Advertising on Debaty

What it looks like

This is the card a reader gets — not a mocked-up example but exactly the component we serve, label and disclosure included.

Why advertising here is different

This is not a promise in a terms document. It is how the system is built: there is no place where an ad could be tied to a person.

• Contextual, not personal

  You target the topic, language and country of the content your ad appears next to. Those are properties of the conversation, not of the reader. There is no targeting on age, gender, interests or behaviour — not because it is unfinished, but because there is nothing to target.

• No profiles, no tracking

  We build no dossiers on readers and sell no data to advertisers. Impressions and clicks are stored aggregated per hour with no user id — so no list exists of the people who saw your ad. Not for us either.

• Always recognisable as an ad

  Every card carries the word "Advertisement" and a line explaining why it is there. Your ad cannot be mistaken for a member’s post — which spares you the suspicion that disguised advertising invites.

• Self-hosted, no third-party code

  Your image is uploaded to us and served by us. No outside scripts, pixels or measurement codes reach the page. That means no external measurement — and it is the reason we can promise you that your ad follows nobody.

How Debaty makes money is written out in full on How Debaty makes money.

What it costs

One flat rate for everyone. No auction, no bidding, no surcharge for a popular topic. You pay upfront from your credit, so you can never spend more than you deposited.

Every top-up comes with a numbered invoice you download as a PDF. Clicks cost nothing extra — you pay for impressions.

The rules

• Every campaign is assessed by a human before anything is shown. There is no automatic approval.
• Your ad follows the same guidelines as a member's post.
• The destination URL must be a full https address and lead to what the ad promises.
• No ads aimed at minors, no misleading claims, and no text or image posing as a notification from Debaty.
• If your campaign is rejected you see the reason and your credit is untouched. You may adjust and resubmit as often as needed.

The full rules are in the Read the guidelines.

How it works

1. 1

   Create an advertiser profile

   You need a Debaty account, plus your business details for the invoice: name, address, contact address and optionally your VAT number.

2. 2

   Load credit

   Top up with an amount of your choosing. Your campaigns spend from it; once it runs out they pause by themselves instead of running on.

3. 3

   Build your campaign

   The wizard walks you through budget, creative and targeting in five steps, explaining at every field why it is asked. You watch your ad take shape live, on desktop and on a phone.

4. 4

   We review, then it goes live

   You submit for review; a moderator decides. Until that decision nothing is shown and nothing is charged. After that you see impressions, clicks and spend per hour in your report.