Twitter has become synonymous with censorship. Facebook is running a close second. Both services have been called to testify before congress and it’s quite possible that one or both have lied under oath. Both services enjoy (Non-Publication) status and both are now drawing the ire of the Senate and some members of the House.
“Lucy, You got some splainin to do!”
Recently due to Twitter’s incessant shadow-banning of Conservative people expressing opinions that are not in lockstep with the established narratives, (Orange man bad. Protests peaceful, etc.) Folks are seeking other alternatives. Their most recent permanent banning of Congressional Candidate Laura Loomer (R) FL, and attempt to prevent the Trump campaign from using their service. has created an exodus from Twitter.
This has been amusing to watch. As conservative voices leave, the leftists find they’re bored with Twitter. After all, if you want to have a conversation, you don’t necessarily want to have it with yourself in an echo chamber.
I still have one Twitter account open, mostly so that I can watch the implosion. Okay, I also look at some of the nude images that are posted daily. Which is funny because supposedly those images are against the Twitter TOS, given that they often show full penetrative sex acts of various stripes.
It’s funny in many ways that saying, “abortion is murder” may get you banned, but images or video of a restrained woman being forced to submit to orally, anally, and vaginally to three men at the same time is okay.
Saying something like, “putting prepubescent children onto hormone therapies to change their gender, is wrong.” will get your account suspended for a while.
If you ask Twitter why, they’ll tell you that you violated the TOS (Terms of Service) by posting hate speech. While at the same time representatives of CAIR can specifically state that they hate all Jews, and call upon the faithful to murder Jews whenever and wherever they can. Similarly BLM and ANTIFA can outright say, “Kill White People”
It’s this kind of one sided enforcement that has driven conservatives specifically, and even moderates away from the platform. Either you’re really all about free speech or you’re not. More people are realizing that Twitter is not about free speech or equality and while they may have been at one time… That time has passed.
There was an article yesterday describing Twitter’s consideration of a subscription model. Several days prior another article noted that Twitter’s earnings were down. That same article also noted that Twitter’s new user count appeared to be fairly consistent while the number of actual users appeared to be dropping.
There is even some feeling that Twitter is attempting to skew the election. I don’t know if there’s actual evidence, or if it’s just hearsay. I can only opine that from personal experience and observation; Twitter is highly biased toward Democrats & Liberals, and against Republicans & Conservatives.
Over at Parler, (another social media platform) they’re having a tough time keeping up with new subscribers and their site is occasionally showing the strain of hundreds of thousands of new users weekly.
Parler, is pretty free and you can say what you like. There are limits of course. Threatening to kill someone will get you booted. But other than egregious things that you shouldn’t put out on a public forum anyway, Parler doesn’t seem interested in silencing the free exchange of ideas, regardless of whose ideas are being espoused.
It’s very much the digital equivalent of carrying your soapbox to the local park and announcing your ideas.
Oddly, there are a lot of liberal lefties showing up on Parler too. (I guess they got tired of screaming in an echo chamber on Twitter.) The conservatives and liberals on Parler do interact.
The liberal left screams about Trump, Abortion, Transrights, or whatever, on Parler and sometimes they’re challenged but most of the time they’re blocked, not by Parler, but by individual users who have no desire to deal with the ranting. Most conservatives and moderates have heard it all before anyway and aren’t likely to change their minds.
Again, similar to the soapbox in the park. No-one is forcing you to stand there in the park listening to the rantings of someone you think is a lunatic. Once you’ve heard enough, you walk away. Walking away is the physical equivalent of blocking someone.
I’ve blocked a number of individuals who were rude, demanded that I validate their position when clearly I didn’t, or who were simply disagreeable to talk to. I’m sure that I’ve been blocked by others, in a similar fashion and for similar reasons.
After all, you gentle reader, know that I’m an acquired taste.
The funny thing is that the liberals are upset when no-one pays them attention and more upset that Parler refuses to take their side in silencing views that they disagree with.
I’ve been watching the diversity of users drop on Twitter and suspect that it will go the way of MySpace or the old computer BBS systems. After all, without at least a little disagreement all conversations get stale and pointless.
I welcome Twitter’s death. It’s time for the little bluebird to crash headlong into the nearest skyscraper.
There was a time when Twitter was open and free. But then some people started getting butt-hurt that they got to read things they found offensive. That started the whole censorship train on Twitter and has brought us to Twitter’s graveside.
Facebook will probably experience something similar in due time. Even Parler at some point will probably follow the same arc. I hope not, but I won’t be surprised.
For the moment, I’m enjoying that Twitter is suffering. I look forward to them declaring insolvency the layoffs, and Jack Dorsey making impassioned pleas for his users to return.