TLDR; We're updating our policies to comply with increasing scrutiny around AI content. New rules ban certain categories of content including incest, self-harm, diaper, and a number of bodily excretions. All NSFW uploads now require metadata to stay visible. A new moderation system aims to improve content tagging and safety. ToS violating content will be removed after 30 days.
We’ve got some important changes rolling out across Civitai over the next few days, and we want to be completely transparent with you about what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what it means for you as a Creator or Enthusiast.
Why These Changes?
As many of you know, the world of AI content is under increasing scrutiny - from regulators, legislators, and the general public. Platforms like ours are being held to higher standards around safety, legality, and accountability. We’ve always striven to be a place for innovation, creativity, and openness, but some things have to change in order to continue operating, growing, and protecting our users.
These changes are about keeping the lights on and protecting the future of the platform.
What’s Changing?
Here’s a high-level overview of what’s rolling out today;
Terms of Service Update
We’ve updated Section 9.6 of our Terms of Service (ToS) to explicitly prohibit content depicting:
Incest
Self-harm, including depictions of anorexia or bulimia
Content that promotes hate, harm, or extremist ideologies
Bodily excretions and related fetishes, including;
Urine
Vomit
Menstruation
Diapers
And to;
Require all mature content (X, XXX) to include generation metadata. You'll be prompted to add metadata when uploading new content.
Additionally, the following content depicted in any mature or suggestive context (X, XXX) is explicitly prohibited;
Firearms aimed at or pointed towards individuals.
Mind-altered states, including being drunk, drugged, under hypnosis, or mind control.
Depiction of illegal substances or regulated products (e.g. narcotics, pharmaceuticals).
Content Filtering & Visibility Changes
We’re making system-level changes to make certain types of content and tags less visible across the platform when browsing with X or XXX enabled:
Real people and celebrities: Content tagged with real person names (like "Tom Cruise") or flagged as POI (real-person) resources will be hidden from feeds.
Minor content: Content with child/minor themes will be filtered out of feeds.
Missing Metadata: Existing X & XXX rated content that lacks generation metadata will be hidden from public view and marked with an alert, giving the content owner a chance to add the required details. Note that content without metadata will not be removed/deleted from the system, but will remain hidden - visible only to the uploader - until updated.
This change won’t take effect immediately - you’ll receive a notification if any of your uploads are affected.
Generator Changes
Images created with Bring Your Own Image (BYOI) will have a minimum 0.5 (50%) denoise applied. Images generated on-site, or remixed from other site images, will have no denoise restriction - for example, hi-res fix will still allow the 0.0-1.0 denoise values.
With X & XXX browsing levels visible, celebrity names will be blocked. Using celebrity names in combination with mature contexts continues to be prohibited.
Updated Monetization Policies
To tighten our policy around real people and ensure we're staying far away from monetizing likeness without consent:
Ads will not be shown on images or resources intended to reproduce the likeness of real people.
Tipping (Buzz) will not be possible on images or resources intended to reproduce the likeness of real people.
Early Access will not be available for any model intended to reproduce the likeness of real people.
New Legal Disclosures
We’ve added:
A 2257 Compliance Statement explaining that we do not permit any non-AI content on the platform.
A Content Removal Request page for people to report abusive or illegal material without being logged in. Civitai users should continue to flag/report content through the tools available on every image/video, post, and model. This is in addition to the form that was already available for people to request the removal of their likeness from the platform.
New Moderation Pipeline
Assigning accurate content ratings to images has long been a challenge for our platform. Over time, we have implemented a variety of systems and third-party services - such as Amazon Rekognition and Hive - in pursuit of better results. Unfortunately, these efforts have often yielded inconsistent and unsatisfactory outcomes.
We are now pleased to announce a new partnership with Clavata, whose image ingestion and analysis system represents the most advanced and accurate solution we have encountered to-date. This new system will work in tandem with our in-house scanning tools to significantly improve the reliability of image tagging and rating.
While no system is entirely without flaws, our internal testing indicates a marked improvement in accuracy and consistency. We're confident that this enhancement will lead to a better rating experience!
What do I need to do?
If you’re a Creator:
Review your existing content - Check for missing metadata on your uploads and help us out by preemptively removing content which is no longer permitted under the updated Terms of Service.
Download content you wish to keep - From today, content which infringes the new ToS will be hidden from public view, and will be removed entirely after a grace period of 30 days.
Make sure your new uploads include a prompt and other generation details so they stay visible. Note that you may continue to hide your prompts should you wish.
Flag any content you think violates the new policies. Remember we reward Buzz to people that report content that is removed.
Final Thoughts
We know changes like these can be difficult, but they’re necessary to protect Civitai and keep it running for the long term. Believe us when we say that these changes are by far the least disruptive of the options available to us. We’re doing our best to minimize disruption, but also to ensure that we’re meeting real-world obligations.
Thank you for sticking with us and being part of this amazing community!
I'll be discussing these adjustments on Twitch, Wednesday 23rd, 5pm EST (9pm UTC). Come along and I'll try to answer as many questions as possible! Watch the VoD!
To be clear, no content has been deleted/removed from the platform at this time.