Guides and policies for coubers
Current version published on 30 March 2023
Coub is a platform and community of creative minds where every user has the right to self-expression. The Coub team strives to provide a safe environment for millions of people worldwide and, therefore, is committed to the community rules presented here. You can always refer to this webpage for the most up-to-date information about Coub guidelines.
This document is not an exhaustive list of every possible term and restriction, and is subject to change as the platform evolves. After all, even the strictest rules mean nothing without general goodwill and respect within the community. Let’s take care of others and help Coub flourish!
Users not only create coubs but also publish other kinds of materials — comments, stories, tags, chat messages, avatars, profile covers. We refer to all of the above as “content”, and these community rules apply to each content type mentioned above.
We have three basic rules that serve as the basis for all other content and user guidelines.
We want Coub to be completely ad-free. That’s why we disabled all banner ads on our website and in app. Our team closely monitors content and ensures there are no brand integrations, promotion of goods or services neither on behalf of nor in favor of a third party.
Being an international platform, Coub is required to comply with the laws of all countries where it operates. We put a lot of effort into ensuring the platform wouldn't get blocked, and its content wouldn't endanger our users regardless of their location and nuances of the laws of different countries.
The platform strictly forbids publishing illicit content that calls for unlawful actions and/or dangerous behavior towards the health or lives of others, as well as content violating the Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and other documents governing the platform's operation.
We want every couber to feel safe and respected regardless of their gender, sexuality, nationality, skin color, and views. Coub will not tolerate and, therefore, will ban content that calls for aggression or disrespects any individuals or social groups.
The following types of content and user actions are forbidden on Coub, as per our
Terms of Service.
Publishing content that falls under any of these categories will lead to
sanctions
from the moderation team.
We do not allow and, therefore, will ban coubs that contain content and/or subtext that is built around sexuality and/or explicit imagery, such as pornography, erotica, as well as content with excessively sexual and/or provocative undertones, including sexualized imagery of minors.
The propaganda of nazism, fascism, white supremacy and Holocaust denial are forbidden in any form.
It’s forbidden to incite aggression, hatred, or revenge. This includes content containing cruelty, violence, nationalism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and religious hatred.
We forbid content calling for, justifying or promoting extremism and terrorism. This includes posting symbols, names, or referring to organizations prohibited by local governments.
Coub does not permit the publication of materials that promote conspiracy theories and pseudoscience or deny historical or scientific facts. For example, misinformation on vaccine efficacy, questioning actions of national armed forces, etc.
Content that may cause unpleasant feelings and psychological damage is considered violent and shocking. It relates to any realistic depiction of violence towards humans, animal abuse, images of corpses and mutilated bodies, or other similarly disturbing images.
The platform does not permit publishing of coubs with sharp increase in volume, or ‘screamers,’ and coubs containing elements that can cause photosensitive epilepsy.
We do not allow content relating to the manufacture, cultivation, distribution, acquisition, or use of drugs and other illegal substances.
Coub is not a place to share content that insults or discredits religious beliefs or holy places.
We will not tolerate content with malicious insults based on someone’s intrinsic attributes, such as racial slurs, verbal abuse, including vulgar language, and content that targets private individuals to degrade, shame or harass them.
We do not tolerate any content that encourages children to engage in mentally, physically or emotionally dangerous behavior. No illegal or dangerous content affecting children or teenagers will be tolerated.
Coub is a platform for short videos, and, therefore, we believe that publications with static images or slide shows do not go in line with the Coub’s concept, even if published as videos. We apply the same principle to coubs that mostly consist of audio visualizing effects, including equalizers, spectrum analyzers and others.
We highly value the uniqueness of every coub and appreciate the ideas and talent of every creator. Hence, it’s not allowed to directly reupload materials that previously appeared on the platform, including coubs with the double Coub watermark. It’s also forbidden to post coubs that violate the intellectual property rights of third parties: copyright, related rights and other rights protected by law.
We urge users not to publish similar coubs in a row. Coubers tend to get irritated by the repeating content and are likely to report it, as well as the channels that post such content. However, publishing a series of coubs within the same theme is permissible, but they should have distinctive differences in meaning.
Repeating comments interfering with a discussion will also be considered as flooding.
It’s forbidden to create accounts and channels to purposefully cause harm, bypass restrictions, and manipulate the statistics of published content.
Additionally, we will not tolerate unreasonable complaints, requests, and other actions that overcomplicate the Support and Moderation teams’ work.
Our users want to be able to see only relevant coubs in communities. That’s why we’ve produced recommendations for what’s expected to be published in each of them: themes, content specifications, etc. Publishing coubs in irrelevant communities will be considered a violation of the platform’s rules.
We ask users not to use links, watermarks, and QR codes that can be considered as advertising or promotion of resources, including those that violate the laws or contain harmful content. Users may add links to their social media and website in their account settings.
We encourage our users’ creativity and talent, and consider each coub to be a piece of art that contributes to the community and internet culture in general. We recognize that, at times, shocking or provocative content may contain Educational, Documentary, Scientific or Artistic value. Therefore, some exemptions apply to
our restrictions.
To determine whether a coub is eligible for an exemption, we carefully review the context. If the excessive demonstration of sexuality, violence or other restricted topics is not the coub’s sole purpose, and the video sequence is not limited to these topics, our team may approve it. Please note that all coubs in this category are examined individually and may be marked as
sensitive content.
However, without sufficient context we may consider such content as inappropriate.
Sensitive content does not directly violate Coub guidelines, yet some users may find it unpleasant or disturbing. Labeling such coubs helps us protect new visitors and fellow coubers from unwelcome surprises. Everyone who’s logged into Coub can optionally hide it from their feeds in
Content settings.
The Coub team manually reviews and marks each coub with sensitive content. Creators may also optionally select “Sensitive content” checkbox when publishing or editing any of their coubs. These are some types of content we may consider as sensitive:
Important: The ‘sensitive content’ label will not deprioritize coubs on the platform. By default, sensitive coubs will appear in feeds and search results equally to unrestricted content for all authorized users, except those who select “Hide sensitive content” option.
The Coub team may apply one of the following measures to users who violate our community rules. The specific measure will depend on the severity and frequency of violations, as well as individual circumstances.
If it’s a one-time, minor violation, we’ll block the coub from public view on our platform and notify the creator via email explaining the reasons for a ban.
Severe and repeated violations of Coub community guidelines will lead to permanent deletion of the user’s profile and all associated content.
Before the banned content will be permanently deleted from Coub, users have the right to appeal our decision. You’ll need to appeal within 30 days after receiving ban notification; otherwise, your content will be irreversibly deleted.
There are two possible ways to appeal:
Email
support@coub.com
with the link to your banned channel and thoroughly explain: why do you think the content posted on your channel didn’t violate our Community Guidelines.
We aim to respond as soon as possible, typically within 1-2 business days. However, at times, the appeal process may take up to 14 days.
If you encounter potentially dangerous or restricted content, experience bullying or insults from other users — do not hesitate to get in touch with our Support team. You can report violating content by clicking “Flag” on coub’s page or by emailing support@coub.com.
We wish everyone a thrilling experience at Coub! We’re building an ideal place for self-expression, creativity and enjoyment. Join our community of like-minded people: showcase your talent and, most importantly, have a great time at Coub.com.