For publishers and media
Breaking news brings a storm. Your editors get the signal.
A big story brings thousands of comments in an hour: abuse at your reporters, spam, a correction request and a lawyer's letter. Herald hides what breaks the rules, routes what matters to the editors, and records every action.
What keeps this team up
Abuse aimed at your reporters
The worst comments land under the reporter’s own story. With automatic hiding on, abuse and spam are hidden in seconds, so your team is not the first to read them.
Liable for what readers post
Courts have held page owners responsible for comments under their posts. Every hide, review and reply is recorded with who did it and when.
The tip inside the noise
A correction request or a source’s DM arrives between two hundred hot takes. Questions about a story are drafted for the desk; legal and press messages go straight to the editors.
What lands in the inbox
Twenty minutes after a city-hall story goes up.
R. BoatengComment thread · Facebook
Your story says the vote was 6–3. The minutes say 5–4. Which is it?
Draft: Thanks for flagging this. We’re checking the vote count against the minutes now and will correct the story if it’s wrong.
Content questionMedium90%Draft ahead for reviewanon_8812Comment thread · Facebook
Someone should teach this reporter a lesson. I know where she parks.
Hostile / troll / spamCritical94%Escalate, no draftNever automated: always a personKerr & Lowe LLPDirect message · Facebook
We act for Councillor Haines. Your article contains defamatory statements; please preserve all related materials.
Legal / press / partnershipHigh97%Escalate, no draftAlways goes to a person (locked category)Beth L.Comment thread · Instagram
Finally someone is covering this. Thank you for actually reporting.
Agreement / affirmationLow92%IgnorePolicy: ignore this categorycrypto_gains_dailyComment thread · Facebook
I made $8k this week with this method >> t.me/gains
Hostile / troll / spamMedium98%HidePolicy: hide hostile and spam commentsPete V.Comment thread · Facebook
Typical biased hit piece. You lot never cover the other side.
Disagreement / critiqueMedium88%Review, draft on requestPolicy: draft on request
Invented sample messages. What happens to each is worked out by Herald's own policy engine under this team's starter rules.
One message, start to finish
Rules they turn on first
A newsroom’s first rules: abuse and spam hidden, readers agreeing with each other left alone, pushback seen by a person but not drafted.
Automatic hiding
OffOn
Agreement / affirmation: what Herald does
Review, draft on requestIgnore
What never happens on its own
However the rules are set, Herald never answers these on its own:
- Hostile / troll / spamInsults, trolling, scams or bot spam. Never answered; Herald suggests hiding it.
- Possible crisisAbuse, self-harm, loss or crisis. Always goes to a person with crisis resources; never automated.
- Legal / press / partnershipPress, legal, sponsorship or takedown requests. Goes to the Owner; never drafted.
Every reading, decision, draft, send and hide is kept in an audit log that cannot be edited, and can be exported.
Automatic replies stay off until the brand switches them on, after Herald shows what they would have sent.
What a month costs at this size
8 brands, 24 connected accounts, 8 people, 40,000 messages a month
$549.17 a month, billed yearly
Growth plan
People’s time to answer them well by hand$89,513 (1,361 hours)
People’s time with Herald$31,623 (473 hours)
Saved after the plan’s price$57,890
Estimates from the same method and sources as the comparison page; every feature, brand and teammate is included. See the working
Where it connects
Works with
- YouTube· Coming soon
- X· Coming soon
- Your own app
Want next?
Herald answers comments and DMs. It does not publish posts: keep the scheduler you use.
What the research says
78%
of UK journalists surveyed said they had faced online abuse at least once.
UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2026Government research. 531 responses; research by Alma Economics. 52%
of UK journalists surveyed said safety concerns led them to withdraw from online spaces.
UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2026Government research. 531 responses; 23% had considered leaving the profession. 12% → 27%
of the New York Times’ social-issue articles had comments open before and after it began AI-assisted moderation; comment quality changed little.
Rajadesingan, ICWSM, 2026Peer-reviewed study. 79,824 articles; a before-and-after study, so an association rather than proof of cause.
Questions this team asks
What happens to a threat against a reporter?
A comment that reads as a threat is a possible crisis: it goes to the top of the inbox for the editors, with an email to each, and is never answered. An editor can hide it in one tap, and the record shows when it arrived and what was done.
Can it keep up when a story goes viral?
Every comment is read as it arrives, at any volume; reading is free. Hides and replies count as handled messages, and the meter warns at 80% of the plan so a spike never stops the reading.
Does it answer readers on its own?
Only where your rules say so. A newsroom usually starts with no automatic replies: readers’ questions about a story are drafted for the desk, and pushback is reviewed without a draft.
What about a lawyer’s letter in the DMs?
Legal, press and partnership messages are locked to the owners: escalated with an email, never drafted, never answered automatically.
Can we show what we hid, and why?
Every hide is a row with the reason, the rule or person behind it and the time, and any hidden comment can be brought back in one tap. The log exports to CSV.
Does it publish our stories?
No. Herald handles comments and DMs only; keep the tool you publish with.
Give your newsroom its comment section back
We are opening a few newsroom workspaces at a time. Tell us how many mastheads and shows you run.