Trust & Safety

At Vocal, our creators are our partners, and it's our job to provide a platform deserving of your trust - by maintaining community safety, proactively screening for potential problems, and investigating issues brought to our attention. We take our responsibility to the Vocal community very seriously.

Our goal is to provide a safe and trusted platform where creators can thrive.

Creators are responsible for their stories

Vocal is a platform for all types of creators, but it's not a publication. Our team reviews stories to ensure they fit within our Community Guidelines. However, the views and opinions expressed in stories are those of the creators and do not necessarily reflect those of Vocal. We do not publish stories concerning race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation, or gender identity that fall on an extreme viewpoint, but some stories may contain beliefs or information you may not agree with. To report a story, please contact us at [email protected].

Every creator is a verified person

Starting with v2, every creator on Vocal has connected a verified Stripe account in order to publish. This means the stories you read come from real, accountable people - not bots, not anonymous actors. It's one of the most meaningful trust signals we've built into the platform, and it's there for you.

Our team is made up of humans

Every process at Vocal, from moderation to customer support, is handled by a team of real people. We don't rely solely on automated systems to make decisions about the content you see. That said, we do use technology to help us work efficiently, and like any team of humans, we sometimes make mistakes - and we genuinely love fixing them. If you see content you think we should know about, reach out at [email protected].

For readers

Explore the creator's page

A creator's profile will tell you everything you need to know about them - name, bio, social links - so you can get a sense of who they are and validate their perspective before you read.

Do your research

If you're not sure about something stated in a story, look further. Has it been said elsewhere? Is the creator citing sources? Our moderation team does its best to review content, but it's always wise to approach anything you read online with a healthy degree of skepticism. A more skeptical reader is a better-informed one.

Support the creators you trust

Stories that seem suspicious can be reported. Stories that are thorough, trustworthy, and enjoyable deserve to be rewarded. You don't have to tip a creator to show your support - a share, a comment, or a kind word goes a long way. Positive engagement encourages more high-quality, reliable storytelling across the platform.

For creators

Be open and responsive

When creators are up-front about who they are and open to feedback from their readers, Vocal becomes a stronger community for everyone. That transparency is the foundation of the trust we're all building together here.

Be honest and ethical

This means being truthful in your stories and straightforward in the way you share them. Your readers' trust is earned through honesty. Attempting to inflate engagement metrics, manipulate earnings, or game any part of Vocal's systems is a violation of our Terms of Use and will result in account action.

Vet anything you promote

If you're endorsing a product, service, or website in your story, you're lending your credibility to it. Only recommend things you've actually tried, and make sure any links you include are legitimate, safe, and relevant to your readers. Scammy or misleading outbound links will result in your story being rejected.

What Vocal does

We support and assist

Our moderation and customer support teams are here to answer questions, help get your stories published, and address concerns from the community. We want the best for Vocal as a platform, and that means keeping our readers and creators supported above all else. Reach us at [email protected].

We moderate content

Our moderation team reviews stories to ensure they don't violate our Community Guidelines. Content that is hurtful, misleading, or violent is not published on Vocal. We may not catch everything immediately, but we act on every report we receive.

We take action

Accounts that violate our Terms of Use or Community Guidelines may be suspended or terminated at our sole discretion. We do this to protect the rest of the community.

Protecting yourself

Don't post sensitive personal information

Vocal stories are public - anything you publish in a story or include in your bio is visible and searchable on the internet. Do not post personal information like your street address, bank account details, or other sensitive materials in your stories or profile.

Watch out for phishing

Phishing is the fraudulent practice of impersonating a trusted organization to get you to reveal personal information - like passwords, social security numbers, or credit card numbers. Vocal will never ask you for full banking information, your password, or identifying documents. If you believe you've been targeted by a phishing attempt connected to Vocal, contact us at [email protected] right away.

Keep your account credentials private

Choose a strong, unique password for your Vocal account and don't share it with anyone. Your account, your stories, and your earnings are your responsibility - keeping your login information private is the first step in protecting them.

Effective Date: July 8, 2026

Change Summary (v2 updates - for internal reference, remove before publishing)

1. Effective date added - July 8, 2026.

2. Em dashes removed - "we make mistakes—and we love fixing them" and the opening sentence both had em dashes. Replaced throughout.

3. New section: "Every creator is a verified person" - Added to reflect the Stripe Connect requirement in v2. This is a genuine trust signal for readers and worth surfacing prominently.

4. "Every story is reviewed before publishing" softened - Changed from a firm promise to a more defensible statement. We review content and act on reports; we don't guarantee pre-publication review of every story.

5. "Not relying on any algorithms" removed - Outdated and likely inaccurate. Replaced with "we don't rely solely on automated systems," which is honest without overclaiming.

6. "inflate reads" updated - Changed to "inflate engagement metrics, manipulate earnings, or game any part of Vocal's systems" to reflect v2 earnings model (reads are Vocal+ only; all creators have tips, subscriptions, etc.).

7. Structure improved - Added explicit section headers for Readers, Creators, What Vocal Does, and Protecting Yourself. The original document had implied sections with no headers.

8. Termination language aligned with Terms - "will be suspended" changed to "may be suspended or terminated at our sole discretion," matching the updated Terms of Use.

9. Community Guidelines and Terms of Use linked throughout.