Greetings,

I have been active on Pixabay since 2019. Recently, I received two emails regarding two of my photographs, which I am also attaching here. The emails stated that these photographs violate Pixabay's rules and that, in the event of repeated violations, Pixabay reserves the right to suspend my account.

However, I am the photographer of both images, and the artists appearing in the photographs have also given their full consent to being photographed. These artists have recently started working in the music field as well and have begun producing their own musical works.

At the same time, dozens of other photographs that I have uploaded recently have not been approved and do not appear in Pixabay's search results. These photographs are neither intended to portray anything in a negative way nor are they political. They show two post-rock musicians performing improvised music in the Alamut Mountains of Iran, and their style of music is calm and instrumental.

I would also like to mention that, from Iran, we connect to this community with considerable difficulty and through the use of a VPN. During the recent war in Iran, our internet connection was cut off for months. Even when the internet is available, we often need to use a VPN to access Pixabay and many other services. Sometimes, we upload a work several times, but the internet connection or VPN gets disconnected in the middle of the process, forcing us to repeat the entire process again.

This is particularly difficult considering that the cost of internet access in Iran is much higher than in many other places. Iran is also among the countries with relatively low internet speeds.

Of course, Pixabay has repeatedly reserved the right to review submitted works according to its own judgment and criteria. However, if a photographer or content creator knows why a particular photograph, video, or musical work has been rejected, they can take that information into account and prepare future submissions according to different standards. Even in cases involving technical issues, providing an explanation for the rejection could help photographers and other creators improve their work.

Thank you for your time. I would be very interested to hear the opinions of the Pixabay administrators and other users regarding this matter.

The first image!

The second image

Hello mostafa_meraji,
Since Pixabay states that they may suspend your account in the event of repeated violations, I'd rather not take any chances right now.
Since the rejected images are still visible in your portfolio, please don't try to re-upload them. It's best to just wait until tomorrow, until a Pixabay representative has responded to you. Support can tell you exactly what's going on with the images and how you should proceed without putting your account at risk.

Hi @mostafa_meraji

Thank you for taking the time to explain the situation in detail. We also appreciate the additional context about the connectivity challenges you experience when contributing from Iran.

Regarding the two photographs that received a copyright-related notification, the concern isn't about whether you took the photographs yourself or whether the musicians consented to being photographed.

In these particular images, the branding/logo on the piano is clearly visible. Recognizable logos and trademarks may involve third-party intellectual property rights, so content can be restricted for this reason even when the photograph itself is entirely your own original work. The copyright notification therefore isn't intended to question your ownership of the photographs.

For the other photographs that weren't approved, we understand your point that knowing the reason can help you improve future submissions. If you believe that particular content was incorrectly rejected, you can submit a reassessment request from the rejected content. This allows our moderation team to take another look at the submission.

When requesting reassessment, we recommend including any relevant context that may help the reviewer—for example, that you photographed the musicians yourself, that they consented to being photographed, and any other information relevant to the content.

Please keep in mind that reassessment doesn't guarantee approval. The content will still need to meet our current photo quality, content, and licensing requirements.

You can also review our Photo Quality Guidelines here:

https://pixabay.com/blog/posts/image-quality-guidelines-22/

Regarding interrupted uploads caused by your internet connection or VPN, we understand why you may occasionally need to restart an upload. However, where possible, please avoid repeatedly submitting the same completed file once an upload has successfully reached Pixabay, as duplicate submissions can create additional moderation issues.

Thank you as well for your feedback about providing clearer rejection information. We understand how useful that can be for contributors who want to adapt their future work to our requirements.

Best regards,
Monina

Hi Monina,
Thank you so much for the clear explanation. In the hustle and bustle of taking photos, it's all too easy to overlook small brand logos on musical instruments or other objects. That makes it all the more wonderful to receive such constructive and friendly feedback instead of just a blanket rejection.

Hello dear @Couleur Thank you so much for your attention and care. You are absolutely right — considering Pixabay's rules, it's best not to take any risks, and I will not re-upload any of the rejected images until the Pixabay support team responds.

I checked the issue you mentioned about the rejected images still appearing in my portfolio, and as you advised, I won't take any action for now. I'll wait until tomorrow so that a Pixabay representative can explain exactly what's going on and guide me on how to proceed safely.

I truly appreciate the time you took to help me and the thoughtful way you explained everything. Your support really shows the strength of this community.

Wishing you all the best.

Mostafa

Hello dear @moninapixabay I'm truly glad that the Pixabay team responds so quickly and attentively. This is extremely valuable, and not many websites in the world offer such support. Regarding resubmitting the images for review, I will definitely do that, but at first I preferred not to take any action to avoid making further mistakes.

You are absolutely right about some of the photos. They contain commercial brands of various musical instruments, but this was completely unintentional — my focus was mainly on the musician, facial expressions, and the lighting. However, with a few of the images, I made a significant mistake; the brand logo is clearly visible even in the thumbnail.

I assure you that here in Iran, due to international sanctions, we cannot receive any financial benefit from any brand. We cannot even have a simple PayPal account, so there is absolutely no possibility of collaboration or sponsorship with these companies.

You reminded me of a very important and precise part of Pixabay's guidelines, and I'm truly grateful for that. I will make sure this issue does not happen again. Thank you also for sending me the quality guidelines once more — humans tend to forget, and I reviewed them again carefully.

Once again, thank you sincerely. I'm happy to be a small member of the global Pixabay community. Wishing you and the entire Pixabay team all the best.