Welcome to BitChute, a content sharing platform and associated services offered by Deep State Protocol, LLC ("DSP") . BitChute aims to put creators first and provide them with a service that they can use to flourish and express their ideas freely. We aim to provide a forum for civil, productive discourse regarding the conditions, issues, events, and creative works which comprise and affect human flourishing generally.

These Community Guidelines describe the behavior that is expected from you and the rest of the BitChute community. By continuing to use the site, you are agreeing with and accepting these Community Guidelines in their entirety. They should be read and understood in conjunction with Our Commitment to the BitChute community.

Respect & Decency

All members of the community and wider society should be treated as equals with the same rights, regardless of their race, age, sex, religion, political beliefs, or any other immutable attribute or self-assigned designation.

We expect members of the BitChute community to act maturely and in a decent manner that is respectful to other members of the community and wider society.

Personal Responsibility

As an individual, you are responsible for your own actions, and you will be held accountable for any content that you add to the BitChute platform, along with any related metadata such as titles, descriptions, thumbnails, hashtags, etc.

You are not responsible for the actions of others on the site; however, you are expected to consider that others may be influenced and/or incited by the content you produce.

Content creators are obligated to ensure that they do not add content which violates the Prohibited Content or Platform Misuse guidelines, and that any content that they do add has the correct Content Sensitivity assigned to it.

All members of the BitChute community have a responsibility to each other to follow these guidelines.

Compliance with Law

You own and are legally responsible for all the content you add to the BitChute platform.

We expect members of the BitChute community to comply with their domicile's laws pertaining to online conduct, communication and content. BitChute's Guidelines Enforcement process respects applicable laws pertaining to online communications.

Before sharing content on BitChute, please be sure you have the right to do so. We expect you to respect copyrights, trademarks, and other legal rights of third parties. Remember to reference applicable fair use laws, as appropriate, when adding content to the BitChute platform. See our Copyright Policy to learn how we handle reports involving alleged copyright infringement.

When requested to do so by competent authorities, we may apply geoblocking filters on specific content that is considered illegal within a particular country. These filters will be applied so that they do not impact viewing of the content in any country where the content is still deemed legal.

Content Sensitivity

To help users control the content that they encounter on BitChute, we provide them with tools to adjust the content sensitivity level via their account settings. By default, a user's settings will allow for viewing of only content marked at or below Normal sensitivity. Also by default, all content added to BitChute by creators will be marked as Normal sensitivity and will be visible to all users. Creators are expected to mark their content as Not Safe For Work (NSFW) or Not Safe For Life (NSFL), when appropriate, before making their content public. Guidelines Enforcement processes are employed to ensure the appropriate sensitivity level is applied to content. If you encounter inappropriately marked content on BitChute, please flag it using our Flagging & Reporting tools.

Note: A creator’s ability to change the sensitivity of a piece of content will be removed if the sensitivity of that content has been set through an enforcement process.

Content sensitivity levels are defined as follows:

Normal

This is the default sensitivity level for content on the platform. Content should be left as Normal sensitivity only if it does not meet the thresholds to be marked Not Safe For Work (NSFW) or Not Safe For Life (NSFL) described below.

Normal content should provide the viewer with an experience equivalent to that provided by content receiving the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) ‘12’ rating.

Not Safe For Work (NSFW)

Content that is not safe for viewing in the workplace, or similar environments, must be marked as such by the content creator prior to publishing.

Content containing discriminatory language, drug use, nudity and/or moderate violence should be marked as Not Safe For Work (NSFW).

Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content provides a viewing experience equivalent to that of material receiving the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) ‘15’ rating.

Not Safe For Life (NSFL)

This level of sensitivity goes beyond Not Safe For Work (NSFW). Many if not most people will find this content upsetting, no matter where or when it is viewed.

Material that contains graphic content, which should be viewed with discretion, must be marked as Not Safe For Life (NSFL) by the content creator prior to publishing.

Not Safe For Life (NSFL) is equivalent to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) ‘18’ rating.

Prohibited Content

Any individuals, organizations or other entities that are engaged in the activities described below are not permitted to have a presence on the platform.

In addition, any material that is produced by, or which endorses, empowers, or otherwise promotes individuals, organizations, or any other entity engaging in the following activities is not permitted.

Finally, posting, celebrating, endorsing, glorifying, linking to or otherwise promoting content containing the following activities is strictly prohibited on the platform. Repeated offences will lead to account suspension or termination.

