Social Media Censorship of Conservatives intensifies
There is no disputing the fact that conservatives are censored heavily on popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and others. The social media censorship of conservatives seems to be increasing the closer we get to the election.
Social media can be a tool where people can easily communicate or even run a business. Many social media companies started out as a way for people to stay connected with friends and family. Today, social media dominates the lives of many Americans and it is nearly impossible to get away from the influence of the big tech giants.
Censorship is clearly intended to promote one side of many popular issues over the other. The majority of censorship is of conservatives or on issues often supported by conservatives.
Social media censorship has affected me
It is great to be able to communicate with friends and share things with them using social media. I enjoy it myself and regularly share news articles and videos many of them enjoy. I also enjoy watching the ones they post and together we keep each other informed about current events.
I’ve had posts covered or deleted by Facebook on several occasions. It became so common that I believed that if I posted that water was wet I would get fact checked by them. Facebook isn’t the only site which has censored my content.
YouTube and its parent company Google is not friendly to firearms channels. I can understand that there are some people who make threats or have done dangerous things on video just to get clicks. However, there needs to be some honesty in deciding what is legitimate content and what is clearly a violation.
As a firearms instructor, I regularly make videos related to gun safety and other firearms related topics. My channel has had videos deleted and suppressed on several occasions with no clear explanation from YouTube why they did it.
The challenge for content creators is that big tech companies keep changing the rules and often refuse to explain themselves when they delete or block content.
Polls show people believe social media censorship of conservatives is happening
It is easy for conservatives to claim that they are censored by big tech companies. Fortunately, there’s plenty of evidence showing it. Pew Research conducted a survey that clearly shows most people believe social media companies are biased and censor conservatives more often then liberals.
This has become a particularly pointed issue in politics – with critics accusing tech firms of political bias and stifling open discussion. Amid these concerns, a Pew Research Center survey conducted in June finds that roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults say it is very (37%) or somewhat (36%) likely that social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints that they find objectionable. Just 25% believe this is not likely the case.
It is getting harder to distinguish between the bias coming from social media companies and the bias coming from mainstream media. Social media companies are becoming more closely aligned with the mainstream media on promoting or opposing many issues.
Social media censors legitimate journalism of issues
Social media has been used to show bias from main stream media outlets that are clearly designed to promote their agenda. One of the best examples is the media calling the George Floyd riots peaceful when there are numerous videos on social media showing destruction of businesses and neighborhoods.
A very good example of social media censorship of conservative news outlets was a live stream video of a press conference by Breitbart News. Their Twitter account was locked and social media companies deleted it as fast as followers could re-upload it.
According to Business Insider, the Breitbart live stream video was of a group of doctors discussing COVID-19 treatments that haven’t been officially adopted by the CDC and other medical groups.
In a tweet, the Facebook representative Andy Stone said: “Yes, we removed it for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19.”
Regardless of their thoughts on the effectiveness of the treatments proposed by the doctors, Breitbart News live streaming a press conference is easily classified as legitimate journalism. Social media companies had no business deleting the content.
Social media censorship is creating alternative platforms
One positive effect of social media censoring conservatives is the growth of competing companies. One popular alternative platform for conservatives is Parler which is similar to Facebook and Twitter.
There are also video platform alternatives to YouTube such as BitChute and others. Unfortunately for these competitors, they do not currently have nearly as many followers as the mainstream sites. That could change if the censorship of conservatives continues to grow.