Purpose of the Content Guidelines

At Voices, our corporate values are Innovation, Excellence and Integrity. Our brand is an expression and reflection of these values. The content we create or produce, the partners or stakeholders we affiliate ourselves with, the customers we choose to do business with and the jobs we elect to complete must at all times be consistent with our corporate values, as defined by the following content guidelines.

The following Content Guidelines are presented to help you understand what kind of content is produced by Voices and the jobs that are posted using the Voices platform. Don’t forget that your use of Voices is subject to these Guidelines and our Terms of Use.

Content Guidelines Apply To The Following:

• The scripts of jobs posted either on the website directly by clients, or internally by our team.
• Talent and Client profiles, including but not limited to text, imagery, audio and video on profiles.
• The copy or content of internally produced material, including but not limited to the website pages, press releases, marketing collateral, marketing emails to customers, blog posts, social posts and more.
• At Voices, we have adopted an “E is For Everyone” styled approach to content. Definition of Everyone comes from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

EVERYONE

Content is generally suitable for all ages. May contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language. http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp

In some instances, Everyone 10+ may apply, but these are to be evaluated on a case by case basis.

EVERYONE 10+

Content is generally suitable for ages 10 and up. May contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.

Applying The Content Guidelines

All content and media produced at Voices must adhere to our brand values and content guidelines. This applies to:

• Job Postings
• User Profiles
• Usernames
• Demos (titles, descriptions and transcriptions)
• Email addresses
• Phone numbers

Everything that is produced or permitted at or by Voices must be accomplished with the objective of making the world a better place.

The Content Guidelines

Voices’ goal is to maintain a family-friendly marketplace. We have a set of branding values that pertain to the content permitted on the site. These guidelines apply to the job description, sample script, attached script, the product and the type of business.

Whether you are a voice talent, audio producer, musician, podcaster, translator or you are a client hiring talent, it is important to be aware of what is not allowed on our platform. The examples in the below sections are for illustrative purposes and are not exhaustive. 

Content related to the following topics is not allowed on Voices:

Illegal

The Law is the Law 

All content hosted on or facilitated through Voices.com must follow the law. Universally condemned speech and actions are prohibited at Voices, whether it be the offering of illegal services, a guide on how to perform illegal actions, or unlawful speech, such as slander. Ensure all content you may post comply with Canada’s  laws, the United States of America’s laws, as well as your local laws.

Copyright Infringement 

In the unlikely event that you see content or demos that you’ve created on another member’s profile, we encourage you to contact them and courteously ask them to delete the image or audio file. If that doesn’t work, please send us an email and we will take it from there.

Dangerous

Self Harm

Content involving self-harm is not permitted on Voices.com, as it can cause distress to people using the website. The only exceptions are references to self harm in public service announcements and medical or historical documents.

Threats to Others

Threats of violence to any real individuals, organizations and governments are not permitted on Voices.com under any circumstance. Threats must also be kept to a minimum and remain vague in any fictional script or demo. Scripts that quote threats in historical and educational settings are exempted.

Promotion of Drug Abuse

Promotion of harmful substances and encouragement of gambling or other harmful behaviors is prohibited on Voices.com.  Illegal drugs are drugs which have limitations on their ownership or use by a government, and are illegal in certain situations (meaning a person is not allowed to have them). A drug is any chemical that affects the human body or mind when it is swallowed, breathed in, or consumed in another way. 

1. Prohibited Content

The promotion or encouragement of use of any drugs or behavior that is currently punishable by law.

2.  Acceptable Content

Our intent is to allow scripts that are shared for medical or health purposes.   Content on drugs that are legalized in that general location or currently legal globally (alcohol, tobacco) are accepted.   Content advising of the dangers of illegal drug use are accepted.

For example, a script discussing marijuana in Colorado would be acceptable as this drug is currently legal in that state.

Deceptive

Impersonations

Impersonation is defined as the fraudulent portrayal of oneself as another person. We do not permit this as impersonation, from politicians to other talent, can mislead people into believing that statements made by the impersonator were made by the person being impersonated. 

Impressions, however, are permitted, as the request is to have talent that sound like a character or individual, but not to portray himself or herself as said individual. Exceptions exist for projects that are explicitly marked as satire, such as in the scenario of someone playing a current political figure in a script being marketed as satire.

Prohibited Content

Pretending to be a real person and speaking on their behalf is prohibited. An example of this would be someone pretending to be a politician and speaking as if they were that politician in a non-satirical setting.

The use of technology such as synthetic voice, text to speech programs or other automated processes, to impersonate someone’s voice and uploading the results to the website is prohibited.

Acceptable Content

Someone creating an impression of a character or person, such as an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, under the grounds of satire or fiction, is acceptable, as the script is not calling for the actor to pretend to be the person they are performing impressions of.

An example of this exception in practice can be a script requiring sounds that are difficult for a human to create, such as the voicing of a robot.

