Terms of Service

Democracy Social Media – Terms of Service

1. Nonprofit Status
Democracy Social Media is a nonprofit corporation registered in the state of California. We operate primarily to promote, analyze, and protect democratic values and principles.

2. Acceptance of Terms
By accessing and using Democracy Social Media, you agree to be bound by the terms and provisions of this agreement and acknowledge our status as a California nonprofit.

3. Registration
Users must provide accurate and current information during the registration process. All activities under your account are your responsibility.

4. Donations and Financial Transactions
While we might accept donations or conduct financial transactions, these are done in accordance with our nonprofit status. Any donations or funds received are used exclusively to further our mission and maintain platform operations.

5. No Equity or Profit Distribution
Being a nonprofit, we don’t distribute profits to any shareholders, members, directors, or officers. All revenues are reinvested into our mission and platform.

6. User Content
While users retain rights to their content, by posting, they grant Democracy Social Media a license to use, modify, and display it for the platform’s operation and mission-related activities.

7. No Hate Speech & Content Guidelines
We strictly prohibit hate speech and any content promoting discrimination. Users are also expected to adhere to our Community Rules and Guidelines.

8. Respectful Discourse & Constructive Conversations
All members must engage in respectful discourse and promote constructive conversations in line with our mission.

9. Intellectual Property
Any educational materials or resources provided are for the public benefit. Users are encouraged to share and repurpose them, but proper attribution to Democracy Social Media is required.

10. Governance
Our platform operates under the guidance of a board of directors, ensuring our activities align with our nonprofit objectives.

11. Tax Exemption
Donations made to Democracy Social Media may be tax-deductible, given our tax-exempt status. Contributors should consult with their tax advisors for details.

12. Fact-Based Discussions & Relevance
Members must base their arguments on verified facts and remain relevant to discussion topics.

13. AI Moderation & Reporting
To uphold our community standards, we use AI tools for preliminary content screening. Users are also encouraged to report guideline violations.

14. Membership & Voting (If Applicable)
Members may have rights to participate in certain platform decisions. The specifics of these rights will be communicated as needed.

15. Termination & Consequences
Accounts can be terminated if acting against our mission or for violating our guidelines.

16. Modifications to Terms
We reserve the right to modify these terms. Significant changes, in line with our commitment to transparency, will be communicated to our community.

17. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution
This ToS is governed by the laws of the State of California. Any disputes will be addressed through arbitration in California, unless otherwise specified.

18. Contact
For questions or concerns about this ToS, please contact our team at [contact email/phone].

Privacy Policy

Who we are

Suggested text: Our website address is: https://democracysocial.org.

Comments

Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

Suggested text: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Suggested text: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

Suggested text: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

Suggested text: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

Suggested text: If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where your data is sent

Suggested text: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.