# Moderation

> Choose which reviews publish on their own and which wait for your team, then publish, reject, and handle reported reviews.

Breadcrumb: Reviews › Moderation · Updated: 2026-10-17
Docs index: https://docs.cevoid.com/llms.txt

Moderation decides when a review goes live. By default, Cevoid publishes each new review as soon as it has analyzed it, unless a hold rule keeps it pending for your team. A held review publishes on its own after 14 days, unless your team publishes or rejects it first.

Navigate to [Settings → Reviews → Moderation](https://app.cevoid.com/settings/reviews/moderation) to choose what publishes and what waits.

## Review statuses

Every review has one moderation status. A product review can also be hidden, which keeps its status but takes it off your store.

| Status | What it means | Shoppers see it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| _Pending_ | Waiting for your team, or for the 14-day auto-publish | No |
| _Published_ | Live on your store | Yes |
| _Rejected_ | Rejected by your team. The content is kept for your records | No |
| _Hidden_ | A product review hidden by the [review blocklist](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/review-blocklist.md), or because its product left your catalog | No |

## How auto-publish and hold rules work

When a review comes in, Cevoid analyzes it: its language, sentiment, and credibility, and whether it contains profanity, personal information, or harmful content. With _Auto-publish reviews_ on, a review that matches no hold rule is then published right away. A review that matches a hold rule stays pending, and its _Activity_ shows _Held for moderation_ with every rule that matched, such as _Rating 2 or below_.

- **Arrival rules decide:** The rules in force when a review arrives are the ones that apply to it. Changing your settings later doesn't re-check reviews already held or published, and turning auto-publish on doesn't publish held reviews early.
- **Auto-publish off:** Every review waits for your team, marked _Auto-publish is off_, and the 14-day auto-publish still applies. _Activity_ still lists the hold rules a review matched.
- **Imported reviews:** Reviews you import from a CSV file skip your hold rules and your auto-publish setting, and publish once Cevoid has analyzed them. See [Import and export reviews](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/collect/import-and-export.md).
- **Edited reviews:** When a reviewer edits their review, it goes back to pending and is checked again like a new review. It publishes, or it's held with a new 14-day auto-publish date.
- **AI suggests, never decides:** Cevoid's AI never publishes, rejects, or hides a review on its own. It flags what it finds, and your hold rules and your team decide.

## Hold rules

Hold rules keep a review pending when it matches. They apply while _Auto-publish reviews_ is on, and you set them in [Settings → Reviews → Moderation](https://app.cevoid.com/settings/reviews/moderation) under _Hold rules: prevent auto-publish if_.

| Hold rule | Holds a review when | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| _Rating below_ | Its rating is below the number you choose: **Less than 2**, **Less than 3**, **Less than 4**, or **Less than 5** | On, **Less than 3** (holds 1 and 2 stars) |
| _Has a photo or video_ | It has photos or videos | Off |
| _Harmful content_ | Cevoid finds hate speech, violence, sexual or dangerous content, or spam | On |
| _Low-credibility / likely-fake_ | Cevoid's credibility scoring flags it as likely fake | On |
| _Profanity detected_ | It contains profanity | On |
| _PII detected_ | It contains personal information | On |

_Low-credibility / likely-fake_ needs _Credibility scoring_ on in [Settings → AI & Agents → Reviews](https://app.cevoid.com/settings/ai/reviews). While it's off, the rule is switched off and can't hold anything. See [Reviews AI](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/setup/reviews-ai.md).

## The 14-day auto-publish

Every held review gets an auto-publish date 14 days after it was held. If your team hasn't published or rejected it by then, Cevoid publishes it, and its _Activity_ shows _Published automatically_.

- **In the lists:** A pending review shows _Auto-publishes in_ and the time left, in yellow for the last five days. The _Auto-publishes_ filter finds reviews by that date.
- **On the overview:** _Things to do_ on [Reviews → Overview](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews) lists the reviews that auto-publish within five days
- **By email:** The _Pending review auto-publish reminder_ emails you before reviews publish. See [Review notifications](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/review-notifications.md).

Rejected reviews never auto-publish. A hidden pending review is published on its date but stays hidden. A review imported through the API that was set to wait for your team shows _No auto-publish date_ and never publishes on its own.

## Publish a pending review

Publishing a pending review puts it on your store right away.

1. Navigate to [Reviews → Product reviews](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews/product-reviews) or [Reviews → Company reviews](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews/company-reviews)
2. Click **Pending**
3. Click **Publish** on the review's row. In an open review, it's at the bottom.

The reviewer isn't emailed when your team publishes or rejects their review. To publish many reviews at once, see [Act on several reviews at once](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/product-and-company-reviews.md#act-on-several-reviews-at-once).

## Reject a review

Rejecting a review takes it off your store, or keeps it off, and records why. The reviewer's content is kept for your records, and the reviewer can write a new review.

1. Navigate to [Reviews → Product reviews](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews/product-reviews) or [Reviews → Company reviews](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews/company-reviews) and open the review
2. Click **Reject**. On a published review, it's in the **More** menu at the top.
3. Select one or more reasons in _Reason_. Cevoid fills in the reasons its findings and shopper reports point to.
4. Optional: Enter or change the _Explanation_, up to 1,000 characters. Cevoid fills it in when it found grounds for rejection.
5. Click **Reject review**

On a pending review, hover over **Reject** before you click it to see the _Basis for rejection_: whether Cevoid found grounds for rejection, and what shoppers reported.

| Reason | Cevoid fills it in when it finds |
| --- | --- |
| _Spam_ | Not from findings |
| _Fake or fraudulent_ | Not from findings |
| _Duplicate_ | Not from findings |
| _Off-topic_ | Not from findings |
| _Profanity or hate_ | Hate speech, violence, or sexual content |
| _Illegal content_ | Dangerous content |
| _Personal information_ | Someone else's personal data |

Shopper reports fill in reasons too: see [Reported reviews](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/moderation#reported-reviews). Profanity and a reviewer's own contact details aren't grounds for rejection on their own, because masking hides them from shoppers.

