Legal
Content Moderation Policy
Effective Date: July 2026
1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
This Content Moderation Policy explains how Afripods detects, reviews, and acts on Content and conduct that may violate our Community Guidelines, and how you can appeal a moderation decision. It applies to all Content published on the Platform and to all Users.
2. OUR APPROACH
We use a combination of automated screening, human review, and community reporting to moderate the Platform:
- Automated screening: newly uploaded audio, artwork, and text metadata are screened by automated content-detection tools for indicators of prohibited content, including child sexual abuse material, graphic violence, and other content described in our Community Guidelines, (Section 3) before or shortly after publication.
- Human review: Content flagged by automated screening, or reported by a User, is reviewed by a trained member of our team, who applies the Community Guidelines and the grey-area guidance in Section 5 of that document.
- Community reporting: Users can flag Content or accounts they believe violate the Community Guidelines using the in-platform reporting tool.
No single automated tool makes a final removal decision for content that is not part of the zero-tolerance category in Section 5 below; automated flags route to human review before action is taken, except where Section 5 applies.
3. MODERATION WORKFLOW
For the majority of Content, our workflow follows these steps:
- 1. Upload: a Creator publishes an episode, artwork, or profile update.
- 2. Automated pre-screen: The Content is scanned by our automated tools against the categories in the Community Guidelines.
- 3. Routing: Content with no flags is published normally; flagged Content is routed to human review before, or immediately after, it becomes publicly visible, depending on the severity of the flag.
- 4. Human decision: a reviewer applies the Community Guidelines, considering the context and intent guidance in that document, and reaches a decision within the timeframes in Section 7.
- 5. Notification: the Creator is notified of the decision, the specific Guideline relied on, and their right to appeal under Section 8.
3. USER REPORTING MECHANISM
3.1 How to Report
Every piece of Content, and every User profile, has a "Report" option. Reporting does not require an account beyond what is already needed to use the Platform, and does not notify the reported User that a report has been made.
3.2 Report Categories
When reporting, a User selects the category that best describes their concern, so it can be routed to the right review path:
- Child safety concern; routes immediately to the zero-tolerance fast-track in Section 6.
- Hate speech or discrimination
- Harassment, threats, or bullying
- Violent or graphic content
- Sexually explicit content
- Misinformation likely to cause real-world harm
- Spam, fraud, or fake engagement
- Impersonation
- Self-harm or dangerous content
- Something else (free-text description)
Reports concerning copyright, trademark, or another legal right are redirected to our Takedown Procedure rather than processed through this general flow, since that process requires specific information a general report does not capture.
3.3 What Happens After You Submit a Report
You will receive an acknowledgement that your report was received. Once reviewed, in accordance with the timeframes in Section 7, you will be notified of the outcome at a general level for example, that the Content was removed, that a warning was issued, or that no violation was found without being given the reported User's private account details or internal moderation notes.
3.4 Anti-Retaliation and Misuse
Reporting in good faith will never result in restrictions on your own account. Conversely, submitting repeated bad-faith reports intended to harass or silence another User for example, mass-reporting a Creator's Content without a genuine belief that it violates the Community Guidelines is itself a violation of our Community Guidelines and may result in enforcement action against the reporting account.
3.5 Blocking and Muting
In addition to reporting, Listeners can block or mute a Creator or another User to stop seeing their Content or interacting with them, without submitting a report or triggering any moderation review. Blocking is a self-serve control for personal preference; it is not a substitute for reporting Content that violates the Community Guidelines, since blocked Content remains visible to other Users unless separately reported and actioned.
5. ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
The consequence for a violation depends on its severity, whether it is repeated, and the harm involved:
| Severity | Typical response |
|---|---|
| First-time, low-severity (e.g. misleading metadata) | Warning and request to correct |
| Content-level violation (e.g. a single infringing or non-compliant episode) | Removal of the specific Content |
| Repeated or feature-specific misuse (e.g. spam, manipulated engagement) | Restriction of the relevant feature (e.g. publishing, comments) |
| Serious or repeated violations | Temporary account suspension |
| Severe, repeated, or zero-tolerance violations | Permanent account termination |
| Content indicating imminent harm to a person, or child sexual abuse material | Immediate removal, account lock, and referral to law enforcement, see Section 5 |
6. ZERO-TOLERANCE FAST-TRACK: CHILD SAFETY AND IMMINENT HARM
Content flagged as, or reasonably suspected to be, child sexual abuse material, or content indicating a child is in imminent danger, bypasses the standard human-review queue described in Section 3. It is escalated immediately to a designated reviewer, the Content is removed and access disabled without prior notice to the uploader, the account is locked pending investigation, and the matter is reported to any appropriate authority within your jurisdiction.
The standard warning-before-removal approach in Section 4 does not apply to this category. There is no appeal route for a confirmed child sexual abuse material determination; a User may still contact us if they believe the determination was made in error, and the matter will be independently re-reviewed by a second senior reviewer.
Content indicating an imminent threat to life including credible threats of suicide, self-harm, or violence is escalated in the same way, with a focus on connecting the person concerned with appropriate support rather than punitive account action alone.
7. HUMAN REVIEW STANDARDS
- Our reviewers are trained on the Community Guidelines, including the context and intent guidance for grey-area content, before handling reports independently.
- Reviewers evaluate Content on its own terms, agreement or disagreement with the views expressed is not a basis for removal outside the categories in the Community Guidelines.
- A sample of moderation decisions is periodically reviewed for consistency across reviewers, with findings used to refine internal guidance.
8. RESPONSE TIMEFRAMES
9. APPEALS
If your Content is removed, or your account is restricted or suspended, you will be notified of the reason and given the opportunity to appeal, except for confirmed child sexual abuse material determinations under Section 5. To appeal, send an email to contactus@afripods.com . We will notify you of the outcome within the timeframe in Section 7.
10. HOW THIS POLICY FITS WITH OUR OTHER DOCUMENTS
This Policy explains how we enforce the rules set out in our Community Guidelines. For copyright and other legal-rights complaints specifically, use our Takedown Procedure instead of the general reporting tool described here. This Policy is incorporated by reference into our Terms & Conditions, (Section 10).
11. UPDATES TO THIS POLICY
We may update this Policy as our moderation tools, processes, and legal obligations evolve. Material changes will be announced through the Platform.
12. CONTACT US
Questions about this Policy can be sent to contactus@afripods.com