Public is an investing platform that allows everyone to invest in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and alternative assets—all in one place. We help members be better investors by providing access to custom company metrics, live shows about the markets, and insights from a community of millions of investors, creators, and analysts.
In our mission to make the public markets work for all people—we believe open conversations lead to the discovery of new ideas and can help improve your investing experience. We celebrate differences of opinion and the diversity of viewpoints that are reflected in our broad community of members.
Bringing people together from different walks of life, backgrounds, and experiences leads to the most insightful and constructive discussions. We’re smarter together.
We are committed to ensuring a safe and positive experience for all of our members. This means enforcing strong guidelines around treating each other with empathy and respect. As a member of our community, we expect you to abide by the code of conduct and do your part to support an environment that is safe, authentic, and productive for all.
We will remove any content (posts, comments) that violate our Community Guidelines. Members can appeal decisions if they believe no violation has taken place by reaching out to the Public Support team. We will warn members, temporarily restrict social capabilities, and untrend content, or permanently ban accounts that are involved in severe or repeated violations.
If you see content that you think violates our policies, we ask that you report it by tapping the three dots next to a profile, post, or comment and selecting “Report.” We take all reports incredibly seriously. We may work with law enforcement, including but not limited to cases in which we believe there’s a risk of physical harm or threat to public safety.
If you encounter content you don’t wish to see that doesn’t violate policy, you have the option to unfollow or block other members.
By using Public, you agree to these guidelines and our Terms of Use. Note: These policies are subject to change at any time. The most updated version can always be found here.
– The Public Moderation Team
Community Guidelines
Abusive content
Abusive behavior can cause severe psychological distress and will not be tolerated in our community. We will remove any content seeking to bully, degrade, humiliate, hurt, belittle and/or offend an individual. Any content found in violation of this policy will be removed. Temporary, or permanent social restrictions may apply depending on severity.
Sexual harassment
We do not allow any comments, behaviors, or communications of a sexual nature made toward an individual. Including, but not limited to the following:
Content depicting any form of sexual activity
Content referencing the sexual, or physical anatomy of someone
Content depicting the simulation of sexual activity on someone through text or emojis
Persistent, unwanted sexual advances
Content that alters/morphs an image of another person
Hate speech
We are committed to fostering a diverse environment, where individuals from all walks of life are free to express themselves safely. We do not allow any discriminatory language such as comments, slurs, or negative stereotypes seeking to attack, threaten, incite violence against, or dehumanize an individual, or a group of individuals based on the following protected attributes:
Race
Ethnicity
Religion
Gender
Sex
Sexual orientation
Caste
National origin
Immigration status
Disability
Graphic content (sex, nudity, drugs)
We do not allow any content/imagery depicting nudity, sex, drugs, or grotesque content that contains a shock factor.
Content/imagery controlled under this policy include, but is not limited to the following:
Sexual activity/nudity (porn, sexually explicit imagery)
Sexual gratification objects (sex toys, performance enhancers)
Drugs, and other controlled substances (cocaine, heroin, meth)
Drug paraphernalia (equipment such as bongs, and pipes)
Grotesque imagery (blood, gore, corpses)
Note: Marijuana/cannabis is excluded from this policy.
Soliciting sale of financial advice and spam
Community features at Public have been built to aid members in their journey, learn, share ideas, build financial literacy, and encourage everyone to do their due diligence.
We are committed to the safety of our members and we strongly prohibit any form of scheming, deceiving, soliciting, offering, or requesting professional financial advice at Public. Any members found in violation of this policy will be immediately removed from the platform.
Additionally, we do not allow content that is posted repeatedly, and consecutively.
Impersonation
We do not allow anyone to misrepresent themselves on the platform. Individuals who pretend to be someone else, an institution, celebrity, politician, creator, and/or popular investor, with the deliberate intention of causing harm will be removed from the platform.
Exceptions apply when there’s a clear indication in the bio and display name that the account is satire, fan account, or parody.
Integrity and authenticity
Any content that solicits members for engagement (by following, commenting, sharing) in exchange for something in return is not allowed on the platform. Additionally, any members found to be artificially inflating engagement/popularity, without garnering meaningful discussions (manually or using automated scripts) will be restricted or removed from the platform.
Suicide and self-harm
We care deeply about the health and mental well-being of all individuals that make up our community here at Public. We do not allow any content depicting self-harm, praising, glorifying, or encouraging others to inflict harm upon themselves.
We support our members in sharing their experiences with this topic to find community support and raise awareness. Additionally, we encourage our members who are struggling with thoughts of suicide, or self-harm (or know someone that is) to contact local authorities or the suicide prevention hotline.
False and misleading Information
Do not share any information that is false, misleading, and or deliberately deceptive. Misleading content presented as news, unverifiable facts, or claims that have been altered to appear true and could result in real-world harm, or panic will be removed from the platform.
Terrorism and violent extremism
We do not allow the platform to be used to promote, endorse, or glorification of terror groups, hate groups, criminal organizations, or any other groups that target civilians and spread hateful ideologies.
Threats of violence
We take a strong, and firm stance against any form of violence. We do not allow our platform to be used for any language or communication that explicitly or inexplicitly incites others to commit violence or communicates an intent to inflict harm to property, and/or physical harm to a person, or a group of people.
Referral links and self-promotion
We do not mind if you share links to personal websites, provided that they are relevant and appropriate. However, third-party affiliate links, direct referral links to other sites, platforms, and straight-up advertising are not allowed.
Platform security and privacy
The security of our members and affiliates is a top priority at Public. Any attempt to undermine or abuse the integrity, security, or reliability of our platform by using automated scripts, software, and/or tools is severely prohibited.
Do not share any information that can identify you, or a specific individual such as your Home Address, Phone Number, Email Address, ID information, Passport information, etc
Do not create a duplicate version of Public or create malicious files, viruses, Trojan horses, or other scripts that can bring harm to the community
Do not click on suspicious links or engage in requests for information about your Public account details, login credentials, passwords, verification, financial, or other sensitive personal information
Do not fraudulently leverage your Public account to deceive others, commit cybercrime or gain access to their data, content, or account
Do not give access to your account to other people
Do not create multiple Public accounts
Public members are always encouraged to practice caution when engaging in any activity, or conversations with other members on or off-platform.
If you ever have questions, the team is always here for you, so feel free to give us a shout on the app’s Chat or via email at support@public.com.