How we moderate

1What we moderate

Public builds, collections and profiles, against the community guidelines and the law. A report on a collection is about what its curator wrote and chose for it; a build inside it is reported on its own page. A report on a profile photo or cover is about that picture alone. Private and unlisted builds are yours; we act on them only when someone who can see them reports them, or the law requires it.

A description is also checked before a generation starts, and before any credits are taken. A description the check refuses costs nothing. We keep it for 30 days — who sent it, when, to which generator, which kind of content it was refused for, and its text — so our support team can look into refusals and misuse, and then delete it. Support can read the text only by asking to see it, and each time is recorded.

2Reports from people signed in

• A report usually hides the build from public pages at once, while a person looks at it. That is why reporting needs an account, and why an account that is restricted cannot report. A collection that moderation has held or removed is frozen until the review ends: its curator cannot change its title, description, tags, builds, order, captions or cover, cannot make it visible to more people or delete it, though making it more private stays open to them and closing the account still erases it.
• A report on a profile photo or cover hides only that picture, at once, while a person looks. The profile stays, and the account is not restricted by it. A report on a photo goes to the front of the queue, because it may show a real person. While the picture is hidden, it cannot be uploaded again.
• How long a hold lasts is set for each report reason, and never more than 24 hours: most holds lift on their own within hours unless a person decides first. When one lifts, the build becomes visible again and the case stays open — a person still reviews every report, including one the clock released.
• A person on our team can also hide a build, a collection or a profile picture while they look into it — for example after a notice from outside — for at most 72 hours. It is a person's act, not a decision: its owner is told why, reporters are not, and it lifts on its own unless a decision replaces it or the person who placed it ends it early.
• A report about a minor's safety, physical safety, adult content or a deepfake never lifts by itself, and goes to the front of the queue. A wrong call by the clock there cannot be undone.
• The person reported is never told who reported them. A screenshot attached to a report is seen only by moderators and deleted after 90 days.
• A report of copied work, of a copyright or trademark, or about a minor's safety asks you to confirm in good faith that it is accurate.
• Reporting is for things that break the rules. If someone's reports are repeatedly unfounded, we can switch their reports to opening a case without hiding anything; a report about a minor or physical safety still hides at once. The switch is recorded with its reason, and can be undone.

3Notices from anyone

With or without an account, anyone can send a notice of illegal content. A notice hides nothing: it opens a case for a person, and the build stays as it is until that person decides. You get a reference number, and if you give an email address we email you what we decided, as long as we still keep that address (180 days).

The same build and reason notified again within a day joins the case already open. We keep a notifier's name and email only to handle the notice.

4How a decision is made

A person at bricknity decides every case. A decision always rests on one ground from a fixed list: one of the rules in the community guidelines, content that is illegal where it is seen, a breach of the Terms of Service, or misuse of reporting. Whether an account belongs to a teen is shown to the person deciding, so they can take care; it is never a ground.

One decision can do one or several of these things:

• No breach: nothing is wrong, and anything hidden by a report comes back at once.
• Unpublish: the build or collection is hidden from everyone but its owner.
• Remove: it is taken down, and its page says it was removed.
• Warn: nothing is hidden; the warning is recorded on the person's Account standing.
• Restrict the account: see below.
• Suspend the account: see below.
• Ban: a suspension with no end, and the same email address cannot open a new account for two years.
• Pause generating: the account cannot start new generations for 7 days, or 30 days for a repeat within a year, after three confirmed breaches of the community rules in 90 days. The reasons are stated on Account standing, and the decision can be appealed there.

A restriction or a suspension can last a set number of days or until it is lifted; when a timed one ends it lifts by itself and the person is told. A suspension or a ban takes effect as soon as it is decided, like any other decision: one of us decides, and nothing waits for a second person. Any sanction can be lifted early and any decision reversed, and the person is told each time. A reversal is a new decision of its own: the original is never rewritten. A ban ends the person's subscription at the end of the period already paid for, with no automatic refund, and an undone ban gives the plan back while that period runs; a suspension leaves a subscription as it is.

5How you are told

When one of your builds, collections, or your profile photo or cover is hidden, and whenever a person decides about your work or your account, you get a notification, and the explanation stays under Settings → Account standing. It says what happened, the rule it rests on, whether it was applied automatically or decided by a person, until when, and the message from the person who decided, if they wrote one. It never says who reported it, and never shows what they sent us. A decision also comes by email unless you have turned those emails off in Settings → Notifications.

A suspended or banned account cannot sign in, so we email its address a private link to its Account standing page and its appeal. The link works for 30 days; trying to sign in sends a fresh one, at most once an hour.

If you reported something, you are told when a person has decided: either that we acted, or that we found no breach — never what we did. A notification and an email — either of which you can turn off in Settings → Notifications.

6Appealing a decision

1. 1
   Open Account standingEach thing a decision did — say, unpublishing a build and restricting the account — has its own entry there.
2. 2
   Press Appeal and say whyOne appeal per entry, within six months of the decision and while that part still applies — except a pause on generating, which can be appealed for the whole six months even after it has ended, because it counts towards a longer pause next time. A person reviews it again, can reverse the whole decision or only the part you appealed, and usually answers within 3 working days.
3. 3
   The hold keeps its clockAn appeal does not change a hold. A build that would come back by itself still does.

One of us reviews each appeal and answers it alone — overturning or upholding — and nothing waits for a second person. Appeals waiting longer than two days are brought back to us every day until they are answered. If what you appealed ends before we review it, we still review it, and overturning it takes the decision off your record. If one of us lifts it early, your appeal is answered by that. You can also take any decision to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body or to a court; appealing to us does not stop you.

7Restricted, suspended and banned accounts

An account can be restricted: it keeps making things for itself, but cannot publish publicly, like, follow or report, and does not appear in search or the feed. It can be suspended: it cannot sign in, and its work leaves public pages. A ban is a suspension with no end, and its email address cannot be used to open a new account for two years. The address of a removed build then says it was removed, and that of a suspended account's build that it is not available; both keep the builds it was made from and made into linked — never its title, picture, creator or the reason. The Terms of Service say what each one means.

Repeated breaches. Every confirmed breach stays on the account's record; a decision that was reversed does not count. For generating the count is fixed: three confirmed breaches in 90 days pause it for 7 days, and a repeat within a year for 30. For everything else, the person deciding looks at the record — how serious the breaches were, how many, and how recent — and repeated or serious breaches can lead to a restriction, a suspension or a ban.

bricknity is run by a micro enterprise, so the EU's duty to publish transparency reports does not apply to us. The Digital Services Act page says more.