What you need to know about our Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines: 

• Friends vs. All Snapchatters: Your private stories are for friends, but public content, like content posted to your public story, the Map, or to Spotlight may be visible to all Snapchatters. These guidelines for Content Recommendation Eligibility are for when your public content may be recommended beyond your friends or subscribers to Snap’s public surfaces like Spotlight, Discover, or Snap Map, and we apply similar guidelines to Lenses.

• Allowed on Snapchat doesn’t always mean recommended: Some content may stay on Snapchat but be limited to friends, subscribers, or other narrower audiences. Content that violates our Community Guidelines may be removed entirely.

*Some users’ content may have a more restricted audience due to age or region.

Keep in mind that in addition to the Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines, the Community Guidelines always apply. If you want to know what’s never allowed on Snapchat, regardless of where it’s being posted, please review our Community Guidelines.

We moderate with a blend of technology and human review. We also provide in-app tools for Snapchatters to report content that they find objectionable. We aim to respond to user reports quickly, and we use feedback to improve the content experience for all Snapchatters. 

The Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines apply to content from any source, be it a partner, individual creator, or an organization of any kind.

In addition to reviewing individual content submissions, we consider accounts holistically. When we identify violations involving the severe harms described in our Community Guidelines, we lock the user’s account. When an account repeatedly violates non-severe harms, or these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines,  we may reduce that account’s reach. For example, if a creator has a pattern of posting sexually suggestive content, we may decline to algorithmically recommend that creator to certain cohorts, such as teens, new users, people who have not indicated they want to see suggestive content, or people in countries where such imagery is prohibited.

For more details on Snapchat Moderation, Enforcement, and Appeals, see this page.

Throughout these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines, you’ll find that some content is categorized as “sensitive.” Sensitive content is not necessarily violative, but it may be displeasing to other users. Snapchatters represent a diverse range of ages, cultures and beliefs, and we want to provide a safe, healthy, valuable experience for all users, including those as young as 13.

Therefore, when we determine that content is sensitive, we may not recommend it to minors, new users, or users in certain countries. For all other users, we strive to limit the overall density of sensitive content in recommendations.    

For example:

• Hunting content: this may be interesting to some users, but disturbing to others. We won’t promote it to a general audience.

• Swimwear: playing beach volleyball in a bathing suit is likely to be recommended to most users; however, sexually suggestive swimwear (for example, posing in a bedroom) may not be recommended to new users, minors, people in countries where such imagery is considered inappropriate, or adults who have not indicated interest in such imagery.

Please note that the Sensitive criteria in these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines should only serve as a non-exhaustive list of examples. We may restrict or decline to recommend any content based on moderation history, user feedback, engagement signals, or our own editorial discretion.

We reserve the right to apply these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines at our discretion and to take any action to enforce them, which may include, among other things, removing, limiting distribution, suspending, limiting promotion or age-gating your content.

Creators or Partners that violate our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service will be deemed in violation of these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines.

Additionally, all content must comply with applicable law anywhere that it is distributed and with the terms of our content agreement with you. Where we believe the foregoing has been violated, we reserve all rights to remove the offending content.

• Polls that ask questions about sensitive personal information.

  • This includes, but is not limited to, users' racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership, personal health or sex life.

All content should be produced in a manner that is consistent with reasonable industry best practices. The following are not eligible for recommendation:

• Substandard Video Quality. This includes content with blurry, low-resolution, or pixelated imagery; incorrect orientation; unoriginal or poorly reformatted content; letterboxed videos; or missing audio.

• Flashes or strobes. Intense visual effects without a warning for photosensitive users.

• Illegible or inscrutable Partner Tile text. This applies to logos or headlines that may be hard to read due to issues with capitalization, punctuation, symbols or emojis.

• Off-platform links (URLs, QR codes, etc.). We also prohibit redirections to destinations that are social media, messaging, or cloud-storage services. Some off-platform links may be eligible for recommendation, but only on limited surfaces for vetted Creators.

• Promotion of accounts. on other messaging services or social media platforms. For example, a username paired with the name or logo of a different social media or messaging app. (Note: we make exceptions when a Snap is attributing content to the original creator and adding original, transformative commentary).