There's no unpublish: rejecting is the only way to take a published review down. Rejecting a pinned review removes its pin.

## Publish a rejected review

A rejected review can be published again only from the bulk actions in a review list.

1. Navigate to [Reviews → Product reviews](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews/product-reviews) or [Reviews → Company reviews](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews/company-reviews)
2. Click **Rejected**
3. Select the checkbox on the review
4. Click **Actions**
5. Select **Publish**. The review is published, and its rejection reasons are cleared.

## Hidden reviews

A product review is hidden when the [review blocklist](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/review-blocklist.md) hides its product's existing reviews, or when its product is no longer in your catalog in any market. Hiding isn't a moderation decision: the review keeps its status.

- Hidden reviews don't show on your store and don't count in ratings or on the Reviews overview
- The **Hidden** tab lists them, with _Product is blocklisted_ or _Product is no longer in the catalog_ under the status
- They can't be published, rejected, pinned, or converted, and they have no update link
- A hidden pending review still auto-publishes on its date, and stays hidden
- A hidden review shows again once no blocklist entry hides it and its product is in your catalog, without its old pin

Company reviews are never hidden.

## Moderation settings

The moderation settings page holds every switch that decides what publishes and how shoppers see reviews.

1. Navigate to [Settings → Reviews → Moderation](https://app.cevoid.com/settings/reviews/moderation)
2. Set the settings you want to change
3. Click **Save changes**

| Setting | What it does | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| _Auto-publish reviews_ | Publishes reviews when they arrive, unless a hold rule catches them. Off holds every review | On |
| _Hold rules: prevent auto-publish if_ | Keep matching reviews pending. Shown while auto-publish is on | See [Hold rules](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/moderation#hold-rules) |
| _Display profanity_ | **Original** shows profanity as written. **Masked** hides it from shoppers | **Masked** |
| _Display PII_ | **Original** shows personal information as written. **Masked** hides it from shoppers | **Masked** |
| _Default reply author_ | Who a new reply is from: **Company** or **Team member** | **Company** |
| _Default reply method_ | How a new reply is sent: **Public** or **Private** | **Public** |
| _Email the reviewer on public replies_ | Starts public replies with **Email the reviewer** on. Private replies are always emailed | Off |
| _Helpful-vote display_ | **Off**, **Helpful-only**, or **Up + down**. See [Helpful votes](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/moderation#helpful-votes) | **Helpful-only** |
| _Reports_ | Lets shoppers report reviews in every widget | On |

The reply settings only set where the reply box starts: each reply can change them. See [Replies](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/replies.md). Changes to masking, votes, and reports reach your store within 5 minutes.

## Content masking

Cevoid finds profanity and personal information in every review. With _Display profanity_ and _Display PII_ set to **Masked**, the default, shoppers see that text replaced with asterisks.

- Masking changes only what shoppers see. Your team always sees the original, and setting **Original** shows the text on your store again.
- Links are masked together with personal information
- A review Cevoid hasn't analyzed yet shows unmasked
- Masked text stays masked in translations
- Changes reach your store within 5 minutes

Masking and holding are separate. By default, profanity and personal information also hold a review for your team: see [Hold rules](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/moderation#hold-rules).

## Reported reviews

Shoppers can report a published review from a review widget, with a reason. A report never hides or changes the review. It adds to the review's report count, fills in reasons when you reject the review, and can email your team: see [Review notifications](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/review-notifications.md).

| Report reason | Fills in this rejection reason |
| --- | --- |
| _Not a genuine experience_ | _Fake or fraudulent_ |
| _Spam or advertising_ | _Spam_ |
| _Offensive_ (shoppers see _Offensive: profanity, hate, or threats_) | _Profanity or hate_ |
| _Not about this product_ | _Off-topic_ |
| _Contains personal information_ | _Personal information_ |
| _Something else_, with the shopper's own text | None |

- **Where you see reports:** The _published reviews reported_ row on [Reviews → Overview](https://app.cevoid.com/reviews), the _Reported_ filter, and _Reports_ in a review's sidebar. Click _Reports_ to see each report's reason, date, and the shopper's text.
- **Who reported:** Your team never sees who reported a review
- **One per shopper:** Each shopper can report a review once, and can't report their own
- **No dismissing:** Reports can't be dismissed. A reported review you keep stays in the overview's reported row and in the _Reported_ filter. To take it down, [reject it](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/moderation#reject-a-review).

With _Reports_ off, shoppers can't report reviews, and the reports your team already has stay visible.

## Helpful votes

Shoppers can vote that a published review was helpful, without signing in, once per device. _Helpful-vote display_ on the moderation settings sets what they see in every widget.

| Option | What shoppers see |
| --- | --- |
| **Off** | No votes. The _Most helpful_ sort is hidden too |
| **Helpful-only** (default) | _Helpful_, for up-votes only |
| **Up + down** | _Helpful_, with _Yes_ and _No_ |

Each widget can hide votes, but not show them when they're off: see [Review widget settings](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/showcase/review-widget-settings.md). In **Helpful-only**, down-votes are never shown on your store. A review's sidebar shows its votes under _Helpful_.

## Related articles

- [Product and company reviews](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/product-and-company-reviews.md)
- [Review details](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/review-details.md)
- [Reviews AI](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/setup/reviews-ai.md)
- [Replies](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/replies.md)
- [Review notifications](https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/review-notifications.md)

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Canonical: https://docs.cevoid.com/reviews/manage/moderation