How cases are verified

What counts as a credible source

Credible news outlets, law enforcement records and press releases, court records, and reports from established NGOs. This is the same source standard the map has used since 2013, unchanged in substance today.

How a case gets published

1. A person creates a Not For Sale ID and signs in.
2. They submit a case, with source material attached — a news article, a court record, a press release, or an NGO report.
3. Two other signed-in community members independently review the submission. Each can confirm it, suggest an edit, or revert a change.
4. Once two independent community members have confirmed it, the case publishes, with its edit history visible.

Not For Sale sets the source standard and builds the platform. It is not the reviewing body. The community is.

Why locations aren't exact

Precise locations are never published. Cases are generalized to city level by default — not a street corner, not a named business or venue. Anything more specific is used only when the Not For Sale team itself enters a case and determines it's appropriate, typically a fully resolved historical case where naming the location poses no current risk. A community submission never carries that exception.

Disputes and bad-faith submissions

Resolved simply, by design. Two community members confirm a submission before it publishes. After that, Not For Sale can remove any published case it determines poses a risk. There is no separate dispute process and no appeal, consistent with the platform's moderation policy.

More

See the FAQ for common questions, the glossary for definitions, or the Data Usage Policy for citing and reusing the data.