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 us by our communities. 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 stories.

Vocal is a platform for all types of creators, but it’s not a publication. Vocal’s team reviews every story on Vocal’s communities, making sure it fits within our Community Guidelines. However, the views and opinions expressed in these stories are those of the creators and do not necessarily reflect upon 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 We do not publish stories concerning race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation, or gender identity that fall on an extreme viewpoint, but some stories may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].

We’re all humans, here.

Every process here at Vocal, from moderation to support, is completed by a team of real live people. This means that we’re not relying on any algorithms to moderate the stories that you see, but it also means that sometimes we make mistakes—and we love fixing them. If you see any content errors you think we should know about, you can contact us at [email protected].

Explore the creator’s page.

The creator’s page will tell you everything you need to know about them—name, bio, social—so you can validate their stories.

Do your research.

If you're not sure about something stated in a story, you can look elsewhere on the web. Has it been said before? Is the creator stating facts? Our moderation team does its best to fact check on a surface level, but it’s always a good idea to approach everything you read online with a bit of skepticism. Looking further into anything that strikes you as unbelievable or unlikely can only make you a better informed, more conscientious reader.

Support the creators that you do trust.

Stories that you find suspicious can be reported, but stories that you find thorough, trustworthy, and enjoyable should be rewarded. This doesn’t mean you have to tip the creator—even a share or a kind word on social media can mean more to them than you know. Positive feedback will only encourage more high-quality, reliable stories.

Be open and responsive.

If everyone in the Vocal community is up-front about who they are and receptive to feedback they receive, Vocal will remain a network built on respect and collaboration—and that’s something we can all be proud of.

Be honest and ethical.

This means being honest in your stories, and also in the way that you’re sharing them. Being straightforward and truthful will ensure your readers’ trust, and avoiding attempts to inflate reads or game the system will ensure ours.

Vet anything you promote.

If you’re going to try to sell a product or endorse a website, understand that you’re going to be associated with that item or company. You shouldn’t make recommendations for things that you haven’t tried yourself, and you should be sure that any links you’re including aren’t scammy, dangerous, or misleading.

We support and assist.

Our moderation and customer support teams are here to answer questions, help get your stories published, and address any concerns of the community. We want the best for Vocal as a platform, and that means keeping our readers and creators happy above all else.

We moderate and manage stories.

Our moderation team evaluates every story before it’s published to ensure it doesn’t break any of our Community Guidelines. Content that’s deemed hurtful, misleading, or violent is not published on our network.

We take action.

To protect the rest of the community, accounts that violate our Terms of Use will be suspended.

Don’t post any sensitive information on Vocal.

Vocal’s stories are public, meaning anything you publish in a story or put in your bio is visible (and searchable) by the masses on the internet. Refrain from posting personal information like street addresses, bank account information, or other sensitive materials.

Protect against phishing scams.

Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails pretending to be from reputable businesses to get you to reveal personal information, such as social security numbers and credit card numbers. Vocal will never ask you for full banking information or identifying materials like your passwords or SSN. If you think you’ve been the victim of phishing by association with Vocal, please reach out to [email protected].

Don’t share your Vocal account information.

Choose a unique password for your Vocal account, and don’t share it with others once it’s been created. This will keep your information, and your stories, safely in your hands.