Hateful Content, Terrorism, and Violent Extremism
Community Guidelines Explainer Series
Updated: February 2025
Overview
Hateful content and activities that support terrorism or violent extremism have no place on Snapchat. Our policies operate to create an environment that supports and prioritizes the safety and well-being of Snapchatters, and to protect communities from violence and discrimination.
It is never acceptable to engage in hateful conduct, including the use of hate speech or hate symbols. Activities that support or advocate for acts of terrorism or violent extremism are similarly prohibited and, if warranted, may be reported to law enforcement.
To help ensure these policies are enforced responsibly, our teams consult the expertise and work of civil rights organizations, human rights experts, law enforcement agencies, NGOs, and safety advocates. We are routinely learning, and will calibrate wherever necessary to help ensure that our products and policies function to keep Snapchatters safe. To help us, we encourage users to promptly report any hateful content or activity that may violate our policies against terrorism and violent extremism.
What you should expect
Snapchatters should feel safe and respected when using our products. Our policies against hateful content prohibit the following:
Terrorist organizations, violent extremists, and hate groups. These entities are prohibited from using our platform. We have no tolerance for content that advocates or advances violent extremism or terrorism.
All content that promotes terrorism or other violent, criminal acts committed by individuals or groups to further ideological goals. These rules also prohibit any content that promotes or supports foreign terrorist organizations or extremist hate groups––as designated by credible, third-party experts––as well as recruitment for such organizations or violent extremist activities.
Hate speech or content that demeans, defames, or promotes discrimination or violence on the basis of race, color, caste, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status, immigration status, socio-economic status, age, weight, or pregnancy status. These rules prohibit, for example, the use of racial, ethnic, misogynistic, or homophobic slurs. They also prohibit memes that ridicule or call for discrimination against a protected group and intentional deadnaming or misgendering. Hate speech also includes endorsing perpetrators––or disparaging victims––of human tragedies (such as genocide, apartheid, or slavery). Other prohibited hateful content includes the use of hate symbols, which means any imagery that is intended to represent hatred or discrimination toward others.
Takeaway
We do not tolerate hateful content, terrorism, or violent extremism on Snapchat. Through our policies and our product design, we work diligently to maintain an environment that supports and prioritizes the safety of Snapchatters.
Users can help us protect our community by reporting any content that violates our policies. We are also committed to working with diverse leaders from across the safety community to help ensure we are advancing our safety objectives responsibly. For more information about our safety efforts, please visit our Safety Center.
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