pixiv Guidelines

Guidelines

pixiv Inc. (hereafter referred to as the Company) acknowledges that pixiv (hereafter referred to as the Service) has a responsibility to society, and has therefore created these Guidelines to ensure sound and smooth operation of the Service.

Regulations

These Guidelines are set independently by the Company, and may be changed at its discretion depending on changes in society and the environment. Items set forth in these Guidelines are subordinate to the regulations set forth in the Service Master Terms of Use and Individual Terms of Use for the Services.

Prohibited Conduct

Defamatory, threatening, economically or psychologically damaging or detrimental tags or comments
Adding tags that are unrelated to the content of a work
Posting comments for the purpose of inappropriate advertising or solicitation
Using user IDs or work IDs for defamatory purposes, either on this Service or other websites
Using crawlers and other programs to aggregate or gather works
Anything that places an extreme load on the server
Repeatedly posting works/information that copy the artistic style of a specific third party as prank or for malicious purposes, or engaging in other activities that the Company deems could be detrimental to the creative identity or professional activities of a third party
Posting high volumes of works in order to monopolize space and visibility, or engaging in other activity that has a severe impact on other users
Activities that damage the reputation, trust, etc. of a third party
Defamation, sedition, or aggression based on hate, prejudice, or intolerance
Impersonating a company account, another user, or other third party, or engaging in activity that the Company deems could be construed as impersonation
Other activities that could have a severe impact on the Service and users’ experiences

Guidelines on Works, Comments, and all Other Types of Posts

The Service allows users not only to post works, but also to post comments, tags, messages, and various other types of information. Under these Guidelines, the term “posts” refers to all information sent and received using the Service, including images, text, and other data.

Posting Content Responsibility

Users bear responsibility for the repercussions of all their own activities and post content on the Service, regardless of the software, tools, programs, or conditions/processes used, and regardless of whether the activities/posts were made willfully or out of negligence. Users are asked to exercise careful judgment about whether their activities are socially acceptable, regardless of whether or not the activities are in violation of the Guidelines, Terms of Use, etc.

Prohibited Post Content

The following types of post content (including images, text, and all other data included in posts) are prohibited, and such content may be deleted at the discretion of the Company.

Posts that are defamatory, threatening, economically or emotionally damaging or detrimental
Posts that contain needlessly warped or distorted depictions of sex
Posts that contain shockingly or disturbingly strong violence
Posts that promote needlessly extreme ideas or ideologies
Posts that glorify or excessively foster antisocial conduct such as criminal or unlawful behavior, gang activity, etc.
Posts that promote discrimination on the basis of race, belief, occupation, gender, or religion
Posts that display the actions of religious cults or political extremists
Posts that contain excessive and/or needlessly shocking cruelty, and that could encourage others to engage in such cruelty
Posts that contain sexual content involving real persons who are minors, or photo-realistic depictions of minors that could be mistaken for real persons
Posts that use programs or other automated methods to create excessively accurate copies or imitations of works without permission from the copyright holder of the work
Posts that wrongfully incorporate existing images, etc. into the production process without permission from the creator and/or subject, in such a way as to be detrimental to the creator and/or subject

Illustrations, Manga, Ugoira, and Other Images

Images (including illustrations, manga, ugoira, novel covers, reference materials, direct image uploads, etc.) that fall under any of the following conditions are considered prohibited posts, and may be deleted at the discretion of the Company.

Depictions of exposed genitalia
Foreign objects that are meant to represent sexual acts or exposed genitalia
Images that are primarily real-life photographs, regardless of the use of filters or photo editing (*)
Real-life photographs or photo-realistic images that can be interpreted as sexual or cruel content
Real-life photographs or photo-realistic images that can cause confusion in society or violate public order and morality

Works where the photograph is not the main subject of the image, such as when a photograph is used as a background
Works where the photograph has been altered to the point that it can no longer be considered a photograph
Works where a photograph is used as a cover for a novel
Works where the photograph is used with the Reference Materials feature in Novels
Works uploaded into novels using the feature to upload illustrations

*Cases where appropriate censorship has been conducted on depictions of exposed genitalia, penetration, etc. may be acceptable, if they fall under acceptable social norms.

About Novels

About Novel Content

The Company defines the following works as original novels. The Company's management team will prioritize works whose information has been submitted through the "Provide information about this work" form, and if a work does not meet the definition of "original work", its "original work" label may be removed.

Original works that the user has created entirely by themselves, including the scenario, characters, and settings
Works based on titles that approve the secondary use of their characters and settings
Works based on titles whose copyright protection period has expired (fairy tales, classics, etc.)
Works based on historical figures and events

Examples of works which may be subject to a request for revision

Works based on content to which others hold the rights
Works including a portion of content (characters, settings, etc.) to which others hold the rights
Works based on real people (celebrities, streamers, etc.)

About Novel Genres

pixiv has established genres to make it easier for users to browse original novels.

Genres are listed according to pixiv's independent classification and are subject to change. Also, they may differ from the categories used by related services (see the "pixiv Terms of Use, Article 2: Definitions").

In the event that a submitted novel does not match the genre that was set for it, the management team may change the genre to one that they deem more appropriate.

