Content Policy

Overview

Text submitted for synthesis is screened against Speechify’s content policy. A request refused under that policy returns 400 content_policy_violation, and no audio from it is ever returned to you or billed to your account.

Screening applies to every surface that renders text into speech, including multi-speaker synthesis:

What a refusal looks like

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{
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  "error": {
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    "code": "content_policy_violation",
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    "message": "This request was refused by the content policy (<category>). Edit the input and try again."
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  },
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  "request_id": "..."
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}

Treat it as a persistent error: the same request will be refused again. Editing the input is the only thing that changes the outcome, so do not retry it unchanged and do not treat it as a transient failure. See Error Handling for the retry rules on other statuses.

Streaming: a refusal never arrives as partial audio

On the streaming endpoints the decision is always made before the first audio byte is written. That gives you a clean guarantee to build against:

• A 200 response means the request passed screening. Audio that starts is audio you can trust to be complete.
• A refusal is always a 400 with a JSON body, never a truncated, silent or empty audio file.

You do not need to inspect a stream to find out whether it was refused, and you should not treat a short response body as a possible refusal.

What is prohibited

You may not use Speechify to synthesize content that, among other things:

• sexualizes minors;
• threatens violence against a person or a group;
• provides instructions for self-harm;
• is likely to be used as part of a financial scam or other fraud;
• impersonates a public official or a candidate for office.

The full rules are in the Terms of Service, which govern.

These are prohibitions on your use, and they are broader than what any automated screen can recognise. Screening is one enforcement mechanism and is not a guarantee that prohibited content will be detected in every case; you remain responsible for the content you submit, Speechify reserves the right to refuse any request under the policy, and repeated abuse is handled at the account level up to and including termination.

Working with the policy

Most published work is unaffected. Fiction, journalism, true crime, history and court reporting routinely describe or quote violence and threats, and depicting or reporting on this material is treated differently from producing it. If legitimate content is being refused, contact us with the request_id from the response rather than rewording around the refusal - the request_id is what lets us look at the specific decision.