Why We Restrict Some Speech. Click to show.

Why We Restrict Some Speech. We view unlimited freedom of speech as an ideal. We are not interested in silencing or "canceling" opinions simply because we disagree with them. We also recognize that some speech is violent because it can cause tangible harm. This harm may occur through direct incitement to physical violence, through selectively marginalizing people and thus causing harmful changes in their material conditions, or through speaking to a broad audience with the knowledge that listeners may be inspired to commit individual acts of violence (stochastic terrorism). We acknowledge that there is a significant difference between these types of harm and more minor injuries like hurt feelings, and we acknowledge a community responsibility to curtail violent speech in the most permissive way possible that still protects community members.

Protected Groups. We refer to groups of people as "protected groups" when, based on involuntary characteristics, members of those groups have been placed at arbitrary disadvantages, have been systematically mistreated or disempowered, or have been the object of threats or violence. Without limitations on the speech of others, these groups could be effectively silenced, and thus deprived of their freedom of speech. By this definition, we consider a protected group to be any grouping of people on the basis of race, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, physical characteristics, age, disability, or disease.

Hate Speech. We refer to some forms of expression as "hate speech", and seek to limit that expression for the good of the community. We recognize that "hate speech" is an imperfect term, because it isn't necessary for someone to feel emotional hatred toward an individual or group to use hate speech.

This section is hidden because it contains specific, illustrative examples of hate speech and hate symbols. You can choose to display the full text, to display the text without detailed examples, or to skip it entirely and read on.

Examples.The following are examples of hate speech, as we define it:

• Direct calls for harm to people based on their belonging to a protected group.
  
  
  • You may say "I hate people with [attribute]", leaving those listening free to draw their own conclusions about you, but you may not say "everyone hates people with [attribute]" or "all people with [attribute] should be silenced".

• Use of pejorative slurs and tropes that are commonly understood to refer to a protected group, when used gratuitously, when directed at an individual, or when used to dehumanize or silence a group of people.
  
  
  • You may say "I don't like [slur]s", leaving those listening free to draw their own conclusions about you, but you may not call someone a "[slur]", send someone a direct message that reads "[slur]", post messages simply as an excuse to use a slur, or make general statements like "[slur]s are animals" or "God hates [slur]s". If you use a word commonly understood to be a slur and are asked to stop by another user, you must either stop using it or ask a moderator to mediate.
    
    Recently, some groups that engage in hate speech have begun claiming that certain terms (e.g. "Nazi", "TERF") are slurs in an attempt to distance themselves from terms commonly used to describe their group or its ideas. These are bad-faith arguments because these terms are descriptive, not pejorative, and there is no history of these terms being used to marginalize a protected group.

• Display of symbols that are commonly associated with harm against a protected group, if done in a gratuitous or glorifying way, or if clearly intended to cause harm.
  
  
  • Using the swastika as an example, you generally may post images that include the swastika in a historical, academic, religious or artistic context. You may not adopt a profile photo containing a swastika unless it's clearly being used in a non-harmful context (e.g. your display name is "nirvana seeker"). You may not flood a room with photos and artwork including Nazi swastikas, or selectively DM those images to an individual user, or post a line of swastikas in a room without context. Other historical examples of symbols that may or may not imply hate speech include the cross, the noose, the term "4/20", the Rhodesian flag, the pink triangle, the mathematical "not equal" sign, and many more. The context in which a symbol is used is always an important consideration.

Examples. The following are examples of hate speech, as we define it:

• Direct calls for harm to people based on their belonging to a protected group.


• Use of pejorative slurs and tropes that are commonly understood to refer to a protected group, when used gratuitously, when directed at an individual, or when used to dehumanize or silence a group of people.


• Display of symbols that are commonly associated with harm against a protected group, if done in a gratuitous or glorifying way, or if clearly intended to cause harm.

Our Response. When we see hate speech, our preference is to provide a warning to the user involved and give them one chance to restate their point in a different way. When hate speech is egregious, repetitive, or clearly intended to spam or troll, we may ban users from our services without warning.

Scope. These are minimal rules that apply across our services, and that are primarily concerned with public, unencrypted services like Lemmy communities that we moderate and community-wide Matrix rooms. Other public Lemmy communities or Matrix rooms may have more stringent moderators, and you must follow their guidelines. Conversely, private, invite-only Matrix rooms that use end-to-end encryption may have moderators who choose to ignore these rules against our wishes, since enforcing rules in those rooms is impossible by design.