Frequently Asked Questions

At Northsocial.ca, our current goal is to solve the problem of local discovery and community that mainstream platforms often overlook. We're building a place to celebrate local communities, businesses and creators - all across Canada. Thanks for checking us out!

We created Northsocial.ca because we believe Canadians deserve a social platform that puts people before algorithms. As concerns around privacy, foreign ownership, and digital independence continue to grow, we saw an opportunity to build a platform designed specifically for Canadian communities. Our goal is simple: create a place where Canadians can connect, share, discover, and support one another online.

Northsocial.ca is a growing community of Canadians from across the country. Because the platform is still expanding, membership numbers continue to change as new users join every day. We aim to periodically share community milestones and growth updates through official Northsocial.ca announcements. Our focus is on building an engaged Canadian community, not simply chasing user counts.

Yes. Northsocial.ca is free to join and free to use. Creating an account, connecting with other members, participating in communities, and sharing content does not cost anything. Some optional premium features may be introduced in the future, but the core social networking experience will remain free.

Yes. Northsocial.ca is fully available in both English and French. Users can switch between languages at any time, helping Canadians from coast to coast participate in the platform in the language they are most comfortable using.

Northsocial.ca is ready to use today — no waitlists. In keeping with our Canadian roots, we went live on Canada Day 2025!

Our app is on the way! Just waiting for final approval from the app stores.

You can see what's planned for Northsocial.ca by visiting our Roadmap page.

Northsocial.ca offers three distinct feed experiences. The Private Feed shows posts from people you follow and connect with. The Public Feed helps you discover conversations, communities, Canadian businesses, and content from across the platform. The News Feed focuses on news stories shared by Canadians, allowing members to see what others are reading and discussing without relying on traditional recommendation algorithms.

We don't use personalized, engagement-maximizing algorithms. You choose who you follow, and content from those accounts is prioritized over content from accounts you don't follow. There are also public vs. private feeds, so control stays with you.

In the near future, we'll introduce optional sorting based on reactions and comments, in addition to the existing most-recent post/comment sort. We also plan to offer optional content discovery features later on, which will be clearly identified and entirely opt-in.

Handles are used to @mention people and groups, and to give a shorter profile link you can share (like northsocial.ca/@yourname). A handle is required, must be unique, and can't contain spaces or special characters. People and groups share a single handle namespace, so the same handle can never belong to more than one profile — whether a person or a group.

On a post's comments, click the Reply button on someone's comment to reply to them — their @handle is added to the comment box automatically. You can also type @handle anywhere to mention someone. Full notifications for mentions and replies are coming soon!

Today, you can create a Private Group for the people you want to talk with — it gives you a shared space for posts and comments. A simpler, chat-only experience (just messages, not posts with comments) is coming in the mid-future. In the meantime, the Private feed is made up of Private posts between mutual Connections. For more on how Private vs Public and Follows vs Connections differ, visit Northsocial.ca/Quick-Start-Guide

We are working on video support in the mid-to-near future!

Groups are community spaces on Northsocial.ca where Canadians can come together around shared interests, organizations, or causes. Each Group has its own handle (like @TorontoFoodies), profile page, posts, and member list.

Anyone with a complete profile can create a Group. Visit the Groups page from the navigation menu, pick a handle and name, choose your visibility settings, and decide whether new members need your approval to join. You'll automatically become the Owner of your new Group.

Browse Groups from the navigation menu or visit a Group's profile directly. If the Group accepts everyone, selecting Join makes you a Member instantly. If the Group requires approval, your join request goes to the Group's Admins, who can approve or decline it.

Once you're a Member, you can post in the Group, comment and react on members-only posts, and see the full member list. You can leave a Group at any time.

A Group's visibility setting decides who can find the Group itself. Public Groups appear in search and can be discovered by anyone, Private Groups are members-only, and Both lets a Group mix public posts (which anyone can see) with private posts (which only members can see).

When you post inside a Group, you choose whether each post is Private (visible only to members) or Public (visible to everyone, with a chip showing it was posted in the Group). If the Group is Private-only, every post is members-only.

Yes. As part of our upcoming Groups experience, eligible Group creators will be able to earn a share of revenue generated from qualifying deals and promotions posted within their communities. Our goal is to reward people who build active, valuable communities on Northsocial.ca. Additional details, eligibility requirements, and revenue-sharing guidelines will be announced as the feature approaches launch.

All your data is stored in Canada. Private information is stored and delivered from secure servers in Canada. Public content is also served from Canadian servers, but to make it load faster, we use a global delivery network (this applies only to public content).

PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) is Canada's federal privacy law for private-sector organizations. It establishes rules for how companies collect, use, store, and protect personal information. For Canadians, it provides important privacy protections and accountability standards. Northsocial.ca is designed with Canadian privacy principles in mind, helping ensure user information is handled under Canadian regulations.

We follow our Terms of Service, which are enforced equally across the political spectrum.

We actively monitor for and remove fake and bot accounts. This is an ongoing, evolving effort, and one we take very seriously. We do use AI to assist with moderation, but only to flag potential issues for human review. Content is not used to train external models and is not shared outside our organization.

Business participation is an important part of Northsocial.ca's long-term vision. We are currently developing additional tools and features designed specifically for Canadian businesses, organizations, and community groups. More details will be announced as these features move closer to launch.

Our "Buy Canadian" Marketplace is currently under development as part of our broader effort to connect Canadian businesses with Canadian consumers. We are actively working on the marketplace experience, business onboarding process, and promotional tools. Additional information will be shared as we finalize the details and prepare for launch.

Zynim Media Inc. is a small team based out of Chilliwack, BC. A local group of cofounders and Zynim Inc. partnered to build, launch, and grow Northsocial.ca. Zynim Inc. has supported Canadian businesses and organizations with custom software for over 30 years. For the last eight years, we have also collaborated with local municipal and education partners to host events that support new tech startups.

If you're ever in town during one of our events, we'd love to say hi and chat more about what we do! You can also reach out at any time at [email protected], and we'll be happy to answer your questions.

Yes. Northsocial.ca is a Canadian-owned social media platform operated by Zynim Media Inc., a Canadian company. Our platform was built in Canada for Canadians, with a focus on strengthening Canadian communities, supporting Canadian businesses, and keeping private user data protected under Canadian privacy laws.

The name is intentionally a bit tongue-in-cheek. We're fully committed to building a social platform, rooted in Canadian values. We're continuously evolving, and we're confident the platform and the community will speak for what Northsocial.ca stands for 🍁

Northsocial.ca was built specifically for Canadians. Your private data is stored in Canada, your content remains yours, and your feed prioritizes what you choose to follow rather than what an engagement algorithm wants you to see. We also focus on helping Canadians discover Canadian communities, conversations, and businesses. If you're looking for a social platform built around Canadian interests and values, Northsocial.ca offers a different experience.

The team would be happy to help! Please feel free to contact us at Support page, and we can get you started.

You can delete your account at any time from your account settings — choose Delete Account, confirm with the code we email you, and type DELETE. Your posts and comments are hidden right away, and your account is permanently deleted after a 14-day grace period (sign back in during that time to cancel and restore everything). For full details, visit Northsocial.ca/AccountDelete