Debate ideas
Challenge arguments without attacking people.
Civic action works when people feel safe enough to speak up.
Standards for respectful, lawful civic engagement on Advotecate. Violations may result in content moderation, account strikes, or permanent bans.
Four ideas guide every rule.
Protect people
Keep identity, privacy, and personal safety intact.
Show up honestly
Use an authentic identity and represent affiliations clearly.
Report harm
Flag behavior that puts people or civic participation at risk.
Read the rule. Understand the reason.
Each standard explains where open civic participation ends and harmful behavior begins.
Robust Debate vs. Personal Attacks
We strongly encourage open, robust political debate. Passionate disagreement is the cornerstone of democracy and is fully protected on Advotecate. However, debates must focus on issues, policies, and ideas — not on tearing down other users.
- Allowed: Passionately criticizing a political stance, challenging another user's arguments, and engaging in intense ideological debate.
- Prohibited: Ad hominem (personal) attacks, name-calling, sustained harassment, bullying, or threatening the physical safety of another user.
Hate Speech & Protected Discourse
Advotecate does not tolerate hate speech. We define hate speech as direct attacks, slurs, or dehumanizing language directed at individuals or groups based on their race, color, ethnicity, national origin, caste, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, or another status protected by law.
Discussion of Public Issues: We draw a line between attacking a person for their identity and criticizing a concept. Criticism of a country, a government, political policies, or an ideology is generally permitted when it does not attack people based on a protected trait, threaten harm, or otherwise violate these Guidelines.
Enforcement: Advotecate reserves the right to determine the severity of any hate speech violation. Context matters, and we evaluate content based on whether it contributes to political discourse or exists merely to target and degrade a protected group.
Misinformation & Unverified Claims
We are committed to protecting the integrity of the political process and organizing efforts on our platform. Deliberately spreading materially false or manipulated claims that are likely to cause a concrete harm — such as suppressing voting, facilitating fraud, or creating an imminent safety risk — is prohibited. Good-faith mistakes, opinion, satire that a reasonable person would recognize, and disagreement about public policy are not violations merely because they are disputed or unverified.
- Moderation Policy: We take a measured approach to misinformation. Rather than issuing instant bans for single infractions, we monitor and moderate flagged content.
- Repeated Violations: Users who repeatedly spread harmful misinformation after notice may accumulate violations. A history of repeated or severe violations may result in a permanent account ban.
Privacy and Doxing
Political organizing requires safety. "Doxing" — the malicious sharing of someone's private, personal information (such as their home address, personal phone number, or family details) without their consent — is strictly enforced based on the subject's public status.
- Everyday Users & Volunteers: There is a zero-tolerance policy for doxing everyday users, volunteers, and private citizens. Violating this will result in immediate moderation and potential banning.
- Public Officials & Donors: Because federal and state campaign finance laws make certain donor information public record, and because public officials have a lower expectation of privacy, public records about elected officials, public figures, or reportable donors may be discussed for a legitimate civic or newsworthy purpose. Public availability is not permission to harass someone or expose sensitive details. Precise live location, private contact information, family information, threats, and information shared to facilitate targeting or harm remain prohibited.
Authenticity and Impersonation
Transparency is vital for political and financial trust. We utilize a two-tier verification system: Advotecate verifies the Organizations, and those Organizations verify their own users, staff, and volunteers.
Prohibited: You may not impersonate any person, politician, campaign, or organization. Creating fake accounts, operating deceptive parody accounts that are not clearly labeled, or falsely claiming to represent an organization you do not work for is grounds for an immediate ban.
Graphic and Sensitive Media
We recognize that the reality of politics, protests, and global events can be visually shocking.
- Allowed: You may post graphic or sensitive content (such as footage of protests, war, or humanitarian crises) specifically if it is used to raise awareness for a political, social, or fundraising cause.
- Prohibited: We strictly ban all forms of pornography, nonconsensual intimate images, sexually explicit content, illegal content, and gratuitous violence or gore that serves no educational, political, or advocacy purpose.
Nonconsensual Intimate Images
Do not post or threaten to post an intimate image or video without the depicted person's consent. This includes authentic, altered, and AI-generated material. A depicted person or authorized representative may request removal through the in-app reporting tools or by contacting [email protected].
Include enough information to locate the material and confirm that the request is authorized and made in good faith. We will review valid requests promptly, remove covered material and known identical copies within the time required by law, and take reasonable steps to prevent re-upload. Do not submit false or abusive removal requests.
Spam, Scraping, and Direct Messaging (DMs)
To keep the platform functional and focused on organizing, we enforce strict rules against platform abuse.
- Data Scraping: Automated scraping of user data, voter files, or community lists from the Advotecate platform is strictly prohibited and is a violation of our Terms of Service.
- Direct Messages: DMs are open, meaning any user can message any other user to facilitate organizing. However, DMs are subject to these Community Guidelines. Unsolicited spamming or harassment via DM can be reported by the recipient and will result in moderation or account suspension.
Fundraising & Financial Integrity
All fundraising on Advotecate must comply strictly with our Terms of Service. Deceptive fundraising practices, "Scam PACs," campaign finance violations, or the promotion of unethical financial behavior will be handled as strict legal and Terms of Service violations, resulting in immediate termination.
Reporting and Enforcement
We rely on our community to help keep Advotecate safe and focused. If you see content or behavior that violates these guidelines, please use the in-app reporting tools or contact our moderation team at [email protected].
We consider severity, context, intent, prior violations, and risk of harm. Similar conduct may receive different action when those factors materially differ. Advotecate may:
- 01Remove or limit the visibility of violating content.
- 02Issue warnings or strikes to user accounts.
- 03Suspend or permanently ban users or Organizations who severely or repeatedly violate these Community Guidelines.
Where appropriate, we will tell the affected user what rule was applied and provide a way to request review. We may limit notice or review when doing so would create a safety risk, compromise an investigation, or conflict with law.