Get Started

Content Guidelines

Effective date: {{contentGuidelinesEffectiveDate}}

Arc is a place for independent visual storytelling. We host and celebrate a diverse range of visual narratives. The following guidelines outline what is and is not acceptable on Arc. We have the exclusive right to interpret and enforce these guidelines, although we may consult outside experts, research, and industry best practices in doing so.

If you encounter content that may be in breach of these guidelines or have any questions about them, you can email us at {{contentGuidelinesEmail}}.

If we determine that any content is in breach of these guidelines, we may remove it, hide it from public view, or impose other restrictions. This is an evolving document: we reserve the right to update these Content Guidelines at our discretion and without notice.

Politics

Political content is often highly charged, and there are many other platforms and forms of journalism dedicated to political discussion. We want Arc to remain a space that is free of politics, religion, and judgment. Content that primarily aims to promote political or religious views, parties, campaigns, or ideological agendas is not allowed.

Legal

Please respect people’s intellectual property and don’t infringe on their privacy or any other legal rights. Don’t publish anything that violates laws or regulations.

You and you alone are responsible for the content you publish on Arc, and you are liable for any harm caused by the content you publish.

In General

We want Arc to be a safe place for sharing and expression. At the same time, we believe that critique and discussion of controversial issues can be part of robust discourse, so we work to find a reasonable balance between these priorities.

In all cases, Arc does not allow credible threats of physical harm.

Hate

Arc cannot be used to publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes. Offending behavior includes credible threats of physical harm to people based on their:

Private Information

You may not publish or post other people's private information without their express authorization and permission. We also prohibit:

Publishing private information that is already publicly available for legitimate journalistic purposes is not, by itself, a violation of this policy. However, we generally do not consider private home addresses or phone numbers to be a valid exception.

Do not publish private information to intimidate, harass, or threaten others.

Plagiarism

Do not publish any material that was created by someone else and claim it as your own. If you use or adapt someone else’s work, you must have the appropriate rights or permissions and provide proper attribution where relevant.

Impersonation

We don’t allow impersonation, which includes posing as another person, brand, or organization. This also applies to Arc itself: don’t use Arc’s name, logo, or trademarks in any way that misrepresents the company or misleads others into thinking you are officially affiliated with or speaking on behalf of Arc.

People Restricted from Making Money on Arc

Arc’s payments are processed through Stripe, which excludes certain types of businesses and activities from using their service. Please refer to:

for more information about restricted business categories and practices.

If Stripe classifies your activities as restricted, you may be prevented from receiving payments via Arc.

Harmful and Illegal Activities

We don’t allow content that promotes harmful or illegal activities. This includes material that:

Spam and Phishing

We are strongly anti-spam and anti-phishing.

If you import a mailing list from another platform or tool, you must ensure it is composed only of people who have explicitly opted in to receive emails from your specific publication.

We do not allow:

Marketing and Promotion

Arc is intended for high-quality editorial and visual content, not conventional email marketing.

We don’t permit publications whose primary purpose is to:

Brands and commercial organizations publishing on Arc may be subject to additional verification and review.

Nudity, Porn, Erotica

We don’t allow pornographic or sexually exploitative content on Arc, including any visual depictions of sexual acts whose sole or primary purpose is sexual gratification.

We do allow:

However, we have a strict no-nudity policy for profile images.

We may hide or remove explicit content from Arc’s discovery features, including search and other discovery surfaces on arc.so.

Last updated: 2025-12-11