Moderation Policy Template

A complete, customizable social media moderation policy for your team.

Every brand needs a documented moderation policy that defines what gets approved, hidden, deleted, or escalated. This comprehensive template gives you a ready-to-use policy document that you can customize for your brand. It covers comment categories, response time SLAs, escalation procedures, and platform-specific rules. Share it with your team and ensure consistent moderation across all channels.

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Ready-to-Use Templates

Moderation Policy — Full Document

When to use: This is a comprehensive moderation policy document. Customize the bracketed sections, share with your social media team, and review quarterly.

SOCIAL MEDIA MODERATION POLICY
[Company Name] | Effective Date: [Date] | Version: [X.X]

1. PURPOSE
This policy establishes guidelines for moderating comments, messages, and user-generated content across all [Company Name] social media channels. It ensures consistent, fair, and brand-aligned moderation practices.

2. SCOPE
This policy applies to all social media platforms managed by [Company Name], including but not limited to: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter).

3. COMMENT CATEGORIES AND ACTIONS

Category A — APPROVE (No action needed):
• Positive feedback and compliments
• Genuine product questions
• Constructive criticism
• User-generated content and tags
• Relevant conversation and engagement

Category B — RESPOND (Reply required within SLA):
• Customer service inquiries
• Product or pricing questions
• Shipping and order status requests
• Feature requests or suggestions
• Complaints (legitimate)

Category C — HIDE (Hide from public, do not delete):
• Mild profanity not directed at individuals
• Off-topic comments that aren't harmful
• Competitor mentions (non-malicious)
• Comments in foreign languages (review first)

Category D — DELETE (Remove immediately):
• Spam and bot comments
• Phishing links or scam content
• Hate speech, slurs, or discriminatory language
• Explicit sexual content
• Threats of violence
• Doxxing or sharing personal information
• Illegal content

Category E — ESCALATE (Notify manager immediately):
• Legal threats or mentions of lawsuits
• Media inquiries or journalist comments
• Influencer complaints (10K+ followers)
• Threats of self-harm (contact crisis resources)
• Potential PR crisis situations
• Comments from government or regulatory bodies

4. RESPONSE TIME SLAs
• Customer complaints: Within 1 hour during business hours
• Product questions: Within 2 hours during business hours
• General engagement: Within 4 hours
• Crisis situations: Within 15 minutes (escalate immediately)
• After-hours: Next business day, unless flagged as urgent

5. MODERATION TOOLS
• Primary tool: [FeedGuardians / tool name]
• AI auto-moderation: Enabled for Category D items
• Manual review queue: All Category C and E items
• Audit log: All moderation actions are logged for review

Quick-Reference Moderation Decision Tree

When to use: Print this decision tree and keep it at every moderator's desk. It helps new team members make quick, consistent decisions.

MODERATION DECISION TREE — Quick Reference

Step 1: Is the comment spam, a scam, or contains phishing links?
→ YES: Delete immediately. No response needed.
→ NO: Continue to Step 2.

Step 2: Does the comment contain hate speech, threats, explicit content, or personal information?
→ YES: Delete immediately. Screenshot for records. Escalate if it's a threat.
→ NO: Continue to Step 3.

Step 3: Is the comment a customer service inquiry or complaint?
→ YES: Respond using approved templates within SLA. Move to DM if personal details needed.
→ NO: Continue to Step 4.

Step 4: Is the comment off-topic, mildly inappropriate, or a competitor mention?
→ YES: Hide the comment. Flag for team review if unsure.
→ NO: Continue to Step 5.

Step 5: Is the comment positive engagement, a question, or user-generated content?
→ YES: Respond with appropriate template. Like the comment.
→ NO: Leave as-is and monitor.

Banned Words and Phrases List

When to use: Use this as a starting point for your auto-moderation filter list. Customize for your industry and update regularly as new spam patterns emerge.

BANNED WORDS AND PHRASES — Auto-Delete List

Instructions: Add these to your moderation tool's auto-filter. Review and update monthly.