Misinformation

Misinformation is prohibited on this platform, in all mediums of communication. At Voices, we hold the standard that all communication should be clear and honest. In the prohibition of misinformation, Voices protects against slander, libel and other lies that could harm individuals, businesses and the wellbeing of others.

In scenarios in which medical or political scripts are submitted, it is important to cite sources to provide foundation for claims. At Voices, we care about truth and facts, and require claims to be substantiated if the content posted is sensitive in nature.

Prohibited Content

Political misinformation: Political misinformation, such as slander or libel, misrepresentation of statistics or law, embellishment of claims and baseless attacks on politicians, parties and branches of government is prohibited.

Medical misinformation: Medical misinformation, such as the promotion of unproven and unstudied medical treatments, misrepresentation of medical studies, promotion of substances in an unsafe and harmful manner and other harmful lies about medicine, treatment and procedures is prohibited.

Defamation: Lying about or otherwise maliciously smearing individuals, corporations, religions and governments without evidence to prove claims about the entity mentioned is prohibited.

Acceptable Content

Misinformation in a fictional world is acceptable, as the misinformation may be true in another world’s setting, or drive the plot. If something falsely flagged as misinformation has reputable sources cited in the script, it may also be permitted on Voices.com.

Sensitive

Sexual Content

Written, printed or video material that contains sexually explicit images or content. 

Sexual content, which encapsulates any description of sexual activity and explicit allusions to actions, genitals or other mature themes, is prohibited in almost all circumstances on Voices.com. We desire to have all content hosted on this website, and all jobs we facilitate, to be void of these themes, with limited exceptions. 

Prohibited Content

We restrict the content of sexual activity because some audiences within our global community may be sensitive to this type of content.  Descriptions of sexual acts that go into vivid detail will also be removed.

Restrictions on the content of sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless the content is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes. 

Acceptable Content

Our intent is to allow scripts that are shared for medical or health purposes. 

For example, a documentary on breast cancer would be appropriate, but posting content out of context from the same documentary might not be.

Exceptions

Exceptions to this rule include inclusion of mature themes or terminology in educational, and medical scripts, as well as in direct quotes from historical documents.

Extreme Violence

Extreme violence, and all media which includes extreme violence, is prohibited on Voices.com. We aim to keep things rated G or E for everyone, so only minor fantasy violence is permitted in select situations, regarding movie and video game projects. Narration can be done in a project where a character jumps on an enemy without issue, however narrating a first person shooter game is not permitted. 

The exceptions to this rule are direct quotes from historical or educational documents regarding war and other violent actions or situations, used in an educational setting.

The use of physical force, especially physical force utilized with malice and/or the attempt to harm someone. Some courts have ruled that in labor disputes, violence includes picketing with false information on the placards, in an attempt to harm a business.

Physical force used so as to injure, damage, or destroy; extreme roughness of action

intense, often devastatingly or explosively powerful force or energy, as of a hurricane or volcano unjust or callous use of force or power, as in violating another’s rights, sensibilities, etc.

The harm done by great force or strength of feeling, conduct, or expression; vehemence; fury a twisting or wrenching of a sense, phrase, etc., so as to distort the original or true sense or form: to do violence to a text.

Prohibited Content

It’s not okay to post violent or gory content that’s primarily intended to be shocking, sensational or disrespectful. If content is particularly graphic or disturbing, it should be balanced with additional context and information. For instance, a citizen journalist who tells a story of protesters being beaten and posts it with relevant information (date, location, context, etc) would likely be allowed. However, posting the same content without contextual or educational information may be considered gratuitous and may be removed from the site.

Acceptable Content

Experiences and issues involve violence and graphic images that are of public interest or concern, such as human rights abuses or acts of terrorism. In many instances, when people share this type of content, they are condemning it or raising awareness about it. We remove content when they are shared for sadistic pleasure or to celebrate or glorify violence. We also remove extremely graphic videos, such as those depicting a beheading.

When people post anything to Voices.com we expect that they will post it responsibly, including carefully choosing who will see that content. We also ask that people warn their audience about what they are about to see if it includes graphic violence. 

Video game acceptable content includes:

• Videos games must fall under the ESRB rating of E or E10
• cartoon, fantasy or mild violence
• mild language and/or minimal suggestive theme
• minimal blood
• simulated gambling 
• non human on human violence (tanks, ships)

ESRB Ratings Guide

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings provide concise and objective information about the content in video games and apps so consumers, especially parents, can make informed choices. Voices.com adheres to these guidelines, and approved content currently falls under the EC, E and E10 only ratings. ESRB ratings have three parts:

• Rating Categories suggest age appropriateness
• Content Descriptors indicate content that may have triggered a particular rating and/or may be of interest or concern
• Interactive Elements inform about interactive aspects of a product, including the user’s ability to interact, the sharing of user’s’ location with others, if personal information may be shared with third parties, if in-app purchases of digital goods are completed, and/or if unrestricted internet access is provided.

