A debate is only as honest as its referee.
DEBATES.studio publishes the rules, the people, and the receipts behind every event we host. Below is exactly how we earn the right to host civic conversations.
Verified candidates
Every candidate profile is identity-checked and confirmed against public election filings before being published. A gold check appears only after a compliance reviewer signs off.
Nonpartisan moderation
Moderators are vetted journalists or civic organizations operating under our Editorial Charter. No campaign, party, or sponsor can alter the script during a debate.
Open audit trail
Every administrative action — verifying a candidate, hiding a question, publishing results — is recorded with actor, time, and entity. Logs are immutable and reviewable by partners on request.
Hardened security
Role-based access, row-level security, and short-lived sessions protect candidate data, audience submissions, and unpublished transcripts.
Transcripts & summaries
Verbatim transcripts and AI-assisted summaries are published after every debate. Audience score is reported separately from any official electoral result.
Incident protocol
If something goes wrong — a technical failure, a moderation breach, a safety concern — we publish what happened and what we changed. Silence is not an option.
Six rules we will never break.
These commitments bind every producer, moderator, and engineer working on a DEBATES.studio event. Violations trigger an incident review and public disclosure.
- 1
We do not endorse candidates, parties, or ballot measures.
- 2
We accept no campaign or party funding for any single debate.
- 3
Moderators receive questions and topics in a sealed agenda — no campaign sees them in advance.
- 4
Audience score reflects participating viewers only and is never reported as an election outcome.
- 5
Hidden or removed questions are logged with reason codes available for compliance review.
- 6
Editorial decisions about content cannot be overridden by sponsors, partners, or platform staff.
See the receipts. Question the process.
Audit trails, transcripts, and incident reports are public by default. If something looks off — tell us, on the record.