Readwise Community Guidelines
Readwise makes apps for people who love to read. Readwise Books is where those readers meet: to talk about the books they finish, find people to read along with, and keep track of what to read next. These Guidelines describe what helps that community work, and what doesn’t.
They apply to anything you share with other people in our apps. In Readwise Books, that means your reviews, shelves, comments, direct messages, reading sessions, and profile. In Readwise Highlights and Readwise Reader, it means what you make public, such as a highlight you share as an image, your Broadcast page, or a document you share with a public link. These Guidelines are part of the Terms of Service.
This is not a complete list. Use it as a guide to the spirit of how we expect people to behave, and use your judgment about the rest.
1. What we encourage
We want honest reviews, including critical ones. A thoughtful two-star review of a beloved bestseller is a worthwhile addition to the community, and we will not penalize you for taste.
We want genuine engagement with other readers, including when you disagree. Push back on a take. Defend a book everyone else hated. Change your mind in public.
We want you to follow readers whose taste excites you, not the herd. Readwise Books helps you find people to read with, have thoughtful conversations about books, and spend more time reading, not endlessly scrolling through a feed.
We want you to warn readers before you post spoilers, especially for recent releases.
We want you to report things you see going wrong instead of joining in.
2. Honest reviews and ratings
Every rating in Readwise Books assumes a real reader finished the book and is sharing an honest opinion. We act when that assumption is broken.
- Do not review books or authors you have not read. You are welcome to review any book you have read, including books you read in print or on other platforms.
- Do not organize or take part in coordinated fake reviews, ratings, or votes, whether against a book, an author, a publisher, or another reader.
- Do not trade reviews for compensation, free copies, or anything else of value unless you clearly disclose the arrangement in your review.
- Do not try to force a book’s rating for reasons unrelated to the book, such as an author’s personality, a political grievance, a dispute with a publisher, or a fandom conflict.
Critical reviews are welcome, including harsh ones and ones that buck the consensus. What we do not tolerate is dishonesty.
3. Respectful behavior
Disagree all you want, but challenge the argument, never the person.
- No hate speech, slurs, or harassment.
- No threats, doxxing, or incitement of violence.
- No personal attacks on authors. Criticize the book, not the author.
- No pile-ons against other readers.
- The same rules apply in direct messages. We act on reported messages.
4. Privacy and authenticity
Readwise Books is public by default, so only share information that is yours to share.
- Do not share other people’s private information without their consent. That includes real names, addresses, workplaces, phone numbers, and anything else not already public.
- Do not impersonate other readers, authors, publishers, or Readwise.
- Do not share accounts. Each account is for one person, as described in Account sharing in the Terms of Service. Bots and accounts run by a group are not allowed unless they say so clearly.
- Do not claim books you have not read or accolades you have not earned on your profile.
5. Spoilers
Add a written spoiler warning before major plot points in your reviews or comments. Be especially careful in reviews of recent releases, comments on other people’s shelves, and your comments on Shared Session Recaps. (The recaps themselves are spoiler-free by design, but what you add around them may not be.)
6. Mature and sensitive content
Literature handles difficult subjects, and so does the conversation around it. We do not sanitize what we sell. But describing difficult material in a review is different from posting that material yourself.
- Reviews and conversations about books with mature themes are welcome. This includes sex, violence, drug use, abuse, trauma, and mental illness.
- Content that sexualizes minors is not allowed.
- Content that depicts non-consensual acts approvingly or glorifies real-world violence is not allowed.
- Content that is itself pornographic is not allowed. Describing a book’s sexual content is different from posting that content yourself.
- Because Readwise Books is open to minors, we may limit some discussions by age, or label them, to keep them out of feeds where they do not belong. That is a moderation choice, not a moral judgment. For age limits and child protection, see Eligibility in the Terms of Service and Children’s privacy in the Privacy Policy.
7. Honest activity
The social features in Readwise Books only work when the activity behind them is real. Do not fake your reading.
- Do not game your reading leaderboard ranking with fake reading sessions or bot activity.
- Do not use automation to follow, like, comment, post, or message.
- Do not run multiple accounts to manipulate visibility or rankings.
We treat manipulation of activity data as seriously as we treat dishonest reviews.
