Flipboard’s Commitment: Truth, Quality Journalism, and Healthy Communities

Recently, there's been a lot of discussion about a platform's responsibility in combating misinformation and moderating harmful content and behavior.

We want to remind our community members and partners: Flipboard's values haven't changed. Our belief in truth, quality journalism and healthy communities is as strong as ever.

We're committed to promoting the facts and limiting misinformation while upholding our community guidelines. Our team works hard every day to create a safe environment for the people who choose to spend time here, and when guidelines are violated, we take action.

This is our commitment to our community, but we understand it is also our responsibility.

How do we work to promote quality journalism and limit misinformation?

We combine world-class technology with seasoned editorial expertise. Our engineers have described the process as an elaborate "layer cake." The ingredients start with a vetted set of publishers that are fed into our artificial intelligence algorithm. Of course, an algorithm can't tell the difference between the truth and a lie, so we add the next layer with human data scientists and editors. This team of engineers and editors works to distinguish trustworthy domains from those that deal in misinformation, spam, plagiarism or otherwise offensive content. When we spot bad actors, we take various actions to remove their content.

In addition, our editorial team curates the best content from around the web every day and partners directly with high-quality publishers such as ABC News, the Associated Press, the BBC, Bloomberg, The Conversation, New Scientist, NPR, and ProPublica. This exposes real journalism to readers via our Daily Edition news roundup, email newsletters, and push notifications.

These editorial choices also influence the blended algorithm that powers the popular "For You" feed. Our editorial team, all trained journalists with years of experience at trusted media organizations big and small, reads hundreds of stories every day to find the most accurate, balanced and truthful content. In an algorithm-driven world, we will never stop believing in the value of human news judgment.

In 2021, Flipboard's founder, Mike McCue, shared this statement with The Drum's John McCarthy: "Those spouting lies and hate should not be magnified by algorithms." McCue spoke to Flipboard's commitment to amplifying quality sources and how "algorithms and tech need to be balanced with judgement and principles."

What is our stance on moderation?

We enforce our community guidelines. Our mission is to foster a safe and inclusive platform for all people by prohibiting hateful, threatening, disrespectful, or harmful content, including anything that attacks, marginalizes, or dehumanizes individuals or groups - period. We ask all users to report any activity that violates these guidelines.

We do not get this right every day, but we will never abandon our mission. We are thankful to the people and partners that chose to spend time on Flipboard, and we work every day to deliver on our commitment.