Tapas Media Services ("Tapas Media," "Tapas," "Tapastic," "Service" or "Services") are provided by Tapas Media, Inc. ("We," "Our" or "Tapas").

The Tapas community is made up of creative people from around the world, with different cultural backgrounds, opinions, and perspectives. Each and every person helps make our community what it is, and together we can keep Tapas safe and fun for everyone. 

Please respect the spirit in which the content and community rules were intended, to ensure a positive experience for everyone.

This page covers both the content that's appropriate and the behavior that's encouraged on Tapas. Guidelines on this page apply to both comics and novels. We take these guidelines seriously and ask that you read them carefully and take them to heart.

Our guidelines cover:

• Respectful behavior

• Content boundaries

• Reporting and enforcement

• Feedback

Respectful Behavior 

We share the responsibility of ensuring everyone feels respected and free to express themselves at Tapas. Here are a few common-sense rules to help make that happen:

Be Polite

• Respect copyright: Only upload content that you have created or have permission to use. Do not plagiarize or trace others’ work. You are responsible for all activity associated with your account, including any content you post. If you're unsure whether it's ok for you to upload something, please refer to the content section of our Terms of Service.

• Don’t be a bully: Be a buddy. We will not tolerate participating in or encouraging abusive, demeaning, or threatening behavior within the community. Behind every story and profile is a real person. If a user harasses you, you can block their account. If harassment gets out of control, please report to us at feedback@tapas.io, and attach any supporting documents. 

• Be kind in your feedback: Feedback can be a valuable tool, and when done with respect can be a great way to make friends and help others improve. If you want to provide feedback to other creators, do so in a constructive (rather than destructive) manner, and remember to focus on the content rather than the person who created it. 

• Protect privacy: Don’t share someone's personal details without permission. This includes real names, private conversations, photos, phone numbers, home or email addresses, or other sensitive information that may compromise their safety.

Do have fun, share stories, and participate. Don't bully or harass other users. 

Don't Spam

No one likes spam (unless it’s in a can).Tapas does its best to keep spam on our platform to a minimum. We prohibit spammy activity and the use of related services.

Spamming includes excessive posting of unsolicited content or links. An example of this includes spamming other creators’ wall to self-promote. 

Be You

Tapas welcomes the use of pen names and online identities. However, it is against our guidelines to impersonate someone else or pretend to be associated with someone you are not. Do not use someone else’s name or trademark without their permission. Do not create profiles or post content intended to make people think you are someone else. 

Fake Engagement Policy

Do not engage in activities that artificially increase metrics such as number of views, subscribers or comments through automatic systems or use of third party services. Do not create, use, or promote bots or other automated means to increase view counts or perform social interactions. Do not create multiple fake accounts for reasons such as but are not limited to driving traffic to external websites, inflating the popularity of other profiles, or abusing the Support Program. Contents that violate this policy may result in removal of your account. 

Content boundaries

Harmful or Dangerous Content

You are welcome to share your opinions and beliefs on Tapas, even if they challenge the status-quo or might be controversial. However, Tapas reserves the right to remove any content that might prove to be harmful or threatening.

Strictly prohibited content include:

• Dangerous content that we consider to encourage injurious activities such as but are not limited to supporting or celebrating terrorist organizations and their leaders, or which incite others to commit acts of violence, destruction, or self-harm. 

• Hateful content that promotes or encourages hate, violence, or discrimination against a person or group based on race, creed, cultural or ethnic background, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

• Malicious content which exposes users to harmful software or websites. You are responsible for the safety and validity of outgoing links you post.

Marking your content Mature does not mean it can contain prohibited content mentioned above. 

Advertisements

Series and episodes should contain installments of a serialized story, standalone, one-shot comics or novels. Series and episodes should not be used for advertisements unrelated to the content. 

Any noticeable attempt to place an advertisement unrelated to the content, redirect traffic from Tapas to third-party websites, and/or harm the user experience of our community (as determined at Tapas’ sole discretion) is prohibited. We allow links to personal websites and social media links in Series and Profile descriptions and walls. We also allow third-party website links in episode descriptions and posts, as long as they provide a relevant, complementary experience for your readers and the Tapas community.

