Vine's Updated ToS Nixes Showing Off Your Naughty Bits and Other Sexually Explicit Content
A change to Vine's Rules and Terms of Service (ToS) has Greek gods and goddesses like Aphrodite and Himeros all in a tizzy. In a blog post, the Twitter-owned video sharing service announced that it now prohibits pornography and sexually explicit content, regardless of whether it's you or someone else, or if you marked the video as sensitive.
"For more than 99 percent of our users, this doesn't really change anything. For the rest: we don't have a problem with explicit sexual content on the Internet -- we just prefer not to be the source of it," Vine stated on its blog.
Vine also posted a FAQ page related to its new policy so that users are crystal clear on exactly what is and isn't allowed. In it, Vine explains that it's not banning nudity outright, so long as it's not deemed sexually suggestive in any way. For example, sex acts aren't allowed, but if you're filming nudity in a documentary context, such as videos of nude protestors, those are still okay. So is nudity in an artistic context, like nude modeling in a class. And yes, breastfeeding is allowed. Interestingly, Vine also allows sexually suggestive dancing provided you're wearing clothes.
If you come across a video that runs afoul of the new rules, you can report the post. If Vine agrees, it has the option of suspending the person who posted the video. If it happens often (or if the offense is just really raunchy), Vine says it may opt to permanently suspend the user.
"For more than 99 percent of our users, this doesn't really change anything. For the rest: we don't have a problem with explicit sexual content on the Internet -- we just prefer not to be the source of it," Vine stated on its blog.
Vine also posted a FAQ page related to its new policy so that users are crystal clear on exactly what is and isn't allowed. In it, Vine explains that it's not banning nudity outright, so long as it's not deemed sexually suggestive in any way. For example, sex acts aren't allowed, but if you're filming nudity in a documentary context, such as videos of nude protestors, those are still okay. So is nudity in an artistic context, like nude modeling in a class. And yes, breastfeeding is allowed. Interestingly, Vine also allows sexually suggestive dancing provided you're wearing clothes.
If you come across a video that runs afoul of the new rules, you can report the post. If Vine agrees, it has the option of suspending the person who posted the video. If it happens often (or if the offense is just really raunchy), Vine says it may opt to permanently suspend the user.