SPAM INDICATORS:
• "DM me for" + [business offer]
• "Check my bio"
• "I made $[amount] working from home"
• "Link in bio" (from non-affiliated accounts)
• Excessive emoji-only comments (5+ emojis, no text)
• Repeated identical comments from same user

PROFANITY AND HATE SPEECH:
• [Add your specific banned terms here]
• All racial slurs and variations
• Homophobic and transphobic terms
• Gendered slurs and variations

COMPETITIVE/SENSITIVE:
• [Competitor name] + "is better"
• Pricing of unreleased products
• Internal employee names (non-public figures)
• Unannounced product or feature names

SCAM PATTERNS:
• "Crypto" + "invest" or "guaranteed returns"
• WhatsApp or Telegram numbers
• "Free followers" or "Free likes"
• URLs with shortened links from unknown domains

Moderator Onboarding Checklist

When to use: Use this checklist when onboarding new team members to your moderation team. Adapt the timeline based on your team size and comment volume.

NEW MODERATOR ONBOARDING CHECKLIST

Week 1:
☐ Read the full Moderation Policy document
☐ Review Brand Voice Guidelines
☐ Complete platform training (FeedGuardians / moderation tool)
☐ Shadow an experienced moderator for 2 full shifts
☐ Review the last 30 days of moderation logs
☐ Memorize the Decision Tree

Week 2:
☐ Handle comments under supervision (all actions reviewed)
☐ Complete escalation procedure training
☐ Practice crisis response scenarios
☐ Take the moderation quiz (must score 90%+)
☐ Review common spam patterns and banned word list

Week 3:
☐ Moderate independently with spot checks
☐ Handle first escalation with manager support
☐ Contribute to weekly moderation report
☐ Provide feedback on policy gaps or unclear areas

Ongoing:
☐ Attend monthly moderation team meetings
☐ Review updated policies each quarter
☐ Complete annual moderation refresher training
☐ Share new spam or threat patterns with the team

Monthly Moderation Report Template

When to use: Fill out this report monthly and share with stakeholders. Tracking these metrics over time helps justify moderation resources and identify trends.

MONTHLY MODERATION REPORT — [Month Year]

VOLUME SUMMARY:
• Total comments received: [number]
• Comments auto-moderated: [number] ([X]%)
• Comments manually reviewed: [number] ([X]%)
• Comments requiring response: [number]
• Comments deleted: [number]
• Comments hidden: [number]
• Comments escalated: [number]

RESPONSE PERFORMANCE:
• Average response time: [X hours]
• SLA compliance rate: [X]%
• Customer satisfaction (from replies): [X]%

TOP ISSUES THIS MONTH:
1. [Issue — e.g., "Increase in shipping complaint comments"]
2. [Issue]
3. [Issue]

SPAM & THREATS:
• Spam comments blocked: [number]
• New spam patterns identified: [describe]
• Threat incidents: [number]
• Escalations to legal: [number]

RECOMMENDATIONS:
• [Recommendation — e.g., "Add [phrase] to auto-filter list"]
• [Recommendation]
• [Recommendation]

Prepared by: [Name]
Reviewed by: [Manager Name]

Best Practices

Tips for Using These Templates

Review Quarterly

Social media evolves fast. Review and update your moderation policy every quarter to account for new platform features, changing community standards, and emerging spam patterns.

Train Every Team Member

Every person who touches your social media should read the moderation policy, even if they don't moderate comments directly. This ensures consistency if someone needs to step in during a crisis.

Document Edge Cases

When your team encounters a comment that doesn't clearly fit into a category, document the decision and reasoning. Build a library of edge cases that new moderators can reference.

FAQ

Common Questions

Yes. Without a documented policy, moderation decisions are inconsistent and depend on individual judgment. This leads to complaints from users who feel they were treated unfairly, and potential legal issues if moderation is applied unevenly. A policy also protects your team by giving them clear guidelines.

A complete policy is typically 3-5 pages. Keep the core document concise and use appendices for detailed lists (banned words, edge cases, etc.). The quick-reference decision tree should fit on one page for easy access during moderation shifts.

We recommend having a public-facing summary (community guidelines) and a detailed internal policy. The public version sets user expectations. The internal version includes detailed procedures, escalation contacts, and decision trees that should remain private.

Your social media channels are your private spaces. You have full right to moderate content as you see fit. However, be transparent about your guidelines, apply rules consistently, and distinguish between criticism (which should be allowed) and abuse (which should be removed). Document your reasoning for moderation decisions.

Yes. FeedGuardians can be configured to automatically apply your moderation policy using AI. It classifies comments into your defined categories and takes the appropriate action (approve, hide, delete, or flag for escalation) in real time, 24/7.

Moderators should follow the policy as written, then raise concerns in the next team meeting or via an internal feedback channel. The policy should have a clear process for suggesting amendments. Never override the policy unilaterally during a shift.