Effective date: 07/01/2021
Paragraph is a place for independent writing. We host and celebrate a diverse range of thought and discussion. The following guidelines outline what is and is not acceptable on Paragraph. We have the exclusive right to interpret and enforce these guidelines, although we may consult outside experts, research, and industry best practices in doing so. If you encounter content that may be in breach of these guidelines or have any questions about them, you can email us at tos@paragraph.xyz.
If we determine that any content is in breach of these guidelines, we may remove it, hide it from public view, or impose other restrictions. This is an evolving document: we reserve the right to update these Content Guidelines at our discretion and without notice.
Also, please note that we use SendGrid for email delivery, so all content delivered by email will be subject to SendGrid's terms of service in addition to the content guidelines described here.
Legal
Please respect people's intellectual property and don't infringe on their privacy or any other legal rights. Don't publish anything that violates laws or regulations. You and you alone are responsible for the content you publish on Paragraph, and liable for any harm caused by the content you publish.
In General
We want Paragraph to be a safe place for discussion and expression. At the same time, we believe that critique and discussion of controversial issues are part of robust discourse, so we work to find a reasonable balance between these two priorities. In all cases, Paragraph does not allow harassment or threats.
Hate
Paragraph cannot be used to publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes. Offending behavior includes credible threats of physical harm to people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or medical condition.
Private information
You may not publish or post other people's private information (such as a personal phone number or home address) without their express authorization and permission. We also prohibit threatening to expose private information or incentivizing others to do so. The publication of publicly accessible information is not a violation of this policy.
Plagiarism
Do not publish any material that was written or created by someone else and claim it as your own.
Impersonation
We don't allow impersonation, which includes posing as another person, brand, or organization. This applies to Paragraph itself: don't use Paragraph's name, logo, or trademark in any way that misrepresents the company or misleads others.
People restricted from making money on Paragraph
Paragraph's payments are processed through Stripe, which excludes certain types of businesses from using their service. Please refer to the Stripe Service Agreement and Stripe's restricted businesses for more information about restricted business categories and practices. If you choose to use cryptocurrency instead of Stripe, there are no exclusion of businesses.
Harmful and illegal activities
We don't allow content that promotes harmful or illegal activities, including material that advocates, threatens, or shows you causing harm to yourself, other people, or animals.
Spam and phishing
We are vehemently anti-spam and anti-phishing. If you are importing a mailing list from another platform, you are required to ensure it's made up of people who explicitly opted-in to receive emails from your specific publication. Don't add people to your mailing list without their consent, and don't import your contacts list or social graphs. Similarly, you may not create publications for spamming or phishing purposes. Don't post spam when interacting with others on Paragraph, such as in comments, discussion threads, or email replies.
Paragraph is not an email marketing platform. We don't permit publications that are set up with the sole purpose of advertising an external product or service, distributing offers and promotions, or similar activity.
Paragraph is also not a place for blogspam. We don't permit posting content that is primarily intended to drive traffic to a third-party site.
Nudity, porn, erotica
We don't allow porn or sexually exploitative content on Paragraph. We do allow depictions of nudity for artistic, journalistic, or related purposes, as well as erotic literature. However, we may hide this content from Paragraph's discovery features, including search and on paragraph.xyz.
Comments
The philosophy behind these guidelines also applies to Paragraph readers. We believe that writers are responsible for moderating and managing their communities, but there are some occasions when we will review reports of readers' comments to enforce these guidelines.