Hate Speech

Hate speech, or the advocacy of hatred on an individual or group for their immutable characteristics, opinions and beliefs is strictly prohibited. The only exception applies to direct quotes from historical or educational documents, used in an educational setting.

Content that incites hatred against, promotes discrimination of, or disparages an individual or group on the basis of their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination.

• Racism:  The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.  Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
• Slander: The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.
• Discrimination: the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

Oral defamation, in which someone tells one or more persons an untruth about another which untruth will harm the reputation of the person defamed. Slander is a civil wrong (tort) and can be the basis for a lawsuit. Damages (payoff for worth) for slander may be limited to actual (special) damages unless there is malicious intent, since such damages are usually difficult to specify and harder to prove. Some statements such as an untrue accusation of having committed a crime, having a loathsome disease, or being unable to perform one’s occupation are treated as slander per se since the harm and malice are obvious, and therefore usually result in general and even punitive damage recovery by the person harmed. Words spoken over the air on television or radio are treated as libel (written defamation) and not slander on the theory that broadcasting reaches a large audience as much if not more than printed publications.

Prohibited Content

Voices.com will not post anything containing hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on their: 

• Race,
• Ethnicity,
• National origin,
• Religious affiliation,
• Sexual orientation,
• Sex, gender, or gender identity, or
• Serious disabilities or diseases.

Organizations and people dedicated to promoting hatred against these protected groups are not permitted on Voices.com.

Acceptable Content 

Sometimes people share content containing someone else’s hate speech for the purpose of raising awareness or educating others about that hate speech. When this is the case, we expect people to clearly indicate their purpose, which helps us better understand why they shared that content. 

We allow humor, satire, or social commentary related to these topics, and we believe that when people use their authentic identity, they are more responsible when they share this kind of commentary.

Profanity

Profanity is prohibited. Soft profanity will receive a warning and scripts must be re-uploaded without profanity. Repeated soft profanity or hard profanity is explicitly prohibited. The only exception in which profanity is permitted is if it is educational in nature, such as a direct quote from a historical document.  Voices believes clients and talent can use their words and expressions to convey their message without profanity or vulgarity.

Offensive Language

Socially offensive language, which may also be called bad language, strong language, coarse language, foul language, bad words, vulgar language, lewd language, choice words or expletives. The use of such language is called swearing, cursing or cussing.

Used in this sense, profanity is a subset of a language’s lexicon that is generally considered to be strongly impolite, rude or offensive. It can show a debasement of someone or something, or show intense emotion. Linguistically, profanity takes the form of words or verbal expressions that fall into the category of formulaic language.

In its older, more literal sense, “profanity” refers to a lack of respect for things that are held to be sacred, which implies anything inspiring deserving of reverence, as well as behavior showing similar disrespect or causing religious offense.  

Prohibited Content

Any language that is offensive or can be considered blasphemous, profane, obscene, or exploiting.  

Acceptable Content

Language that is aired on cable television before 9 pm is generally allowed as long as it is not directed at or offensive to an individual or group.

Voices.com will determine whether language is offensive and content may be rejected, removed or edited without notice.  Clients may be required to alter scripts and/or job descriptions in order for their jobs to be posted to Voices.com.

General Exceptions

Words and language considered to be offensive may be allowed if they meet the following criteria:

1. Quoting historical text or documents
2. Educational use
3. Medical terminology
4. Campaigns or ads where the information about the other party can be verified as accurate
5. Historically accurate documentaries 

Biographical accounts of real life stories

What Happens To People Who Break The Rules?

Although we uphold very high standards, it’s possible that you may find disagreeable things on Voices, some of which may even offend you, and likely, would offend us as well. Because the site is so large, it is impossible for us to monitor all activity on profiles and would appreciate your help keeping our community safe. If you are offended by a photo or audio sample you can “Report a Concern” through our support ticketing system, a link that’s available in the bottom of every page.

Usually when someone violates any elements of Voices’s service agreement or guidelines it is an accidental occurrence and a warning is given, however, if more violations occur this can result in account termination without warning.

How can I report an issue?

Although we uphold very high standards, it’s possible that you may find disagreeable things on Voices, some of which may even offend you, and likely, would offend us as well. Because the site is so large, it is impossible for us to monitor all activity on profiles and would appreciate your help keeping our community safe. If you are offended by a photo or audio sample you can “Report a Concern” through our support ticketing system, a link that’s available at the bottom of every page.

Usually when someone violates any elements of Voices’s service agreement or guidelines it is an accidental occurrence and a warning is given, however, if more violations occur this can result in account termination without warning.

Should you have a concern about any of the content on the Voices.com website, please contact us immediately.

https://www.voices.com/trust-and-safety/report-a-concern

Closing Thoughts and Other Things to Keep in Mind

We’ve designed these guidelines to provide a professional environment that is welcoming, engaging and beneficial to everyone who is a member of Voices. If you don’t feel that you can abide by our Content Guidelines as outlined above, maybe Voices isn’t for you. If you ever have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to contact us.