Handshake provides students with the opportunity to connect and communicate about career-related topics on the platform. To maintain a safe and professional environment, Handshake moderates messages exchanged between users.
To learn more about peer messaging on the platform, refer to Peer Messaging in Handshake.
Moderation
Messages sent on Handshake are passed through an automatic text analysis system. This system checks for profanity, discriminatory language, and other content that may violate Handshake's content guidelines. Messages that are reported through the automatic text analysis are reviewed my our Content Moderation team.
If a message is flagged, this will send a report to our Content Moderation team, who will then review the message, and loop in the institution as needed for awareness and/or followup.
To learn more about how to flag a message, refer to Peer Messaging in Handshake.
Messaging Guidelines
Handshake has guidelines students must agree to before messaging others on the platform.
- Be professional and career focused
- Use appropriate and respectful language
- Understand that messages may be moderated by your institution and/or Handshake
Protection from University Liability
Our corporate counsel has verified that universities are not liable for student messaging on Handshake due to the following reasons:
- Settled law: Universities provide email services and other student-to-student messaging services. They are not responsible for the student’s communication on the services.
- Handshake services are neutral: Handshake Messaging does not encourage or specifically enable gender-based targeting of students.
- Handshake TOS/PP governs: Only students that agree to Handshake's Terms Of Service, Privacy Policy, and Messaging Guidelines can use student messaging.
- Handshake Moderation Policy: Designed to focus conversation on career-related topics, and prevent issues from escalating.