Objectives
We want people to be exposed to and understand multiple sides of an issue, not only to gain a broader perspective, but to also help people make sense of what they are seeing and hearing. To that end, we encourage different points of view and want people to feel empowered to discuss topics in a healthy and respectful way.
The perspectives feature of our platform exists to help facilitate this, and to promote discussion in which people can contribute facts and viewpoints to:
expand comprehension
correct misperceptions and misinterpretations
gain a clearer understanding of the complexity of a topic
determine the veracity of the information they are seeing
make informed decisions and draw conclusions
Enforcement Considerations
This approach means that we must allow many forms of discourse on our platform. This includes dialogue, debate and disarming where people seek to help change minds, correct misstatements, misinterpretations and misperceptions. In the course of this action, people may point out hypocrisy or contradictions, expound on what they believe future consequences of certain courses of action may be, denounce hateful or dangerous speech, actions and ideologies. These discussions can become passionate, so when we are reviewing content for moderation or enforcement of the community standards, context matters. As a result, we may consider, including, but not limited to:
who is the behavior directed at?
has the content has been reported and by whom?
does the user have a history of violations?
what is the severity of the violation?
is the content a topic of legitimate public interest?
Who is the behavior directed at?
We enforce the community standards only when abusive behavior targets a specific person or group of people on the unpress platform via @mentions, tagging, mentioning them by name, direct messaging, etc.
Has the content been reported and by whom?
In order to prevent us from removing messages incorrectly, we typically enforce community standards only when the target of a message reports it to us. We may, however, remove messages that are particularly egregious regardless of the context of the message.
Does the user have a history of violations?
Unless content egregiously violates our community standards, which may result in removal of the content and the users account, enforcement of the community standards begins with education. If, however, after an attempt to educate a user, a violation is repeated, then we will take more direct actions to remove offending content, limit the functionality of a users account (such as by preventing them from commenting) or suspending their account - either temporarily or permanently.
What is the severity of the violation?
When a violation may result in serious safety concerns, privacy or security risks our enforcement actions will be faster and more drastic. Serious concerns include risks of violence, violent threats, harm, unsolicited intimate media, or exploitation of any kind. These may result in immediate and permanent removal of your account. In egregious instances, we will collaborate with law enforcement authorities if asked to do so or we believe that a serious threat exists.
Less serious concerns may result in reducing user functionality, like the ability to post, comment, etc. for a period of time.
Is the content a topic of legitimate public interest?
Unpress is a news and information platform, as a result, much of the content is in the public interest. In order to fulfill the objectives stated above, we may make allowances for some controversial content that might otherwise violate our community standards. Evaluations are done on a case by case basis in consideration of the following factors:
Public impact: We consider what the impact is to to the public if they do not know about this content. If a story, perspective or comment has the potential to greatly impact many people, and/or it deals with an important or contentious societal issue, then we may allow the content to remain.
Source of the content: If the content is produced by a creator that represents a widely known organization, or is distinguished and reputable, and the content has the potential for significant public impact, the content may be allowed to remain. A distinguished, reputable creator is one who has most, or all, of the following characteristics:
Has an account in good standing for a period of more than 12 months
Has an account that is verified
Has a high content (stories) and interaction (comments) rating
Is credentialed, either through a university or via training on the unpress platform
Has no previous violations of the community standards
The content, strives to be fair and objective
Availability of coverage: Unpress creators provide critical, first hand accounts of current events. Access to stories that represent the realities of people’s lives are why this platform exists. It may be detrimental to the public interest to remove content that is authentic and cannot be found elsewhere.
Enforcement Actions
Our enforcement actions range from education to permanent account suspension. We prefer to start with the former where possible, by working with users to point out content that requires correction and having them modify the content themselves.
Where that is not appropriate, we may, take one or more of the following courses of action:
Removing content
Reducing user functionality, typically by limiting the ability to post stories, write comments and post perspectives
Temporary account bans
Permanent account bans and removals