Moderation Decisions and Appeals
Reports on mastodon.social and mastodon.online are handled by our moderation team. There is no automated handling for reports.
Our moderators speak German, English, Spanish, and Chinese, and we use translation tools to review content that is not in one of those languages. When you submit a report about content hosted on our servers, please include a few examples and some additional context about the rule-breaking behaviour, so we can make a well-informed decision. This is especially important when a decision may turn on cultural context specific to your region.
The way we handle reports is proportional, context-aware, and, wherever we can, aimed at helping people put things right rather than simply penalising them. The decisions we make about your account and content are difficult and nuanced, and we know we won't always get them right. Our appeals process is there so you can tell us when you would like us to reverse a decision or its outcome.
Please see our Community Standards for more about our rules.
How we make decisions
We take a graduated approach to moderation. In weighing what to do, we consider severity, pattern, power dynamics, cultural context, and whether you respond to feedback by learning and changing your behaviour. The situations we act on tend to fall into a few broad kinds:
- Harmful or malicious content or behaviour. The more serious something is, the more substantial our response, and we weigh the circumstances behind it, not only the content itself, so situations that look alike can be handled quite differently.
- Repeated or ongoing issues. A problem that comes up once is treated differently from the same problem happening again and again; a persistent pattern weighs more heavily than an isolated slip.
- Things that aren't harmful but still need attention. Sometimes nothing is harmful, yet something still needs to change, such as an account that needs to be clearer that it's a parody, and not the brand or other source it's playing on. Our response is proportionate to the situation, and starts from a note or warning about what needs to change. These are general patterns rather than a rigid formula. We're describing how we tend to think, not a fixed path for any one case, and wherever it's warranted, we leave room to put things right.
Moderation actions
If your account is hosted on mastodon.social or mastodon.online, you will receive a notification when a moderator takes an action on your account. The message will include what action was taken and may also include additional clarifications, as applies; for example we may provide more context or explain any next steps that may be needed to remedy or reverse the action.
Some actions apply to a whole server rather than a single account. We may defederate from a server (e.g. if the server shows a pattern of harmful behaviour) when the server itself is the source of the problem.
We may also take further steps to prevent ban evasion or network abuse. You can review all of the moderation actions we can take using the software on our documentation site.
Reports
Posts or accounts that violate our rules can be reported using the in-app reporting feature. To report by email instead, please send general reports to moderation@joinmastodon.org and legal reports to legal@joinmastodon.org.
Reporting illegal content
When you submit a request to remove content that you believe is or may be illegal, or are making any form of data request that is legal in nature, please include as much information and detail as possible. We will act swiftly to review and respond. The sections below describe specific situations, processes, and avenues available to you.
- GDPR/DMCA takedown requests
- You may request that we remove content hosted on a server we moderate under legal and regulatory frameworks like GDPR, DMCA, or frameworks that apply in your local jurisdiction. You can request removal through the in-app reporting feature or by emailing us at legal@joinmastodon.org.
- DSA point of contact
- For notices of illegal content under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), contact us at legal@joinmastodon.org.
- Law enforcement data requests
- We comply with law enforcement requests for user data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable law. To request data about an account or content hosted on a server we moderate, contact us at legal@joinmastodon.org. We accept content removal and data requests through the in-app reporting feature. Individuals and representatives of legal authorities or agencies may also send content removal and data requests to legal@joinmastodon.org in English or German. We will respond to notify you of our decision, and you can appeal it by the same method you used to submit the request, as described above.
Appeals
Appealing a moderation decision
All moderation decisions can be appealed. Appeals can be submitted using the appeal button for email notifications, in the app for in-app notifications, or by email to moderation@joinmastodon.org more broadly.
Please submit your appeal as quickly as possible, and be reasonable and specific about why you think we got it wrong. The sooner you appeal, the more of the original context we can still review as part of the process; the further from the situation, the less of that context is likely to remain available.
Appeals are not reviewed by the moderator or moderators who took the original action. This is so the appeal can be considered from a fresh perspective, based on the information and context already submitted.
Moderation actions may be reversed as part of accepting an appeal, depending on the situation. You will receive a notification whenever an action is reversed.
