With all the #censorship discussions taking place regarding Facebook and Twitter, I though it would be important to clarify Giftapart's social media policies.

Giftapart does not censor speech. We do not "fact check" content. Giftapart does not arbitrate the political posts of our users. Americans have a long tradition of debating politics in public. Freedom of speech has a paramount importance in a democratic society.

Giftapart does have policies against certain posts, such as hate speech, child pornography, and bullying. However, Giftapart does not prevent political speech, or any speech, that conforms with our standards of being a "community of good will and friendship."

Censoring political speech is dangerous to a democracy. There is often a fine line between fact and not fact. Once "fact checking" starts, it is often subject to a person's discretionary interpretation of truth. Democracy rests on the bedrock of freedom of political speech without fear and without censorship.

Giftapart supports every person's right to express their political ideology and thoughts, irrespective of how outrageous they may seem to others, because democracy demands it.

We take no political position. Giftapart does not participate in politics. And we don't judge political speech.

What we do care about is making people happy through Giftapart's really amazing gifting platform. Knowing that Giftapart helps bring a smile to a child, makes it easier to share the gifting joy between families, provides an easy way for friends to gift to each other, and has a part in delivering happiness and love to all people; those are the things that Giftapart genuinely cares deeply about.

The politics we leave to you.

Filipe
Founder & CEO

Read Filipe Pedroso's Opinion article Censorship by Facebook and Twitter Must Stop published in the Patch, November 1, 2020.

#TwitterCensorship #FacebookCensorship #censorship2020 #freespeech