Editorial standards

CivicView is a civic-engagement platform, not a publisher. We surface what officials publicly say and do; we don't editorialize on top of it. This page lays out the operational rules that follow from that stance — what we will and won't moderate, how appeals work, and the line between citizen-led conversation and rep-authored content.

The no-endorsement rule

CivicView does not endorse any candidate, party, or position. This applies to:

• Product decisions: we don't algorithmically boost any side. The polls feed shows the newest polls first. The posts feed ranks by engagement (likes, dislikes, comments, and votes on an attached poll), and the “Popular polls” list ranks by total votes, counted the same way for everyone, whatever the content says. We don't downrank a rep's content because we disagree with it.
• Editorial copy: AI summaries on bills + votes are neutral rephrasings of the original text. If we'd struggle to write the summary without taking a side, we don't ship the summary.
• Curated content: top-issues, stances, and biographical info on candidate pages quote the candidate's own published positions — we don't add interpretive framing.
• Staff conduct: CivicView employees may participate in civic life as private citizens; they don't post on behalf of the platform.

What gets moderated

The moderation queue is fed by reports from signed-in citizens and officials. An admin reviews every report. The one automatic step is the auto-hide threshold below, which hides content only until that review happens. An automated threat check is in testing: it records its assessment of new content but does not flag or hide anything yet.

Content that will be removed when reported and confirmed by an admin:

• Direct threats of violence or harm against a specific person.
• Doxxing — posting someone's home address, phone number, or other personal contact info without consent.
• Impersonation of an elected official, candidate, or their staff.
• Spam, automated abuse, or coordinated inauthentic behavior.
• Sexually explicit content. CivicView is a civic-engagement platform; this content has no place here.
• Content that violates federal election or campaign-finance law (e.g. unreported coordinated advocacy).
• Copyright or trademark infringement (we honor DMCA takedown notices — see the contact section below).

Content that will not be removed even if reported:

• Heated criticism of a public official's policy positions, voting record, or public conduct. Disagreement is the point of the platform.
• Statements you find ideologically objectionable but that don't fall in the categories above. We don't moderate by viewpoint.
• Citizens correcting or fact-checking a rep's claim, even if the rep finds it embarrassing.
• Content the rep doesn't like appearing on their own page (the page's discussion is part of the public record of constituent response).

Auto-hide threshold

A post, poll or comment that receives a threshold number of reports from verified accounts (currently 5, subject to change as we learn) is automatically hidden from public view pending admin review. This protects users from sustained abuse without giving any one reporter a veto over speech. The author can still see their own hidden content; the post or comment is restored on admin clearance, or removed if the report stands.

The threshold is set to be hard to game. Each account counts once, and only reports from officials and verified citizens count toward it. Reports from demo accounts still reach the review queue, but they never hide anything on their own.

Citizen-led vs rep-authored content

Every page on CivicView is either claimed (the rep or candidate has signed in and can post directly) or unclaimed (we surface their public record but no one from their office is posting). Both states are clearly labeled on the page header.

On unclaimed pages, citizens can start polls and conversations — these are tagged "Citizen-led conversation" so visitors know the rep hasn't responded. If the rep later claims their page, those citizen polls close to new votes and stay public, with their results, in a “Before this page was claimed” section that is clearly separated from posts the rep authored themselves. The rep can hide that section from their own view, not from anyone else’s.

This separation matters because attribution matters. A reader should never have to guess whether a quote on a politician's page came from the politician or from another reader.

How to report content

Every post, comment, and poll has a Report option. Reporting is anonymous to the reported content's author — they can't see who reported them — but visible to admins so we can spot patterns.

For content that needs urgent attention (credible threats, doxxing, immediate harm), email civicview@civicview.app directly. We monitor that inbox during business hours.

Appeals

If your content was removed and you disagree, you can appeal:

• From your dashboard: hidden content is listed under “Hidden by moderation” with an Appeal button. You can also email civicview@civicview.app with the content URL and your reasoning.
• Response time: typically 24-72 hours. Complex cases (election-law questions, IP disputes) may take longer.
• What we'll do: re-review the decision against these standards. CivicView has one admin today, the founder, so the same person who made the original call reviews the appeal; we say so rather than promise a second reviewer we don't have. If we got it wrong, we restore the content and add an internal note so we calibrate future calls better.
• What we won't do: reverse a removal because it's politically inconvenient for the reporter or the author. The original moderation standards apply equally on appeal.

DMCA + intellectual property

Copyright takedown notices should be sent to civicview@civicview.app with the subject line "DMCA notice" and include: the copyrighted work, the allegedly infringing URL on CivicView, your contact info, a good-faith statement, and your physical or electronic signature. We acknowledge within 48 hours and remove confirmed infringing content promptly.

Transparency

We'll publish aggregate moderation statistics (reports received, content actioned vs cleared, breakdown by category) once the platform has enough volume for the numbers to be meaningful without identifying specific cases. Until then, the moderation queue is small enough that publishing data could effectively identify individuals.