Guiding principles
Acast guiding principles regarding inappropriate content and/or commercials
1. Purpose of the principles
“We,” “our” or “us” refers to Acast and our subsidiaries. “Acast platform” refers to our platform and the services offered by us. The purpose of these principles is to set out the rules according to which Acast assesses whether certain editorial content (“Content”) and/or commercial messages including advertisements and sponsorship messages etc. (“Commercials”) shall be removed from/not distributed via the Acast platform. To submit any claims please refer to Legal Claims.
2. Fundamental principle
Acast is a strong believer in the open and free exchange of information. The fundamental guiding principle is that Acast always shall seek to safeguard freedom of expression and freedom of information for creators and listeners while at the same time protecting listeners from Content and Commercials that are illegal or, according to Acast’s assessment in any other aspect, is harmful or inappropriate. Thus, as much as we want to promote free speech and the right to information, we also believe that conversations shall take place in a respectful, safe and relevantway. As stated in e.g. our Open Terms of Service defamatory or offensive material is an example of inappropriate Content.
Acast recognizes a desire for a clear yes or no as to when inappropriate Content and/or Commercials shall be subject to removal on the platform. The reality, however, is that there can't always be such clear cuts. Sometimes as an example, Acast does allow for Content which may be perceived as going against our terms of service because it is newsworthy and in the public interest. Other times, the circumstances do not allow for continued distribution. In making these assessments, Acast will take a number of factors into consideration on a case-by-case basis. For example, Acast generally does permit stronger conversations around individuals who voluntarily have chosen to be public, who are featured in the news or have a large public audience by reason of their profession. The audience of a show may also be of relevance as well as the content itself. When making these removal assessments, our creators, listeners and advertisers should know that Acast deems freedom of expression and freedom of information to be a guiding principle and that we aim to be as consistent and transparent as we can enforcing these rules.
3. Removal of Content and/or Commercials
Content uploaded on the Acast platform is by default not reviewed, edited or pre-approved by us and we trust our community of creators to follow the rules and guidelines we set from time to time. Upon a notification via Legal Claims, however, our team will review the reported Content and/or Commercial and assess its legality and compliance with our terms of service.
Any and all Content and/or Commercials Acast deems to be illegal pursuant to applicable legislation will be removed from the Acast service as soon as practicably possible. If the Content and/or the Commercials in Acast’s opinion is not illegal, we always aim to continue distribution. This being said, Acast retains the right to delete and/or suspend any Content and/or Commercials that, in Acast’s discretion, is harmful, inappropriate or not brand safe. While our relationship with our creators is crucial, so are our relationships with our advertisers and listeners. Thus, if we believe that relations with advertisers and/or listeners may be negatively affected by reason of Content and/or Commercials on the Acast platform, we fully and unconditionally reserve the right to remove or suspend such Content and/or Commercials.
4. Specific guidelines for certain Commercials
- Religious advertisements
- Tobacco (and similar) advertisements
Although these kinds of Commercials may be legal they may also be regarded as sensitive to creators. Acast therefore applies a default block principle in the blocklist for all creators for these categories (there may be additional categories on this list from time to time). It is up to the individual creator to “un-block” this/these category/categories in relation to his/her podcast show.
5. Private information
We do not allow for the sharing of private and/or confidential information of third parties on our platform. Private and confidential information includes but is not limited to: personal identification or social security number, credit card information, private address or location information, non-public telephone numbers and non-public addresses.
Updated February 28, 2024