Our community guidelines

Avert’s beliefs:

Avert believes in a world with no new HIV infections, where people make empowered sexual health choices, and where those living with HIV do so with dignity, good health and equality..

We do this by increasing health literacy on HIV and sexual health, among those most affected in areas of greatest need, in order to reduce new infections and improve health and well-being.

As an organisation, Avert:

believes in the importance of recognising and affirming sexual and gender diversity
supports access to and fulfilment of human rights for all – particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalised
supports access to age-appropriate sex education
believes in social equality for all
supports harm reduction measures
is secular

User generated content on Be in the KNOW

There are a number of types of user generated content published or facilitated by Be in the KNOW, which all aim to empower people through knowledge. These include personal stories, comments on news stories, and posts on Be in the KNOW’s Facebook and other social channels.

Appropriate and inappropriate content

All user generated content on Be in the KNOW should be respectful. In general, content considered inappropriate will be deleted, and action against the culprit will be decided on an ad-hoc basis, depending on the situation.

Inappropriate content may include material that:

is harassing, derogatory or defamatory towards another user, Be in the KNOW or Avert
is offensive, obscene, insensitive, criminal, discriminatory or derogatory
deceives another user
disrupts the operation of the website or other digital platform
gives the impression that it originates from Be in the KNOW where this is not the case
makes claims that are considered harmful to the HIV response, such as illegitimate cure claims, or herbal remedies.
discloses personal contact information, such as a phone number or email address.

Repeated offensive posts or messages will result in users being banned.

We reserve the right to edit, reject or remove any user generated content at any time at our sole discretion.
We do not guarantee that user generated content will be displayed on Be in the KNOW’s website or social channels. Any content is published at our sole discretion.
We do not endorse any user generated content submitted to or published on Be in the KNOW’s website or social channels, or any opinion, statement, or advice expressed in any such content.

Contributing to beintheKNOW.org

Personal stories:

When users submit a personal story, they are considered to have granted Avert the right to:
- publish and copy it on any of our digital and offline products.
- edit it if the language is offensive, obscene, indecent or insensitive, or for any other legitimate editorial reason.
- change their name and any other name mentioned in the personal story at Avert’s sole discretion.
- Avert also reserves the right to not publish any personal story.
All personal story submissions are subject to our privacy policy. By submitting personal stories users confirm that:
- the story is theirs and that they have the right to share it and to give us permission to use it.
- all information contained in their story is accurate.
- they are giving Avert unlimited permission to publish all or any portion of it on the Be in the KNOW website and social media channels, and to edit it.
Avert staff should change names and/or details if specifics of a story could identify and put individuals at risk.

See also ‘Appropriate and inappropriate content’ above.

Contributing on social media

Be in the KNOW’s social media channels provide a forum for sharing and discussing information and developments on HIV and sexual health.
We encourage respectful and constructive conversations and reserve the rights to remove posts that are offensive, stigmatising, homophobic, act as advertisements, attempt to solicit funds or are off-topic. Comments that endorse an illegitimate HIV cure claim will also be deleted.
User posts and messages considered to be ‘personal enquiries’ will be sent a personal message disclaimer, redirecting them to our website for information or advising them to contact a healthcare professional