Community Guidelines

Be respectful of the people and communities on Bushido. People are different. That’s what’s beautiful about the internet and creativity: communities of varying types can assemble and flourish. Bushido is a safe venue for a diverse range of creators and their communities

DCMA

If you believe a media on Bushido is infringing on copyright submit a notice-and-takedown ticket by emailing support@bushidoco.de

How these guidelines are enforced

Please realize that Bushido is a diverse community and, while you may not necessarily agree with someone’s point of view, it may not be a violation of our Community Guidelines. A member of our team will review the report and if our Community Guidelines have been violated, the case manager will contact the creator to let them know that they are outside these guidelines.

This is a commitment to creators. We invest heavily in making these decisions as fair and transparent as possible. Our community members should feel like they have an open line of communication. So how does this translate to moderation? Our first response is always to try to educate creators to help them understand how a rule has been broken and how to remedy the issue. In cases where the violation is particularly bad or intentional we may take further action such as suspending or removing their account. In the most extreme cases we may ban a subscriber from using Bushido.

Because subscribers fund Bushido, we are held accountable, so we may also look at what you do with your membership off our platform. As a result when we talk about “On Bushido,” it means the creations you are funding on and through Bushido. When reviewing a page, we look at how creations are shared, where the page is linked to and where the traffic comes from. No matter what happens, we always give subscribers the opportunity to appeal a decision by contacting us and sending any relevant information they believe was not considered. We may not change our minds, but we will always listen.

Be safe, be respectful, support creators

These Community Guidelines exist to shape and guide Bushido and the growing number of subscribers and communities using it. This is not about building an arbitrary framework of “right” or “wrong.” It’s about making Bushido a place where diverse creators and their communities feel excited, supported, and happy to exist, while still allowing for different—and sometimes even conflicting—points of view.

These guidelines summarize a thorough, thoughtful, and living internal policy that we spent time thinking about and defining with guidance from community and safety experts. We’re proud of these guidelines because we believe they will help creators build a safe and supportive environment in which they can continue to create, share and build intimate and lasting relationships with their subscribers.

Authenticity

To summarize: Bushido is for creators & subscribers who put something original out into the world. As a creator, you may not post creations that infringe on others’ intellectual property rights.

  • You can’t create fake pages or collect money for things you’re not actually doing. For example, you cannot create a fan page for someone else.
  • You cannot pretend to be or impersonate someone else by using the name, brand or works of another to deceive subscribers. We will review satire and comedy in a different way as we believe these subgenres are original creations.
  • You also can’t use Bushido as a prank or to fund non-activity. For example, a creator cannot collect funds for not doing something, such as, “I will stop tweeting videos of playing the harmonica badly if I reach $200 per month.”

Bullying, harassment, and threats

To summarize: We don’t allow bullying or harassment because we want Bushido to feel like a safe place for our various communities. At the same time, we want people to be able to express themselves, be critical, and discuss controversial issues.

We recognize that discussing celebrities, media or other public figures can sometimes involve harsh criticism, and we believe that is an appropriate part of free debate. However, we draw the line when it comes to harassing private figures, or taking any action that might affect people’s physical safety, regardless of whether these people are private or public figures.

As much as we want you to be able to express yourself, we want all of our users to have the right to express their opinion without feeling intimidated. Even the most difficult conversations should take place in the most respectful way. Here is how we define these behaviors.

Bullying and harassment:

You cannot attempt to intimidate anyone, either directly or by using your influence over others. We treat real-life interactions more seriously than online interactions when analyzing whether a line has been crossed because it can be more threatening and lead to physical violence. When both sides engage in similar behavior, such as feuds between public figures, we are less likely to take action.

Threats:

Anyone on Bushido should be able to express their opinion in a way that doesn’t threaten another person. In this respect, we take threats of violence very seriously. Any creator or subscriber threatening the well-being of an individual or group of people will be removed. This includes threatening behavior such as stalking or inciting others to commit violent acts.

If you are a victim of this behavior and feel that your personal safety is at risk, we suggest you contact your local law enforcement, in addition to reporting the behavior to us.

Hate speech

To summarize: Channels connect creators to their subscribers all over the world. We are a global platform built on promoting creativity, which makes us a very inclusive group. Therefore, there is no room on Bushido for projects funding hate speech, such as calling for violence, exclusion, or segregation. This includes serious attacks on people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, serious medical conditions, caste, or immigration status.

