Big Tech’s recent crackdown has conservative users running for the hills.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and several other platforms banned President Trump indefinitely after a pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C., devolved into chaos at the U.S. Capitol building. Several thousands of users also were kicked off of Twitter for promoting conspiracy theories related to QAnon, and Facebook has begun erasing posts that claim that the presidential election was stolen from Trump.
But even alternatives to the social media giants aren’t safe. Apple and Amazon pulled the plug on Parler, an app similar to Twitter that had attracted thousands of conservatives in recent months, after Parler’s officials refused to adopt a Silicon Valley-approved content moderation policy. Parler has sued Amazon, but as of right now, the platform is dead.
However, there are still other options for users wary of Big Tech. In the days since Parler’s ban, other free speech-oriented apps have surged to the top of the App Store’s downloads. One of these platforms, MeWe, saw more than 200,000 new installs and 1 million new memberships in just a few days, according to app intelligence firm Apptopia.
Another app benefiting from recent events is CloutHub, which was launched in 2019 to give “everyone a platform to have their voice heard.” More than 31,000 users have installed CloutHub over the past week.
Rumble, a conservative alternative to YouTube, has also gained nearly 92,000 new users since Jan. 6.
And DuckDuckGo, an alternative search engine to Google, has become the No. 2 search engine in the United States in recent months.
This is the free market at work: Consumers dissatisfied with Big Tech’s behavior will take their business elsewhere. Normally, this kind of exodus would prompt a company such as Facebook to think twice before driving its customers into the arms of a competitor. But what happens when Facebook begins working with the rest of Silicon Valley to control the competition?
That’s the kind of power Big Tech holds. And unfortunately, no one really knows what to do about it. Even those who agree that content moderation is necessary are beginning to admit that allowing a select group of tech CEOs to control the flow of information poses a serious threat. But a simple solution to this problem is nearly impossible to find.
For now, conservatives can rest assured knowing that where there is demand, there is supply. Kick users off of Twitter, and they will move to Parler. Take Parler off the web, and they will move to MeWe. Threaten MeWe with expulsion, and users will head to CloutHub.
And perhaps Big Tech should consider: Does deplatforming really silence opposing views, or does it just make them louder?
