Our mission

Umbel's mission is to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love. That being said, not all content is inspiring - so we have community guidelines to outline what we do and don’t allow on Umbel. These guidelines are our acceptable use policy, so if you find content that shouldn’t be on Umbel, please report it to us. We use your reports to learn and evolve our standards, and work with subject matter experts to inform and update our guidelines. You can learn more about how we enforce these guidelines in our biannual transparency report.

Content safety

Umbel isn’t a place for antagonistic, explicit, false or misleading, harmful, hateful, or violent content or behavior. We may remove, limit, or block the distribution of such content and the accounts, individuals, groups and domains that create or spread it based on how much harm it poses. We’re committed to presenting you with clear and transparent expectations that are easy to understand and follow. If you have questions or encounter problems on Umbel, please contact us.

Adult content

Umbel isn’t a place for pornography. We limit the distribution of or remove mature and explicit content, including:

 
• Fetish imagery
• Vivid sexual descriptions
• Graphic depictions of sexual activity
• Images of nudity where the poses, camera angles, or props suggest pornographic intent

We do our best to differentiate between pornography and other content that could involve some nudity. For example, you can save content about sexual health, breastfeeding, mastectomies, etc.

Exploitation

Umbel isn’t a place for exploitation of people or animals. We’ll remove or limit the distribution of content and accounts involved in practices that risk harm to people or animals, including sexual, physical, or financial exploitation. That includes:

 
• Non-consensual images, meaning images of a private or sexual nature obtained or published without consent. This includes revenge porn and up-skirt images
• Adult sexual services that may involve sexual or physical exploitation or trafficking, like sex cams and escort services
• Human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labor
• Other illegal commercial exploitation, like trading in organs or products made from human remains or body parts
• The sale of wild animals or protected and endangered wildlife. For a full list of prohibited wildlife products, please visit our partner, the World Wildlife Fund
• Corpses, animal parts or products derived from cat or dog parts, or protected and endangered wildlife, including ivory
• Irresponsible and harmful animal tourism or otherwise exploitative practices like organized animal fighting

Hateful activities

Umbel isn’t a place for hateful content or the people and groups that promote hateful activities. We limit the distribution of or remove such content and accounts, including:

 
• Slurs or negative stereotypes, caricatures and generalizations
• Support for hate groups and people promoting hateful activities, prejudice and conspiracy theories
• Condoning or trivializing violence because of a victim’s membership in a vulnerable or protected group
• Support for white supremacy, limiting women’s rights and other discriminatory ideas
• Hate-based conspiracy theories and misinformation, like Holocaust denial
• Denial of an individual’s gender identity or sexual orientation, and support for conversion therapy and related programs
• Attacks on individuals including public figures based on their membership in a vulnerable or protected group
• Mocking or attacking the beliefs, sacred symbols, movements, or institutions of the protected or vulnerable groups identified below

Protected and vulnerable groups include: People grouped together based on their actual or perceived race, color, caste, ethnicity, immigration status, national origin, religion or faith, sex or gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition. It also includes people who are grouped together based on lower socio-economic status, age, weight or size, pregnancy, or veteran status.

Misinformation

Umbel isn’t a place for misinformation, disinformation, mal-information, or the individuals or groups spreading or creating it. We remove or limit distribution of false or misleading content that may harm Pinners’ or the public’s well-being, safety, or trust, including:

 
• Medically unsupported health claims that risk public health and safety, including the promotion of false cures, anti-vaccination advice, or misinformation about public health or safety emergencies
• False or misleading content about individuals or protected groups that promotes fear, hate, or prejudice
• False or misleading content that encourages turning individuals, groups of people, places, or organizations into targets of harassment or physical violence
• Conspiracy theories, including about climate change or civic participation
• Content that originates from disinformation campaigns, including about climate change or civic participation
• Factual information that’s published or deliberately modified to erode trust or inflict harm, such as changing or omitting context, date, or time
• Fabricated or meaningfully manipulated visual or audio content that erodes trust or causes harm

Civic participation misinformation:

 
• False or misleading content that impedes an election’s integrity or an individual's or group's civic participation, including registering to vote, voting, and being counted in a census
• False or misleading information about the dates, times, locations, and procedure for voting or census participation
• Content that misleads voters about how to correctly fill out and submit a ballot, including a mail-in ballot, or census form
• False or misleading information about who can vote or participate in the census and what information must be provided to participate
• False or misleading statements about who is collecting information and/or how it will be used
• False or misleading information about public safety that is intended to deter people from exercising their right to vote or participate in a census
• Content that encourages or instructs voters or participants to misrepresent themselves or illegally participate
• Content apparently intended to delegitimize election results on the basis of false or misleading claims
• Threats against voting locations, census or voting personnel, voters or census participants, including intimidation of vulnerable or protected group voters or participants

Climate misinformation:

 
• Content that denies the existence or impacts of climate change, the human influence on climate change, or that climate change is backed by scientific consensus
• False or misleading content about climate change solutions that contradict well-established scientific consensus
• Content that misrepresents scientific data, including by omission or cherry-picking, in order to erode trust in climate science and experts
• Harmful false or misleading content about public safety emergencies, including natural disasters and extreme weather events

Harassment and criticism

Umbel isn’t a place to insult, hurt, or antagonize individuals or groups of people. There are good reasons to express criticism, but we may limit the distribution of or remove insulting content to keep Umbel a positive, inspiring place. This includes:

 
• Manipulated images intended to degrade or shame
• Shaming people for their bodies or assumed sexual or romantic history
• Sexual remarks about people’s bodies and solicitations or offers of sexual acts
• Criticisms involving name-calling, profanity, and other insulting language or imagery
• Mocking someone for experiencing sadness, grief, loss, or outrage

We’ve also put together some resources for you to protect yourself.

Child Safety

Umbel does not tolerate child sexual exploitation of any kind. That means we enforce a strict, zero-tolerance policy for any content—including imagery, video, or text— or accounts that might exploit or endanger minors. Umbel prohibits not just illegal child sexual abuse material (CSAM), but goes a step further to prohibit any content that contributes to the sexualization of minors, including in imagery and text. We also work closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to combat this type of activity and report content violations as required under the law. The types of content we remove include:

 
• Illegal child sexual abuse material.
• Sexualization or sexual exploitation of minors, like grooming, sexual remarks, or inappropriate imagery – including in the form of cartoons and anime.
• Nude and sexual imagery involving minors.
• Content that facilitates unsolicited contact with minors, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses, to prevent contact intending to start an exploitative relationship.
• Comments on imagery of minors that are inappropriate or sexualized.
• The intentional misuse of content depicting minors that is otherwise non-violating. For example, we will deactivate users who save otherwise non-violating content into collections or in other contexts that suggest the intent is sexualization of minors.

Private information

We don’t allow content that reveals personal or sensitive information. We will remove:

• Personal ID and passport information.
• Private contact information and addresses.
• Online login information (usernames and passwords).
• Photos of private people that they don’t want posted online.
• Personal financial or medical history.

If you come across unwanted photos or information about you, you can report it to us. Minors or their authorized representatives can also reach out to privacy-support@umbel.com regarding unwanted photos or information.

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Self-injuryand harmful behavior

Umbel isn’t a place for content that displays, rationalizes, or encourages suicide, self-injury, eating disorders, or substance abuse. We’ll limit the distribution of or remove such content, including:

• Graphic or sensationalized depictions of self-injury or suicide
• Promotion of self-injury or suicide as a solution to problems
• Content that glorifies or encourages eating disorders or substance abuse
• Instructions or advice on how to engage in self-injury, suicide, or harmful eating behaviors
• Triggering content that may harm individuals struggling with mental health issues

If you or someone you know is struggling with any of these issues, please seek professional help or contact a crisis hotline.

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Graphic Violence and Threats

Umbel isn’t a place for graphic violence or threatening language. We limit the distribution of or remove such content, including:

• Graphic, violent content that glorifies or promotes violence or harm towards others.
• Threats of violence or harm towards individuals or groups.
• Bullying or harassment that includes violent or threatening language.
• Depictions of violence or harm towards animals.

We take these issues seriously and encourage our community to report any content that violates our policies. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please contact your local authorities.

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Violentactors

Umbel isn’t a place for violent content, groups, or individuals. We limit the distribution of or remove content and accounts that encourage, praise, promote, or provide aid to dangerous actors or groups and their activities. This includes:

 
• Extremists
• Terrorist organizations
• Gangs and other criminal organizations

We work with industry, government, and security experts to help us identify these groups.