• AI-generated content. Our content ranking algorithm rewards authentic, human-made content over wholly AI-generated content created outside of Snapchat, even when AI-generated content has transparency disclosures. AI-generated content that was created within Snapchat is eligible for recommendation. Our tools always include transparency indicators.

• Unoriginal content

  • Posting content that you did not create, and that you have not transformed in a creative way (via commentary, reactions, etc.).

  • Low-effort “reaction” content that is merely a pretext to repost someone else’s content.

  • Repeatedly posting the same content, whether it’s your own or someone else’s, with minimal creative difference.

Context matters. Even when content is newsworthy, educational, satirical, or part of public debate, that does not automatically make it eligible for recommendation on every Snapchat surface. Depending on the content, we may limit it to certain audiences or surfaces, especially where it includes disturbing or sensitive subject matter. This means you should:

• Maintain standards for accuracy through appropriate fact checking.

• Age- and/or location-gate in accordance with these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines, when appropriate and available.

• Avoid shocking Snapchatters with graphic or disturbing content. When potentially-disturbing content is truly newsworthy, you must use a graphic content warning.

Political Content is eligible for recommendation on Spotlight only from trusted, pre-approved Partners or Snap Star Creators. This includes:

• Election-related content. Content about candidates or parties for public office, ballot measures or referendums, political action committees, and content that urges people to vote or register to vote.

• Advocacy or issue content concerning issues or organizations that are the subject of debate on a local, national or global level, or of public importance.

Any Snapchatter can find news and commentary on Discover or explore current events on the Map.

Any sexual content that is prohibited in our Community Guidelines is prohibited anywhere on Snapchat. 

Some sexual or mature content may still be allowed between friends or followers, but content recommended to a broad audience must meet a stricter standard:

• Nudity, sex acts, and sexual services. Our Community Guidelines allow limited non-pornographic nudity (for example, in the context of breastfeeding or medical procedures) in a user’s private Story. But the Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines prohibit all nudity, in any context, even if not photographic or realistic (for example, paintings or AI-generated images). The Community Guidelines prohibit explicit renderings of sex acts; our Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines prohibit any depiction or imitation of a sex act, even when everyone involved is fully clothed and the gesture is meant as a joke or visual innuendo. Our Community Guidelines prohibit sexual solicitation of any kind; these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines err on the side of over-enforcement (for example, a moderately suggestive Snap that directs Snapchatters to a separate account, platform or site will be denied amplification, even if we are unable to confirm that sexual solicitation is the intent).

• Sexual Harassment. This is prohibited platform-wide in our Community Guidelines. The Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines go beyond to prohibit insensitive or potentially-demeaning sexual content, such as sexual objectification and manipulated media that sexualizes someone without their consent (for example, editing a celebrity’s appearance to exaggerate certain sexualized body parts). We also prohibit speculation about someone’s gender or sexuality (for example, “Is ___ in the closet?”) and coverage of sex crimes or sexual taboos in a lurid, sensationalized format (for example, “10 Teachers Who Married Their Students”).

• Sexually explicit language. While our Community Guidelines do not prevent Snapchatters from discussing adult topics privately or on their Stories, these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines prohibit explicit language that describes sex acts, genitalia, sex toys, sex work, or sexual taboos (for example, incest or bestiality). This includes emojis in explicitly sexual contexts. It also includes innuendos that are specific enough to refer to particular sex acts or body parts.

• Overtly suggestive imagery. While our Community Guidelines do not prevent Snapchatters from sharing non-explicit, risque imagery, these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines prohibit imagery that emphasizes frequently-sexualized body parts (for example, breasts, rear, crotch) via the camera, attire, pose or other elements in a sexually provocative way. This applies even if the individual is not nude, or even if the individual is not a real person (such as animations or drawings). This includes disembodied closeups of sexualized body parts. This also includes simulated sexual activity, such as posing in sex positions, mimicking sex acts, displaying sex toys, or interacting with objects in a sexually provocative way.

• Minors in sexual situations. Our Community Guidelines strictly prohibit all forms of child sexual exploitation. These Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines additionally prohibit edge-case content that may fall short of a legal definition of child sexual exploitation or abuse material. That means we deny amplification to any content, real or fictional, about romantic or sexual relationships between adults and minors, unless the specific incident is newsworthy because of its relevance to prominent issues, individuals or institutions. Even in newsworthy instances, coverage of minors in sexual situations must not be sensationalized, suggestive or exploitative. This also includes content, real or fictional, about sexual activity between minors. We allow:

  • Content about teenagers’ sexual or gender identities, or their age-appropriate romantic relationships, as long as that content is not suggestive or explicit.

