Cyberbullying Policy

BranchBeat does not allow bullying or harassment. This policy explains what that means, how to report it, and what we do when it happens. It applies to everything on BranchBeat: posts, recordings, captions, comments, direct messages, profiles, usernames and profile pictures. It explains how we apply the rule in our Terms of Service that nobody may use BranchBeat to harass, threaten, impersonate or abuse other people.

What counts as cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is behaviour aimed at a person to hurt, humiliate, frighten or exclude them. It can be a single act or a pattern. For example:

• insults, name-calling, or mocking someone’s looks, voice, playing, identity or background;
• threats, or telling or encouraging someone to hurt themselves;
• sharing someone’s private information, messages, photos or recordings to embarrass or expose them;
• making an account, a post or a username to impersonate or mock someone;
• getting others to pile on, or spreading rumours about someone;
• contacting someone again and again after they have made clear they do not want it, including from another account after being blocked;
• sexual comments or content aimed at someone who has not welcomed them;
• attacking someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age.

Honest disagreement, and respectful criticism of someone’s music, are not bullying.

How to report it

Report a post from its ⋯ menu, a comment or a message by pressing and holding it, and an account from the ⋯ menu on its profile. Choose “Harassment or bullying”, or the reason that fits best. The person you report is not told who reported them. You can block the account in the same step, and blocking alone stops them messaging you.

You can also email support@branchbeat.com with a link to, or a description of, what happened. You do not need a BranchBeat account to do this, so a parent, a teacher or a friend can report for someone. The Safety center has step-by-step instructions.

What we do

Our team is emailed when a report is filed, and a person reviews it. Depending on what happened, we may:

• hide or remove the post or comment;
• remove a message from the conversation;
• remove a profile picture, or ask the account to change its name or bio;
• suspend the account, which also hides what it has posted and commented;
• close the account for serious or repeated bullying.

We weigh how serious it was, whether it has happened before, and whether the person targeted is under 18. Threats of violence, and anything that puts a child at risk, are dealt with first, and we may contact law enforcement. Reports about children are handled as our Child Safety Standards describe.

Protections for teens

Accounts of people under 18 are set up to make bullying harder: their posts are seen only by people they follow who follow them back, they do not appear in search, and someone can message them only if the two follow each other. A parent or guardian who approves or is linked to a teen’s account can turn off direct messages.

Reporting in good faith

Reports are private, and we do not tell anyone who reported them. Using reports to harass someone, by filing false reports or getting others to mass-report an account, is itself a breach of this policy.

If we acted on your content

We will tell you what we did and why. If you think we got it wrong, reply and ask us to look again, and a person will, as our Terms of Service describe.

Getting support

Being bullied is not your fault. Talk to someone you trust. If you are thinking about hurting yourself, in the US you can call or text 988 at any time, and Find a Helpline lists free helplines in other countries. More resources are in the Safety center.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent to support@branchbeat.com.