaten their safety

• Voter or census interference, including:

• Calls for coordinated interference that would affect an individual's ability to participate in an official election or census.

• Claims that voting or census participation may or will result in law enforcement consequences (for example, arrest, deportation or imprisonment).

• Threats to go to an election site to monitor or watch voters or election officials' activities if combined with a reference to intimidation (e.g. "Let's show them who's boss!", "They want a war? We'll give them a war.").

• Threats to go to a post-election activity site if combined with a reference to intimidation (e.g. "Let's show them who's boss!", "They want a war? We'll give them a war.").