Prohibited Actions when Posting Novels

Posting the following information as a novel is prohibited, and such posts may be deleted at the discretion of the Company.

Lists of machine-generated text, or meaningless text that cannot be understood by a third party
Posts that do not include text at all. However, images (such as text screenshots) posted with novel text in them are exempt from this restriction

Age-restricted Works

The Service requires age restriction settings to be applied to works that are not suitable for viewing by minors under age 18, regardless of the process used to create the work.

[R-18]: Anything that can be associated with, or represents sex, or which represents the union or joining of the genitals, or which is reminiscent of sexual acts.
[R-18G]: Violent scenes, ideas, and imitative depictions that are to be considered highly dangerous or shocking.
* In particular, works that include detailed depictions of lacerations and/or the internal organs of human and/or animal bodies, works that depict violence such as torture, and depictions of extreme body modifications for violent purposes should be marked "R-18G".

About Censorship (Mosaics/Pixelation)

Works including depictions of graphic sex and/or violence may be posted to the Service only if they have been censored appropriately.

Content Requiring Censorship (Mosaics/Pixelation)

Genitalia, images of penetration, and graphic depictions of wounds, lacerations, etc. must be censored appropriately.
Examples

Genitals or areas reminiscent of genitals
The union or joining of the genitals and/or the insertion of foreign objects into genitals
The union or joining of anuses and/or the insertion of foreign objects into anuses
Unnecessarily detailed depictions of amputations, cuts, lacerations, etc.

* Cases where genitals are not depicted in detail, such as in sketches, images for educational purposes, or other images not intended to be sexual may not be subject to censorship, depending on social norms. However, such images must be labeled with the appropriate age restriction.

How to Censor Works (Mosaics/Pixelation)

Please censor works posted to the Service using the following methods.

Generally speaking, the decision about which parts of an image are inappropriate and should be censored should be based on visual judgment rather than on the technical nature of the image.
Censorship should be conducted in the same layer (in Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop, etc.) as the parts being censored, so that no software programs can reverse the censorship after the fact.
The range of the censored area should extend all the way to the outline.
Vague mosaics/pixelation where details are visible due to insufficient opacity, etc. are not considered to be censorship.
The following are guidelines for using mosaics/pixelation:
Mosaics should use squares at least 4x4 pixels in size. If the image is more than 400 pixels long, the dimensions of the mosaic squares should be 1/100 the length of the whole image.
Censorship using solid colors should conceal all inappropriate parts of the image. However, exceptions can be made if concealing only a part of the image leads to an acceptable result.
Censorship using whiteout or other patterns / painting techniques should conceal all inappropriate parts of the image. However, exceptions can be made if concealing only a part of the image leads to an acceptable level of censorship overall.

About adding and removing age restrictions for posts content, including images and text

Images and text (titles, captions, summaries, the body text of a novel, reference materials, and text submitted using the image submission feature) are all treated as a part of a work. When checking for age restrictions and removing works, the Company's management team will prioritize works for which information has been submitted through the "Provide information about this work" form.

For profile pictures, cover images for request terms, and other non-work content that is visible to all users, the Company prohibits the setting of images, etc. that require age restrictions.

If the Company discovers prohibited works or prohibited images or text used outside of works, the Company management team may add or change age restrictions appropriately, or delete the prohibited work, image, text, etc.

In cases of malicious conduct, including the prohibited conduct described above, the Company may take measures such as suspending user accounts, etc. The Company is unable to respond to inquiries regarding the reasons for such actions.

About AI-generated Work

The Service defines "AI-generated" work as work in which all or most of the production process is carried out by AI (artificial intelligence). All AI-generated work posted to the Service must be labeled as such.

The following types of work must be labeled as AI-generated work, regardless of the software or tools used to create the work, or other modes of use/processes.

Works that are not labeled as AI-generated may be automatically labeled as such by the Company, at the Company’s discretion, based on these guidelines, in cases where the Company can objectively judge based on the usage status of the work that the work was generated by AI.

Illustrations
- An artwork for which all or most of the production process was carried out by AI.
- For example, an illustration created by combining specific prompts and posted with little to no editing, regardless of format (e.g. text, images).
Novels, Manga, and Ugoira
- A work for which all or most of the production process, including the story, writing, placement, drawing, and animation, was carried out by AI.
- For example, work created by combining specific prompts and posted with little to no editing, regardless of format (e.g. text, images). However, work that includes AI-generated resources as secondary content (for example, images in a novel) does not need to be set as AI-generated.

Other

Setting a Language for your Work

In order to make it easier to search for works by language, pixiv allows you to set a language for novels and manga
Available languages may be added or changed in the future
In the event that the content of a work does not match its language settings, the Company reserves the right to change its language as deemed appropriate

Viewing restrictions by region

Our service operates in strict compliance with the law, so based on the region of operation (by both the company and each community member), certain content may be subject to restrictions such as display restrictions if the content violates the law in the region from which the person is browsing.

Supplementary provisions

Enacted on October 8, 2007
Revised on November 15, 2019
Revised on September 16, 2020
Revised on November 9, 2020
Revised on July 8, 2021
Revised on September 15, 2022
Revised on May 31, 2023
Revised on December 25, 2023
Revised on April 10, 2024
Revised on April 18, 2024