These updated Community Guidelines are in effect as of 4/01/25
Introduction
GIPHY is dedicated to providing a fun and safe way to search, create, and share the best content on the internet. GIPHY strives to provide positive experiences for our users, and in order to achieve that goal we do not permit certain types of content or channels.
GIPHY creates content policy after conducting comprehensive research designed to keep us informed about trends in the real world and online. We work closely with trusted advocacy groups and industry experts on policy development and enforcement. We also rely on feedback from internal and external stakeholders to gain perspective on policy language and enforcement impact. We strive for consistent and reasonable policy enforcement actions.
Content moderation is inherently difficult and new challenges regularly present themselves. GIPHY users should expect these guidelines to evolve and change over time as new problems and trends emerge.
Your use of GIPHY’s Services is at all times subject to the User Terms of Service which incorporates these guidelines. To be eligible for GIPHY services individuals must be at least 13 years of age in the US and 16 in the European Union, United Kingdom, Lichtenstein, Norway, or Iceland. GIPHY may at any time modify these guidelines and your use of GIPHY’s platform indicates your intent to follow such guidelines. Any terms used in these guidelines without defining them have the definitions given to them in the Terms of Service.
Rules for using GIPHY
GIPHY does not permit certain categories of content or account types on our platform.
We carefully determine if content or suppliers of content fall under each category after conducting research and considering information available through partnerships with subject matter experts. In some cases, we fully rely on specialized third parties to determine if content or accounts fall into these categories.
Content Restrictions
This section lists the categories of content that are not permitted on the GIPHY platform.
Pornography and explicit nudity: Content featuring oral, anal, and vaginal sex, as well as stimulation of the genitals by other body parts or devices, is not permitted. Additionally, nude genitalia is not permitted, though we will make exceptions for classical and modern works of art, content depicting breastfeeding, birth, and illustrations and medical diagrams.
Real violence: Content that portrays real death, kidnappings or abductions, mutilation, or gore is not permitted. Footage or depictions of scenes where it is commonly known that an individual was killed, physically assaulted, kidnapped or mutilated are not permitted. We do not permit any content that depicts, documents, condones, attempts to justify, attempts to motivate or glorify any violent crimes, including any related footage of people known to be the perpetrators of such crimes. Content that shows fictional violence from movies, TV , and video games is permitted, along with mild and slapstick real violence in images where no serious injuries are visible.
Self-harm: Content that encourages or promotes self-harm or that negatively targets victims or survivors of self-harm and suicide is not permitted. This includes depictions of activities or behavior that encourage suicide, self-mutilation, or eating disorders. Obviously facetious content referencing self-harm is permitted, along with content that references self-harm with the purpose of providing support to those at risk.
Threats and stalking: Content that threatens an individual’s or group’s safety is not permitted. Any content that promotes, coordinates, or encourages harm and would cause a reasonable person fear or emotional distress is not permitted. This policy applies to both private individuals and public figures.
Hate: Content that depicts or targets a group or person based upon their race, religion, gender, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, disease or sexual orientation with violent, demeaning or belittling images or messages is not permitted. We do not permit content that promotes hurtful racial stereotypes against these groups, which includes coded conspiracy theories. GIPHY does not allow symbols, logos, and other visual identifiers associated with hate groups.
Terrorism and violent extremism: Content that promotes, supports, encourages, or celebrates terrorist organizations or violent extremists, their leaders, or associated activities, is not permitted. Content that shows real scenes of death are not permitted in any context, including documentation or depictions of acts of terrorism and violent extremism. GIPHY does not allow symbols, logos, and other visual identifiers associated with terrorists, violent extremist groups or violent extremists.
Violence against animals: Content depicting violence and substantial harm towards animals is not permitted. This includes content uploaded by advocacy groups with the intention of spreading awareness, as this content can be used out of context for shock and awe or to glorify violence.
Bullying and harassment: Content that bullies or harasses individuals is not permitted. Content reflecting public discourse that criticizes or targets public figures and organizations in a satirical, non-violent, non-discriminatory, non-sexual context is permitted.