Dangerous goods and activities

Umbel is not a place for trading or selling certain regulated goods - products or substances that can cause harm when used, altered, or manufactured irresponsibly - or for the display or encouragement of dangerous activities. We limit the distribution of, or remove, such content and accounts, including:

 
• Individuals and unlicensed retailers offering to sell, purchase, or trade alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and weapons, including firearms and accessories, firearm parts or attachments, or ammunition.
 
• Content from or about unverified, unapproved, or rogue online pharmacies.
• Offers, attempts, or instructions to bypass purchasing laws and regulations.
• Instructions for creating lethal or toxic substances.
• Instructions for creating lethal weapons, such as bombs or grenades, including 3D printed weapons.
• Commercial sales of marijuana, marijuana products, and paraphernalia.
• Commercial sales of certain weapons and attachments.
• Harmful pranks or challenges that risk imminent physical harm or extreme emotional distress, especially if showing or encouraging the participation of minors.

Harmful or Deceptive Products & Practices

Umbel isn’t a place for practices and products that may be harmful or deceptive. We limit the distribution of or remove such content and accounts, including, but not limited to:

 
• Instructions and products for hacking or breaching security measures
• Online gambling and lotteries
• Counterfeit documents
• Privacy-violating products or services
• Exploitative financial practices

Impersonation

We don't allow accounts that impersonate or misrepresent their affiliation with any person or organization. If you have a fan or commentary account for a public figure or brand, make it clear through your username or Umbel profile that you aren't officially affiliated with them.

Comments

All of our Community Guidelines apply to comments posted on Pins. In addition, comments should be relevant. We may remove comments that violate our guidelines, including those that contain:

 
• Irrelevant or non-purposeful material.
• Spam
• Sexually explicit content.
• Self-harm content.
• Misinformation
• Hateful activities.
• Harassment or privacy violations.
• Copyright or trademark infringement.

Messages

All of our Community Guidelines apply to messages sent between Pinners. Messages should also be welcomed and relevant. In addition to Pinners' ability to block someone from sending additional unwelcome messages, we may warn or suspend accounts that violate our guidelines, including by sending messages that contain:

 
• Spam
• Sharing or solicitation of sexually explicit content
• Self-harm or suicide content
• Misinformation
• Hateful activities like racial slurs
• Harassing content or behavior
• Exploitation of private information

Intellectual property and other rights

To respect the rights of people on and off Umbel, please:

 
• Don't infringe anyone's intellectual property, privacy, or other rights.
• Don't do anything or post any content that violates laws or regulations.
• Don't use Umbel's name, logo, or trademark in a way that confuses people (check out our brand guidelines for more details).

Site security and access

To protect the Umbel platform, we ask that you please:

 
• Don't access, use, or tamper with our systems or our technical providers' systems.
• Don't break or circumvent our security measures or test the vulnerability of our systems or networks, except as part of an authorized Umbel bug bounty program.
• Don't use any undocumented or unsupported method to access, search, scrape, download, or change any part of Umbel.
• Don't try to reverse engineer our software.
• Don't try to interfere with people on Umbel or our hosts or networks, like sending a virus, overloading, spamming, or mail-bombing.
• Don't collect or store personally identifiable information from Umbel or people on Umbel without permission.
• Don't share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might put your account at risk.
• Don't attempt to buy or sell access to your account, boards, or usernames or otherwise transfer account features for compensation.
• ~You can't use Umbel if it would be prohibited by US sanctions. Personal accounts and business accounts are currently not available in North Korea. Business accounts are currently not available in Crimea, Cuba, Donetsk People's Republic, Iran, Luhansk People's Republic, North Korea, or Syria.

Spam

We want the inspiration and ideas on Umbel to be high-quality and useful, so we remove spam when we find it. We ask that you be considerate of others' experiences on Umbel and don't spread spam or engage in spammy behavior.

