Federation is a privilege, not a right. Each service must carefully curate the actors it federates with. Having a clear federation policy can help your membership understand when and why a domain might be blocked from delivery, and improves predictability of your actions. It can also help your moderation team make clear, informed decisions.
IFTAS believes that everyone has the right to block anyone, at any time, for any reason.
Example Policy 1 #
SERVICENAME interconnects various services using the ActivityPub standard. ActivityPub provides two layers; a server to server federation protocol so decentralized websites can share information, and a client to server protocol so real-world users, bots, and other automated processes can communicate with ActivityPub using their accounts on servers.
SERVICENAME curates the servers with which it federates. As such, SERVICENAME endeavours to provide a safe, abuse-free service for people to use for all manner of topics and conversations, while observing the general etiquette of being in a public space.
Servers, and service providers, that stand in direct contrast to SERVICENAME’s Code of Conduct are subject to limitation of deliverability.
Limitations are, in ascending order of severity:
- Reject Media
No files from the remote server will be processed locally including avatars, headers, emojis and media attachments. Accounts can be found and followed. Messages will still be delivered. - Silence
All past and future accounts from the remote server are silenced and will not be visible in public timelines, but can be found and followed. Followed accounts will show up in the home timeline of the member following those accounts. - Suspend
All past and future accounts from the server are disconnected and undeliverable. No content from the remote server will be stored locally except for usernames. Accounts cannot be found nor followed.
A service that consistently delivers untagged explicit content, gore, or imagery and video that is required to be tagged according to our Code of Conduct, will be set to Reject Media. Accounts on that service can still be found and followed.
or
A service that consistently delivers explicit content, gore, or imagery and video that is forbidden on our service will be Suspended. No accounts can be found or followed, no messages will be delivered.
A service that consistently fails to moderate their general membership and can be demonstrated to host individual accounts that would contravene our Code of Conduct may be Silenced.
A service that willingly, knowingly hosts members that publicly and repeatedly exhibit hate, discrimination and/or harassment will be Silenced. Accounts can be found and followed, although individual accounts may be Suspended.
A service that consistently fails to moderate their general membership and can be demonstrated to host a preponderance of accounts that contravene our Code of Conduct will be Suspended. No accounts can be found or followed, no messages will be delivered.
A service that willingly, knowingly hosts members that publicly and repeatedly allow content illegal in the SERVICE JURISDICTION(S) will be Suspended. No accounts can be found or followed, no messages will be delivered.
Example Policy 2 #
Why We Have a Federation Policy
At example.social, we want to foster a healthy, respectful, and inclusive community. That means we’re thoughtful about which other servers we connect to – and which we don’t. This federation policy helps our team make clear, consistent decisions about server relationships. It’s also a way for us to communicate transparently with our users and peers across the Fediverse.
Who We’re Happy to Federate With
We welcome federation with services that:
- Have active moderation and clear community guidelines
- Enforce rules against harassment, hate speech, and targeted abuse
- Share a commitment to human rights, accessibility, and respectful discourse
- Are transparent about their moderation decisions and values
- Do not knowingly host or tolerate disinformation, extremist content, or abusive actors
Who We Will Not Federate With
We do not federate with services that:
- Permit racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, or other forms of bigotry
- Allow harassment, brigading, stalking, or doxxing
- Host or tolerate extremist groups, glorify violence, or promote conspiracy theories
- Have little to no moderation, especially in large communities
- Are known for spam, bots, phishing, or platform manipulation
Actions We May Take
Silencing: Posts from the remote server won’t appear in our public timeline, but users can still follow one another manually.
Suspension (Defederation): The server is entirely blocked. Users can’t follow, interact with, or see content from that domain.
Temporary Limits: During major events (e.g. viral news, coordinated harassment), we may temporarily restrict or suspend a domain without severing connections while we assess the situation. All actions are taken based on the best interests of our community.
Publicly Available Federation Policies #
Do you have a Federation Policy and want it added here? Tell us about it.
