The world is changing and so are we. Discover our revised community standards and how they help us define the content allowed on our platform.
What are community standards?
Our community standards define who we are as a company, from the beliefs and values we hold to the type of content we allow on our platform. By defining clear expectations for our Designers, we’re laying the groundwork for what we want our open platform to look like. In order to have an open platform that uses freedom of expression to positively contribute to the world, community standards are necessary.
When you choose to partner with us as a Designer, it’s expected that you follow our community standards. If a partner does not follow our community standards, it can result in a design being rejected. In some cases, depending on the severity and frequency of the violation, your account may be closed.
Why did the community standards change?
From fake news to a global pandemic, it’s no secret that our world is changing. We’ve updated our community standards so that they can meet the demands of today’s changing world.
As an open platform, we know that the context around a design can radically change its meaning or impact. We have to make many different decisions around topics or content that might be borderline or don’t directly violate our standards. Our new community standards are much clearer, while staying true to our identity as an open platform.
As a global platform, we know that different people have different opinions. We also know that a healthy democracy is founded on difference and the exchange of ideas. We’re doing our best to create a space for diversity of ideas while limiting content that could be hurtful to others. By updating our community standards, we’re doing our part in making sure our customers and community feel safe when using our platform.
What revisions have been made to the community standards?
We’ve expanded on the section of “Hate Speech and Hateful Content” and we’ve added a new section “Harmful Misleading Content.”
Additionally, we’ve streamlined the process for reporting designs. Any user is now able to report a design without having to be signed in.
We’ve also made the community standards more visible on our platform, by linking to them when you upload a new design. In order to contribute the best content possible to the Marketplace, as a Designer you can ask yourself if a design you want to upload is ethically and morally justifiable.
Where can I find the community standards?
Our community standards are online and always readily available for anyone who wants to read them.
Remember, reviewing designs and improving the content on our platform is an ongoing process. If you’ve found a design you think violates our community standards, you can report it and we’ll review it.
Thank you for being a part of our community! If you have any questions about our updated community standards, let us know in the comments below.
Dear community,
as briefly explained last week, our community standards and the design report function are not new. We just adapted the standards and processes to current events.
If designs are reported to us, whether by the design reporting function, mail or any other way, we will look at them separately and check them. Meanwhile a design is still online and will not simply be taken down. Only if there is a violation, be it against copyright, our marketplace guidelines or the community standards, a deletion is possible. The same applies to accounts. We delete entire accounts only in the case of repeated infringements. A report is therefore by no means the same as deletion or a lower ranking.
It should be added that motives that are deleted due to “Hate speech and Hateful Content” and “Harmful Misleading Content” are only a fraction of all designs. The percentage of designs deleted due to other violations is much higher.
Best regards,
Sandra
Trying to muzzle conservative voices? I hope not
Dear designers,
our community standards have always existed and the function to report a design is also not new.
The right to freely express your ideas is a fundamental part of our platform. We will continue to support and defend the freedom of opinion and the right to self-expression. It is important to find out where the line lies between controversial ideas and dangerous content.
Over the years, we have gained some experience in identifying and managing hateful content. Three things are already clear to us: the context is crucial, the online world and real life are intertwined, and it requires constant development, which we demonstrate in our revised community standards.
If you still have questions, you can find our full press release here.
Best regards,
Sandra
I seem to be having a problem when uploading my “Get Woke, Go Broke” designs at the moment :/
Hi Bj,
please write an email with the description of the upload problem to patner@spreadshirt.com.
Best regards,
Sandra
So you’re changing what you accept as a design on your site. My question is who is going to be reviewing the designs? So you are removing our freedom to be creative designing is an art and freedom of speech. That said if a design of mine is rejected I expect a complete explanation of why and in a very timely manner. The reason must be explained quickly and definitively.
Maybe you can be so kind as to inform me what standards I violated with my latest design that was REJECTED. If you cannot explain l may pull my site.
So you’re changing what you accept as a design on your site. My question is who is going to be reviewing the designs? So you are removing our freedom to be creative designing is an art and freedom of speech. That said if a design of mine is rejected I expect a complete explanation of why and in a very timely manner. The reason must be explained quickly and definitively.
Hello Michael,
please write an email with the IDs of the rejected designs to legal@spreadshirt.com. Our colleagues can give you more information on why your designs were rejected.
Best regards,
Sandra
What kind of bs is this? Who determines what is and what isnt “hate speech”
This is a clear violation of free speech and the first amendment. Art is freedom of expression. You are suppressing free speech which we will not stand for. I haven’t uploaded to this site in years and never will again.
You are following in the footsteps of Twitter and Facebook when it comes to suppressing speech. I hope we the people vote with our dollars in the free markets and no longer conduct business with you, with the intent of putting you out of business for being un american. It’s a real shame that you must take such an extreme stance.
You will pay a very heavy price for censoring speech. And rightly so.
You at spreadsheet are doing the exact opposite of what it is that you’re trying to create and offer at your website and organization you’re stripping every drop of freedom and creativity that these artists have the offer due to how you put it fake news and global pandemics but while you’re doing that might as well use the term politically correct so who is it to decide what’s offensive and what is it it’s like the yin and yang what’s good for another maybe bad for another you have no position at all to tell anyone what’s good or bad to somebody else because in the long run you’re going to have your haters and lovers if this interfers with my designs in any way at all I’m going to printful.com with my clothing designs with drop shipping and no newly emerging monarchy vibe included, etc.! Who are you to decide what is offensive I mean honestly I cannot stress that enough
I just wanna say that your comment was beautifully executed! And I absolutely agree idk if you’ve heard of https://www.printful.com/ but of you ever get the chance I highly recommend looking into it
Logo designer specialist