Group chats

Running good WhatsApp communities

Proto-branches and other activist groups forming around Your Party have a need to find each other, communicate and organise. 

The national structures of Your Party don’t exist and it’s safe to assume that the mailing list sign up data is unlikely to be shared to local groups. We do hope that as we approach conference, that proto-members are eventually contacted to convene more formal meetings, especially if the conference requires delegates.

This guide has a particular focus on WhatsApp which is likely the most commonly used platform, however this is applicable to comparable platforms too.

Alternatives to WhatsApp

Before we get into the detail on WhatsApp, here are possible alternatives to consider:

• Discord is good for combining instant messaging in a forum style format. However it is primarily designed for gaming and may only attract certain audiences to use it, lacking the simplicity of instant message platforms. Discord also has a slowmode to help encourage thoughtful, rather than instant contributions to chats.
• Signal works very similarly to WhatsApp, with the exception of not having a Community feature like WhatsApp. A limitation on Signal is that its take up may not be as high as WhatsApp but it is easy to set up and join.

Do you need encrypted communications?

We would encourage comrades to communicate openly, honestly and transparently in such a manner that it wouldn’t matter whoever reads your group chats - in any case you have no way of checking or vetting who joins open group chats.

On rare occasions you might be handling sensitive data, WhatsApp and Signal both use end-to-end encryption.

Understand your boundaries

If you or other ‘admins’ of a platform create group chats it’s important to understand what this means and please bear in mind these two points:

1. You are setting up a temporary private group chat based on a common interest in Your Party i.e. you are not formally representing the organisation Your Party.
2. Members are joining your platform, typically on the basis of trust and self-declaration of having completed a mailing list sign up form i.e. there is no bona fide “member” of Your Party.

Using this template, you may wish to include a disclaimer type text in your group description:

This Community is for those who have registered to the mailing list of yourparty.uk. This is a temporary, private community run by volunteers to help comrades organise and keep in touch until formal party structures and communication channels are established for party members. Comrades are encouraged to contribute ideas to improve community standards so we have an inclusive and safe space on this platform and action will be taken to uphold them.

WhatsApp: Groups vs. Community

A Community is an umbrella over multiple groups. They have an announcements board, and members can create or join separate group chats inside the Community. It’s a great way to let members create their own spaces, self-organise and not feel overloaded in big group chats - wherever possible avoid having just a single group chat with 100s of members. Communities come with good privacy protections, including the ability for full phone numbers of members to be hidden from one another.

We encourage you to look at the WhatsApp help centre to answer any specific questions. 

Setting up a Community

When you set up a Community, configure the settings, typically go for:

• Hide phone numbers between members
• Turn on advanced data protection
• Allow members to create groups
• Turn off requirement to approve new members

Then create your chats:

• There will already be a Community announcements board that only admins can post to - limit this to practical things like meeting dates, agenda and papers.
• Create a full member chat.
• Create a classified board that any member can post to i.e. a space for political and community groups to promote their events and activities without spamming the main chats.
• Consider creating a few group chats e.g. this might be named by ward or smaller area in your region to kickstart local conversations
• Consider creating other groups, or encourage members to self organise e.g. liberation caucuses, trade union or workplace fractions

Accountability

In many cases if you (or small group) set up group chats you are the ‘Administrators’ and you need to decide how you will manage your Community so that it creates a safe, inclusive and comradely space for discussion.

Seek to form proto-branch structures or very short term, elected interim committees that have a mandate to make decisions if there are complaints about conduct on the group chat. However, in the absence of this you will need to take accountability and recognise that you may need to make decisions if you receive complaints.

Remember, if there are complaints on the conduct of someone, you are simply administering a time limited, private group chat until the new party forms with formal communication platforms for members. You are not making decisions on someone’s party membership, nor their ability to attend meetings or campaigning events. You are simply making a decision on whether someone should be allowed in a group chat.

Moderation and inclusivity

Some participants may suggest having a Code of Conduct. However,  in many cases these generate unintended consequences, as well as being time intensive to draft and enforce. A possible approach is to engage with your members and co-develop simple standards, including input from any liberation caucuses e.g. women, LGBTQ+ etc. As your branch grows and is constituted, this early work can form the basis for a more formal approach and also helps early members engage in early democracy.

Suggested content, but keep it short, that contributions:

• Stay on topic and are relevant
• Are made in good faith debate
• Do not exclude groups or otherwise create an intimidating, harassing and unsafe environment for others.

Dealing with transphobia (and other forms of oppression)

Open group chats can sometimes attract individuals whose interventions undermine inclusive discussion. In recent years, this has included people advancing transphobic arguments, often emboldened by court rulings and political shifts. Some of these individuals present as legally savvy and well-resourced, so while this note is not legal advice, the following points may help in managing such situations.

It’s important to distinguish between holding a belief and imposing it on others. Employment Tribunal decisions have confirmed that “Gender Critical” views amount to a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. Excluding someone simply because they hold those views could be discriminatory. The line is crossed when these beliefs are used to deny the existence or rights of others, or to dominate discussion in ways that exclude, harass, or silence fellow participants.

Focus on behaviours, not beliefs. Consider:

• Are they participating in good-faith discussion?
• Are their contributions relevant to the topic at hand?
• Are they using the space to promote transphobia?
• Are they engaging in harassing or demeaning behaviour?
• Are they denying the existence, dignity, or rights of others in the group?
• Are they leveraging an existing platform or authority to impose their views?
• Have complaints been raised about them?
• Are they preventing constructive discussion from taking place?

Possible graduated responses include:

• Having a one-to-one conversation to explore their perspective and make clear the group’s expectations.
• Temporarily muting or removing them from the chat as a “time out”.
• Permanently removing them if behaviour does not improve.

Whatever approach you take, ensure there is a clear rationale, keep records, and make decisions collectively wherever possible. Emphasise that this is about managing the health of a group chat, not making judgements on party membership or wider participation in political activity.

Safety and safeguarding

• You may wish to consider using a separate SIM / phone number not associated to yourself (or a small group) as the single admin of your group chats.
• In Community settings turn on the option to hide member phone numbers - this can help prevent any personal targeting and act as a basic safeguarding measure.

Sexual violence, sexual harassment, domestic abuse, bullying and harassment all exist across general society, including on the Left. Your Party is a unique opportunity for comrades to come together, but we also have to recognise that survivors may feel excluded from participating in things like big WhatsApp groups for fear of being identified by former abusers. 

A WhatsApp Community can only achieve so much, but don’t forget other comrades cannot and will not engage for many reasons, including for their own safety, so be flexible around your choices of communication channels that you use:

• Don’t just advertise meetings on WhatsApp, do so via other more public channels like Bluesky
• Encourage members to form caucuses beyond just WhatsApp.