When reviewing an account for a potential hate speech violation, we consider some of the following questions:

  • Is there a call for violence against someone based on a characteristic like those listed above?
  • Does the creator use dehumanizing language when talking about people based on one of the above characteristics?
  • Is the creator using racial slurs or negative depictions of someone based on a characteristic like those listed above?
  • Does the creator mock or deny the experience of victims of hate crimes such as the Holocaust?
  • Is the creator targeting people based on their immigration status in a discriminatory way or simply discussing immigration policy?
  • Is the statement legitimate criticism of a State, institution, or belief or does the context make it clear that the user is using code words or proxies to attack people based on the above characteristics?

This list is not exhaustive, but we want to be transparent about how we work in the gray areas between speech and action. There can be a fine line between political comments and hate speech. If you come across what you believe to be hate speech on Bushido, please take the time to report it.

18+ creations and mature themes

To summarize: As we strive to create a community that is inclusive and diverse, we want to consider the different ages and sensitivities within our subscriber base. We are not trying to create or reinforce arbitrary frameworks of “right” or “wrong,” but rather want to give people the choice of whether or not to view adult creations.

We define “mature themes” as any audio, visual, or audiovisual creations depicting explicit sexual situations, including nudity in sexual contexts (more on nudity below). We ask creators to flag themselves as 18+ if their creations may be considered inappropriate for people under 18 years of age. We realize the exact age threshold may vary depending on where you are, but most places require a certain level of maturity to view these creations and engage in these activities. Below is a brief, non-exhaustive breakdown for guidance.

Examples of content we view as containing mature themes:

  • Works depicting real people in the nude in sexual contexts
  • Animations or illustrations depicting nudity in sexual contexts, and animations or illustrations featuring sexual interactions
  • Audio content that features simulated sexual interactions

Examples of content we won’t view as mature:

  • Works featuring nudity that is not designed to be sexually gratifying, such as photos of sculptures or paintings
  • Works featuring nudity or sexual situations that are designed for educational purposes
  • A standup comedy set featuring profanity or “adult” language

We ask that all creators keep the public spaces on their Bushido pages (meaning profile pictures, membership tier descriptions, page banners, etc.) appropriate for all audiences. Content depicting mature themes must be reserved for subscriber-only posts.

Pornography and sexual services:

We don’t allow pornographic material or sexual services on Bushido, which we define as “real people engaging in sexual acts such as masturbation or sexual intercourse on camera.” If you want to learn more, please email support@bushidoco.de

Offensive and graphic creations:

We understand that artists sometimes have to push boundaries to create thought-provoking art, so we don’t review offensive and graphic creations with strict black and white guidelines. We instead review creations in the context of the whole creator page.

However, we have zero tolerance when it comes to the glorification of sexual violence which includes bestiality, rape, and child exploitation (i.e., sexualized depiction of minors). This is true for illustrated, animated, or any other type of creations. Bushido reserves the right to review and remove accounts that may violate this guideline.

We also do not allow other fringe sexual fetish creations, such as incest, necrophilia, or fetish creations that are hard to distinguish from non-consensual sex.

We understand that some topics on this list such as incest or rape are a little bit more complicated because these situations are, unfortunately, part of real life. As a result, when reviewing these types of creations, the Trust and Safety team will take into consideration context including personal, historical or educational narrative. For example, survivor stories or fiction such as Lolita are allowed on Bushido.

People who can’t use Bushido

To summarize: Because Bushido empowers people financially, we restrict both the types of media and projects that can be funded on Bushido, and also which people can and cannot receive funds through Bushido. After creating a Bushido page, any creator caught in the act or convicted of making credible violent threats, committing violent crimes, malicious doxing, coordinating nonviolent harm (such as fraud, money laundering and gambling), or encouraging others to do any of these activities may be banned from using Bushido.

Politicians:

You cannot use Bushido to fund your run for office or to fund the political campaigns of others.

Criminal or Harmful Past:

Individuals who have fulfilled the terms of their sentence for past offenses may share their works on Bushido. Any creator observed committing, or convicted of, making credible violent threats or acts, child abuse, malicious doxing, coordinating nonviolent harm (such as fraud, money laundering, and gambling), or encouraging others to do any of these activities, may be banned from using Bushido.

