We are a privacy-first, community-centered, alternative to the dominant paradigm of social media. We take our responsibilities for maintaining safe community spaces extremely seriously, which is why our work is based on the principle of ‘ freedom of speech, not freedom of reach’
There is no community without challenge, struggle, sacrifice, difficulty, and the dedication to achieve something. Community-shared spaces are oriented around the connections people form under these challenges, by which they esteem and admire each other. Simply bringing people together isn’t where the work of connection ends. They must participate in non-trivial pursuits, and recognise the achievements of those who commit the most effort and sacrifice for the benefit of all.
Information is increasingly communicated in digital spaces. These spaces must help us make sense of the world around us. We don’t all have to agree with each other, but our digital spaces should help us better understand, communicate and discuss different perspectives. They should provide the foundation for finding common ground, to agree on the fundamental facts of what we’re seeing and experiencing. To the greatest extent possible the space should support people to verify and hold each other accountable, with measured and proportionate sanctions for those who act or speak in bad faith.
A shared space must create an experience where people feel, at a bare minimum, welcome and safe, and then it must make them feel comfortable and secure enough to stick around. But to be truly public and fair, it must be accessible, inviting, and hospitable. This is our challenge: openness to the outsider, without compromising safety for the insider.
Above all, public spaces cannot exclude, or discriminate against, people for reasons unrelated to the explicit purpose of the space, or to the shared challenge or struggle of that community.
When a space is subject to the interests and manipulations of invisible or opaque forces everyone feels it. Both the space itself, and the members, must understand that they should not allow their private ends and goals to influence the way they design and use the space, or interact with other players within it. People have personal responsibility for their actions and intents, and nobody is above being held accountable for deviating from the rules, norms, ethics, and standards of behaviour expected within into the boundaries of the space.
Plug.events is a fully GDPR compliant, privacy-first social network. Our business model is intentionally designed to avoid the invasive trappings of legacy social media with the pressures of teh attention economy and where you, the user become ‘the product’. You can use our site without creating an account, or sign up without giving your real name. You will never be pressured to verify by ID because we employ a peer verification model. We don’t sell user data and you can delete your account fully at any time.
Read more about your privacy on Plug.events on our FAQs or on our accompanying blog post written by our resident privacy expert, Kathrin Gardhouse.
Our mission is to prioritize truth and good faith debate by amplifying local subject-matter authorities and creating self-regulating communities. instead of relying on click-maximizing algorithms to choose the information that people see. Communities are in charge, and individuals can choose who they trust. A broad range of views is beneficial for society, freedom of speech and freedom of association should be upheld. However, it’s important to note that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach, and nobody has a right to an audience.
Above all, we will never insert our personal politics to manage the discourse, we will follow the explicit and transparent rules that we set out for, and expect from, you.
Provenance by Design is a privacy-first peer verification or vouching system that ensures content suggested or amplified on our platform is tied to real people engaged in the activities they claim to be. Community vouched and a mix of peer- and ID-verified users offer protection against social engineering, so that users can be assured that their data is safe from fraudsters and bad actors trying to manipulate their online behaviour; and, regulators can rest easy knowing that our system maintains the highest standards of quality and verification to ensure the authenticity and reliability of all content.