  • Coverage of sex crimes or sexual harassment, as long as the coverage is newsworthy — meaning, that it is relevant to an already-prominent issue, individual or institution.

The following is eligible for recommendation, but we may choose to limit its visibility to certain Snapchatters based on their age, location, preferences, or other criteria.

• Revealing, non-nude body imagery. This means imagery that may incidentally draw attention to frequently-sexualized body parts, but where overt sexual suggestiveness is not the intent (for example, scant or tight clothing in an activity-appropriate context, such as swimwear, fitness attire, red carpet events, runway fashion).

• Moderately suggestive language. This includes subtle innuendo that indicates vague sexual interest without alluding to specific sex acts or specific body parts.

• Sexual health content. This includes content that is educational, focuses on safety, does not promote dangerous behavior and is suitable for a broad audience, including users under 18.

• Non-suggestive sexual content. This includes content in the context of news, public interest commentary, or education (for example, art history).

• Adult entertainment. Content featuring individuals who are primarily known for their work in adult entertainment.

Any harassment or bullying that is prohibited in our Community Guidelines is prohibited anywhere on Snapchat. 

For content to be eligible for recommendation to a wider audience, it must not contain:

• Ambiguous attempts to embarrass or humiliate someone. Our Community Guidelines prohibit all forms of harassment and bullying, but these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines apply a stricter standard in ambiguous cases where the intent to embarrass is uncertain (for example, a Snap of a “roast” where it’s unclear if the subject wants to be mocked on camera). This extends to demeaning or belittling language. It also includes objectifying someone based on their appearance, even if they are a public figure.

  • Note: Note: criticizing or satirizing the words or actions of prominent public adults or organizations would not be considered harassment or bullying. Sexual harassment of any kind (see “Sexual Content”) is prohibited anywhere on Snapchat.

• Invasions of privacy. Our Community Guidelines detail the types of private information that should not be shared. These Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines additionally prohibit sharing sensitive personal information, covertly recording or exposing people in places where they reasonably expect privacy, or exposing where a child can be found. We also prohibit sharing images of children, including the children of public figures, unless:

  • they are a central part of newsworthy stories

  • they are accompanying their parent or guardian at a public event

  • the content was created with the consent from a parent or legal guardian.

• Wishing serious injury or death upon someone. For example, “I hope my ex crashes their new car.”

• Profanity targeted at someone else. Our Community Guidelines allow self-expression that uses profanity, but these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines prohibit coarse language or profanity directed at an individual or group, even if it is bleeped or obscured, and even if it is not as severe as hate speech or sexual explicitness.

• Mean or dangerous pranks that could cause the victim to believe they are in imminent danger of injury, death or loss.

• Insensitivity regarding tragic events or topics. For example, mocking survivors of intimate partner violence.

Any disturbing or violent content that is prohibited in our Community Guidelines is prohibited anywhere on Snapchat. 

For content to be eligible for recommendation to a wider audience, it must not contain:

• Graphic or gratuitous imagery.  Our Community Guidelines prohibit graphic, gratuitous, or shocking content involving humans, animals, or the natural world. This includes explicit violence, animal abuse or mistreatment, injury and death. Additionally, these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines restrict any imagery intended to shock or disgust viewers, including disturbing natural processes, and extreme or unsafe eating, or using food to shock. Content that depicts medical or cosmetic procedures (for example, pimple popping, ear cleaning, liposuction, etc.), is not eligible for recommendation if it depicts graphic imagery. “Graphic” in this context includes real-life imagery of bodily fluids or waste, such as pus, blood, urine, excrement, bile, infection, or decay. We deny amplification to intentionally, viscerally-disturbing human body imagery, such as sharp objects near the skin or eyes, or vermin near the mouth.

• Glorification of violence. Our Community Guidelines prohibit expressing support for violence or encouraging violence against anyone. These Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines  go further to prohibit even ambiguous support for or tacit approval of violence, including mocking or celebrating the suffering of victims of violence.

