Issue Description
There hasn’t been any announcement regarding the use of this method - is it allowed to be used? There is a lot of confusion about if this function is allowed to be used by developers, and it has existed for nearly two years without any follow-up information.
So far I have pieced together:
You must use this if you are operating in China
The other policy aspects cannot be used (?) or at least have not had positive confirmation of if we can use them without running afoul of the Community Guidelines. The announcement seems to be the only official comment on the ability to use this, and there have been no other DevHub guides written on the subject of Global Compliance or if we can use this.
I’m sceptical that many developers use this - I for sure am not without some positive statement that we will not get in trouble for relying on it to, for example, display a Discord link to eligible users. Here is what would solve this issue:
If this isn’t ready for developer use, please mark the method as deprecated or add a warning to the top of the page to that effect
If this is ready for developer use, please clarify this with an additional guide / announcement / some communication.
It looks like the new Community Standards specify that you should use PolicyService where applicable (it very clearly mentions it in a few of the rules such as 24 and 25)
Whilst the community rules specify that you should use PolicyService where applicable, they’re a lot more hazy on the details of this and it seems like whilst the information has been updated recently on the Community Standards, this has not been replicated through the use or modification of any DevHub articles or tutorials, but just put on that API page.
“When using Roblox, you may not link to any external websites or services, except for : YouTube, Facebook, Discord, Twitter, and Twitch. Any in-experience link must be wrapped in the applicable Policy API”
The “Discord” part must have been added recently. I don’t remember this being there. That said, I think I will link to my server in my game now having seen this.
Hi, I’m the OP of the post you linked to. Like @jackTabsCode said, the Community Standards are pretty clear on when to use it, much more so then when I originally made that post.
Directing Users Off-Platform
When using Roblox, you may not link to any external websites or services, except for: YouTube, Facebook, Discord, Twitter, and Twitch. Any in-experience link must be wrapped in the applicable Policy API… [a]ny other links are prohibited.
- Roblox Community Standards, Fairness And Transparency, Section 25
I.e., you may not link to anything from in-game, except Youtube, Facebook, Discord, Twitter, and Twitch, but if you do link to one of them, you must use PolicyService.
As for why this information hasn’t made its way to the DevHub, I can’t say, but I’m certain that you’re allowed to use it, as the Community Rules supersede the DevHub.
It also doesn’t conflict with ToS. The ToS makes no mention of external links from in-game. The ToS does, however, mention that the Community Rules must be abided by in addition to the ToS.
I had this same question and raised this to staff during the Summer Accelerator Program. I believe there was some moderation outreach about clarifying PolicyService and Discord but there’s been no public statement so far. A staff member did say, however, that use of PolicyService for rule compliance (including showing Discord content) is fine and you should not get moderated for it.
I’m not going to go into specifics because it’s not my place to do so but in short you should be able to use PolicyService for both global release compliance and adhering with the rules. The Community Guidelines and Terms of Service are authoritative sources of policy. When Help and API docs are in confliction with either of the former two (both of which are not sources of policy), the former two take precedence. There’s a provision about respecting user policies when setting up your experience.
It should be ready for developer use right now. Any future updates to PolicyService should be building on what’s already been established, enabling further international and rules compliance.
Obvious disclaimers since there are people who might take my word as fact: I am not moderation staff and do not speak on behalf of anyone. My words are my own with information I was given in hopes that it does not conflict with any prior, current or future agreements, contracts or any binding documents; and that it holds up with what existing, public documents currently show.