Genres

We believe in the freedom of self-identifying genres for your series and have introduced a number of new genres to help readers find your stories easier. Please use your best judgment to identify the genre of the story that you're telling. To maintain the health of certain genres, Tapas maintains the right to move a series from one genre to another if we find it not appropriately reflected by the chosen genre.

iOS and Android Regulations

In general, your content may be accessible on three services: the Tapas website, mobile web, and mobile apps. However, in order to be serviced on mobile apps, your content must also adhere to the iOS and Android guidelines featured below, along with the Tapas guidelines.  

App Store Guidelines : While we allow a certain extent of violence, profanity and nudity, depiction of extreme violence primarily intended to be shocking, or sensational or disrespectful is not allowed. These include but are not limited to gore, mutilation or torture of human beings, animals (including bestiality), or their remains. Sexually explicit content or pornography are also not allowed. These include depiction of human genitals or sex acts.

Read more about iOS + Android guidelines here :  Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines and Google Play Developer Policy Center

At Tapas, we believe that creators should be able to decide what kind of stories they want to tell, and how to express themselves. For that reason, existing App Store guidelines will not apply to our website. You have the option to publish stories that only adhere to our web guidelines on this page, if you choose to do so. Those works will not be accessible via our mobile apps, but will continue to be shown to our readers on our website. 

Mature Content

While Tapas allows a certain extent of violence, profanity and non-sexual nudity as long as it is behind our Mature filter, uncensored depiction of extreme violence and all forms of pornographic sex acts are not allowed in comics. Depiction of genitals or sex acts including penetration is permitted for novels, as long as its primary narrative purpose is something other than erotic satisfaction. Creators with mature content must rate their content as Mature, to warn readers they may be encountering sensitive content. 

Providing context and clarifying intent in the content title and description are also very important. For example, depictions of violence, sex, or nudity for diegetic, artistic, or educational purposes are more likely to be allowed than gratuitously graphic ones. 

Different rules apply for content deemed unsuitable for the web and the mobile apps.  

• Content that does not adhere to Tapas’ guidelines may be taken down. Repeat offenses will result in the removal of the user’s account.

• If the content does not abide by iOS+Android regulations, you will be given the option to make adjustments to your content in order to be reinstated to the app. The series will still be accessible via the web. In the case that you do not wish to change or censor your content, your series will still be accessible via Tapas’ website.  

Elements that cannot be masked with the mature filter must be appropriate for general audiences. These include thumbnails, covers, banners, series descriptions and one-liner blurbs. Warning will be given to users whose thumbnails, covers, banners, series descriptions and one-liner blurbs violate the Tapas guidelines. Inappropriate thumbnails, covers, banners, series descriptions or one-liner blurbs will not be accessible by new readers until adjustments are made by the creator. They should also be representative of the actual content, and should not be misleading.  

Different sets of rules apply to content distributed directly by Tapas, also known as Premium Series.  Premium mature content is treated as a separate entity than non-premium series.

While individual creators may publish explicit contents on Tapas, only the premium contents will be featured on Mature section. Mature section is currently not open for submissions. In order to view these stories, you will need to visit the web version of Tapas, log in, and verify your age. When it comes to content policy regulations, premium mature content is treated as a separate entity. 

Reporting and enforcement

At Tapas, we believe in the creator's rights to freedom of expression in the stories that they wish to tell, with allowance for many varied points of view. However, if you encounter content that breaches our guidelines, you can flag it for review using the Report button found at the end of every episode.

Reports will be reviewed by Tapas staff, where we will evaluate potential policy violations or if the content is otherwise deemed inappropriate. The review process takes up to 5 business days. If the content does indeed seem inappropriate, access to flagged content may be restricted during that time. If there is a problem, we will notify the owner of the account and let them know what further action is required. In extreme cases, content may be removed or accounts suspended without warning. 

Please keep in mind that we strive to maintain a fair and open-minded approach on how series posted on Tapas are moderated. Reported content that does not explicitly violate our guidelines may not be removed.

Feedback

Our policies are subject to evolve and expand in the future in order to steer our platform in the best possible direction. This page will always host the most current set of Tapas’ guidelines and policies. 

Any and all policy regulation is open to review. Suspensions of content and or account access can be contested by contacting us.

Last Modified : 2020-08-18

For archived versions of our Community Guidelines, please visit Prior Versions