# Brand Safety

Before Mentionlink captions a photo or links a product seen in it, an image safety classifier reviews the image against four sensitive categories. If any of them is present, Mentionlink adds nothing, so your readers never see a shoppable caption on a political rally or a link to a campaign hat.

| Category | Blocked | Not blocked |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Political | Political figures, parties, campaigns, rallies, and events; apparel, accessories, merchandise, and signage branded with political slogans, symbols, or imagery | — |
| Religious | Religious figures, attire, head coverings worn for faith, symbols, places of worship, and events; products carrying religious imagery | — |
| Assistive tech | Hairpieces, wigs, assistive devices, prosthetics, mobility aids, hearing aids, medical conditions, injuries, and disabilities | Sunglasses |
| Violence | Weapons, violence, and related paraphernalia | Cooking and kitchen knives, ordinary sports equipment |

## What Gets Reviewed

Every image is reviewed together with the text that accompanies it:

1. **The photo**, with its alt text, before any caption is written for it. If the photo is flagged, it is left exactly as you published it: no caption, no hotspots, and no links.
2. **The thumbnail of every product about to be linked**, with the product's listing title. A search for "red cap" can return a campaign hat, so a product that is flagged is dropped while the rest of the photo is still captioned.

Only the product that would actually be linked is reviewed; products that were considered and passed over are never shown to readers.

## How the Classifier Decides

The classifier only flags what it can plainly see in the image or read in its text:

- It does not guess at what a person believes, supports, or suffers from, and it never infers a category from a person's identity, appearance, or ethnicity.
- Something that is merely possible, implied, or far in the background is not flagged.
- Everyday clothing, accessories, and objects are not sensitive.

## Failing Closed

If the review cannot be completed, for example because it timed out, the image is treated as flagged. The worst case is a photo without a caption, which is what a photo with no matching products looks like anyway, never a caption that wasn't reviewed.

## Privacy

The classifier runs with zero data retention at the model provider: images and their text are reviewed and not kept. See [Data Collection](<https://mentionlink.com/data/index.md>) for everything else Mentionlink collects.

Questions about brand safety? Email [hello@mentionlink.com](<mailto:hello@mentionlink.com>).