diff --git a/src/policies/anti-duplication-policy.ts b/src/policies/anti-duplication-policy.ts
index 7db9701..bc984bf 100755
--- a/src/policies/anti-duplication-policy.ts
+++ b/src/policies/anti-duplication-policy.ts
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ interface AntiDuplication {
  * It stores a hashcode for each content in an SQLite database and rate-limits them.
  * Only messages that meet the minimum length criteria are selected.
  */
-const antiDuplicationPolicy: Policy<AntiDuplication> = async (msg, opts) => {
-  const ttl = opts?.ttl ?? 60000;
-  const minLength = opts?.minLength ?? 50;
-  const databaseUrl = opts?.databaseUrl || 'sqlite:///tmp/strfry-anti-duplication-policy.sqlite3';
+const antiDuplicationPolicy: Policy<AntiDuplication> = async (msg, opts = {}) => {
+  const ttl = opts.ttl ?? 60000;
+  const minLength = opts.minLength ?? 50;
+  const databaseUrl = opts.databaseUrl ?? 'sqlite:///tmp/strfry-anti-duplication-policy.sqlite3';
 
   const { kind, content } = msg.event;
 
diff --git a/src/policies/keyword-policy.test.ts b/src/policies/keyword-policy.test.ts
index c134d02..eda6cf1 100644
--- a/src/policies/keyword-policy.test.ts
+++ b/src/policies/keyword-policy.test.ts
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@ import { buildEvent, buildInputMessage } from '../test.ts';
 import keywordPolicy from './keyword-policy.ts';
 
 Deno.test('blocks banned pubkeys', async () => {
-  const words = ['https://t.me/spam'];
+  const words = ['https://t.me/spam', 'hello world'];
 
   const msg0 = buildInputMessage();
   const msg1 = buildInputMessage({ event: buildEvent({ content: '🔥🔥🔥 https://t.me/spam 我想死' }) });
+  const msg2 = buildInputMessage({ event: buildEvent({ content: 'hElLo wOrLd!' }) });
 
   assertEquals((await keywordPolicy(msg0, words)).action, 'accept');
   assertEquals((await keywordPolicy(msg1, words)).action, 'reject');
   assertEquals((await keywordPolicy(msg1, [])).action, 'accept');
+  assertEquals((await keywordPolicy(msg2, words)).action, 'reject');
 });
diff --git a/src/policies/keyword-policy.ts b/src/policies/keyword-policy.ts
index d4ffdef..a377840 100644
--- a/src/policies/keyword-policy.ts
+++ b/src/policies/keyword-policy.ts
@@ -2,23 +2,16 @@ import { Policy } from '../types.ts';
 
 /** Reject events containing any of the strings in its content. */
 const keywordPolicy: Policy<Iterable<string>> = ({ event: { id, content } }, words = []) => {
-  let isMatch = false;
-
   for (const word of words) {
-    if (content.toLocaleLowerCase().includes(word.toLowerCase())) {
-      isMatch = true;
-      break;
+    if (content.toLowerCase().includes(word.toLowerCase())) {
+      return {
+        id,
+        action: 'reject',
+        msg: 'blocked: contains a banned word or phrase.',
+      };
     }
   }
 
-  if (isMatch) {
-    return {
-      id,
-      action: 'reject',
-      msg: 'blocked: contains a banned word or phrase.',
-    };
-  }
-
   return {
     id,
     action: 'accept',
diff --git a/src/policies/rate-limit-policy.ts b/src/policies/rate-limit-policy.ts
index 4359bc6..deff9db 100755
--- a/src/policies/rate-limit-policy.ts
+++ b/src/policies/rate-limit-policy.ts
@@ -18,11 +18,13 @@ interface RateLimit {
  * IPs are stored in an SQLite database. If you are running internal services,
  * it's a good idea to at least whitelist `127.0.0.1` etc.
  */
-const rateLimitPolicy: Policy<RateLimit> = async (msg, opts) => {
-  const interval = opts?.interval ?? 60000;
-  const max = opts?.max ?? 10;
-  const whitelist = opts?.whitelist || [];
-  const databaseUrl = opts?.databaseUrl || 'sqlite:///tmp/strfry-rate-limit-policy.sqlite3';
+const rateLimitPolicy: Policy<RateLimit> = async (msg, opts = {}) => {
+  const {
+    interval = 60000,
+    max = 10,
+    whitelist = [],
+    databaseUrl = 'sqlite:///tmp/strfry-rate-limit-policy.sqlite3',
+  } = opts;
 
   if ((msg.sourceType === 'IP4' || msg.sourceType === 'IP6') && !whitelist.includes(msg.sourceInfo)) {
     const db = new Keydb(databaseUrl);
diff --git a/src/policies/regex-policy.ts b/src/policies/regex-policy.ts
index c50c1b6..4d8cc75 100644
--- a/src/policies/regex-policy.ts
+++ b/src/policies/regex-policy.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,7 @@ import { Policy } from '../types.ts';
 
 /** Reject events whose content matches the regex. */
 const regexPolicy: Policy<RegExp> = ({ event: { id, content } }, regex) => {
-  const isMatch = regex ? regex.test(content) : false;
-
-  if (isMatch) {
+  if (regex?.test(content)) {
     return {
       id,
       action: 'reject',