Comment Guidelines

Updated: Aug. 4, 2021

Foreign Policy invites our subscribers to participate in robust, ideas-driven debate occasioned by our reporting and commentary from around the world. If you believe you have identified a mistake or error in our journalism, please email [email protected]. If you want to flag a comment you find abusive or would otherwise like to share feedback with us, please email [email protected]. 

We ask all those who comment to abide by the same rules they would follow in real life. Stay on topic and please be civil, courteous, and respectful of others’ beliefs. Do not call people names, use offensive language, or SHOUT. Although comments are posted automatically after submission, those that contain offensive language or suspicious content will be held pending review. Inappropriate content, commercial posts, spam, and comments that do not follow these guidelines will be removed. 

Above all, we will not tolerate attacks based on religion, race, gender, disability, nationality, or sexual orientation. If you find a comment you believe to be inappropriate, you may alert our staff by clicking the “Report” button. We may choose to disable the ability to comment on articles for subscribers who don’t follow our rules.

Although comments become the property of Foreign Policy, users are solely responsible for what they publish, and Foreign Policy cannot vouch for their accuracy or validity. Not all pieces are open to comments, and comments will be closed on articles no later than a week after publication. We reserve the right to remove any comments. 

A couple of quick pointers on how to use our commenting system:

• By default, your username is your first name and last initial as submitted when you create your Foreign Policy account. You are welcome to change it on your “My Account” page. 
• After leaving a comment, you have 5 minutes to edit it. (We cannot edit your comments even if we wanted to.)
• If you’d like to show respect for a comment—keeping in mind that admiring what someone has said or how they’ve said it doesn’t have to mean you agree with every part of it—click the “respect” button.
• If you are unable to submit a comment but have confirmed you are logged in and have an active Foreign Policy subscription, please contact [email protected] for help.