• Glorification of self-harm. Our Community Guidelines prohibit the promotion of self-injury, suicide or eating disorders. These Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines go further to deny amplification to content depicting, glorifying, encouraging, or trivializing self-harm or suicide, including suicidal ideation or threats, or content promoting eating disorders.

• Encouraging dangerous behavior is prohibited in our Community Guidelines. These Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines deny amplification to content that depicts dangerous activities performed by non-professionals, such as stunts or “challenges” that could result in injury, illness, death, harm, or property damage.

• Lurid or sensationalized coverage of disturbing incidents. These Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines deny amplification to content that focuses on non-newsworthy violent or disturbing incidents, including violent or sexual crimes, especially those involving minors. For content to be considered “newsworthy,” it must be timely and involve a prominent individual, group or ongoing issue in the public interest.
  

The following is eligible for recommendation, but we may choose to limit its visibility to certain Snapchatters based on their age, location, preferences, or other criteria.

• Violence in the context of national news, education, or public discourse, where there is no graphic imagery of death or mutilation. Disturbing incidents, such as sexual or violent crimes, may be newsworthy when they are timely and involve a prominent individual, group or issue in the public interest

• Non-graphic discussion of self-harm or suicide. Discussions in educational, recovery or public-interest contexts, including discussion of overcoming self-harm or eating disorders.

• Non-graphic health-related content. Content that includes health issues, emotional distress, body image, or cosmetic procedures.

• Cosmetic procedures. Procedures where the skin is not broken.

• Body modification. Modification such as tattoo needles on skin or piercings in progress.

• Animals in danger or distress in natural settings. Content without graphic imagery of death or gore.

• Triggers of common phobias. Content featuring phobias such as spiders, insects, or trypophobia.

•  Fictional but realistic and potentially disturbing imagery. This includes violence in entertainment contexts (for example, in a movie, video game or comedy skit). This also includes horror-themed content (for example, special effects makeup, costumes, props). It also includes imagery meant to provoke a visceral reaction (for example, porous objects to trigger trypophobia, glue to simulate peeling skin, or seeds to simulate ticks).

Any harmful false information that is prohibited in our Community Guidelines is prohibited anywhere on Snapchat. Creators and Partners are responsible for fact-checking their content. Creators and Partners are prohibited from publishing inaccurate or misleading content, whether the subject matter is serious (politics, health, tragic events) or more frivolous (entertainment gossip, hoaxes, etc.).

For content to be eligible for recommendation to a wider audience, it must not contain:

• Political false or unsubstantiated information. Our Community Guidelines prohibit political false information, such as erroneous information about voting, misrepresentations of a candidate’s positions or other content that undermines civic processes. There may be instances where our review teams are unable to verify whether a political claim is true, false, or potentially misleading. Ambiguous content may be allowed among friends or followers, but will not be eligible for recommendation.

• Health-related false or unsubstantiated information. Such content is prohibited in our Community Guidelines, which means it is also prohibited in these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines.

• Denial of tragic events. Such content is prohibited in our Community Guidelines, which means it is also prohibited in these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines.

• Manipulated media that is false or misleading. Our Community Guidelines focus on manipulated media’s potential for harm (for example, a deep fake of a politician doing something embarrassing). Our Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines go further to deny amplification to false or misleading information even where there is no obvious risk to society. For example, clickbait tile images that use photo editing tools or AI to depict a snake the size of a bus, or that edit actors into costumes to spread completely unfounded casting rumors; these examples may not threaten civic integrity or public health, but they are misleading.

• Deceptive impersonations of other people, brands or organizations. Such content is prohibited in our Community Guidelines, and these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines go further to prohibit ambiguous or unclear impersonation. Satire, parody and commentary are allowed, but the reality of content authorship must be reasonably clear to a viewer as young as 13.

• Deceptive marketing tactics of any kind. We prohibit links with excessive redirects or links that generate pop-ups or pop-unders or excessive ad load. You may not change the end destination or landing page of a link after you have displayed it in your content. Any links in your content must also comply with our Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines.

• Engagement bait. Content designed solely to manipulate interactions—rather than entertain or inform—to artificially boost engagement.

  • A “wait for it” caption, but “it” never happens.

