Content policy and reporting

Effective 2026-09-10

Story Builder hosts other people's writing. This page says what is not allowed, how to report something, what we do about it, and how an author can push back.

What is not allowed

• Other people's work. Publishing writing, art or images you have no right to publish.
• Sexual content involving minors, in any form, including drawn or written fiction. This is the one rule with no appeal and no second chance.
• Real-world harm. Incitement to violence, threats, targeted harassment of an identifiable person, or content that exists to expose someone to abuse.
• Illegal content, including anything unlawful where we operate.
• Deception at scale. Impersonating another author, or manufacturing engagement.

Fiction may portray violence, cruelty, addiction, abuse and despair. Depicting something is not endorsing it, and we do not remove work for being dark, uncomfortable or morally complicated.

Ratings

Rate published stories honestly:

Stories rated R or NC-17 are shown only to signed-in readers who have confirmed they meet our minimum age of 16. Deliberately under-rating adult content to reach more readers is a breach of the terms and is treated as such.

Reporting something

Write to the contact form, use the contact form, or use the report control on the story itself.

Tell us:

1. The link to what you are reporting.
2. What is wrong with it — which rule, or what right of yours it infringes.
3. For a copyright complaint: what the original work is, where it can be seen, and a statement that you are the rights holder or act for them.
4. How to reach you.

You do not need an account to report something.

What we do

• We acknowledge every report we can reply to, within 3 working days.
• We look at it and decide whether it breaks the rules. Content that is obviously and seriously harmful is removed first and reviewed after.
• We tell the author what was removed and why, unless telling them would be unlawful.
• We tell you what we decided.
• We keep a record of the report, the decision and the reasoning.

If you are the author

You can appeal a removal by replying to the message we sent, once, with the reasons the decision was wrong. A different person reviews it where we can arrange that. If you were right, we restore the content and say so.

You can also take a dispute to a court, or to an out-of-court dispute settlement body, wherever your local law provides one.

Repeat infringers

Accounts that repeatedly publish infringing or prohibited material lose the ability to publish, and then lose the account. We count strikes over a rolling period, we tell you when you get one, and we tell you where you stand before the last one.

Bad-faith reports

Reporting content you know is fine — to silence someone, or to win an argument — is itself a breach of the terms. Persistent bad-faith reporting costs you the ability to report.