A rule is a single check that Moderation performs on your content - for example, "the image must be sharp and high quality," "no visible watermarks," or "the logo must appear in the top-left corner." Rules are the building blocks of everything else in Moderation: you select them in one-time runs, group them into policies, and enforce them through automations.
What a rule contains
Every rule is built from a rule type (what kind of check it is) plus your own settings:
Name and description - how the rule appears across the app, so make it recognizable (for example, "Top-left logo for branded content").
Configuration - the settings specific to the rule type, such as the minimum image size, the background color to require, or a plain-language description of what to detect.
Review threshold - how confident Moderation must be before deciding automatically. This controls the balance between automatic decisions and human review:
Low - less manual review; more assets are approved or rejected automatically.
Balanced - a mix of automatic decisions and manual review.
High - more manual review; more assets are sent to a person.
Custom - set the reject and approve thresholds independently. Assets scoring between them are sent to review.
Rejection reason - a message shown when assets are rejected by this rule, so reviewers immediately understand why.
How a rule decides
When a rule checks an asset, it produces a score and one of three outcomes:
✅ Approved automatically - the asset clearly passes the check.
❌ Rejected automatically - the asset clearly fails the check.
🚩 Sent to review - the result isn't clear-cut, so the asset is flagged as Needs review for a person to decide.
When several rules run together (in a policy or a run), an asset must pass all of them to be approved. One clear failure is enough to reject it, and if nothing failed but something was uncertain, the asset lands in Needs review.
Rule statuses
Each rule is either Active or Inactive (a toggle on the Rules page). Only active rules can be applied in runs, policies, and automations. Deactivating a rule is a safe way to retire it without deleting it.
Where rules are used
The Used In column on the Rules page shows where each rule is applied - in how many policies and automations. This matters when you edit or delete a rule: changes affect every policy that includes it, and automations using it are stopped and restarted to apply your changes.