The rules

Who can use Swarm

Swarm works only with Democratic campaigns and nonpartisan races.

1. Democratic candidates, and Democratic party, caucus and allied committees, may use Swarm for partisan races.
2. Nonpartisan races may use Swarm: offices where the ballot shows no party (mayor, city council, school board, nonpartisan judicial seats, special districts) and ballot measures. County, state and federal races are treated as partisan everywhere and are only open to Democratic campaigns, even in a state where a particular county office appears on the ballot without a party.
3. Republican, Libertarian, Green and other party campaigns, and committees supporting them, may not use Swarm.
4. Every campaign is reviewed by Swarm staff before it can send offers to creators, add funds, send texts, connect VAN or publish its voting plan page. Staff check the filing (FEC, the state ethics or election office, or local filing), the ballot listing and the committee name.
5. If a campaign changes its party, office or committee after approval, it goes back to review.
6. Swarm may decline or close any account that misrepresents who it is, and keeps the right to refuse service.

Rules for campaigns

1. Every paid post must carry your exact political advertising disclosure, word for word (for example "Pol. adv. paid for by Delgado for Council"). Federal races follow FEC disclaimer rules (11 CFR 110.11); state and local races follow their state's law (in Texas, Election Code chapter 255). Confirm your wording with counsel.
2. Money for creators and Swarm must come from the campaign's own account. Agencies and consultants may not pay with their own money on a campaign's behalf.
3. You report what you spend. Swarm gives you an itemized export of every payment, including each creator paid through Swarm, but filing your FEC, state or local reports on time and correctly is your treasurer's job.
4. No paying, rewarding or offering anything of value to anyone for registering, making a plan, voting, or voting a certain way. Creators are paid for content, never for votes or turnout results.
5. No false or misleading statements about when, where or how to vote, who can vote, or the voting process.
6. No synthetic media (AI-made or altered images, video or voices) of a real person without a clear label. Swarm adds the label to the caption when a creator marks a draft as AI-made. Never depict a real candidate saying or doing something they did not.
7. Approve every draft before it goes live. Swarm blocks approval when the disclosure line or the platform's paid-partnership label is missing.
8. Voter files, VAN data and roster data are for this campaign's own voter contact only. Never sell, share or reuse them for another client or purpose. State voter registration lists carry their own use limits (Texas, for example, allows only political, election or government purposes); follow your state's.
9. Volunteer walk-list links show names and addresses. Send them only to your volunteers. They expire two days after the election.
10. Texts go only to people who opted in on your plan page, only between 9am and 8pm local time, and stop for good when someone replies STOP.
11. Voter data (your voter file, roster matches, VUIDs) is deleted 30 days after your election.

Rules for creators

1. Disclose every paid post two ways: use the platform's paid-partnership label (Instagram and Facebook "Paid partnership", YouTube "Includes paid promotion"), and include the campaign's exact "paid for by" line in the caption. For video, also show it on screen or say it out loud.
2. TikTok does not allow paid political content. Don't post Swarm work there. Swarm blocks TikTok drafts.
3. Instagram and Facebook may require you or the campaign to complete Meta's ads-about-social-issues, elections or politics authorization before running political branded content. Follow each platform's current rules.
4. Post only the draft the campaign approved. Don't edit the message after approval, and keep the post up for at least 30 days unless the campaign asks you to take it down.
5. Never offer your followers anything for voting, registering or making a plan, and never tell them false information about voting.
6. You may work for only one campaign in a race. Swarm blocks offers from opponents once you accept one.
7. Audience numbers must be real. Your insights screenshot must match what you enter. Bought followers, engagement pods and fake views get you removed and unpaid.
8. Label anything AI-made or altered. Never make synthetic media of a real person without their consent.
9. Payments go through Stripe. You must give your legal name and mailing address, because campaigns must report who they paid. Stripe sends a 1099 when the law requires one. You're responsible for your own taxes.
10. You're paid after the post is live and the campaign approved it. If a post breaks these rules, Swarm can hold or reverse the payment.

Rules for agencies and consultants

1. Every client must be eligible on its own and is reviewed on its own. An agency account does not make a client eligible.
2. Each client pays from its own campaign account, on its own plan. Never mix clients' money or data.
3. Don't put two clients from the same race on the same creator. Swarm blocks it.
4. Everyone on your team can see every client. Remove people who leave.
5. Agencies earn a share of Swarm's platform fee on clients they bring, shown on the agency dashboard. It comes out of Swarm's fee, never from the campaign or the creator.

Voters, privacy and texts

1. The plan page asks for your name, home address and ZIP to find your precinct and to match you to the campaign's voter list. Your address is never shown publicly.
2. Your phone number is optional. If you check the box, the campaign sends up to 3 text reminders about your plan for this election. Message and data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help or STOP to stop all texts from Swarm campaigns.
3. The campaign you made a plan with sees what you entered. Other campaigns on Swarm never see it. Swarm never sells your information.
4. If the campaign uses NGP VAN, your plan may be recorded there so its volunteers don't contact you twice.
5. Addresses are sent to the U.S. Census Bureau's geocoder to find your precinct.
6. Campaigns delete voter data 30 days after the election.

Fees and payments

1. Plans are billed monthly through Stripe and can be canceled anytime. Each plan includes a number of text segments per month. Extra segments cost 3¢ each and come out of your balance.
2. Swarm's platform fee is added on top of each creator's rate, so creators keep 100% of their rate. The fee is lower for creators you invited yourself. The minimum is $5 per post.
3. When you send an offer, the creator's rate plus Swarm's fee is reserved from your balance. If the creator declines, or the offer is canceled, it goes back to your balance.
4. Adding funds by card includes the card processing cost (2.9% + 30¢). By bank (ACH) it's 0.8%, up to $5.
5. Texting registration (carrier 10DLC and Campaign Verify) is a one-time $175, charged when you turn texting on.
6. Unused balance is refunded on request after your election, less any processing costs Stripe doesn't return.

Enforcement

1. Swarm keeps an audit log of every approval, payment, export and text.
2. Swarm can pause offers, hold payments, remove posts from its records, and close accounts that break these rules.
3. Report a problem to Swarm staff from your dashboard or at the contact address on swarmcivic.com.
4. These rules can change. When they do, you'll be asked to agree again before you continue.