Our Tier Review System

Overview

To comply with the law and continue to bring happiness to our users, we have implemented a tiered review system to guide our decisions around Community Standards and Terms of Service violations. After we receive a report, Zoom’s dedicated Trust and Safety team reviews the report to determine whether there has been a violation of our Terms of Service or Community Standards.

We have established a documented escalation and review process for difficult reports. Our four-tiered review system ensures that each report receives the proper care and attention that it requires, helping us provide our users with an experience that is as open and diverse as it is free from harmful or malicious activity.

 

Tier I

Our Tier I reviewers are trained on the Community Standards, have passed a resiliency screening, and have mental health resources available to them. Tier I reviews reports flagged or submitted by people or AI for various categories of violations, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), spam, violent extremist groups, and hateful conduct, among others. Decisions that Tier I reviewers cannot make quickly either alone or in consultation with a peer or supervisor are escalated to Tier II.

 

Tier II

In addition to reviewing reports escalated from Tier I, our Tier II team reviews several categories of violations in the first instance, including potential violations of copyright or trademark infringement . Decisions that Tier II reviewers cannot make quickly either alone or in consultation with a peer or supervisor will be escalated to Tier III.

 

Tier III

In addition to reviewing reports escalated from Tier II, Tier III reviews controversial, hard-to-classify reports. Decisions at Tier III are made on a consensus basis. If the team cannot reach a consensus, the case is escalated to Tier IV. We memorialize Tier III decisions so that we can learn from each one going forward.

 

Tier IV (Appeals Panel)

Tier IV—also known as the Appeals Panel—is the final tier in the system, and reviews escalations from Tier III.

Tier IV panelists are carefully selected through a thoughtfully designed nomination process. We are committed to finding panelists who will be integrous and effective judges. In addition to holding a demonstrated track record of making decisions with good judgment, we seek panelists who are open-minded, effective listeners, and from a diversity of backgrounds, experience levels, tenures, and divisions across Zoom.

Panelists serve for one-year terms. At the end of a term, half of the panelists will be released. If fewer than half of the panelists opt to leave the panel, the rest of the half will be chosen at random. At least some panelists serve again, so that each panel has some institutional memory. No panelist will serve for more than two years total. New panelists will be nominated each year to replace those who are released.

Decisions at Tier IV are made by majority. To ensure objectivity, panelists are not permitted to discuss cases outside of the Panel until a decision has been made. Like Tier III decisions, we memorialize Tier IV decisions so that we can learn from each one.

Out of consideration for our users and employees on the T&S team, we don’t comment on pending T&S matters.