diff --git a/templates/corporate/policies/rules.md b/templates/corporate/policies/rules.md
index ba8987be2f..cf4de52085 100644
--- a/templates/corporate/policies/rules.md
+++ b/templates/corporate/policies/rules.md
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ any of the following:
 - **Do not send spam**, including unsolicited communications, promotions, or
   advertisements.
 - **Do not target other accounts with notification spam** by mentioning someone
-  or sending them private messages that they do not want.
+  or sending them direct messages that they do not want.
 - **Do not use other accounts to contact a user who has muted you** or create a
   new account in an organization that has deactivated your account for abusive
   behavior**.** Do not circumvent features we offer to enable users to protect
diff --git a/templates/corporate/security.md b/templates/corporate/security.md
index f654adb98c..f7462fe874 100644
--- a/templates/corporate/security.md
+++ b/templates/corporate/security.md
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ priority.
 
 ## Configurable access control policies
 
-- Zulip supports private messages (to one or more individuals), private
+- Zulip supports direct messages (to one or more individuals), private
   streams with any number of subscribers, as well as public streams
   available to all organization members.  We also support guest accounts,
   which only have access to a fixed set of streams, and announcement
diff --git a/templates/zerver/integrations/include/create-bot-construct-url.md b/templates/zerver/integrations/include/create-bot-construct-url.md
index b2e3d670c5..2a120c49fa 100644
--- a/templates/zerver/integrations/include/create-bot-construct-url.md
+++ b/templates/zerver/integrations/include/create-bot-construct-url.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ bot using the bot's API key and the desired stream name:
 Modify the parameters of the URL above, where `api_key` is the API key
 of your Zulip bot, and `stream` is the [URL-encoded][url-encoder]
 stream name you want the notifications sent to. If you don't specify a
-`stream`, the bot will send notifications via private messages to the
+`stream`, the bot will send notifications via direct messages to the
 creator of the bot.
 
 If you'd like this integration to always send notifications to a
diff --git a/templates/zerver/integrations/perforce.md b/templates/zerver/integrations/perforce.md
index c741139600..d4ae2c1f54 100644
--- a/templates/zerver/integrations/perforce.md
+++ b/templates/zerver/integrations/perforce.md
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ that fires once a changelist is submitted and committed.
 1.  By default, this hook will send a message to Zulip even if the
     destination stream does not yet exist. Messages to nonexistent
     streams prompt the Zulip Notification Bot to inform the bot's
-    owner by private message that they may wish to create the stream.
+    owner by direct message that they may wish to create the stream.
     If this behaviour is undesirable, for example with a large and busy
     Perforce server, change the `ZULIP_IGNORE_MISSING_STREAM`
     variable in `zulip_perforce_config.py` to `True`.