If you discover any such material on BitChute, then we expect you to report it to us immediately using the Flagging & Reporting tools provided.

We acknowledge that showing and/or referencing instances of the following activities may be necessary to hold the perpetrators to account. If this your objective then you must clearly state this within the content, you must be respectful to victims, and you must do whatever you can to ensure that your content cannot be exploited to endorse, empower or otherwise promote individuals, organizations, or any other entity engaging in such activities.

Abhorrent Violence

Content depicting real-life non-consensual acts of kidnapping, attempted murder, murder, mutilation, rape, or torture.

Animal Cruelty

Content depicting acts defined, for example,  in the Prevention of Harm section of the UK Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Child Abuse or Endangerment

Content depicting or promoting abuse, sexualisation, endangerment, or exploitation of children, or any offence defined, for example, within the UK Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

Harassment, Doxxing

Content depicting or materially contributing to harassment that is deemed unlawful within the domiciles of either the content originator or the target/recipient. This includes disclosure of sensitive personal information without permission of the individual, including but not limited to addresses, social security numbers, passport numbers, phone numbers, or bank account numbers.

Harmful Activities

Content depicting or encouraging the imminent injection or ingestion of inherently dangerous substances, other forms of self-harm including suicide, or any other activities which a reasonable person would conclude are intended to cause death or serious injury.

Incitement to Hatred (UK, EU, EEA & territories)

As defined in Section 368E Subsection (1) of the UK Communications Act 2003, this applies to any material likely to incite hatred against a group of persons or a member of a group of persons based on any of the grounds referred to in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

See here for a more detailed explanation of this guideline.

Sexually Explicit

Content depicting real or simulated sexual acts, including sexual intercourse or sexual arousal.

Terrorism & Violent Extremism

Content in the furtherance of any act of violence or intimidation carried out with the intention of achieving a religious, political, or any other ideological objective.

Entities that have been designated under counterterrorism legislation will be blocked within the jurisdiction of the relevant nation state or international organization. In addition, those designated by the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States of America, the United Nations, the European Union or any member state of the European Union are prohibited on the platform.

BitChute maintains and publishes a Prohibited Entities List of entities that have been independently identified and are explicitly prohibited on the platform under this guideline. As this list will evolve over time, we suggest that all users check it regularly.

Threats or Incitement to Violence

Content, including in comments or private messages, which threatens violence or is likely to incite violence.

Exemptions

For material that, on its face, seems to fall under the above categories, we consider the context, intent, and whether it qualifies for an exemption under any of the following:

1. Press Freedom
2. Political Discourse
3. Holding Power to Account
4. Satire, Parody, Humor or Comedy
5. Works of Fiction
6. Religious
7. Historical
8. Educational

For example, if a user were to complain about a BitChute or DSP official in the form of suggesting that our CEO launch said official into space, that would fall under the Satire, Parody, Humor or Comedy exemption.

If the material does not qualify for an exemption (doxxing and child sexual abuse materials are notable examples), then we will take appropriate enforcement action.

Platform Misuse

Misuse of the platform and/or the functionality provided is not permitted and should, when discovered, be reported using the Flagging & Reporting tools provided. The following are some examples of what we consider to be misuse of the platform:

Dogpiling or Brigading - Coordinated group attacks with the aim to shame, silence, or otherwise shut down other users.

Metric Manipulation – Manipulation of metrics such as views, likes, and/or subscriptions. When this is detected such metrics will be adjusted to compensate.

Misleading Metadata - Creating misleading titles, descriptions, tags, or thumbnails in order to increase views or otherwise trick users into viewing your content.

Name Squatting or Impersonation – Claiming a username, channel name, or other similar entity on the site with the intention to trade it, exploit its similarity to another, or otherwise trick users into viewing your content. Parody which is not misleading is, of course, permitted.

Scamming - Attempts to scam others out of their earnings, views, votes, or anything else.

Spamming - Posting large amounts of unwanted or repetitive content, including in comments or private messages. Posting the same content more than once or twice may be considered spam, especially when it appears to take commercial advantage of a creator's goodwill or following.

Disclaimer

Any action taken by DSP or its staff while enforcing these Community Guidelines is at our sole discretion and is not a legal opinion. Any reference to external definitions, legislation, or other material is for reference purposes only. We reserve the right to remove content for reasons not currently defined within these Community Guidelines.