  • Challenges based on nonexistent Snapchat features, such as, “Snapchat won’t let you like this 10 times.”

  • Attempts to leverage likes or shares, such as, “If this gets 20,000 likes, I’ll shave my head.”

  • Attempts to trick people into re-watching or pausing a Snap via long blocks of text, brief glimpses of something, or “spot the difference” games.

  • Misleading or sensationalized headlines or Tiles, such as unfounded casting rumors, presenting a celebrity’s years-old arrest as breaking news, editing an image of someone’s body or face to imply a radical transformation, etc.

Illegal or regulated activities, products or services that are prohibited in our Community Guidelines are prohibited anywhere on Snapchat.

For content to be eligible for recommendation to a wider audience, it must not:

• Facilitate or promote illegal activity. Such content is prohibited in our Community Guidelines, which means it is also prohibited in these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines.

• Depict tobacco, nicotine, or cannabis products or paraphernalia. While our Community Guidelines do not prohibit Snaps of adults using these products in places where they are legal, these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines deny amplification to such content.

• Depict dangerous alcohol use. While our Community Guidelines do not prohibit Snaps of adults consuming alcohol, these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines deny amplification to content that shows excessive or dangerous alcohol use by an adult, such as rapidly consuming large quantities of alcohol, or operating heavy machinery while intoxicated or while alcohol is present, or drinking to the point of slurred speech or loss of consciousness.

• Depict real modern lethal weapons. Guns, combat knives, explosives, etc. - outside of a news, education, or sports context.

  • Historical weapons (catapults, blunderbusses, swords, etc.) are allowed.

  • Fictional weapons (cosplay props, video game weapons, etc.) are allowed.

• Promote certain regulated goods or services. Our Commercial Content Policy explains how Snapchatters may share commercial content with their friends or followers, including content that requires targeting based on age or location. But in order to be eligible for recommendation, content must not solicit regulated products or services, including but not limited to: alcohol, tobacco, health products with unrealistic claims, and others.

The following is eligible for recommendation, but we may choose to limit its visibility to certain Snapchatters based on their age, location, preferences, or other criteria.

• Alcohol use. Moderate alcohol use by adults.

• Weight loss programs, techniques, and transformation-focused content.

  • Fitness content is allowed for all audiences when it focuses on strength, conditioning or mobility instead of focusing on weight loss. Content focused on weight-based or cosmetic transformation may be limited.

• References to illegal or regulated activities in entertainment. Including  jokes, skits, music, and scenes from movies, shows, or video games.

• Gambling or high-risk markets. Content promoting gambling or high risk financial products may be limited

Any Hateful Content, Terrorism, and Violent Extremism that is prohibited in our Community Guidelines is prohibited anywhere on Snapchat.

For content to be eligible for recommendation to a wider audience, it must not contain:

• Content from, or promoting, Terrorist organizations, violent extremists, or hate groups. Such content is prohibited in our Community Guidelines, which means it is also prohibited in these Content Guidelines.

• Hate speech. Our Community Guidelines prohibit content that demeans, defames, or promotes discrimination or violence on the basis of race, color, caste, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status, immigration status, socio-economic status, age, weight or pregnancy status. These Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines go further to prohibit content that is ambiguously demeaning to any of the protected categories listed above. If it is unclear whether content is intended as a “dog whistle” for discriminatory beliefs, we err on the side of not promoting such content.

The following is eligible for recommendation, but we may choose to limit its visibility to certain Snapchatters based on their age, location, preferences, or other criteria:

• “Reclaimed” slurs by in-group members. The use of “reclaimed” slurs by in-group members of the target of the slur.

• Counter-speech, news, education, history, fiction. Hate speech or symbols in the contexts of counter-speech, news, education, history, fiction.

Commercial content may still be allowed on Snapchat if it complies with Commercial Content Policy but it is eligible for recommendation only when it is properly disclosed and otherwise meets these Recommendation Eligibility Guidelines.

Commercial content is not eligible for recommendation if:

• It violates any part of our Commercial Content policy.

• It does not disclose its commercial nature. Snap offers a “paid partnership” disclosure tool and profile-level age and location targeting tools to help Creators, Partners and brands comply with 1) local laws, 2) our Advertising Policies and 3) our Commercial Content Policy. We require the use of these tools where applicable.