Disasters and tragedies: Content that can be used to diminish or exploit the suffering or deaths of a group of people or individuals is not permitted. Content showing footage of accidents or events that resulted in death are not permitted. Content that appropriately memorializes historic disasters and tragedies is permitted.
Misinformation: Content that perpetuates harmful conspiracy theories or misinformation is not permitted. GIPHY defines misinformation as claims that include medical or safety information that is shared in a deceptive or confusing manner. This also includes content that diminishes the suffering of others, or motivates or coordinates violent or hateful actions.
Graphic medical content: Content that features graphic images of medical procedures or injuries is not permitted.
Illegal activity: Content that promotes illegal or fraudulent activities, illegal products, or violent crimes is not permitted. This includes content that may deceive, defraud or exploit others for money or property, child sexual abuse material, and content that exploits, sexualizes, or fetishizes minors. Content that shows fictional depictions of illegal or violent activities in TV shows or movies, as well as any content that condemns such illegal or violent activities or raises awareness and educates others about them, is permitted.
Private information: Content that reveals any private data about another person is not permitted. This includes, but is not limited to, information such as addresses, phone numbers, and passwords. GIPHY will also take action to remove content featuring private individuals at the request of the individual.
Spam: Any content that is posted in an effort to disrupt the normal user experience or circumvent GIPHY’s upgraded application requirements is not permitted. Content that is inaccurately tagged to make it appear in irrelevant search results is not permitted. Content that promotes social media follows for payment is not permitted. Tags that change the context of content from benign to hateful or harmful are not permitted. All content uploaded must follow GIPHY’s Content Tagging Guidelines.
Intellectual Property: Content that violates another party's intellectual property rights is not permitted. You should only upload content that you’ve created yourself or have the rights to use. Review GIPHY’s DMCA Copyright Policy for more information.
Channel Restrictions
This section lists the account types that are not eligible for an upgraded Brand, Artist, or Creator channel. It also lists the channel types that are not permitted on the GIPHY platform.
In an effort to protect public safety and discourage potentially harmful activities, we consider an individual or organization’s actions outside of the GIPHY platform when determining if they fall under these categories.
Channels prohibited on GIPHY:
GIPHY does not allow the following entities to create or maintain channels on our platform:
Human rights violators, terrorist organizations, violent extremists, hate groups, mass murderers, organized crime organizations, illegal drug operations, sex traffickers, organizations or individuals soliciting sex acts, militia groups, entities or individuals threatening public health with credible violence or misinformation, individuals who threaten the safety of GIPHY staff, new accounts created to circumvent past GIPHY enforcement decisions, and channels created by under age users.
We identify human rights violators and terrorist organizations by referencing designations lists, such as the United Nations Security Council designation list. We identify problematic news organizations through a third party fact checking service. We identify violent extremists and hate groups with the help of third party organizations, experts, and independent research. Some of GIPHY’s current partners and resources for content moderation can be found here. GIPHY determines if channels were created by underage users using the information available to us or information provided by other users. We take action on accounts even minimally suspected of violating our age requirements.
Channels prohibited from upgrade:
GIPHY allows the following entities to create channels, but these entities are not eligible for an upgraded Brand, Artist, or Creator channel:
Arms, weapons, and ammunition dealers, distributors, and manufactures, tobacco product producers, duplicates of existing upgraded channels, channels that upload same exact content repeatedly
Additionally, GIPHY will not upgrade channels that exploit GIPHY’s free service for commercial use or attempt to circumvent requirements for an upgraded channel. GIPHY does not allow upgraded channels that interfere with the proper functionality of our services by exploiting our search algorithm or manipulating our service with deceiving methods, such as using bot activity to inflate the view counts or to influence trending search terms.
Integration Restrictions
GIPHY will not permit API or SDK integrations with applications if we determine that our content is likely to be used to amplify or contribute to hateful, harmful, or illegal activity. Sites or applications that have the primary function of sharing or viewing pornography are also not permitted. We will review platforms or applications when notified of these instances through research or external reports.
