2020 brought Covid-19, election drama, and the rise of Big Tech Censorship to main stream America. Facebook, Google, Twitter , CNN, MSNBC all operate as tools for one political party in the United States, the Democrat party. They support this party's agenda and promote the narrative that the Democrat party promotes.
Facebook and Twitter banned the 45th President of the United States from their platforms while he was still President. They showed they have more power than the top elected official of the United States of America. The January 6th narrative has been pushed by corporate media, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, etc. as the most devestating event since the civil war. This alleged insurection was a group of unarmed citizens. Some dressed as animals with horns. It wasn't a legitimate insurrection. It was a group of citizens who wanted their voices to be heard and to watch the legislative process regarding the election count. There were wackos in the mix dressed crazy, and Antifa was there as well. Not a great day in the nations history, but a far cry from a serious insurrection. They blamed President Trump for this terrible event. It doesn't matter that people were entering into the Capitol building before his speech ended, nor did it matter that he asked people to walk to the Capitol to peacefully protest. He specifically used the word 'peacefully'. None of that mattered. Trump who had been villified for 4+ years became the ultimate villan. Erased from being able to spread his 'hate' using the tools we all use, social media.
This has opened the door for alternative social media to rise up. The new platforms are focused on free speech, meaning they are not going to ban you or deplatform you because you share a view that goes against the Democrat party narrative. Parler was growing in popularity prior to Jan. 6th but got caught up in that drama and they were deplatformed by Google, Apple and Amazon. They are back, but are now a shell of what they had been.
Gettr is new, launched July 4th, 2021. Trump's former advisor is behind this new platform, and it is believed Trump will be joining it. Update: Trump is building his own Social Network, called Truth Social, rather than joining Gettr. Gettr appears to be a significant competitor to Twitter. Will it be able to survive? Time will tell. I suspect as soon as something controversial culturally is found to be openly shared on Gettr, Google, Apple and others will work to make it difficult for Gettr to thrive.
MeWe has been around for a few years, started in 2015, and has a libertarian take on social media. They moderate hate, and illegal content but they don't ban or remove users or groups for 'wrong think'. This is a great alternative to Facebook. It allows long form discussion and groups based on interests. I personally enjoy MeWe, though the name has taken a while to grow on me. There are a lot of people who are joining this platform daily. A huge influx at the end of 2020 when Facebook and Twitter intensified cenorship of discussion related to the 2020 election.
USA.life is another new Facebook alternative that has risen since November 2020. This platform is a Christian faith based focused platform that is pro-America. They don't allow hate speech, but they do allow conservative speech and ideas to be shared without risk of being banned or deplatformed. I don't know if this one will succeed long term, but I have become a Founding member to help support its development and growth.
gab is the oldest alternative social media platform. The only content that gets removed is illegal content. Everything else is free game. Due to this it has attracted a lot of anti-semetic groups and anonymous posting allows hateful comments on decent content as well. There are tools for users to mute or block specific accounts, but that is a never ending process. Gab is the ultimate free-speech platform, but honestly it isn't for me. It is frustrating to have to deal with constant hate content. The founder, Andrew Torba even occassionally posts anti-semetic non-sense. This is why Gab hasn't gained more traction than what it has now. I believe it will alway have a place, but it will attract the fringes of the internet due to not having easy ways for users to remove hateful content without having to ban or block on a per user basis. Update: I have joined Gab, and am supporting their effort to be a platform focused on free speech. There is a lot I don't like about many of the users of this platform, but I am finding more content that isn't as 'fringe' lately which is making it far easier to follow people and groups to network with.
I am working to use these new platforms more than Facebook and Twitter, and it is tough since so many people I know still use the Big Tech anti-free speech platforms. Join me by using these alternative platforms, supporting them, and sharing them with friends and family. Big Tech only has power over our speech because we are giving it to them. We can take our content away and they will be nothing. If enough people will look to alternative platforms we can make a difference and bring freedom of speech and thought back to the internet.
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