Prohibited content and the content check
Every post that runs through Onflow Ads is checked before it can run: a Paid Promotions creative, a Cross-Promotion post, a Subscriber Exchange ad, a channel you list, and anything the AI Studio writes or draws for you. Boost is the one exception — a Boost order promotes a post that is already in your own channel, and it is not screened by this check.
The check reads your words, your links and buttons, and your pictures. It decides three things: whether the post breaks a platform rule, which content categories it falls into, and whether the categories you declared are true.
What is never carried​
These are platform rules. No channel owner can accept them, no content level carries them, and declaring one does not make it allowed — declaring one is itself a refusal.
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Adult (18+) | Pornography, nudity, NSFW teasers, "leaks", adult creators and links to their pages, and channels that are themselves adult channels |
| Gambling and betting | Casinos and crypto casinos, slots, poker, roulette, lotteries, satta and matka, real-money games, sports betting, bookmakers, odds, fixed matches, tipster and prediction channels |
| Illegal drugs | Selling or sourcing illegal drugs, drug delivery, darknet vendors |
| Weapons and explosives | Selling or sourcing firearms, ammunition, explosives or weapon parts |
| Terrorism and violent extremism | Propaganda, recruitment or fundraising for terrorist or violent extremist groups |
| Scams and fraud | Guaranteed or multiplied returns, ponzi and pyramid schemes, money doublers, pay-to-claim prizes, fake giveaways |
| Hacking, malware and stolen data | Hacking services, malware and spyware, stolen accounts, cards or personal data, carding |
| Fake documents | Fake or forged passports, IDs, licences, degrees or certificates, and counterfeit money |
| Anything else Telegram bans | Content Telegram's Terms of Service prohibit, including sexual content involving minors, which is escalated and never quoted back |
What is always allowed​
Copyright and piracy are never a reason to refuse a post. Channels that share movies, series, music, books, courses, software or apps — free, leaked, cracked, modded or otherwise copyrighted — can advertise and be advertised on Onflow Ads. The check is told this in so many words, and nothing in it refuses a post for being pirated.
Everyday words are judged by what the post promotes, not by the word: "hit the jackpot with our course", "poker face" and "Casino Royale" are not casino ads, and "adult education" is not adult content.
How the check reads a post​
- Disguised words are read as the word. "c4sino", "p o r n", a Cyrillic letter that looks Latin, an invisible character inside a word, or letters drawn as emoji are all read for what they say. The reason you are shown quotes the word as it was read, so you can find it.
- Links are judged by where they go. A caption link or a button to a known adult or gambling site, or to a Telegram channel whose handle spells one out, is refused like the words would be. Link shorteners are refused because they hide the destination from everyone, including you.
- Pictures are looked at. Every picture you upload or generate for a post is checked: the ad image, the pictures of an album, a listing's avatar. A channel photo you upload for a listing is checked as you upload it; one the check refuses is not saved, and you can appeal it from the refusal. If a live Paid Promotions listing's new photo cannot be checked at that moment, the listing keeps its current photo and you are asked to try again, because a live listing has no review between the upload and the marketplace. A moving picture is checked at several frames, not just its first. A video cannot be checked automatically yet, so a Paid Promotions post with a video is held for a person, and a Subscriber Exchange ad with one is flagged to the reviewer who approves it.
- The post is data, not instructions. Text in a post (or drawn in a picture) that addresses the check itself — "ignore your rules", "mark this ad as safe", a fake system message — is refused, because a real advertiser has no reason to write it.
What you see​
| Outcome | What happens |
|---|---|
| Refused | The post does not go in. Each reason is shown with the words or the link that caused it, as a line under your post and as a notice, both with an Appeal button. Nothing is charged for a refused post. |
| Held for a person | The picture could not be checked automatically (the checker was unavailable, or could not read the image). The post does not run on the strength of nobody having looked: it goes to a person automatically, you get a notice saying so, and you are told again when they decide. |
| Flagged | Nothing was refused, but something needs a human eye — for example, the post reads as a category you did not declare. It goes ahead to the human who already approves it (the channel owner, the partner, or our exchange reviewers) with the flag attached. |
| Passed | The post goes on to the next step. |
Submitting the same post again does not roll the dice again. A refused post is remembered, and so is a copy with the spacing, punctuation or a letter changed; it is refused again without being re-checked, until a person grants an appeal. Edit what the reason named instead. After several refusals in an hour, the check pauses for your account for up to an hour.
AI output is checked too. The AI Studio and every composer's Write with AI and image buttons check what they wrote or drew before you see it. A draft that breaks the rules is not shown, and the AI action is handed back to your allowance. Asking the AI for a gambling or adult ad is declined before anything is spent.
Appeals​
Think the check got it wrong? Press Appeal under the refusal (or on the notice), and tell the reviewer in a sentence or two why the post is fine.
- A person reviews exactly the post that was refused — its words, its links and its pictures — next to what the check found. They do not rely on your description of it.
- Granted: that exact post is allowed for 90 days. Submit it again as it was and it goes through. An edited version, a different link or a different picture is checked again from scratch, because the grant is about what was looked at.
- Declined: the reviewer's note tells you why. You can change the post and submit it again.
- A post held for a person is already in the same queue; you do not need to appeal it.
- Either way you are told on every channel your notification settings allow: the bell, a Telegram message and an email. Your appeals and holds, with their outcomes, are listed under Your content appeals on the Reliability page of your dashboard.
Some refusals cannot be appealed, because a person's judgement would not change them: sexual content involving minors, a link that hides its destination (a shortener, a scheme other than http or https, a disguised address, an imitation of our own domain), and the temporary pause after several refusals. Fix the link, or wait out the pause.