Community & Character Guidelines

Everyone in the Character Studio Program, creators on earlier terms included. Where older terms conflict with this doc, this doc wins on conduct, character, and content. Pay terms are governed by Program Terms.

By posting Cantina character content, you agree to these guidelines, the Cantina Terms of Service, and the terms of service of every platform you post to.

• Your character is yours. What it says and does is on you.
• No minors. Ever. In any form. Non-negotiable.
• No hate speech, no deepfakes, no impersonating real people to deceive.
• Your character is built in Cantina. That's the one non-negotiable about how you make things.
• One account per person. One social account per platform unless you've earned more.
• Be a decent human in the community.

Everything below is detail on those six.

The community space (forum, rooms, DMs, comments) is a workspace. The character rules are permissive on purpose. The community rules are strict on purpose.

Expected

• Give real feedback. Take real feedback.
• Share what's working. The program gets better when creators aren't guessing.
• Keep character content in character-content spaces.

Not allowed

• Harassment, threats, or targeted pile-ons against other creators or staff
• Hate speech directed at real people. The "it's my character talking" defense does not apply in community spaces
• Sharing another creator's personal information, private messages, or unpublished work
• Spam, referral-link dumping, or recruiting for outside programs
• Engagement pods, view-trading schemes, or organized gaming of program metrics
• Sexual content involving other members, unsolicited sexual DMs, or using the community as a hookup channel

Staff are held to the same standard. If a team member crosses a line, report it (Section 9).

Pretty much anything you can dream up. A conspiracy theorist potato. A sentient vibrator running for city council. A foul-mouthed parody villain. A retired porn star turned motivational speaker. A fictional celebrity from a universe you invented. Weird, dark, unhinged, absurd: that's the point.

Adult. Provocative. Mean. Genuinely strange. All fine.

No minors. Your character cannot be a minor: in name, bio, avatar, voice, or behavior. This includes characters that feel like a minor. Non-negotiable.

No child-coded characters in sexual contexts. Doesn't matter if they're "technically an adult." If the character reads as a child in a sexual context, it's gone.

No hate speech. Using a character to target people based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, or disability, fictional or not, is against the rules. Satire and dark humor are welcome. Content built to degrade a real group of people is out.

No impersonating real people to deceive or harm. Parody is allowed. Pretending to actually be a real person, fabricating endorsements, or deceiving users is out.

No deepfakes. Creating convincing fake versions of real people, or fabricating statements they never made, is prohibited.

No non-consensual sexual content involving real people. Including sexualized depictions of identifiable real individuals.

No misleading descriptions. Your character's name, bio, and avatar should reflect what it actually does. Deliberately deceiving users about what they're interacting with isn't allowed.

No directing your character toward illegal activity or harm. Phishing, fraud, violence, self-harm encouragement, dangerous instructions. If your character is a vehicle for harm, it's a weapon and it's gone.

Your character is yours. Whatever it says, does, or encourages is on you. "The character did it" is not a defense.

Where you post

Approved platforms: TikTok and Instagram. YouTube Shorts is not yet approved. Don't count on it until it's announced.

What counts as your content

• All content must feature your Cantina AI character
• Content must be original. Do not repost other creators' content as your own
• Cantina outro and logo required on all published content

External production tools

You can use external production tools (Kling, Higgsfield, other motion or video tools) in your workflow, provided:

• The character originates and lives in Cantina AI, built in Character Studio
• All content follows these guidelines and platform terms
• A Cantina outro is included
• Any use of Cantina logo or branding follows brand guidelines

Reviewed case by case. The rule is simple: your character is built here. What you do to bring it to life is up to you.

Authentic reach only

Views and engagement must be earned. Purchased views, bot traffic, engagement pods, click farms, and duplicate-account boosting are all prohibited. Suspicious activity gets audited, and affected metrics are excluded.

One account per person. Creating multiple Cantina accounts to game requirements or reset counts is a removal-level violation.

Additional accounts are earned. Submitting additional social accounts on the same platform without approval is a removal-level violation. Performance requirements and the request process are in Program Terms.

You keep what you build. Content, characters, and tools stay in your account.

Most problems are fixable, and most get fixed. Enforcement is graduated, except where it isn't.

Graduated path

Notice. In-app notification and email explaining what happened, what to change, and by when. No penalty.

Strike. Formal warning on your account. Content may be removed. Strikes expire after 90 days of clean standing.

Suspension. Posting and program participation paused pending review.

Removal. Program participation ends.

Three active strikes escalates to suspension.

Immediate removal, no warning

• Content involving minors, or child-coded characters in sexual contexts
• Hate speech or content built to degrade a real group of people
• Deepfakes, or impersonating a real person to deceive or harm
• Directing a character toward illegal activity or serious harm
• Non-consensual sexual content involving real people
• Creating multiple Cantina accounts to game requirements
• Purchased views, bot traffic, or organized metric manipulation
• Harassment or threats against creators or staff

Performance-based exits (falling below program thresholds) are not violations and carry no strike. They're handled under Program Terms.

Appeals

You can appeal any strike, suspension, or removal within 14 days by replying to the enforcement notice or emailing ops.characterstudio@cantina.ai. Include your account phone number and what you think we got wrong. You'll get a decision within 14 business days. Appeals are reviewed by someone who wasn't involved in the original decision.

Immediate-removal violations can be appealed, but the bar is factual error, and a change of heart doesn't clear it.

• Another creator's content or conduct: report in-app, or email ops.characterstudio@cantina.ai
• Community space issues: flag to an Ambassador or moderator in the room
• A staff member: email ops.characterstudio@cantina.ai, routed outside the program team
• Safety emergencies involving real-world harm: contact local emergency services first, then us

Reports are confidential to the extent we can keep them. Retaliation against someone who reports in good faith is itself a violation. Bad-faith reports to knock out a competitor are too.

Good standing on the guidelines side means:

• Content features your Cantina character and follows Sections 4 to 6
• At least one social handle per approved platform submitted and tracked
• Posting 3 videos a week that each reach 350 views
• No active strikes
• You're a good presence in the community

Performance requirements are separate and live in Program Terms.

ops.characterstudio@cantina.ai