Acceptable Use Policy
Last updated: 1 October 2026
Scope
This Acceptable Use Policy applies to the hosted Votepit Cloud service. It supplements the Terms of Service and describes which content and uses are not permitted on the hosted platform. It does not apply to the self-hosted Community Edition — there, responsibility lies with the operator of the respective installation.
Generally prohibited use
The following are prohibited in particular: unlawful content; the infringement of third-party rights (including copyright, trademark, and personality rights); harassment, threats, or incitement to violence; malware, phishing, or fraudulent content; unsolicited bulk messages (spam); and any attempt to circumvent or disrupt the technical security, access control, or tenant isolation of the service.
Content that does not belong on the hosted platform
Votepit Cloud is designed for open, typically public voting and feedback. Certain especially sensitive use cases are not permitted on the hosted platform and belong on a self-hosted installation (Community / on-prem edition), where you retain full data sovereignty: (1) special categories of personal data within the meaning of Art. 9 GDPR (e.g. health, religious or political beliefs, trade-union membership, ethnic origin, sex life or sexual orientation, biometric or genetic data); (2) anonymous whistleblowing procedures or reports where revealing an identity could endanger the people involved; (3) elections or ballots where disclosure of voting behaviour would put participants at risk. If your use case falls into these categories, please self-host Votepit.
Enforcement
In the event of a breach of this policy, we may remove affected content, suspend individual boards or accounts temporarily, or close them permanently — in serious cases without prior notice, where necessary to protect affected individuals, third parties, or the service. Measures are proportionate to the severity and recurrence of the breach.
Reporting unlawful content
You can report unlawful content or content that breaches this policy either via the "Report" button shown directly on the relevant idea/comment in the app, or via the contact channel provided in the Legal Notice. We review incoming reports and take appropriate action (notice-and-action procedure under Art. 16 DSA); where you provide a contact address with your report, we will inform you of the outcome.
Changes
We may update this Acceptable Use Policy, for example when adding features or in response to changes in the law. The current version is always available on this page.
7. Two-tier rules: platform vs. board rules (draft — pending attorney review)
Draft, pending attorney review. This Acceptable Use Policy sets the platform-wide minimum rules for every board hosted on Votepit Cloud. A board operator may add their own, additional board-specific rules (e.g. language, topic, or tone requirements) — but a board rule may never be weaker than, or permit what, this policy prohibits. Where a board’s own rules conflict with this policy, this policy prevails.
8. Reason and appeal for moderation actions (draft — pending attorney review)
Draft, pending attorney review. When content is removed, the moderator records a reason category — a community-rule breach, or an unlawful-content subcategory (copyright, privacy, threat, fraud, or other), or another reason — notifies the author where contact details are known, and gives the author a way to appeal the decision. See clause 16 of the Terms of Service for the full description of this mechanism.
9. Contributions without an account
If a board operator allows contributions without an account, this policy applies to guests as well. Ideas submitted without an account appear as "Guest", must not contain links and are usually reviewed by the board's moderators before they are published. Operators can reject guest ideas individually or in bulk and switch the feature off at any time. Guests cannot comment or edit; they can withdraw their own idea while it is still pending, on the same device. Bot checks and volume limits apply to guests to prevent abuse.
10. Approval before publication
Board operators can decide that new ideas only appear once the board’s moderators have approved them — either for all contributions from people without a moderation role or only for contributions without an account. Until approval, a pending idea is visible only to its author and the account’s moderators. Whether and how a board is pre-moderated is the operator’s decision, not Votepit’s. If a pending idea is rejected, the same procedure applies as for any other removal: the moderators record a reason, and the author is informed, where contact details are known, and can appeal (see clause 8).
11. Embedded widget
Anyone who embeds a board as a widget in their own website and passes signed-in users on to Votepit may only transmit identities for their own users and only with their actual, confirmed e-mail address. Acting on behalf of other people through the widget, faking identities or skewing votes with made-up identities is prohibited.