TED Content Guidelines

At TED, we strive to present information in a way that is both compelling and 100% credible. Claims by our speakers should be true to the best of the speaker's understanding at the time, and should be based on information that has survived scrutiny by experts in the field. Speakers are expected to be transparent about the basis for any factual claims, and provide information to support their statements.

If a claim is based on aspirational work or ideas without real-world examples, that context must be made clear in the talk.

TED employs curators as well as fact-checkers and topic-specific advisors. Before a speaker is invited to the TED stage, we strive to ensure that their work has been publicly accepted as credible and that their talk accurately reflects current knowledge in their respective fields.

We also rely on you, TED’s audience, to alert us about questions or concerns via contact@ted.com. Please include the speaker’s name and a link to the content you’re flagging.

In a short talk, it’s impossible to include all the nuance of a complex topic. TED’s goal is to make big ideas accessible to a wide audience. This inevitably means that some concepts have to be simplified. But it’s important that they not be simplified to the point of becoming misleading. We work with speakers to add footnotes to their talks where needed.

At TED, we’re interested in understanding the potential implications of new theories and findings, while making clear the distinction between what has already been achieved and what might be to come. We encourage speakers to share when their idea might hold promise in a wider arena, while also making clear if it’s in an early stage of development.

Sometimes, despite best efforts, we miss something. In those cases, we make every effort to correct the record. This may mean adding footnotes, clarifications or corrections — or, in rare circumstances, we may delete content entirely. TED’s content and these standards will be constantly up for review and revision. In the meantime, we will continue to strive to bring you content that explores the wonder, ingenuity, passion, skepticism, and big ideas that fill our world.