FAQ
Philosophy of TalkSpar
What is the First Amendment?
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment applies to the United States Federal government. The Fourteenth Amendment applies the First Amendment to the fifty State governments as well.
The First Amendment does not grant the right of free speech. Rather, it prevents the government from violating the pre-existing human right to free speech which is granted by God or Nature. This is an important distinction: you have a basic human right to free speech even if you don't live in the United States.
Is all speech free speech?
Not quite. There are a few categories of speech which are not protected by the First Amendment:
- Fighting words (i.e. incitement to violence)
- Advocacy of imminent lawless behavior
- Threats and intimidation
- Fraudulent misrepresentation
- Defamation (Negative and harmful remarks about someone else which the speaker knows to be factually untrue)
Additionally, there are legal restrictions on certain specific types of speech. Examples of these restrictions include (but are not limited to):
- Pornographic material may not be distributed to minors.
- Copyrighted works may not be distributed without the permission of the copyright owner.
- Weapon design information may not be exported to certain countries
- Courts may issue a non-disclosure order ("gag order") to participants in a legal proceeding, preventing the participants from discussing the proceeding publicly.
Everything else is free speech, protected by the First Amendment.
What makes TalkSpar different from other platforms?
The First Amendment only applies to the US federal and state governments. Private entities are entitled to set their own rules and speech restrictions for their own property or, in the case of internet services, their own platforms.
TalkSpar chooses to implement only minimal rules. Almost all First-Amendment-protected speech is permitted on TalkSpar.
Why is that important?
Most other platforms set rules regarding what may be said on the platform. These rules often have the effect of quashing opinions, viewpoints, and news that disagree with the platform owner's political stance.
Additionally, other countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and China have legal prohibitions on speech that the government deems to be "offensive". These laws violate their citizens' human rights to free speech. Platforms with assets, personnel, or data in these countries must comply with those anti-free-speech laws or face consequences.
Notable examples:
- China's entire internet infrastructure sits behind a massive government firewall, allowing the Chinese government to monitor and block anything they like from outside the country. (commonly referred to as "the Great Firewall of China.")
- UK police regularly investigate and prosecute users who use say offensive things online.
- Thailand has a "Lèse-majesté" law, prohibiting criticism of the royalty, and an entire government agency dedicated to enforcing that law online.
- Singapore routinely requires social media users and publishers to append official government statements/reports to their own content, if the Singapore government deems the original content to be incorrect.
How does TalkSpar protect my freedom of speech?
First and foremost, TalkSpar is 100% located within the United States. All TalkSpar data, operations, and personnel are inside the United States. Although our lack of overseas assets might reduce performance for foreign users, it enables us to completely disregard foreign censorship laws, which do not have jurisdiction over any part of TalkSpar.
Secondly, TalkSpar is open-source. Anyone is free to examine the inner workings of the TalkSpar platform. We don't have secret algorithms that decide what you should or shouldn't see. Our voting and ranking systems are fully transparent and free of artificial manipulation.
Thirdly, TalkSpar does not accept advertising or investment funding. Yes, that would make it easier to kickstart the platform, but it would also come with strings attached. We do not want to subject your free speech rights to the whims of potentially censorious funding sources.
Objectionable speech
What about hate speech?
Most so-called "hate speech" is part of of some larger movement that happens to be ontologically evil, such as ethnic or racial supremecism. As TalkSpar does not permit the advancement of evil on its platform, it will be dealt with accordingly.
Content that is not part of an evil agenda, but merely offensive, will be permitted.
What about cyberbullying?
As discussed above, threats and intimidation are explicitly not protected speech. If you are signed in to TalkSpar, you can use built-in blocking tools to prevent cyberbullies from interacting with you. You will also be able to use the built-in Flag option to bring threats (or other malicious content) to the attention of the TalkSpar administrators.
Someone is sharing a screenshot of something I said online, and it's making me look bad.
Factual truth is an ironclad defense to claims of defamation. Think twice before posting next time.
Copyright
Something on TalkSpar is infringing my intellectual property rights.
Submit a DMCA takedown request.
Law Enforcement
I'm US law enforcement and need to investigate something on TalkSpar.
Use the legal requests portal to send us a copy of your search warrent or subpoena.
I'm law enforcement from another country and need to investigate something on TalkSpar.
Domesticate your warrent/subpoena in the United States, then submit the domesticated documents to the legal requests portal.
I'm law enforcement from another country and something on TalkSpar is illegal in my jurisdiction.
TalkSpar is outside your jurisdiction. Sucks to be you.