Our guidelines around spam are:

 
• Don't use automation that hasn't been explicitly approved by Umbel. This includes unauthorized services that automatically perform actions on your behalf. You can find information on approved partner tools on our Partners website.
• Don't create or operate accounts that aren't authentic, create accounts en masse, or create new accounts for the purpose of violating these guidelines.
• Don't create or save content that is repetitive, deceptive, or irrelevant in an attempt to make money. To learn how to make great Pins, you can always refer to our creative best practices.
• In general, don't attempt to make money from Pinners or Pinner web traffic in ways that are misleading, detract from the Pinner experience, or don't add value for Pinners.
• Don't link to websites that are unsafe, deceptive, untrustworthy, unoriginal, or that facilitate or encourage spam. Websites should have original content that adds unique value for Pinners.
• Don't send repeated, unsolicited messages, especially if your messages are commercial or deceptive in nature.
• Don't make repetitive or irrelevant comments. Comments should be authentic and original. We also ask that you be kind to others by keeping your commentary respectful and constructive.
• Don't operate multiple accounts or coordinate with other people with the purpose of manipulating the Umbel platform.
• Don't use any other unscrupulous tactics to attempt to improperly influence distribution, clicks, or other metrics, including: buying or selling engagement, "stuffing" irrelevant keywords, generating inauthentic traffic, or redirecting existing Pins to new destinations.
• Don't attempt to evade our anti-spam systems. For example, don't use redirection to attempt to link to a site that is not permitted on Umbel.
• ~With respect to redirection, we encourage you to follow a "no surprises" principle — Pinners should be able to reasonably anticipate where your link will take them. Links that exhibit excessive or deceptive redirection, as well as shortener services that are abused for spam, may be blocked.

Paid Partnership guidelines

What is a paid partnership?

We define a paid partnership as any sponsored or branded content on Umbel that features or is influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value, such as if a business partner has paid or otherwise incentivized a user to save the content.

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What are the guidelines?

All paid partnerships must disclose the commercial nature of their content. In addition to abiding by the Community guidelines, users that participate in paid partnerships must:

 
• Comply with all applicable advertising laws and regulations.
• Include a clear disclosure to indicate the commercial nature of your content (such as the use of #ad to indicate that your content is a paid partnership, or applying a label to your content using Umbel’s paid partnership tool).
• Adhere to our Advertising guidelines, including the prohibited and restricted content guidelines.

To prevent inauthentic content and behavior:

 
• Make sure you’re posting relevant content to relevant boards.
• Keep the content of your posts high-quality and avoid spammy behavior.
• Save content you have an authentic interest in.

Don't incentivize or pay people to distribute content in large volumes, in spammy ways, or for each Pin they save.

 
• For example, a business can't pay people for each board they follow or Pin they save. It's okay for a business to pay a guest blogger to curate a board for their brand or through pay-per-click payment structures (such as affiliate links), but they can't pay large groups of people to save specific Pins to artificially inflate the popularity of their content.

We may remove, limit, or block the distribution of content or accounts that violate our paid partnership guidelines. If you have questions or encounter problems on Umbel, you can contact us.

Affiliate guidelines

Affiliate links help content creators measure the impact of their contributions and get paid for the work that they do to bring inspiring content to Pinners. However, affiliate programs can be targeted by spammers trying to make money by abusing the program and manipulating the Umbel platform.

Our guidelines for affiliates are:

 
• Always follow our Paid Partnership Guidelines.
• In general, you should operate only one Umbel account. That account should be your authentic presence on Umbel.
• Affiliate content should be original and add unique value for Pinners.
• Be transparent about the commercial nature of your content and about your links and their behavior. Some shortener services are not currently supported on Umbel - if your Pin’s link is blocked, you can edit it.
• Don't try to artificially manipulate Umbel algorithms or Pinner traffic. Some examples of prohibited behavior include:
• ~Using fake accounts to create or save your affiliate links.
• ~Asking other users to save your affiliate Pins in a quid pro quo.

• ~Asking other users to create Pins with links that include your affiliate identifier.

• ~Creating affiliate Pins repetitively or in large volumes - marketers should follow our spam policy and use affiliate links in moderation.

We may remove, limit, or block the distribution of content or accounts that violate our Affiliate Guidelines. If you have questions or encounter problems on Umbel, you can contact us.

Contest guidelines

 
• Don't require people to save a specific image. Give people the ability to choose Pins based on their tastes and preferences, even if it's from a selection or a given website.
• Don't allow more than one entry per person.
• Don't suggest that Umbel sponsors or endorses you or the promotion.
• Do review our brand guidelines for general rules about using the Umbel brand.

Lastly, be sure to follow all relevant laws and regulations.

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