In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg stood on stage and declared: “I believe the future is private.”
Christchurch technology founder Tim Gallagher has a response: that day is here.
His new platform, Pvt.Space, gives people a place to share their lives, build communities, speak privately and earn from their work, all from one account. It has no advertising, no algorithmic feed designed to keep members scrolling and no business model based on selling their personal data.
And while earning programmes on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok come with different eligibility rules, Pvt.Space puts its full set of monetisation tools within reach of every member from day one. Members can leave those tools off, then turn them on whenever they want. There is no follower minimum, subscriber minimum or application to become a creator.
“Zuckerberg was right about one thing: the future is private,” says Gallagher, who previously founded secure communications platform SafeSwiss. But people shouldn’t have to wait for the biggest social media companies to decide when that future arrives. We built Pvt.Space so they can choose it now.”
You’re the product. Until you decide youve had enough.
A person opens a social app to check a friend’s update. They pause on a video, click a link, search for something personal and follow a new account. Each small action can become another signal about what might hold their attention next.
On platforms funded by targeted advertising, those signals have value. They can help shape a feed, target an ad and keep someone watching longer than they intended. A single click reveals little. Years of clicks, searches, viewing habits and interactions can paint a remarkably detailed picture of a person.
Gallagher believes people have become too used to that bargain.
“Weve normalised a level of monitoring that would sound absurd if someone described it to you in person,” he says. “Imagine someone following you around, taking notes on every subject that catches your eye, every conversation you join, and every time you hesitate over something. Online, we’re told that’s just how the system works.”
New Zealanders are increasingly uneasy about how their information is handled. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s 2026 survey found that 65% of respondents were concerned about the management of personal information by social media companies, while 82% wanted more say over how their information is collected and used.
Pvt.Space is Gallagher’s answer to that concern. Members can post, publish, communicate and take part in communities without an advertising system sitting at the centre of the experience.
The platform should work for the person using it,” he says. “It shouldn’t need to study every move they make to make money.
Private Space is a place to build communities
Pvt.Space is designed to be useful for people who simply want somewhere to belong.
A member can share posts, Stories, short videos, galleries, podcasts and articles. They can join a public Channel around a shared interest or create a private one for a smaller group. They can message people directly and make secure voice or video calls.
A sports club could bring its supporters together. An independent journalist could build a community around a subject they cover. A fitness coach could speak directly with clients. A group of friends could share updates away from a wider audience.
The same account supports each of those uses.
“We wanted to build a proper next-gen social platform, not just another tool for one type of creator,” Gallagher says. “You can come here to talk, follow a Channel, create a Channel, share what matters to you and build something with other people. If you never want to charge for anything, you don’t have to.”
That freedom extends to visibility. Members can choose where and with whom they share. Public and private Channels, restricted audiences and self-destruct settings give them different ways to manage their presence.
For those who want more distance from the wider platform, Privacy Plus offers a way to go off-grid from broader discovery while staying connected to chosen people and communities.
“Privacy doesn’t always mean disappearing,” Gallagher says. “Sometimes it means having the confidence to show up because you know you have control over who can find you and what you share.”
Gallagher sees another problem with mainstream social media: many of the people who create its value cannot access its earning programmes on equal terms.
Facebook’s Content Monetization programme is currently invitation-only. Instagram earning features have their own eligibility rules, including account, age, location or follower requirements depending on the feature. TikTok’s Creator Rewards programme requires at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the previous 30 days in eligible markets.
These are different programmes with different rules, but the result is familiar: many people must reach a threshold or receive approval before they can use a particular earning tool.
Pvt.Space takes the opposite approach. Every member has access to its monetisation tools from day one, ready to switch on when they choose. There are no follower or subscriber minimums, no application and no invitation to wait for.
“A small audience doesn’t mean your work has no value,” Gallagher says. “You might have 40 people who care deeply about what you publish. Why should you have to collect thousands of followers before you’re allowed to offer them something worth paying for?”
