Community and Comments Policy
The Data Verdict welcomes informed disagreement, relevant questions, corrections, firsthand experience, and evidence that can improve public understanding.
Our comment areas are intended for constructive public discussion. They are not an unrestricted hosting service and should not be used as a substitute for formal correction requests, complaints, emergency reporting, or confidential communication with journalists.
Purpose
The Data Verdict provides community features to encourage informed discussion around our journalism and the issues covered by our publication.
We welcome:
- Reasoned disagreement
- Relevant questions
- Additional evidence
- Corrections
- Firsthand experience
- Alternative interpretations
- Constructive criticism
Strong criticism of institutions, public figures, companies, policies, ideas, and journalism is permitted.
However, participation is subject to reasonable standards intended to protect users, sources, contributors, and the integrity of the discussion.
Participation Standards
Comments should be relevant to the article or the issues it raises and should contribute meaningful information, experience, analysis, or opinion.
Participants should treat other people with basic professional respect.
You may strongly disagree with:
- An article
- An author
- A company
- A government
- A public figure
- A policy
- An institution
- Another participant
Personal abuse, intimidation, harassment, or identity-based attacks are not acceptable substitutes for substantive disagreement.
Participants should distinguish between:
- Verified fact
- Allegation
- Personal experience
- Speculation
- Satire
- Opinion
Claims involving serious wrongdoing should be supported by credible evidence where possible and may be withheld or removed while verification is sought.
Prohibited Content
The Data Verdict may reject or remove content that is:
- Unlawful
- Defamatory
- Threatening
- Harassing
- Hateful
- Discriminatory
- Sexually exploitative
- Gratuitously graphic
- Supportive of terrorism or violent extremism
- Instructional in serious wrongdoing
- Maliciously deceptive
- Impersonating another person or organization
- Spam
- Automated or abusive
- Commercial solicitation
- Copyright-infringing
- Privacy-invasive
- Unrelated to the discussion
Privacy and Doxxing
Doxxing is prohibited.
Do not publish private or sensitive information about another person without an appropriate lawful and public-interest basis.
This includes, among other things:
- Private residential addresses
- Personal telephone numbers
- Identity documents
- Financial information
- Medical information
- Children’s personal information
- Non-public workplace information
- Private messages
- Account credentials
- Sensitive identifying information
The fact that information may have appeared elsewhere online does not automatically make its republication appropriate.
We may also remove:
- Repeated slogans
- Copied campaign messages
- Coordinated manipulation
- Undisclosed paid advocacy
- Artificial engagement
- Fabricated evidence
- Mass-produced or automated submissions
- Repetitive promotional material
Moderation
Comments may be moderated either before or after publication.
Depending on the circumstances, we may:
- Approve a comment
- Reject a comment
- Remove a comment
- Remove an unsafe or inappropriate link
- Correct an obvious formatting issue
- Limit repetitive submissions
- Close a discussion thread
- Temporarily restrict participation
- Preserve a comment while removing a specific unlawful or unsafe element
We do not silently make material changes to a user’s substantive meaning.
Where a material change would be necessary, the comment may instead be rejected or handled through an appropriate editorial note.
Moderation is risk-based and may not always be immediate.
Publication of a comment does not mean that The Data Verdict has verified, endorsed, or agreed with its contents.
Likewise, the failure to remove a particular comment does not establish a right to publish another comment.
Names, Impersonation, and Anonymity
Participants may use an appropriate display name where the commenting system permits it.
Impersonation and false claims of authority are prohibited.
We may request verification where a participant claims to represent:
- A company
- Government body
- Professional organization
- Public figure
- Institution
- Event
- Other organization or authority
In higher-risk situations, we may require private verification while allowing an appropriate public display name.
The purpose of verification is to establish authenticity, not to unnecessarily expose a participant’s personal identity.
Privacy and Data
Comment functionality may collect information such as:
- Display name
- Email address
- Website address
- IP address
- Anti-spam information
- Browser or device information
- Other technical information necessary to operate and protect the service
The handling of this information is governed by The Data Verdict’s Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.
Email addresses submitted through the standard comment system are not intended to be publicly displayed.
Participants should not submit information in a public comment that they do not want made public.
A published comment may potentially be:
- Indexed by search engines
- Quoted in later articles
- Archived
- Reproduced within the publication
- Referenced in editorial discussions
- Included in a public record of the discussion
Deleting an account or requesting removal does not necessarily require The Data Verdict to delete lawful quotations, screenshots, moderation records, or archived material where retention is justified by editorial, legal, security, or accountability considerations.
Children and Vulnerable Users
Children should not submit personal information through public comment areas.
We may remove material that appears to identify, expose, target, or endanger a child or vulnerable person.
Adults must not use community features to:
- Solicit contact with minors
- Groom children
- Facilitate exploitation
- Coerce vulnerable individuals
- Manipulate vulnerable users
- Obtain inappropriate personal information
Where necessary, potentially harmful content may be removed or escalated for safety or legal reasons.
Corrections and Complaints Are Separate
Comments are not the preferred mechanism for reporting a factual error or submitting a formal editorial complaint.
For factual corrections, contact:
corrections@thedataverdict.com
For formal complaints, contact:
Using the appropriate channel allows the relevant accountable editorial function to review the matter properly and ensures that important evidence is not lost within a public comment thread.
Enforcement and Appeals
Depending on the seriousness and circumstances of a violation, enforcement may include:
- A warning
- Removal of a comment
- Removal of a link
- Closure of a discussion
- Rate limiting
- Temporary restriction
- Permanent blocking
- Referral to an appropriate authority where required by law or immediate safety concerns
We may consider:
- Seriousness
- Intent
- Actual or potential harm
- Repetition
- Previous moderation history
- Cooperation
- Attempts to circumvent moderation
Appeals
A participant may appeal a moderation decision by contacting:
An appeal should include, where possible:
- The relevant article URL
- The text of the comment
- Approximate date and time of submission
- The action taken
- The reason the participant believes the decision should be reconsidered
We may decline repeated, abusive, threatening, or substantially identical appeals that do not provide new information.
User License
By submitting a public comment, you retain ownership of the material you submit but grant The Data Verdict a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, display, moderate, reproduce, archive, and distribute that comment in connection with the publication and its editorial record.
This license allows The Data Verdict to operate, preserve, moderate, and reference its community features.
You remain responsible for the material you submit, including ensuring that you have the necessary rights to publish it and that it does not unlawfully infringe another person’s rights.
Changes and Availability
The Data Verdict may disable comments on individual articles or across the website where reasonably necessary for:
- User safety
- Legal compliance
- Editorial reasons
- Security
- Technical limitations
- Moderation capacity
- Abuse prevention
Not every article will necessarily have comments enabled.
Community features may also be changed, suspended, or discontinued as the website develops.
This policy may be updated to reflect changes in our community features, moderation practices, technology, or applicable legal requirements.