Howl Community Guidelines

LAST UPDATED: 3/4/2024

Our Community Guidelines 

As a member of the Howl community, we want you to feel supported, safe, and connected to other creators while you grow your business. To achieve that, we are deliberate about how we foster community and create a space where creators like you can thrive. 

As part of our commitment to supporting creators that use Howl, we have developed these Community Guidelines to clarify what is and is not acceptable behavior when using the Howl’s platform and service. Growing your business by working with leading global Merchants means that you will be held to high standards. 

These Community Guidelines are not a substitute for your compliance with our Terms of Use. It is important that you review, understand and abide by our Terms of Use in connection with your use of our Services.  Please note that any terms used in these Community Guidelines that are capitalized but not defined are defined in such Terms of Use.

No Gaming the System 

You shall not attempt to increase your Commissions in a dishonest way, including but not limited to: 

  • Creating duplicate Accounts; 
  • Publishing Partner Links using Accounts that are not your own; 
  • Using your own Partner Links to buy and return products while keeping the payouts; 
  • Influencing your audience to engage with your Partner Links on content unrelated to a product or service recommendation; 
  • Attempting to inflate Commissions; and/or
  • Bypassing Howl and engaging Merchants directly to access opportunities found on the Platform.

Be Inclusive 

You shall not engage in any conduct or post any content that discriminates against, defames, or degrades any person or group of people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, occupation, political affiliation, socio-economic status, disability or medical conditions. 

Be Honest 

You shall not engage in any conduct or post any content that... 

  • Is likely to deceive any person, impersonates, or misrepresents one's affiliation with another person or organization. 
  • Involves spam or fake engagement or artificially collects likes, followers, or shares, posts repetitive comments or content, or repeatedly contacts people for commercial purposes without their consent. 
  • Offers money or giveaways of money in exchange for likes, followers, comments or other engagement. 
  • Engages in, promotes, encourages, facilitates, or admits to the offering, solicitation or trade of fake and misleading user reviews or ratings. 
  • Spreads misinformation.
  • Intentionally games the system (including but not limited to creating duplicate Accounts, bypassing Howl and engaging Merchants directly, using their own Partner Links to buy and return products while keeping the payouts, clicking on links with payouts to inflate payouts, etc.).
  • Gives the impression that you or your content emanates from or are endorsed by us or any other person or entity, if this is not the case.
  • Implies that you are an employee or authorized representative of Merchant. 

Be Transparent

  • Clearly and conspicuously disclose the connection you have to Merchants  in your communications about Merchant, particularly when this connection is not clear to your audience (and it is not reasonably capable of being presumed or implied).  Examples:

    • I get commissions for purchases or leads made through links in this post. 

    • This is an affiliate link and I receive a commission from Merchant for purchases or leads generated through this link.

    • I get a commission when you buy through my link.
  • The following examples are not sufficient disclosures:

    • Simply stating “affiliate link” or “these are affiliate links” or similar variations 

    • Use of #affiliatelink
  • When posting to forums where there is limited space, include an appropriate hashtag notation, such as “#sponsored,” “#ad,” or “#paid.
  • Links must be posted on publicly accessible channels.

Follow The Rules  

  • Adhere to the posting guidelines and comply with all other applicable rules, requirements, terms and conditions on any site on which you post content, including, without limitation, the Meta “Branded Content Policies
  • Do not disclose or discuss any confidential information, or any proprietary, non-public information about Merchant, its customers, employees, business partners or suppliers
  • Do not scrape or spider any Merchant site for content (e.g., text, logos, or images) without Merchant’s express written consent.
  • Do not use any copyrighted music.

Keep it Clean

You shall not engage in any conduct or post any content that... 

  • Depicts, promotes, or enables bullying or harassment of any kind. 
  • Depicts, promotes, or enables violence, suffering, suicide, or self-harm. 
  • Features nudity, pornography, or sexually explicit content. 
  • Features excessively vulgar or profane language.
  • Depicts, promotes, or enables criminal activities, terrorism or hate groups. 
  • Encourages, praises, or promotes dangerous actors or groups and their activities. 
  • Relates to activities or goods that are regulated or illegal in the majority of the world, even if the activities or goods in question are legal in the jurisdiction of posting. 
  • Offers sexual services, buys or sells firearms, alcohol, and tobacco products between private individuals, and buys or sells pharmaceutical drugs. 
  • Promotes online gambling, online real money games of skill or online lotteries.
  • Shares sexual content involving minors or threatens to post intimate images of others. 

Respect the Privacy of Others 

You shall not engage in any conduct or post any content that… 

  • Shares, offers or solicits personally identifiable information or other private information that could lead to physical or financial harm, including financial, residential, and medical information, as well as private information obtained from illegal sources. 
  • Attempts to gather sensitive personal information or engage in unauthorized access by deceptive or invasive methods are harmful to the authentic, open and safe atmosphere that we want to foster. 

Authenticity Only 

You shall only use Partner Links to endorse products or Merchants you have actually used and actually approve of. You may only make statements that reflect your honest beliefs, opinions, or experiences and are transparent about your connection to Merchants. 
You shall also only use Partner Links on domains you have actually used and actually approve of.

Be Nice or be Gone 

You shall not maliciously defame products or Merchants in your Partner Content or use the Platform or Services for any malicious activity.