What's In Town is dedicated to connecting neighbors and fostering vibrant, informed local communities through trusted local news and information. As a hyperlocal platform, we bring you trusted news, community events, safety information, local business updates and neighborhood discussions.
Our mission is to help you stay connected to your community through timely, reliable, and locally relevant information. We emphasize content excellence and cutting-edge technology while recognizing that local communities thrive on trust, authenticity, and respectful dialogue among neighbors.
These Community Standards reflect the unique nature of local interactions where people often know each other, where news affects neighbors directly, and where maintaining community trust is essential. Whether you're reading local news, checking the crime map, discovering community events, or engaging in neighborhood discussions, these standards help ensure What's In Town remains a safe, credible, and valuable resource for everyone. Together with our publishing partners, we address community concerns that impact lives.
What's In Town provides:
Our success relies on adherence to shared principles and guidelines. We prioritize:
These guidelines complement our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Non-compliance may result in disciplinary actions, including decreased distribution or removal from the platform. We reserve the right to take any action on content or profiles at our discretion. These examples of violative behavior are not exhaustive.
Our platform is designed for sharing credible, relevant information and fostering community engagement. Our guidelines ensure an authentic, healthy, and safe environment across all forms of content, including imagery, video, text, links, comments and GIFs that accompany them, short posts, articles, profile names and pictures, and embedded content.
Violations may lead to content removal or account disabling for severe offenses. Multiple violations may result in account deactivation. Users are encouraged to report content or users that appear to violate these guidelines. The examples provided are illustrative and not exhaustive.
We do not allow:
These guidelines do not prohibit legitimate journalistic coverage of newsworthy events, informed analysis, educational content, or good-faith community discussions about local issues.
What's In Town is committed to fostering diverse and inclusive local communities where all neighbors feel welcome and safe. We do not tolerate discrimination, hate speech, or the promotion of hateful ideologies. We do not allow:
Local Context: In local communities, hateful behavior can quickly escalate to real-world harm. Comments targeting specific neighbors, local religious institutions, or community groups based on protected attributes will be removed promptly.
Editorial coverage of newsworthy incidents involving these subjects is allowed with relevant context. This policy helps ensure that What's In Town remains a platform that promotes inclusivity and safety for all community members.
Terrorists and related organizations are not permitted to use What's In Town for any reason, including recruitment. Content shared in editorial coverage of newsworthy events that do not promote terrorism, and where clear context is established, may be allowed. What's In Town does not allow:
Exceptions: Educational, documentary, scientific, or creative contexts with clear, non-promotional intent may be permitted where clear contextual hints are included.
While we allow editorial coverage of newsworthy events, content that could directly facilitate or promote illegal activities is not permitted. What's In Town does not allow:
Exceptions: Exceptions for legal cannabis coverage and certain gambling activities where permitted.
We prioritize preventing offline harm related to What's In Town content. While we support freedom of expression and tolerate hyperbolic speech as a form of disagreement, we reserve the right to remove content and disable accounts if there is a genuine risk of physical harm or credible threats to public safety. What's In Town does not allow:
What's In Town cares about community wellness. While we support sharing personal experiences to raise awareness and find support, we do not allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, or drug abuse. We do not allow:
Everyone deserves a harassment-free experience on What's In Town. We prohibit content that targets individuals with harassment, bullying, or threats, including sexual harassment and derogatory language.
Non-Consensual Intimate Visual Depictions (NCIVD): We take a severe stance against the sharing of NCIVD, including AI-generated imagery. We remove this content upon reporting and penalize accounts that share it. What's In Town is committed to enforcement, including moderator training and automated detection measures, to prevent the spread of NCIVD.
If you encounter NCIVD content, please report it immediately in the app or to contact.whatsintown@gmail.com. We are dedicated to protecting individuals from harm and ensuring compliance with evolving legal standards.
Content that encourages untrained amateurs to perform dangerous stunts or activities, posing risks to themselves or others, is not permitted. This includes:
We protect minors' safety. Content that endangers or exploits minors, depicts violence against them, sexualizes them, or promotes dangerous activities is strictly prohibited. We do not allow:
Crime Reporting and Minors: In crime-related content, faces of minors must be blurred unless law enforcement has released the photo or explicit parental permission is obtained.
If you encounter child sexual abuse material, report it immediately to contact.whatsintown@gmail.com. For immediate danger to a child, contact local law enforcement or call 911.
What's In Town does not allow content that could endanger public health, including:
Local Health Information: Information about local health services, community health initiatives, and public health announcements from official sources is encouraged. Personal health experiences shared to inform or support others are allowed when not presented as medical advice.
What's In Town strives to ensure credibility and protect users' well-being and trust by discouraging misinformation or disinformation. While we take the accuracy of the content on our platform seriously, publishers, and creators are responsible for fact-checking their content. We do not allow the publishing of rumor, hearsay, or unvetted or unverified information. Attempts to introduce misinformation or disinformation, as well as fabricating information or presenting false information as fact, may result in account termination. The use of clickbait is also not allowed. Attribution is required for all facts that could be challenged, with original reporting preferred. Opinion or satirical pieces must be clearly labeled as such in the headline.
We do not allow creators to publish altered media intended to confuse, harm, or mislead. Editing for technical quality, like color correction or adding graphics, is allowed, but manipulation to mischaracterize events is not allowed. Photo edits must maintain accuracy without altering meaning, and misleading cropping is not allowed. Secretly captured video with malicious intent or in violation of the law is prohibited, except for lawful surveillance footage. Deep fakes are also not allowed unless clearly labeled and relevant to the story's subject. Composite images must be clearly indicated. In crime-related media, faces of minors must be blurred unless law enforcement releases the photo or parental permission is obtained, and faces of alleged victims should be blurred in sensitive cases if anonymity is requested.
We do not allow:
Misinformation and Disinformation
Impersonation
Spam
Other Fraudulent Behavior (scams and deception)
What's In Town does not allow content that glorifies or incites violence or aims to shock or disgust without news value. News content must contain proper newsworthy context. Even then, graphic content should include proper warnings and avoid shocking users. We do not allow content that:
What's In Town does not allow content that:
EDSA Exceptions
We may allow content that seems to violate our policies if it has clear educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic (EDSA) value. Examples include anti-bullying campaigns, historical documentaries, artistic comedy, and scientific nudity. Clear intent within the content is required for EDSA eligibility, but sensitive or harmful content may not be included in this exception.
What's In Town respects intellectual property rights and does not allow improper use. When posting, ensure you have the rights to the content. We may remove content that infringes on intellectual property rights, including:
Report copyright infringements to our designated Copyright Agent as outlined in our Terms of Use.
What's In Town prioritizes privacy and personal information protection. We may remove content violating privacy laws or our Privacy Policy. Report potential privacy violations at contact.whatsintown@gmail.com. We investigate and take down content that shares personal information without consent or that could cause harm. This includes: