At Researchvlog, we prioritise safety, diversity, inclusion, and authenticity. We encourage users to celebrate what makes their work outstanding and unique and to engage with what inspires them; we believe that a safe environment helps everyone do so openly. We also aim to cultivate an environment for genuine interaction by encouraging reliable research content sharing. These Community Guidelines establish a set of norms and common code of conduct that provide for a safe and welcoming space for everyone.
We will remove any content – including video, audio, images, comments, links, or other text – that violates our Community Guidelines. Individuals are notified of our decisions and can appeal them if they believe no violation has occurred. We will temporarily or permanently ban accounts and/or users that are involved in severe or repeated on-platform violations; we may also consider actions on other platforms and offline behaviour in these decisions. The full Researchvlog experience is for people aged 16 or older, and we actively remove accounts of people we suspect are under this age.
At the same time, we recognise that some content that would normally be removed per our Community Guidelines may be in the public interest. Therefore, we may allow exceptions under certain limited circumstances, such as educational, documentary, scientific, satirical content, content in fictional setting, artistic content, content in professional settings, counterspeech, or content that otherwise enables the expression of research on topics of social importance.
In consultation with relevant stakeholders, we update our Community Guidelines occasionally to reflect the needs and wants of our community.
Use your real identity
Researchvlog is a professional community and we require our users to use their real identity: real names, real photos, and accurate information about themselves. Please do not provide misleading information about your qualifications or professional experience, affiliations, or achievements on Researchvlog.
Misinformation
As a research community, Researchvlog has zero tolerance for misinformation. Misinformation is defined as content that is inaccurate or false. We will remove verifiable misinformation regardless of intent.
We ban accounts and/or users that engage in misinformation that causes significant harm. Significant harm includes serious physical injury, illness, or death; severe psychological trauma; large-scale property damage, and the undermining of public trust in civic institutions and processes such as governments, elections, and scientific bodies. This does not include simply inaccurate information, myths, or commercial or reputational harm.
Do not post, upload, stream, or share any misinformation, and take particular care to avoid:
- Misinformation that incites hate or prejudice
- Misinformation related to emergencies that induces panic
- Medical misinformation that can cause harm to an individual’s physical health
- Content that misleads community members about elections or other civic processes
- Conspiratorial content including content that attacks a specific person or a protected group, includes a violent call to action, or denies a violent or tragic event occurred
- Digital forgeries (synthetic media or manipulated media) that mislead members by distorting the truth of events and cause significant harm to the subject of the video, other persons, or society
Do not:
- Engage in coordinated inauthentic behaviour such as the use of multiple accounts to exert influence and sway public opinion while misleading individuals, our community, or our systems about the account’s identity, location, relationships, popularity, or purpose
Hateful ideologies
Hateful ideologies are those that demonstrate clear hostility toward people because of their protected attributes. Hateful ideologies are incompatible with the inclusive and supportive community that our platform provides and we remove content that promotes them.
Do not post, upload, stream, or share:
- Content that praises, promotes, glorifies, or supports any hateful ideology (e.g., white supremacy, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ, antisemitism)
- Content that contains names, symbols, logos, flags, slogans, uniforms, gestures, salutes, illustrations, portraits, songs, music, lyrics, or other objects related to a hateful ideology
- Content that promotes, supports, or advertises conversion therapy or related programmes
- Content that denies well-documented and violent events have taken place affecting groups with protected attributes (e.g., Holocaust denial)
- Claims of supremacy over a group of people with reference to other protected attributes
- Conspiracy theories used to justify hateful ideologies
Integrity and authenticity
We believe that trust forms the foundation of our community. We do not allow activities that may undermine the integrity of our platform or the authenticity of our users. We remove content or accounts that involve spam or fake engagement, impersonation, or misleading information.
Abusive behaviour
We remove expressions of abuse, including threats or degrading statements intended to mock, humiliate, embarrass, intimidate, or hurt an individual. This prohibition extends to the use of Researchvlog features. To enable expression about matters of public interest, critical comments of public figures may be allowed. However, serious abusive behaviour against public figures is prohibited.
