What we refuse

We do not accept advertising or sponsorship from:

  • Candidates for public office, campaign committees, political parties, PACs, or ballot-measure committees — at any level, in any election.
  • Issue advertising whose purpose is to influence an election.
  • Organizations that will not disclose who funds them.
  • Gambling, cryptocurrency and speculative investment products, payday lending, tobacco and vaping, adult content, weapons, and “miracle” health products.
  • Advertisers whose product is the subject of an open debate in the jurisdiction where the ad would run.
  • Anyone requesting editorial, moderation or fact-check consideration as part of the deal.

The refusal of political advertising is not a temporary policy. A platform that hosts debates about ballot measures cannot also sell space to the committees funding them.

What we accept

  • Non-political display advertising, limited in number and placed so it never sits inside an argument, a fact-check label or a petition form. Advertising is labeled “Advertisement” in plain text.
  • Civic sponsorship of debates, from non-partisan organizations such as libraries, universities, neighborhood associations, foundations and non-profits. Sponsorship is permanently labeled on the debate, and it never includes influence over the arguments, the moderation or the vote. See the terms on the for organizations page.
  • Underwriting of a content series (for example, a guide series on public records), disclosed on every page in the series.

Where third-party ad networks such as Google AdSense are used, we apply category and advertiser-level blocks for every prohibited category above, and we do not permit personalized political advertising.

Separation from editorial and moderation

  • Advertisers and sponsors never see content before publication.
  • Advertising staff cannot see, enter or influence the moderation or fact-check queues.
  • No advertiser or sponsor can have an argument labeled, removed or verified.
  • Traffic to a page never affects whether the page is published, corrected or retracted.

If an advertiser asks for any of the above, we end the relationship and say so publicly.

Labeling

Every paid placement is labeled at the point where it appears:

  • Display advertising: “Advertisement”
  • Sponsored debate: “Sponsored by [organization]”, with a link to this policy
  • Underwritten series: “This series is supported by [organization]. [Organization] had no role in its content.”
  • Affiliate links: we do not use them.

Data and advertising

Advertising on this site is contextual, not behavioral. We do not allow advertisers to target you with data derived from your votes, petitions, ZIP code or reading history; we do not share personal information with advertisers; and we do not run advertising trackers or pixels. See the privacy and cookie policies.

User-generated promotion

Posting promotional content as if it were argument — astroturfing, paid advocacy without disclosure, link farming — violates the community guidelines and is removed. Anyone paid to advocate a position in a debate must say so in the argument itself.

Report an ad

Seen an advertisement here that breaks this policy? Send a screenshot and the page URL to [email protected]. We review reports within two business days and publish an annual count of ads rejected and removed.