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What the Perspective API shutdown means for your platform
Google Jigsaw is shutting down Perspective API. The service ends December 31, 2026. New signups stopped in February 2026. Google won't help you move. If your platform runs on Perspective, here's what happens if you do nothing:
- ✓No filter at all: hate speech, abuse, and toxic content goes live the moment the API turns off
- ✓Legal risk: the EU Digital Services Act, the UK Online Safety Act, and similar platform laws require active content moderation
- ✓Users leave: toxic spaces bleed good users fast. When trolls take over, people go
- ✓Lost ad revenue: brands pull spend when their ads show next to abuse
Common workarounds and their trade-offs
Word blocklists
Free and simple. But they can't read context. They flag too much clean content. Blocklists also miss hate speech in neutral words, coded text, and slurs in other languages.
GenAI moderation (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.)
Can catch nuance. But the results change. The same message may be flagged today and missed tomorrow. It costs more per request. It's not built for real-time moderation.
Translate first, then moderate
Translation cleans up content. Slurs get replaced by neutral terms. Nuance gets lost. A hate speech term in Russian has no English match. Sounds smart. Fails in practice.
Know exactly why content gets flagged
Perspective API gave you a toxicity score. A number from 0 to 1. No context. No reason. Tisane tells you what was found, where it is in the sentence, and why it was flagged.
- ✓Clear reasons for every flag: meets EU Digital Services Act rules for transparent moderation decisions
- ✓Exact sentence fragment highlighted: see the specific text that set off the flag, plus a human-readable explanation
- ✓Fewer appeals: when users see why content was flagged, they push back less
Catch abuse even when users try to hide it
Trolls swap letters, use code words, and hide slurs behind tricks. Perspective wasn't built for this. Word blocklists aren't either.
- ✓Algospeak: catches coded words like "unalive," "seggs," and "tism"
- ✓Letter swaps: spots Cyrillic lookalikes, full-width text, and Unicode tricks
- ✓Masked words: text like "br*k your l*gs" doesn't slip through
One API for your entire global community
Your users don't all speak English. Your content filter shouldn't only work in English.
- ✓Works in each language natively: not translate-then-filter, which drops slurs and local context
- ✓Built-in dirty language translation: your trust and safety team can see what was said, even in languages they don't speak
- ✓Handles word forms on its own: no need to build word lists for each language
Switch from Perspective API and save 25%
We know switching tools is work. Tisane has a move-over deal for Perspective API users. Start with the free plan. 50,000 requests per month. Test it with your real content. Most teams are up and running in a few weeks.
- ✓25% off Large Plan and on-prem for teams coming from Perspective API
- ✓Free API mapping: on Large Plan and on-prem, our team helps you match your Perspective setup to Tisane's API at no extra cost
Tisane vs. Perspective API
| Feature | Tisane | Perspective API |
|---|---|---|
| Explainability | Human-readable reasons for every flag | Toxicity score only (0 to 1) |
| Languages | 35+ | Limited |
| Algospeak / obfuscation | Detects coded language, Unicode tricks, character swaps | Not supported |
| False positives | Context-aware parsing reduces false flags | Score-based, prone to false positives |
| Deployment options | SaaS, on-prem, embedded | SaaS only (sunsetting) |
| Customization | Scenario-specific modes (gaming, marketplace, usernames) | One-size-fits-all |
| Response time | Milliseconds, no GPUs required | Comparable (while active) |
| Dirty language translation | Built-in | None |
| Entity extraction | Built-in | None |
| Migration support | 25% discount + free API mapping (Large and on-prem) | None offered by Google |
| Status | Active and growing since 2017 | Sunsetting December 31, 2026 |
Common questions about switching from Perspective API
Losing Perspective?
Tisane is here.
Start with the free Community plan. 50,000 requests per month. No credit card required.