Different views.
Shared ground rules.

Challenge ideas. Respect people.

Political, religious, social, and other controversial questions are welcome. Disagreement alone is not a reason to remove a conversation. Personal filters are optional; these rules apply to everyone.

• No harassment, threats, targeted hate, impersonation, scams, or spam.
• No sexual exploitation or abusive sexual content. Never share sexual content involving minors.
• Do not expose another person’s private information or record people without their agreement.
• Respect speaking turns and the host’s stated format. Support factual claims with sources when requested.
• You must be at least 16 to use Backforth. Profile creation asks for your birth date and agreement to the rules.

Hosts and room moderators can manage speakers and posts. Site staff can review reports, hide content, pause rooms, and restrict accounts. You can see notices and appeal account moderation decisions in Safety & reports.

Know your audience.

Private rooms are access-controlled, not confidential from the site team. Authorized staff can inspect content for moderation. Participants may copy or capture material they can see; Backforth cannot prevent that.

Accounts and stored information

Google Firebase manages Google and email/password sign-in. It provides your verified email and, when available, your name to Backforth. Your password is handled by Firebase, not stored in Backforth’s database. Backforth stores a site-specific account identifier, the birth date you supply, your profile, preferences, posts, memberships, interactions, uploads, and safety records. Your email and birth date are not shown in public profiles.

Your display name, username, and avatar identify your contributions. Making a profile private hides its additional profile information; it does not erase public posts or make your name and avatar private. Blocking limits interactions and hides that member’s content from you, but cannot stop someone reading public content while signed out.

How information is used

Information supports accounts, conversations, discovery, notifications, file access, and safety review. Submitted text, including private discussions, may be checked against automatic safety and spam rules. These rules can flag content for review or temporarily hold repeated spam; they do not scan live audio or video.

Backforth runs on GPT Sites with managed Cloudflare storage and uses Google Firebase for authentication and LiveKit for live connections. These services process the information needed to host the site, sign you in, store content, or carry live media. Cookies and browser storage keep you signed in and save your device’s theme and interface preferences. Sign out on shared devices.

Retention and your choices

Saved content and safety records do not have automatic expiry in this beta. You can edit your profile and preferences, change room access, or end a hosted debate from My debates. Ending a debate does not delete its history.

Account deletion and data export are handled by a request to the site team, not an automatic account button. Use the help form below to request removal, an export, or correction of your information. Staff will respond in your private request; submitting it does not itself delete or export anything.

Live by choice. Recording by agreement.

Your camera and microphone start off. Recording is off by default, and every active speaker must agree before the host can record. Withdrawing consent stops and discards an unfinished recording.

The host’s browser creates recordings, so it must stay open to finish and upload them. Saved replays follow the room’s access rules. Consent withdrawal does not automatically delete a recording already saved; report an unauthorized recording or send a removal request.

A small beta with room to grow.

• Backforth is free for members. Provider allowances can limit availability.
• Live rooms check a limit of 16 connections, including separate tabs and devices. This is designed for small debates, not large broadcasts.
• Recordings are limited to 3 minutes of video or 10 minutes of audio, and 20 MB per file. Profile images are limited to 2 MB; the beta has a shared 250 MB upload allowance, with up to twenty uploads per account per hour.
• Recording and playback depend on browser support and device permissions. Desktop browsers are recommended for recording.
• Human moderation is still needed. Automated rules can miss harmful behavior or flag harmless text; staff should review context.