8. AI-generated content
You can use AI to refine a review you have written: fix typos, sharpen a sentence, restructure a paragraph. The reading and the reviews should be yours.
Readwise Books tracks your reading progress. Your shelves, sessions, and highlights show that you actually read the book. Use them as the foundation of what you post, not as cover for AI-generated text about a book you did not read.
- Do not pass AI-generated content off as your own.
- Disclose AI co-authorship when it is substantial. A sentence cleaned up with AI is fine. A whole review written by AI is not.
Our AI features are designed to help you read, not to write for you. See the AI Policy. We hold what you post to the same standard.
9. Spam, scams, and illegal activity
- No spam, scams, phishing, or fraudulent promotion.
- No multi-level marketing, pyramid schemes, or coordinated link-pushing.
- No solicitation, whether in comments or direct messages.
- No promotion of regulated or illegal goods or services.
- No copyright or trademark infringement, and no unauthorized sharing of copyrighted text. This includes chapter dumps, full-book photos, and pirated files in any form.
- No instructions, tools, or links for removing DRM or getting around other content protection.
10. How we moderate
We use both automated tools and human review. When we act, we use the lightest response that fits. We tell you what we did, which rule or law we relied on, whether we used automated tools, and how to appeal.
- Warnings. For minor or first-time issues, we will usually start with a warning and tell you which Guideline applied.
- Content removal. We may take down individual reviews, comments, or other User Content that violates these Guidelines or the Terms of Service.
- Temporary suspensions. For repeated or more serious violations, we may suspend an account for a period.
- Permanent removal. For coordinated, deceptive, or harmful behavior, or for repeated suspensions, we may permanently close accounts, including linked accounts.
- Law enforcement. We may report serious or illegal conduct to law enforcement, especially in matters of child safety or imminent harm.
Sometimes we will get it wrong. If you think we have, tell us. See Appeals below for what to do next.
11. What we will not moderate
There are things we will not act on, even when reports come in.
- We will not remove a critical review because the author asked us to.
- We will not remove or moderate content because someone with influence is uncomfortable, or because a coordinated complaint campaign demands it. We act on content that breaks these Guidelines, the Terms of Service, or the law.
- We will not act on reports whose real grievance is taste, fandom loyalty, or losing an argument.
We will not take down a review just because someone wants it gone. If you disagree with a take, respond to it: write your own, make your case, and let readers see both sides. A good reading community thrives on a range of honest opinions.
12. How to report
In Readwise Books, use the report option on any review, comment, profile, message, or shelf. For anything else, including serious concerns such as threats, doxxing, child safety, or suspected fraud, even when they happen outside Readwise Books, email hello@readwise.io. To report that content infringes your copyright, follow Copyright complaints in the Terms of Service.
Anyone can report content they believe is illegal, even without an account, by emailing hello@readwise.io. Tell us where it is and why you think it’s illegal.
Do not engage with people breaking these Guidelines yourself. Report them and let us handle it.
13. Appeals
You can appeal any content removal or account action.
- Appeal in the app, by replying to the notice we sent you, or by emailing hello@readwise.io.
- Where practical, a different person reviews the appeal than the one who made the original decision.
- We respond within a reasonable time and tell you what we decided.
14. For authors and publishers
The Guidelines above apply to you too. A few things matter more for authors and publishers, because the power balance is different.
- Do not ask readers for reviews in exchange for compensation, free copies, or favors without disclosure. If you do, the reader must disclose the arrangement in the review.
- Do not pile on critical reviewers or rally followers or fans against them. A bad review is not an emergency.
- Do not use Readwise Books to run fake grassroots campaigns, fake reviews, or fake pre-publication buzz.
- Do not impersonate readers or create fake accounts to praise your own work or to sabotage competitors.
- If you have access to a publisher dashboard, the data is for understanding readers in aggregate. It is not for targeting individuals, contacting reviewers, or pressuring critics.
We act faster on author-side violations than on reader-side ones, because authors and publishers have more power.
15. Changes to these Guidelines
We will update these Guidelines as the community grows and as we see new problems. When we do, we update the “Last updated” date at the top. If a change is material, we tell you before it takes effect, for example in the app, on our website, or by email.
16. Contact information
For questions about these Community Guidelines, email us at hello@readwise.io. Our mailing address is in Contact information in the Terms of Service.