Content Guidelines

What is or is not acceptable on the Episode Platform and in the Episode Community?

Our Official Content Guidelines are as follows: 

If stories contain objectionable or offensive content, we may not be able to feature or host them on Episode. Stories must always be appropriate for all readers ages 13 or older, which means content would be objectionable if it, among other things:

• promotes or depicts excessive violence or assault, including but not limited to sexual assault, murder, and torture against humans or animals;
• includes hate speech or content that promotes hatred or discrimination against individuals or groups, on the basis of race, ethnic or national origin, religion, marital status, disability, gender, age, or sexual orientation;
• promotes suicide, self-harm, abuse, or bullying;
• promotes excessive alcohol, tobacco or drug use;
• promotes gambling, betting or casinos;
• portrays adult themes, including pornographic content, nudity, or prostitution;
• slanders or libels a person or third party;
• includes excessive use of profanity or sexually explicit phrases;
• advertises for outside products or services, including but not limited to website links, reviews, and promotional language;
• excessively promotes the use of firearms, explosives, and ammunition; or
• excessively promotes a political agenda.

In addition, by submitting your story, you agree that it does not include any content that infringes on the intellectual property rights or rights of publicity or privacy of any third party. 

This may include using any of the following without permission:

1. Any copyrights or works of authorship of other parties, including excerpts or passages taken from literary works, video games, television or film;
2. References to corporate or business names; or
3. Any references to real persons or places. 

If your story contains a scene that could be a trigger for some viewers, you should use a content warning.  A content warning is a written notice that precedes potentially sensitive content.

If we find that a story does not conform to the Content Guidelines listed above or our Terms of Service, we will contact the author via their portal account email and may suspend and/or remove that story from the platform. Authors who repeatedly violate Content Guidelines may be temporarily or permanently suspended from all or part of our platform. Please note these guidelines are subject to change.

Hopefully, this clarifies some of the questions and concerns we receive around what is appropriate in our app. As always, please reach out to our Support Desk with any questions you have about content within your story. We’re here to help!