Overviewing Fandom's Policies Regarding Political Content

As you may well know, the United States, where Fandom is headquartered and where the majority of our community lives, is having a Presidential election this fall.

It’s not Fandom’s role to discuss an election, so we’re not going to do so. Adjacent to that, though, is the topic of today’s blog, which is an overview and reminder of Fandom’s rules about politics and its role on the Fandom wiki platform.

Politics on Fandom Wikis[]

One of the core strengths of Fandom wikis is that they are, most prominently, encyclopedic reference sites about the topics they cover across gaming and entertainment. What brings users to Fandom wikis is a shared celebration of a common interest, and that’s the fandom itself – whether you want to look up a piece of information, contribute content about the thing you love, or join a conversation about it. Fandoms are best celebrated when they bring people together, in contrast to politics which is often and increasingly deeply divisive.

That’s why, as a general rule of thumb, real-world political conversations about elections and political issues don’t belong on Fandom. Beyond the social division it creates, our platform simply isn’t one in which we consider political discourse one of our core use cases – and I think that’s something most wiki editors would agree is a strength of this platform.

There are lots of websites on the internet you can go discuss politics on. There are very few dedicated to documenting the full collection of Frank Rossitano’s Trucker Hats. The latter is one we’d much rather be doing.

We understand that real-world politics can find their way into our favorite imagined worlds. VEEP was so darn funny because it played to peoples’ perceptions of Washington DC. Star Wars is well-known for being about rebellion against imperialism. Green Arrow from DC Comics is often portrayed as having left-wing politics, while Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation is famously a libertarian. Some of you may even have won Civilization on the Diplomacy setting (while I pillaged your land with my military might). Encyclopedic documentation and respectful discussion about these topics, particularly the influences that went into the creation of these franchises and topics, may make sense for your community in this context. We encourage local admins to set clear guidelines and moderate as needed, in line with our global Fandom policies.

Fandom’s Political Policies[]

Beyond this broad desire to keep politics out of Fandom, we do have some policies that are worth a refresher – especially in an election season. Here are some key things to reminder:

• Our Terms of Use cover what everyone on Fandom has agreed to by participating on this platform. That includes:
  • That users will not "post, link or transmit any written, visual, or symbolic content" that, among other things, does not "contains slurs, hate speech, dog whistles, and/or incitement of violence. This includes, but is not limited to: ableism, ageism, biphobia, discrimination based on family structure(s), ethnocultural discrimination, exorsexism, gender essentialism, homophobia, misogyny, polyphobia, racism, religious or areligious intolerance, sexism, and transphobia;"
  • Policies such as our Community Guidelines and Gender Identity Guidelines go further in depth about several of these topics.
• Our Community Creation Policy covers what’s not permitted regarding politics, including:
  • Wikis whose main purpose is to represent a political party, advocate for or against a political ideology, or generally opine regarding political issues;
  • Wikis or contents that are focused on personal ideologies, particularly those that would incite violence or discrimination;
  • Wikis whose main purpose is to create, discuss, or disseminate misinformation that threatens the health, safety or mental well-being of either individual users or the public-at-large;
  • We also have a “living people” section of our Community Creation policy that discourages starting wikis about individual, real-life people (including politicians) as those can become magnets for community issues. With this policy, a wiki is subject to immediate closure for violation.
• We encourage all of our users to engage with each other positively. Regardless of why – whether it’s politics or some other point of contention that causes conflict – we do not permit users to harass or defame each other, and users could be subject to bans.
• We always encourage users to keep conversation on the subject of the wiki and to generally avoid sharing personal information.
• Fandom does accept political advertising, but we reserve the right to refuse advertising that touches on sensitive topics. When we do accept political advertisements, we encourage ones that touch on broad, positive themes. If you see a political ad that you believe is a problem, please report it to us so we can review your feedback.

These rules, like any others, are of course subject to change as needed.

Getting in Touch With Us[]

If you have any concerns about Fandom’s political policies, you run into unwanted political discussions on Fandom, or you see a political ad that you just don’t think should be on Fandom, we encourage you to get in touch with us.

If your wiki has an assigned Fandom Community Manager, feel free to reach out to them. Alternatively, you can contact our Fandom Support team with your questions, feedback, or concerns. We are more than happy to have a conversation with you about any of this.

Timothy Quievryn

Fandom Staff

Tim is the Director of Community Safety at FANDOM. You are likely to run into him hiking in some national park or at a racetrack. He pretends to not be pop-culture savvy, but he did once see a Star War. Long live the party parrot.

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