Do not post, upload, stream, or share:
- Content that insults another individual, or disparages an individual on the basis of attributes such as intellect, appearance, personality traits, or hygiene
- Content that encourages coordinated harassment
- Content that disparages victims of violent tragedies
- Content that depicts willful harm or intimidation, such as cyberstalking or trolling
- Content that wishes death, serious disease, or other serious harm on an individual
Attacks and slurs on the basis of protected attributes
We define hate speech or behaviour as content that attacks, threatens, incites violence against, or otherwise dehumanises an individual or a group on the basis of the following protected attributes:
- Race
- Ethnicity
- National origin
- Religion
- Caste
- Sexual orientation
- Sex
- Gender
- Gender identity
- Serious disease
- Disability
- Immigration status
Slurs are defined as derogatory terms that are intended to disparage groups or individuals based on any protected attributes listed above.
To minimise the spread of egregiously offensive terms, we remove all slurs from our platform, unless the terms are reappropriated, used self-referentially (i.e., by members of the protected group), or used in a way that does not disparage (e.g., educational context).
Do not post, upload, stream, or share:
- Content claiming individuals or groups with protected attributes are physically, mentally, or morally inferior or referring to them as criminals, animals, inanimate objects, or other non-human entities
- Content promoting or justifying violence, exclusion, segregation, or discrimination against them
- Content that includes the use of non-self referential slurs
- Content that targets transgender or non-binary individuals through misgendering or deadnaming
- Content that depicts harm inflicted upon an individual or a group on the basis of a protected attribute
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment involves unwanted or inappropriate sexual behaviour directed at another individual. We do not allow content that glorifies, normalises or promotes sexual harassment, regardless of the user’s intent.
Do not post, upload, stream, or share:
- Content that attempts to make unwanted sexual contact
- Content that disparages another person’s sexual activity
- Content that simulates sexual activity with another person, either verbally, in text (including emojis), or through the use of any in-app features
- Content that alters or morphs an image of another individual to portray or imply sexual suggestiveness or engagement in sexual activity
- Content that reveals, or threatens to reveal, details of a person’s private sexual life, including digital content, sexual history, and names of previous sexual partners
- Content that exposes, or threatens to expose, a person’s sexual orientation without their consent
Hateful behaviour
Researchvlog is a diverse and inclusive community that has zero tolerance for discrimination. We do not permit content that contains hate speech or involves hateful behaviour, and we remove it from our platform. We ban accounts and/or users that engage in hate speech on or off the Researchvlog platform.
Spam and fake engagement
Fake engagement includes any content or activity that seeks to artificially inflate popularity on the platform. We prohibit any attempts to manipulate the platform to increase interaction metrics.
Do not:
- Share instructions on how to artificially increase views, likes, shares, or comments
- Promote artificial traffic generation services
- Operate multiple accounts under false or fraudulent pretences to distribute commercial spam
- Create malicious software or modify code to artificially increase views, likes, shares, or comments
Impersonation
We do not allow accounts that pose as another person or entity in a deceptive manner. When we confirm a report of impersonation, we may ask the user to revise the profile or may ban the account. We do allow accounts that are clearly parody, commentary, or fan-based, such as where the username indicates that it is a fan, commentary, or parody account and not affiliated with the subject of the account.
Do not:
- Pose as another person or entity by using someone else’s name, biographical details, or profile picture in a misleading manner
Illegal activities and regulated goods
We work to ensure Researchvlog does not enable activities that violate laws or regulations. We prohibit the trade, sale, promotion, and use of certain regulated goods, as well as the promotion or facilitation of criminal activities, including human exploitation. Content may be removed if it relates to activities or goods that are regulated or illegal in the majority of the region or world.
Frauds and scams
We do not permit anyone to exploit our platform to take advantage of the trust of users and bring about financial or personal harm. We remove content that deceives people in order to gain an unlawful financial or personal advantage, including schemes to defraud individuals or steal assets.
Do not post, upload, stream, or share:
- Content that promotes phishing
- Content that promotes Ponzi, multi-level marketing, or pyramid schemes
- Content that promotes investment schemes with promise of high returns, fixed betting, or any other types of scams
Report inappropriate content
Our network is growing every day and we strive to create an environment that is free of inappropriate and abusive content. To do this, we rely on help from our network of researchers. If you see something on Researchvlog that is inappropriate or abusive, please report it to us at support@researchvlog.com. Our team will review reported content, and remove it and take further action if necessary.