GIPHY confirms these instances by reviewing the application’s Community Guidelines, policy enforcement, and purpose. If a platform or application is created by an entity listed in the ‘Prohibited from channel creation’ section of this document, or if it fails to attempt to take action on content that we identify to be hateful or harmful, we take action to terminate that application’s access to GIPHY.
Enforcement actions
GIPHY's approach to content moderation includes a combination of human moderation and machine learning to identify content that violates the Community Guidelines. In addition, users are encouraged to use the available tools provided to report any content they believe violates the guidelines. User-flagged content will then be reviewed by human moderators to confirm if it is prohibited, per the rules for using GIPHY listed above.
To learn more about GIPHY’s process for content moderation please see this article.
GIPHY is committed to respecting the internationally recognized human rights set out in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), privacy, and free expression. Individuals can appeal a decision if they believe no violation has occurred.
GIPHY will consider context, information available on other platforms and offline, and input from trusted third parties in our enforcement determinations. A list of the third party organizations that GIPHY utilizes in our moderation process can be found here. We strive for consistency in our policy enforcement decisions, which are taken at our discretion.
We will attempt to contact affected users to inform them about actions when necessary and appropriate. Users who are notified via email regarding prohibited content deletion will receive a reason for the content removal, along with identifying information about the content for reference. Although GIPHY may not provide an email notice when removing all content, we will provide the user with a reason as to why content or channels were removed if we are contacted. However, there are some instances where GIPHY will never contact users who violate these guidelines. For example, GIPHY will not contact a user who has uploaded CSAM per requirements from law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
When warranted, GIPHY will report content or channels to relevant legal authorities. This includes reporting all child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
GIPHY will take the following actions when we determine there has been a violation of our Community Guidelines:
Delete content: GIPHY will delete content – including images, audio, tags, and text. GIPHY will send a warning before deleting content in cases of minor violations, but will not send a warning before taking action on major offenses such as calls for violence, hate, and real gore.
Hide content: GIPHY will hide content from public view. This is done during content investigations before a decision is made to delete the content. This will also be done to temporarily remove content from search results when it appears in an inappropriate context.
Block integration: GIPHY will take action to block API and SDK keys, which removes our service from third party applications. We will inform the application’s developer of this action if we have their contact information.
Deactivate channel: GIPHY will deactivate a channel. This action prohibits future logins and uploads, removes the channel from GIPHY’s interface, and deletes uploaded content. This action is typically taken after multiple notices of deleting prohibited content are sent to the user via email, however, a warning is not sent before taking this action in the case of major offenses. Repeat infringers of GIPHY’s intellectual property policy will be deactivated.
Block channel: GIPHY will prevent a channel from uploading additional content. This is done during content investigations before a decision is made to deactivate a channel.
Downgrade channel: GIPHY will remove a channel’s upgraded permissions, which removes the channel’s content from search results. This action is typically taken after a user has been informed that their channel includes violating content. If the user does not take action to remedy the situation within the time frame specified in the email notification, then their channel is downgraded. Channels may be downgraded without warning if the user has been informed of violations three times in the past.
Delete tags: GIPHY will delete tags that have been added to content. We will typically not take action to inform the user who uploaded the content when this action is taken.
Reporting content
Individuals are able to report content on the GIPHY platform. Please see this article for information on how to report content.
All reports are reviewed by human moderators to determine if the content is prohibited per the Community Guidelines and requires action. GIPHY will expedite the review of reports submitted by organizations designated as Trusted Flaggers by the EU’s Digital Services Coordinators.
If you have specific questions about any of our policies you can contact us here.
Appeals
GIPHY strives for consistency, transparency, and fairness in policy development and enforcement. There are many layers to our moderation process, and inevitably content may be removed in error.
Users can appeal moderation decisions if they believe an action was taken in error. To appeal an action, contact us here. Links to submit an appeal are also provided when users are notified that their content has been removed.
GIPHY will review all appeals submitted within 180 days of the moderation decision and respond to update users on the status of their appeal and the final decision regarding the content in question. In the event of a successful appeal, the user may have to upload the content in question again if it has been permanently removed from GIPHY.
GIPHY appreciates different points of view and will make good faith attempts to work with users to clearly explain actions.