Reputation & Moderation

For most publishers considering running ads, the biggest concern isn’t revenue — it’s reputation. A single bad ad can undo years of user trust, and we take that as seriously as you do.

This page covers how we protect your reputation: the content we won’t accept, the screening every ad goes through, and the controls you have over what runs on your platform.

We’re publishers too

Our sister product outposts.io  is where we dogfooded Specify, and we continue to run targeted Specify ads in the newsletter. We understand the risk first-hand.

Every moderation decision we make is tested against a simple question: would we be comfortable running this on Outposts? If the answer is no, it doesn’t run anywhere.

Content we don’t accept

No 18+ or gambling

We don’t currently work with 18+ or gambling advertisers. We’ve already turned several away.

If we ever support gambling, it will be explicitly opt-in for publishers — never on by default, and never a surprise.

Other prohibited content

All advertisers must comply with our broader content standards. We don’t accept:

• Unverified health claims or unapproved medical treatments
• Discriminatory or hateful messaging
• Misleading or deceptive claims
• Counterfeit products or IP violations
• Weapons or dangerous goods
• Political campaign materials
• Scams or fraudulent schemes
• Malware or phishing

These standards are regularly updated based on industry best practices and publisher feedback.

How every ad gets screened

Every ad goes through a multi-step review before it appears anywhere in the network:

1. Automated scanning for prohibited keywords and suspicious URLs
2. Manual review by at least two team members against our content guidelines
3. Technical validation that creative meets our performance standards
4. Web3 verification — we confirm onchain projects have the required security audits in place
5. Final approval by a senior team member with publisher experience

We maintain a public record of rejected ad categories and the most common rejection reasons. It’s available on request and helps publishers understand exactly what our standards look like in practice.

Your controls: whitelist or blacklist

We’ve designed the approval system to give you full control over what runs on your platform, with minimal day-to-day workload. Two approaches, and you can switch between them at any time.

Whitelisting — maximum control

Only organizations you explicitly approve can run campaigns.

• Opt-in approval system — nothing runs without your sign-off
• Curated advertiser list — choose from our database of vetted organizations
• Zero unwanted ads — complete guarantee that only trusted organizations reach your audience
• Best for sensitive platforms where brand protection is the top priority

Blacklisting — maximum revenue

Accept campaigns from any advertiser that passes our screening, and pre-emptively block the ones you don’t want.

• All vetted campaigns allowed by default
• Pre-emptive blocking — blacklist specific organizations (such as direct competitors) before they can run
• Category exclusions — block entire industries or content types
• Best for publishers prioritising fill rate and total revenue

Controls available in both modes

Whichever approach you pick, you also get:

• Custom keyword filters — block ads containing specific terms
• Real-time blocking — instantly remove any organization or campaign mid-flight
• Category management — fine-tune which industries can advertise
• Switch anytime — move between whitelist and blacklist as your needs change

The publisher control dashboard

Everything above lives in a single dashboard:

• Mode selection — whitelist or blacklist
• Organization management — approve or block in one click
• Real-time ad monitoring — see exactly what’s running on your platform, live
• Performance analytics — track which advertisers and ad types perform best
• Category management — manage allowed or blocked industries
• Keyword and exclusion lists — maintain your own content filters
• Alert system — get notified when new organizations request to advertise (whitelist mode)

How we vet advertisers

Before any advertiser is approved for automatic campaign approval, they must:

• Pass background verification — legal entity confirmed, reputation checked
• Meet quality standards — creative and landing pages held to a clear bar
• Agree to ongoing compliance — commit to our content and quality guidelines
• Provide a transparent business model — clear explanation of their product or service
• Complete onchain verification — for web3 projects, proper security audits in place

Vetting isn’t a one-time event. We run:

• Performance tracking — advertisers that consistently underperform or draw complaints can lose auto-approval status
• Ongoing content monitoring — live campaigns are reviewed regularly for continued compliance
• Publisher feedback integration — your ratings and reports directly influence an advertiser’s standing
• Quarterly reviews — all approved organizations are reassessed periodically

Privacy by design

Protecting user data is as important as protecting your brand — and they’re closely linked.

• GDPR, CCPA, and global compliance baked in
• Minimal data collection — we only use what’s necessary to serve relevant ads
• No persistent user tracking — we don’t build profiles that follow users across the web
• Transparent data usage — clear documentation of what we collect and why
• Publisher-controlled consent — you control how consent is gathered from your users

We covered the full mechanics of this on the For Publishers page: no cookies, no pixels, no fingerprinting, just publicly available onchain data.

Your reputation, our priority

We built the combination of strict content standards, multi-step screening, and whitelist/blacklist controls because we believe you shouldn’t have to choose between protecting your brand and earning meaningful revenue.

Done right, ads on your platform should enhance the user experience — not detract from it. That’s the bar we hold ourselves to.