Kind 5: Event Deletion Request

Overview

Event Deletion Request (kind 5) is a special event type used to request the deletion of one or more previously published events. It allows users to indicate they wish to retract or disown specific content they have published.

Specification

Property	Value
Kind Number	5
Event Range	Regular
Defined in	NIP-09

Content Format

The content field MAY contain a text note describing the reason for the deletion request. It is optional but can be helpful to explain why the events are being requested for deletion.

Schema

"content": "Text explaining the reason for deletion (optional)"

Tags

Tag Name	Description	Format	Required
e	Referenced event to be deleted	["e", "<event-id>"]	Yes (at least one e or a tag)
a	Referenced replaceable/parameterized event	["a", "<kind>:<pubkey>:<d-identifier>"]	Yes (at least one e or a tag)
k	Kind of the referenced event	["k", "<kind-number>"]	Recommended

Client Behavior

Clients SHOULD handle deletion requests as follows:

• Validate that the pubkey of the deletion request matches the pubkey of the referenced events before taking action.
• MAY choose to fully hide any referenced events or show them with an indication that the author has "disowned" them.
• MAY use the content field to replace the deleted events' content, with clear indication this is a deletion reason.
• SHOULD broadcast deletion request events to other relays that don't have them.
• MAY choose to inform users that deletion requests do not guarantee complete deletion from all relays.

Relay Behavior

Relays SHOULD:

• Delete or stop publishing any referenced events that have an identical pubkey as the deletion request.
• Continue to publish/share the deletion request events indefinitely.
• When an a tag is used, delete all versions of the replaceable event up to the created_at timestamp of the deletion request event.

Relays MAY validate that a deletion request only references events with the same pubkey as the deletion request itself, but this is not required since relays may not have knowledge of all referenced events.

Use Cases

• Removing accidentally published content
• Retracting statements or posts
• Deleting outdated information
• Privacy concerns after publishing sensitive content
• Removing content that violates terms of service or community guidelines

Example

{
  "kind": 5,
  "pubkey": "32-bytes-hex-encoded-public-key",
  "tags": [
    ["e", "dcd59..464a2"],
    ["e", "968c5..ad7a4"],
    ["a", "30023:pubkey:identifier"],
    ["k", "1"],
    ["k", "30023"]
  ],
  "content": "these posts were published by accident",
  "created_at": 1671217411,
  "id": "...",
  "sig": "..."
}

References

• NIP-09: Event Deletion Request
• NIP-01: Basic Protocol

Related Kinds

• All event kinds, as any event can potentially be deleted

Notes

• Publishing a deletion request event against another deletion request has no effect. Clients and relays are not obliged to support "unrequest deletion" functionality.
• Deletion requests cannot guarantee complete removal of content, as clients and relays may choose to ignore deletion requests or may have stored events offline.