Violent, Criminal, and Hateful Organizations

People or projects affiliated with dangerous, hateful or violent groups, espousing their related ideologies and conspiracy theories, or using their codewords and slogans may be restricted from using Bushido. Members of those groups and people who praise or support the actions of those groups may also be restricted. The groups include (but aren’t limited to) terrorist organizations; organized criminal groups such as drug cartels or criminal hackers; and hate organizations such as fascist, white supremacist and white nationalist groups, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic organizations, as well as any group dedicated to attacking LGBTQI+ people. Creators may discuss these groups in their content for educational, reporting, or debunking purposes. However, actively supporting or praising these groups or their members through content shared or funded through Bushido may result in account removal.

We understand people’s thoughts and affiliations can change over time. We’ll always listen when an individual leaves a dangerous or hateful organization and wants to fund a guidelines-abiding creative project through Bushido. We’ll consider renouncements of past actions and affiliations on a case-by-case basis. Under consideration will be the time past since an individual’s renouncement, whether they’ve renounced both the group and its ideology and, lastly, what they plan to fund on Bushido.

Harmful and illegal activities

To summarize: We don’t allow funds to be collected for anything that facilitates harmful or illegal activities. You cannot fund creations that advocate, threaten, or show you causing harm to yourself, other people or animals. In the same way, you cannot promote illegal activities such as property crime, distribution of illegal weapons, or drug manufacturing.

Illegal activity:

We don’t allow pages that collect money for an illegal purpose, or that encourage others to break the law. Creators may not promote illegal weapons, drug manufacturing techniques or distribution, or property crime. With that said, we review each case individually. For example, although we don’t allow creations that help organize or encourage vandalism, we do allow street art.

Dangerous activities:

We ask those creators who are posting dangerous stunts to include a clear disclaimer. We also require that these types of posts be marked as “subscriber Only” if they are too graphic or dangerous for a general audience.

Teen safety:

Bushido has zero tolerance for behaviors that exploit minors such as grooming. Users actively facilitating exploitation or attempting to exploit minors in this way will be removed from Bushido. We will report all users engaging in such activity to legal authorities upon removal.

Spam

To summarize: While it can be hard to grow a subscriber base, no one likes being spammed. Be creative and original, don’t post repetitive comments or send unwanted private messages to other members of the community.

These are some of the actions we consider to be spamming, which is prohibited on Bushido:

  • Don’t create pledging schemes; don’t contact other creators to have a pledge-for-a-pledge kind of trade deal.
  • Don’t use Bushido to release or link to malware or phishing schemes.
  • Don’t make misleading posts to grow your subscribers.
  • Don’t post comments on other creators’ pages promoting your own page.
  • Don’t send a large number of unsolicited private messages asking for support.
  • Don’t use incorrect tagging in order to drive more search results.
  • Don’t post multiple paid posts per day if you are a per-post creator.

When reviewing reports about spam, we will distinguish between commercial spam and friendly abuse such as legitimate creators spamming other creators’ pages. If we determine the spam is friendly abuse, the account will be flagged; repeat offenses will lead to full removal of the creator or subscriber page. Commercial spamming by an account that is not a legitimate creator will be removed from Bushido. In other words, be creative and original because nobody likes Spam (not the canned type).

Subscriber accounts

To summarize: The philosophy behind these Community Guidelines applies to creators and subscribers alike. While we empower creators to manage their communities, there are some instances when the Trust and Safety team will review reports for subscribers’ behavior.

The Trust and Safety team reviews reports around hate speech, harassment and solicitation very carefully, and we will take action against a subscriber account if it violates these guidelines. Creators can report subscribers’ posts directly by emailingsupport@bushidoco.de. Please know we keep these reviews confidential.

Financial advice content:

Because Bushido values creator and subscriber safety alike, we encourage financial advice content consumers to consult with licensed financial professionals before making investment decisions.

Chargebacks:

Chargebacks are initiated when individuals, or in Bushido’s case subscribers, reach out to their financial institutions to dispute a transaction. To protect creators, Bushido will review excessive and potentially fraudulent chargebacks and may prevent subscribers from subscribing to additional creators during that review. If a subscriber’s chargebacks are found to be fraudulent, Bushido reserves the right to suspend or remove anyones account.

These policies are part of Bushido’s Terms of Use. For more information, contact Bushido at support@bushidoco.de.