Ad rules
Last updated October 17, 2026
Sponsors keep MegaDebate free. These rules keep ads fair to readers, who come here to argue in good faith, and to the debates, which must never look paid for. They’re part of our terms of use.
Never allowed
An ad in one of these categories is removed as soon as we find it, without a refund.
- Illegal products or services. Anything illegal where it’s offered or where our readers are, including counterfeit goods, hacking services and fake documents.
- Adult or sexual content. Nudity, sexual services, dating for sex, or sexually suggestive images.
- Weapons. Guns, ammunition, explosives, and weapons made to injure, or their parts.
- Drugs, cannabis, tobacco and vaping. Illegal or recreational drugs, cannabis (even where legal), tobacco, vapes and e-cigarettes, and drug paraphernalia.
- Alcohol. Alcoholic drinks and brands. Our youngest readers are 16.
- Gambling and betting. Casinos, sports betting, lotteries, sweepstakes you pay to enter, and games of chance for money.
- Crypto, trading and get-rich-quick offers. Cryptocurrencies, tokens and NFTs, trading and forex signals, high-risk investments, payday loans, and pyramid or multi-level schemes.
- Political and issue ads. Ads for or against a party, candidate, election, referendum, law or government, and advocacy campaigns. On a debate site, a sponsor must never look like a side.
- Hate, harassment or attacks. Anything that attacks people for who they are, or targets a person or group, including the debate’s participants.
- Scams, malware and phishing. Fake offers, requests for passwords or payment details, and sites that are unsafe. Links are checked against Google’s list of unsafe sites.
- Shocking or violent images. Gore, injuries, violence, or images meant to frighten or disgust.
Must be fixed
If an ad breaks one of these, we email you which rule and why, and you have 48 hours to replace the image or the link from your sponsorship page. The ad keeps showing meanwhile. If it isn’t changed in time, it’s removed without a refund.
- Misleading claims. Claims you can’t back up, miracle health or weight-loss results, fake prices or countdowns, and before-and-after pictures.
- Looking like MegaDebate or someone else. Fake buttons, votes, notifications or warnings, “You won” banners, or another brand’s name or logo you don’t have the right to use.
- A link that doesn’t match. Your link must go to your own site (or a page about what the ad shows), work, and not bounce readers somewhere else.
- Unreadable or broken images. Images that are blank, mostly text too small to read, or don’t show what you offer.
How we check
- Readers can report any ad. Our moderators review reports and can also review ads themselves.
- Every link is checked against Google’s list of unsafe sites when you add it, again every day, and when readers click. A link that fails is turned off; your image keeps showing.
- An ad changed after a fix request goes back to our moderators for a quick look.
- Every decision names the rule, and the advertiser is told by email. Breaking the rules again and again can close the business account.
- A sponsored ad sits next to a debate but never takes a side in it, and sponsoring a debate doesn’t change how it’s shown or ranked.
Questions
Think we got it wrong? Reply to our email or write to support@onlydebate.com, and we’ll take another look. MegaDebate is a product of AppDevNest Inc., which owns and operates it.