Could using a tag that does not apply to/describe a work with the intention of making someone (either a specific user or a group of people)see something that they don’t want to see be considered harassment? Would it be considered harassment when accompanied by insults?
As described in our previous TOS spotlight posts on Ratings & Warnings as well as Fandom, Language, and Other Tags, AO3's policies regarding incorrect tags only apply to fandom, language, rating, and warnings tags. We will not remove or reclassify a fanwork on account of a missing or misleading category, relationship, character, or additional tag.
If the misleading tag in question is a fandom tag, you are welcome to report the work as such. If a user were to be reported for a misleading relationship tag coupled with an insult, we would likely require them to remove the insult but not the relationship tag. A fanwork that portrays a relationship in a negative manner is not harassment in and of itself. We recommend users mute other users who post works that contain content they don't like.
The kind of abuse you're thinking of is why they consider some instances of gifting a work to someone to be harassment. Tags aren't for individual people, they're for the whole site. Gifting is for an individual person.
Also, in an instance where someone, for example, tagged ship X/Y and then said "anyone who ships that is a creep", that would be harassment for the namecalling, and the fact they'd tagged the ship itself would be irrelevant.
Comment on TOS Spotlight: Harassment
Woodpelt_the_pussycat Sun 15 Jun 2025 12:50AM UTC
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AO3_Policy_and_Abuse (Official) Sun 15 Jun 2025 06:14AM UTC
Last Edited Sun 15 Jun 2025 06:21AM UTC
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Rune_Vanyarin Sun 15 Jun 2025 04:58PM UTC
Last Edited Sun 15 Jun 2025 09:21PM UTC
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