Community Guidelines

Our principles

Acast will always seek to safeguard freedom of expression and freedom of information for creators, advertisers, and listeners. And just as we promote free speech and the right to information, we also believe that conversations should take place in a respectful, safe, and relevant way.

As a champion of the open podcast ecosystem committed to uplifting creators, Acast enables podcast creators of all sizes to distribute and monetize their own content on our hosting platform. As such Acast does not in general engage in reviewing or controlling any content before it is uploaded or made available on the Acast platform, though we will act conscientiously when alerted to any inappropriate or harmful content, or inappropriate activity (see below). As a creator or advertiser, you are solely responsible for all content that you upload to the Acast platform or that is uploaded on your behalf.

What is inappropriate content?

Inappropriate content may include, but is not limited to, content that Acast deems in its sole discretion:

  • is illegal, harmful, hateful, violent, dangerous, defamatory, fraudulent, libellous, abusive, offensive, obscene, threatening, harassing, bullying, discriminating, misleading, impersonating, or encourages self-harm;
  • infringes the rights of others, including copyright or trademark infringement;
  • violates another person’s right to privacy;
  • may harm Acast’s business, trademark, goodwill and/or reputation;
  • is not brand safe or otherwise cannot be monetized;
  • includes spam or viruses;
  • reasonably could be regarded as uploaded for any other purpose than distribution of podcast content to listeners, e.g. SEO optimisation or similar purposes/activities;
  • mainly includes music, non-spoken and/or AI (see specific guidelines on use of AI below) or other automatically created content;
  • includes hosts and/or guests that may harm Acast’s business, trademark, goodwill and/or reputation.

What is inappropriate activity?

Inappropriate activity may include, but is not limited to, actions that Acast deems in its sole discretion to be:

  • regarded as affecting the ability to accurately count listens, impressions or the placement of advertisements according to Acast’s assumed standards; 
  • manipulating, fabricating, or artificially inflating metrics such as downloads, streams, or ad impressions through automated means, bots, or other deceptive methods;
  • engaging in activities designed to deceive advertisers, listeners, or other stakeholders, including click fraud;
  • misusing Acast’s platform, systems, or services in a way that undermines the integrity of its reporting or operations;
  • taken in bad faith to alter the performance or measurement of content or advertisements, contrary to Acast’s assumed standards;
  • regarded as promoting, encouraging or challenging others to act or behave in such a manner as described in the point above.

Use of AI in podcasts or podcast advertising

Acast is committed to protecting both our creators and their audiences, and our advertisers, through encouraging transparency and integrity in content creation. To ensure that our platform maintains trust and credibility, we require all our creators and advertisers to adhere to the following rules regarding the use of AI in podcast content and podcast advertising.

Use of a material portion of AI in podcast or advertising

  • If AI is used to generate a material portion of a podcast, you must prominently disclose this in the podcast file and metadata of the podcast (i.e. in the podcast description). 
  • Examples of what would and wouldn’t require disclosure include (but are not limited to) the following:

Does require disclosure: Using AI to translate a podcast into another language or using AI to replicate a host’s voice or image for an episode.

Does not require disclosure: AI-generated caption creation or using AI to generate the background of a video.

Use of AI that creates realistic content in podcast or advertising

  • If AI is used to generate a non-material portion of the audio, but is used in a manner that imitates realistic content, you must disclose this in the metadata of the publication (i.e. in the podcast description). 
  • Examples of what would and wouldn’t require disclosure include (but are not limited to) the following:

Does require disclosure: Digitally generating or altering content to replace the voice of one individual with another.

Does not require disclosure: Production or editing assistance provided by AI, such as reducing silence or enhancing audio quality.

Use of AI that creates misleading or deceptive content

  • You must not use AI to mislead or deceptively portray real life events in your podcast content or advertising. 
  • Examples of what is and is not permitted includes (but is not limited to) the following:

Not allowed on Acast: Using AI to create a false news story, manipulating audio or video to create a false narrative or using AI to make it appear that a real person says or does something that they didn’t do.

Allowed on Acast: Using AI for research or idea generation, using beauty filters and generating an animation that is clearly not realistic.

Assessment of whether content (i) requires a disclosure that AI has been used or (ii) is not permitted on Acast’s platform for being misleading or deceptive shall be conducted by Acast in its sole discretion. Acast may remove non-compliant content in accordance with the “content moderation process” section of these Community Guidelines.

Content moderation process

Acast will react and review content when we are notified of any content hosted or distributed on our platform that may be illegal or otherwise inappropriate as set out in these guidelines. Acast does not undertake active monitoring of content hosted on our platform (using algorithmic decision-making or otherwise).

After we receive a report of illegal or inappropriate content or activity, a member of our team will review it to assess the claim. If we decide to remove or disable access to the content, we will notify the person who uploaded the content. We will also inform the person who made the report of our decision.

In the event of violations of our Community Guidelines, or any other agreement you may have with us, we also reserve the right to terminate or disable your Acast account and/or use of Acast services (including without limitation disable monetization).

We have established an internal complaint-handling process through which content moderation decisions can be challenged. If you are located in the European Union and are still not satisfied with our decision after using our complaints-handling process, you can appeal our decision with the relevant national supervisory authority in your country.

How to report suspected inappropriate content or activity

If you come across any content hosted by Acast or activity that you believe to be inappropriate, we encourage you to flag this by contacting our team on takedowns@acast.com or submitting a claim here.

Updated on 27 November 2024