Strengthening Our Approach to Mature Content on Etsy (original) (raw)

Hi Everyone,

Etsy is deeply committed to marketplace integrity, and keeping Etsy a safe and delightful place for users around the world. Our policies are designed to protect our global community, and maintain our position as the destination for truly special, creative goods.

Etsy has long had policies in place that prohibit certain mature content and provide guidance on how to appropriately list adult items. Today, we are building on this foundation, updating our standards, and introducing more rigorous guidelines. These updates can be found in our Adult Nudity and Sexual Content policy, and will take effect on July 29, 2024. We carefully crafted this policy with the goal of continuing to enable creative expression and the spirit of our marketplace, while taking into account evolving industry standards and best practices so that we can continue to keep our users safe.

A few key changes to our policy include:

• Significantly limiting the types of adult toys and sexual accessories that can be sold on Etsy: Some categories of adult toys and sexual accessories are prohibited, and it is now more clear which specific types of adult and sexual items are allowed if listed appropriately. You can see more detail about prohibited items here.
• Prohibiting items that depict sex acts and genitalia: Photographs and photo-realistic depictions of sex acts and genitalia, even if they are obscured in listing images, are prohibited. Adult nudity is generally permitted if it is non-realistic, like paintings and sculptures, if listed appropriately. Pornography in any form is never allowed on Etsy.
• Introducing stricter criteria for listing images that feature mature content: Mature content—including permitted nudity and permitted sexual content—may not appear in the public areas of your account, including but not limited to your shop home, username, or avatar. If your listing includes mature content, the first thumbnail image must be adequately obscured.

Please note that these policies apply to all listings on Etsy, including content produced using artificial intelligence. We encourage you to read through our new Adult Nudity and Sexual Content policy, as well as our updated guidance for Listing Mature Content Correctly.

We will begin enforcing these changes on July 29, and removing listings that are not compliant. In the coming weeks, we will also communicate directly with sellers who may need to update their listing images to be compliant with our new listing guidance for mature content.

These updates build upon our continued efforts to keep Etsy and our community safe, and we appreciate your understanding and support as we work to identify and remove prohibited content from our marketplace.