According to multiple news sources, a grand jury in Manhattan has voted to indict former U.S. President Donald Trump – the first time in American history that a current or former president will face criminal charges. As a result, we anticipate people across the United States and abroad may be interested in discussing the situation with their neighbors on Nextdoor.
Please see below for an overview of our guidelines and how to use emergency alerts should you need to communicate timely messages and protect life and property.
What can neighbors discuss, and what guidelines must public agencies follow?
Nextdoor’s Community Guidelines currently prohibit the discussion of national-level politics or otherwise non-local (New York state where the conversation is considered local) conversations in the main newsfeed - this also applies to posts from Public Agencies and neighbor comments on Public Agency posts. Please note that we auto-close discussions after a threshold of comments by members is reported. The auto-closer kicks in after 3-10 reported comments, and various items, such as audience size, inform the algorithm.
For more information, please see this Help Center article. Nextdoor’s purpose is to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood to rely on. All conversations on Nextdoor must adhere to our Community Guidelines, Group Guidelines, and Event Guidelines. A neighbor’s participation and a Public Agency’s participation on Nextdoor is a choice; everyone is expected to uphold these agreements regardless of personal opinion. Report authors of comments to Nextdoor (Click on the person’s name, then the three dots … and then choose report) if you see:
- Advocacy, or support of violence. Harmful activity of any kind is prohibited on our platform, as is the advocacy or intent to organize such violence (i.e., riots, invasions, etc.) We interpret “advocacy” broadly to include language that glorifies or demonstrates support for violence, or for those who commit violence. Report any accounts that you may see behave in this way.
- Boasting about participation in violence. Bragging about participating in violent acts or events does not create a safe, comfortable, or welcoming neighborhood. Authors that do so should be reported to Nextdoor Support.
- Racism, discrimination, or other hateful language/imagery towards marginalized groups. In the event you think someone may be using racial, discriminatory, or hateful language towards a marginalized group—either overtly or veiled—please immediately report the account for our team to review. Sites like Wikipedia can be helpful in quickly understanding if a particular term has a hateful connotation, though note that any site with user-generated content may contain profanity and other potentially offensive terms.
Should unrest unfold, a threat to life or property, or if the timeliness of a message is critical, post an emergency alert.
Emergency alerts are a type of post that notifies relevant Nextdoor neighbors immediately via email and in-app notification* the moment it is posted to the newsfeed. Emergency Alerts are intended to be used when critical information must go out right away and when life or property is threatened.
Use Emergency Alerts for incidents such as
- Evacuation, shelter in place, avoid area orders
- Unplanned road and bridge closures
- Whenever there is an immediate threat to life or property, including severe weather events (advisories, watches, and warnings)
How to post an Emergency Alert
- Click the Alert box at the top of your Newsfeed.
- Add a photo or video (recommended).
- Select the audience at the bottom of the post-composer. You can target your Emergency Alert to specific Nextdoor neighborhoods or custom service areas or share your Emergency Alert with your Entire Service Area.
*This depends on each neighbor’s unique notification settings - although most neighbors will receive these notifications, some in your community may have opted out.