Members can offer subscriptions, receive tips, publish paid content, use paid messages, sell access to ticketed livestreams and create personalised videos through Pvt.Shoutouts. Publishers can use Pvt.Unlocks to let someone pay for an individual article without signing up to another recurring subscription.
The options are off by default. Members can use Pvt.Space entirely as a social platform, then activate earning tools at any point that suits them. Identity verification applies at the withdrawal stage.
For standard member earnings, Pvt.Space says members keep 85%. Pvt.Unlocks uses a separate 70% publisher share.
Gallagher says that choice matters more than calling everyone a creator.
“Today you might be here for friends and community. Six months from now, you might decide to publish an article, offer a class or receive tips from people who appreciate your work. You shouldn’t need permission to make that change.”
Everything included from day one
Pvt.Space brings together tools that people often use across several separate apps. Its members can publish, run Channels, communicate privately and activate monetisation without moving their audience from one service to another.
Gallagher describes it as one of the most feature-rich social platforms on the market. He says the breadth of the platform was a deliberate choice, even though it made the build more demanding.
“If we say every member gets the tools from day one, those tools need to be there when they arrive, he says. “People have heard enough promises about features coming later.”
The platform also offers AI assistance for captions and message drafts. Its localisation tools are designed to make content published in one language readable in up to 28 languages, giving members a way to reach people beyond their home market without managing separate accounts.
For someone building a community from New Zealand, that international reach could be significant. A Christchurch writer may find readers overseas. An athlete may speak with supporters in several countries. A specialist publisher may make an article available to people who would never have discovered it in its original language.
“New Zealand is a small place to start something, but it doesn’t have to be a small place to grow from,” Gallagher says.
Developed down under, without VC backing, which in itself is very rare for a platform of this magnitude & complexity.
Pvt.Space was developed in Christchurch by a founder who has built a communications platform before. Gallagher’s earlier venture, SafeSwiss, reached approximately 400,000 downloads.
Pvt.Space is a larger undertaking. It combines social networking, content publishing, community tools, private communication, payments and localisation.
Gallagher knows that competing with established social networks will take more than a promise of privacy. People need communities they want to join and tools they can rely on. But he also believes most people would be shocked if they saw just how much information can be gathered by tracking their every move and every click. In an era when personal data is one of the world’s most valuable commodities, that information can be used to target advertising and shared or sold across the data economy. Gallagher says Pvt.Space was built to give people a place to connect and build communities without that model sitting behind every interaction.
The future is private. And it belongs to everyone.
“People often assume a platform this broad must have a huge VC cheque behind it, Gallagher says, typically in all instances they have “We’ve built it independently. That has taken time and commitment, but it has also let us hold on to the decisions that matter, including no ads and no algorithmic feed designed to harvest attention.”
Gallagher does not expect people to abandon every other app overnight. He wants them to know they now have a choice.
They can use Pvt.Space to share an update, call a friend or find their people in a Channel. They can choose to stay visible or go off grid with Privacy Plus. They can build a community for the pleasure of it, or turn on earning tools when they have something they want to offer.
None of that requires an invitation. None of it requires a follower counts big enough to impress an algorithm.
“‘The future is private’ was a powerful line,” Gallagher says. “We think it’s time people had somewhere to actually live it. A place to build communities. A place to earn when they want. A place where they don’t have to feel watched just to take part.”
Pvt.Space is available at https://pvt.space/
About Pvt.Space
Pvt.Space is a privacy-first social platform developed in Christchurch, New Zealand, by SafeSwiss founder Tim Gallagher. It brings publishing, public and private Channels, secure messaging, voice and video calls, Privacy Plus, AI localisation and optional monetisation into one account. Every member can access its monetisation tools from day one, with no follower or subscriber minimum. Pvt.Space has no advertising or algorithmic feed designed to maximise attention and says it does not sell members’ personal data. The platform was built without institutional venture capital backing.
Media Release on 28 September 2026
Media Contact
Tim Gallagher, Private Space Social
Phone: 021 341 890
Website: https://pvt.space/