Appealing a rejected appeal
There may be times when the secondary review upholds the original decision, either for the same reasons or for different ones, and rejects your appeal. You may appeal a rejected appeal. As with a regular appeal, please do so as close to the decision as possible, so there is context to review.
Appeals of rejected appeals are reviewed by the moderation lead, so the review can be done from a fresh perspective. They may only be submitted by email, and only once. To appeal a previously rejected appeal, please email moderation@joinmastodon.org.
EU/EEA appeals
If you're in the EU or EEA, you have the right to challenge Mastodon's content moderation or account decisions, whether or not your account is hosted on a server we operate. Learn more.
When to submit your appeal (appeal your rejected appeal)
In every case, the closer your appeal is to the incident, the easier it is for us to review the situation with the most relevant context still in hand. For that reason, please submit appeals, and appeals of rejected appeals, within 30 days. We aim to process these requests within 5 business days of receipt.
Common questions we're asked about moderation, reports, and appeals
Where and how do I send questions?
You can request additional information about moderation decisions, appeals, and appeals of appeals by email at moderation@joinmastodon.org.
In general, only an account holder can request information about the decisions and appeals relevant to their account. The exceptions are explained below. If you are the account holder, please write to us from the same email address you use with your account.
What happens if I file an appeal to ask about a moderation decision?
The appeal feature is currently designed only to handle appeals; it isn't set up for back-and-forth conversation. To talk through a moderation decision that affects you, please email moderation@joinmastodon.org.
When we receive an appeal that isn't appealing the decision but is really a request to talk, you may get an "accept" or "reject" email. That is simply an outcome of the ways we have to clear an appeal from our queue. Depending on the situation, you may or may not be able to receive our other emails when this happens. A common example is when you use a dedicated email or alias whose filters and routing logic don't expect anything other than notification-style messages.
What situations can I appeal or request clarifying information about?
Unless otherwise stated, any account holder:
- can request clarifying information about moderation decisions for their own account; and
- can appeal a moderation decision, including a rejected appeal, for their own account.
What information can be shared with me, if I'm the account holder?
What we can provide: what you were reported for, what you were actioned for (if that differs), what action or actions were taken, and what we need from you, as applies.
What we will not provide: we will not disclose the source or sources of a reported interaction, nor the specific wording of the report or reports about it. This protects the people who submit reports.
What information can be shared with me, if I'm not the account holder?
If you're not the account holder, we generally can't share moderation information about another account with you: its history, the actions taken on it, or the details of reports about it. This protects everyone involved, especially the people who file reports. We do comply with valid legal process: we respond to law enforcement and other authorities acting in an official capacity in accordance with applicable law, disclosing only what the law requires. For how we handle personal data more generally, see our Privacy Policy.
The following describe when we can share limited information with you directly.
If you reported an interaction
If you submitted a report, you can ask us about the outcome. We can confirm that we received and reviewed your report and, in general terms, whether the reported content was found to breach our rules and whether an action was taken. Where no action was taken, we will confirm that your report was reviewed and closed under our rules.
When you reach out, please include the fully-qualified handle of the account you reported from (for example, @you@your.instance), or have your instance moderators do this if they are submitting a request on your behalf. Where we cannot reasonably confirm you were the reporter, we may not be able to share an outcome.
We do not disclose the specific action taken, whether anyone else reported the same interaction, other related interactions, or, in general, any account's broader moderation history.
If you were directly involved in an interaction
If you were directly involved in an interaction and want to know whether it was addressed, we can confirm whether a moderation action was taken in relation to that specific interaction, once we have verified that you were involved. Where no action was taken, we will confirm that the interaction was reviewed and closed under our rules.
Here, being involved means that you were either a direct participant in the interaction or the person it was directed toward, including if you never responded. Witnessing an interaction, or knowing that someone was in one, does not by itself make you involved.
To help us confirm your involvement, please include public links, screenshots, or other available context when you submit your request. If we cannot reasonably confirm you were involved, we will not be able to share an outcome.
We do not confirm whether an interaction was reported, by whom, or how many times. What we can and will speak to is the outcome.
We do not disclose the specific action taken, any other account's broader moderation history, or anything beyond the interaction you were part of.