You are solely responsible for your interactions with other Republic Europe members.

Nevertheless, we regularly check each community forum for any content we deem to be abusive, trolling, spam, or otherwise inappropriate or illegal, and we may remove any communications that you post that we consider to be abusive, trolling, spam, or otherwise inappropriate or illegal.

Reference - paragraph 5.6 of the membership agreement

Summary of our role:

Crowdfunding is reliant on the support of loyal and engaged communities. At Republic Europe we seek to encourage and facilitate meaningful conversations about the startups funded on our platform between their team members, customers, existing shareholders and potential investors.

This Code of Conduct is designed to ensure that these discussions remain respectful and relevant to the respective business. We may update the content of this from time to time and welcome suggestions and feedback from everyone.

There are two types of discussion forum on Republic Europe:

1. Campaign discussion fora (public) - every campaign has its own forum, active during the fundraising process, allowing investors to raise questions to the founders (or other investors) related to the investment opportunity; and

2. Business page discussion fora (private) - once a business has at least one successfully funded campaign on Republic Europe the discussion moves to a separate business page, for which access is limited to shareholders only.

Constructive feedback and challenging questions can provide valuable guidance for startup founders and help other investors who are considering investing into a business. However it is also important that these conversations are conducted in a fair, relevant and reasonable manner. Therefore the rules set out below are aimed at providing a framework to enable that.

Additionally, for the purposes of keeping each discussion forum civil, profile names are kept public as anonymity in the discussion forums could potentially impact the overall quality of conversations between investors and founders. Therefore, with the above in mind, we do not allow the use of an alternative alias or anonymised name in the Discussions section of a campaign page.

1. 1. Be kind and respectful to the views and time of others. Everyone should be working together to make the best investment decisions possible and help maximise the growth of the investee business. Please also be mindful that most startups have small teams and adjust your expectations accordingly.

2. Avoid making recommendations to invest in a particular business. Whilst you are welcome, and indeed encouraged, to share news of investment opportunities that you like, please avoid doing so in a way that advises or recommends anyone to make an investment into them.

3. Discussion should be focused on the relevant business. Under no circumstances should any community forum be used to market or promote any other non-related businesses. Similarly, please do not promote your own share sales or investor referral codes.

4. Do not defame or deliberately misrepresent information for your own self-interest. For example, if you have a conflicting interest as a competitor or investment in a similar business.

5. Make sure that you have permission to post or share any content that is not your own. Neither we nor other Republic Europe members shall be liable for your content, and you agree to compensate us and other Republic Europe members for any loss, damages or costs arising from or in connection with any content you post.

6. Avoid making personal attacks or accusations at individuals. We have a zero tolerance policy for any abusive or derogatory comments. This includes anything that discriminates or disrespects others based on their gender, ethnicity, age, disability, religion or other characteristics. Contributions to discussions that are inappropriate or are otherwise illegal will be removed.

7. Be constructive, accurate and fair in your contributions to the discussions.

Reporting content

If you see content in a community forum that you feel should be removed because it is abusive, trolling, spam, or is otherwise inappropriate or illegal, you may use the reporting function we provide in each community forum. Once content is reported to us, we will promptly assess the relevant content and determine if it should be removed.

Complaints

We take online safety seriously and aim to comply with the Online Safety Act 2023. If you believe we are not complying with the Online Safety Act 2023, which includes circumstances where you believe we are failing to remove illegal content (as determined by OFCOM) or your content has been removed or your access to a community forum taken away contrary to this Code of Conduct and our terms and conditions, you have the right to raise a complaint.

To do so, please contact us at legal-team@republic.com with:

We will review your complaint and endeavour to respond within 10 working days. If you're not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to OFCOM; detail from OFCOM on how you may do this is located on their website here.

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other Republic Europe members.

Breaching these rules, or any of those within the Republic Europe Membership Agreement, will typically result in a warning initially and then blocking of your account from further communicating publicly on Republic Europe if there is a second offence. On occasion for more serious breaches we reserve the right to block your account immediately.

Furthermore, we may remove any communications that you post that we consider to be abusive, trolling, spam, or otherwise inappropriate or illegal (including any discussion of commencing legal action). Where we have removed your content, we will endeavour to inform you promptly after its removal.