Whether you’re an NFT collector, or you’re a creator looking to design your collection and roadmap, you may want to understand more about OpenSea’s Terms of Service and what they could mean for you.
At OpenSea, we’re committed to providing a safe, trustworthy, and inclusive marketplace where people can explore and own what moves them in web3. To that end, we’ve developed several policies and enforcement mechanisms that help us moderate the content that can be discovered and sold using our services. We also have a robust set of Community Standards, which provide broader context to OpenSea’s principles of content moderation.
As an OpenSea user, you still might wonder: how, exactly, could these guidelines impact the collection I’ve created or the NFTs that I own?
In this article, we’ll first share the ways OpenSea may moderate content to enforce our policies. Then, we’ll share some examples of content violations that may result in an enforcement action.
By sharing this information, OpenSea is not, and is not intending, to provide legal advice; instead, all information provided is for general informational purposes only.
These examples aren’t comprehensive and may be subject to interpretation, but we hope they help you as you plan.
How does OpenSea moderate?
There are several moderation actions that OpenSea may take when we receive reports of, or automatically detect, a content violation.
We can opt to not feature and limit search discovery of content that’s not specifically in violation of our policies or guidelines but that we believe may lead to a negative experience on our platform.
For potential violations of our Terms of Service, but we believe people should still have the opportunity to view on our platform, we can disable the buying, selling, and transferring of a given NFT or collection using OpenSea’s services. When a collection is disabled, it will also have limited search discovery. In some cases, we may instead remove the OpenSea fee so that we are not monetizing this type of content.
For content that violates our policies and we believe that even viewing the content may result in harm to users, we can delist an item or collection entirely, hiding it and rendering it inaccessible and undiscoverable on OpenSea.
Let’s discuss different categories of content violations that can result in one of these enforcement actions.
User Experience
Certain types of content could negatively affect other users’ experience on our platform through deceptive or otherwise malicious behavior.
We may moderate the following types of content policy violations:
Spammy collections, which may involve:
Widely distributed, unsolicited airdrops
Collections created for abusive or promotional purposes, such as pushing to a third-party website
A copymint of an existing NFT collection
Misleading collections that may lead another user to mistakenly believe the collection is affiliated with another NFT collection, brand, or notable person. This can include:
Collection names that are too similar to existing ones, which are detected by automated OpenSea systems at the time you deploy your contract on a blockchain
Collections that falsely suggest they’re affiliated with another collection
NSFW content
Undisclosed burn mechanisms
Inorganic or manipulated sales volume
Financial Harm
Another category of content that OpenSea moderates is content that could financially harm another user. Examples include:
A harmful or malicious link from anywhere on the collection or item page, including one that might result in a loss of user funds or NFTs or otherwise mislead users
“Rug pulls,” or collections that don’t fulfill what they promised, such as unrevealed artwork
Collections that contain elements that may be subject to licensing or registration, such as:
Raffles, sweepstakes, and lotteries
Real-world financial instruments, such as loans, securities, or real estate
Ineligible fundraising
Intellectual Property
OpenSea does not allow content that violates the intellectual property rights of others.
Physical & Emotional Harm
OpenSea may moderate content that could physically or emotionally harm other users.
Some examples of content that may be moderated in this way include:
Nonconsensual sexual imagery, including content that involves minors
Content that glories or promotes suicide or self-injury
Here are a few examples:
Collection action | Moderation result |
The collection contains photographs depicting full nudity. | OpenSea may not feature and may limit search discoverability for a collection like this. |
The collection offers owners of the NFTs the chance to participate in a raffle where they can win a prize. | OpenSea may disable or choose to not charge a fee for a collection like this. |
The collection creator promises that owners will receive income simply by owning an NFT in the collection. | OpenSea may disable or choose to not charge a fee for a collection like this. |
The collection has an external link prompting users to connect their wallet. If a user connects their wallet, they could lose funds or NFTs. | OpenSea may delist a collection like this. |
The collection artwork is a pixel-for-pixel replica of an existing badged collection on OpenSea. | OpenSea may delist a collection like this. |
What can I do if I think my collection or item was wrongfully moderated?
Please speak with a member of our support team at support.opensea.io. Be sure to provide the link to your collection or item, or the contract address, and your wallet address. They’ll be happy to review and see if we made a mistake and can reinstate your collection or item.
How can I report violating content?
You can report an item or collection that you believe may violate our Terms of Service by clicking on the three-dot menu and selecting Report. Our User Safety team will review your report.
