Net Censorship On The Rise
Most people seem to assume that tech giants like Google and Facebook are invincible.
It’s true that these companies have built an incredible “technology moat” that the competition needs to cross. These guys are light years ahead of the competition in terms of tech and ecosystem.
However, I think they have a serious chink in their armor. A growing weakness that could get worse…
Censorship
Google (GOOGL), Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and even Apple (AAPL) have recently started simultaneously censoring content.
You’ve probably heard about Alex Jones being banned from all these sites. But he was only one of at least 800 alternative news organizations and blogs that were purged permanently.
Independent media sites like Anti-Media were among the recent victims. Anti-Media had more than 2 million followers on Facebook before its account was deleted.
I’ve read this site before, and it’s a legitimate project. There was no need for Facebook to shut it down.
Facebook’s move has crippled Anti-Media’s business. But it’s fighting on and moving to blockchain-powered Steemit.com, where it can earn STEEM cryptocurrency for its posts.
TheFreeThoughtProject.com is another site that was recently banned. I happen to read this site occasionally, and it’s a legitimate independent news site. It had 3 million followers on Facebook. Then Facebook purged it.
These groups have the right to express their opinions. They weren’t doing anything illegal or immoral. The fact that social media platforms are snuffing out their voices is disturbing.
Inevitable Consequences
I first noticed Facebook’s bias during the 2012 presidential election. I was a Ron Paul supporter that year. During debate season, I’d go on to Facebook and search for Ron Paul groups to join. And I found nothing. Not one group showed in the results. The other candidates showed hundreds.
I learned later that there were large and active groups of Ron Paul supporters on Facebook. They just happened to be invisible during a critical time in the primary race. Facebook eventually fixed the problem and blamed it on a bug.
At first, I bought the bug explanation. Then I noticed that when I posted a few Ron Paul videos on Facebook, the posts showed only on my page and not on the primary feed (where I posted them). As a result, nobody saw those posts. Many other users have posted similar stories since.
And, disturbingly, government is now openly directing policy.
In a recent interview, Senator Ron Wyden made it clear that if tech giants don’t remove “unacceptable” content like Alex Jones’, “there should be consequences.” He’s talking about forcing tech companies to remove political speech.
Read the interview… it’s disturbing. He is threatening to expose social media sites to legal damages for user-generated content. It would cripple any site that allows user comments or discussion.
I’m not a fan of Jones, but this is getting ridiculous. How have we gotten to the point where certain voices are not fit to be heard?
This is big government working with big tech to restrict content. We should all be disturbed by this.
I’m not the only one who’s noticed this. A recent poll of conservatives showed 32% are considering leaving Facebook or have already left. Two-thirds “believe social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are purposely censoring conservatives and conservative ideas from their platforms.”
Google has changed its search algorithms to remove “fake news” and “conspiracy theories.” It’s also purged thousands of “fake news” channels and videos from YouTube or removed the creators’ ability to make money. But I can tell you from personal experience that a lot of quality, if controversial, stuff is getting thrown out along with the garbage.
This development has the potential to crush free speech online. Eventually everyone will be paranoid about getting banned. People won’t post anything controversial or outside the mainstream. The conversations will be 100% politically correct and not critical of the establishment.
It would be a huge loss for free speech, at least until alternative platforms came along…
Huge Opportunity for Free Speech Startups
Google, Facebook, Twitter and others who have decided to go the censorship route are taking a tremendous risk. They’re angering a large part of their user bases.
They’re also angering a large part of their own workforces. It’s bad business to alienate a large portion of your users and workers. The fact that they’re doing it means they’re under immense pressure.
Social media platforms got to where they are by offering everyone a platform to share their views. These companies are now endangering their relationship with users by selectively censoring content.
So even though Google, Facebook and Twitter have billions of users, they’re opening themselves up to competition. And I’m on the lookout for promising startups that believe in free and open expression of diverse political views.
A few of these new competitors, such as Minds.com and Steemit.com, are using decentralized blockchain technology to avoid censorship and maintain neutrality.
It’s another promising use case for crypto technology that we’ll be watching closely.
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I don't think censorship is the answer. People just need to wisen up and not believe everything they read. And to not be so sensitive every time someone says something that's insulting or hateful. Giving up our free speech is a slippery slope. The trade-off is too much.
Please stop dumping the problems of Facebook onto other social media companies. Facebook has always been peddling its bizarre brand of mind control/clout onto their users and sadly most of them are kids. There is a big difference between them and Google for instance. Likewise, Twitter is trying to prevent its product from becoming a mass dumping ground for attention grabbers/advertisers whether they be advertisers or political diatribe posters. I don't blame them.
In reality, I generally support the free market. If you don't like Facebook, don't use it and/or create your own company. I choose not to use it for the most part. If you don't like Google, use another browser. In reality, Google is designed show you what you are looking for, thus you are censoring yourself. However, if you don't like that, go to a less precise browser and take more time. If you don't like Twitter's handling of annoying posters or their reforming to prevent junk from clogging their system make or join another forum. Even Trump has not given it up despite fits that they are blocking opinion spammers.
In reality the fact is this is more angst than a real issue. And if there is a real issue it is more centered on Facebook which has been doing a lousy job of protecting its users from its founder and hackers among others. Also, the SEC should never have abandoned their rule preventing people from effectively controlling a company themselves when it goes private. Good luck to all those holding Facebook who want to see changes Mark Elliot Zuckerberg doesn't want to do. The SEC abandoned you to a megalomaniac who said customers who give him information are idiots. What do you expect from investing in a company run by such a person who the SEC let go public while preventing any shareholders from doing anything to stop him.
Fake News is far from only a Facebook problem, Moon. It's permeating everywhere. Even the mainstream media has occasionally picked up and help disseminate fake news.
Moon, this is overly harsh. Censorship will always be a difficult problem - how to weigh freedom of speech against the need to protect people, especially children from hate and lies.
I agree Facebook should have never been allowed to be peddled to kids. Poor kids and poor America.
Actually, I think more and more of today's youth are turning away from #Facebook and finding new, cooler, social media sites. Who wants to be on a site filled with your parents and all their friends? Facebook's time has come and went. It will still be around for awhile but in 10 years, it will be as dead as... whatever that site was that came before it than no one can remember :)
That would be MySpace my dear :)
Censorship is not the answer!
Nether is a free for all.
These blockchain alternatives sound interesting, but as they grow in popularity, won't they fall victim to the same problems as the larger tech giants like Facebook?
Yes, #censorship is a real issue for every company, not just tech giants. But the answer isn't a wild west free for all without any censorship, which it sounds like you support. It's a very fine like between free speech and hate speech. I suspect that you would be opposed to a post calling for the violence against blacks or gays. What about a post that doesn't call out right for violence, but is deliberately published to incite hate which could lead to violence. It's a slippery slope.
You make a good point. But I think the real problem is "fake news" which could lead to animosity against others. For example, I often see posts against immigrants, the police or other countries like Israel. How many times have I read an article about "police shooting an unarmed man" who turns out to be armed. Or pictures showing Palestinians victims of Israeli aggression only to later find out those pictures are from Syria.
It's easier than ever to propagate fake news to push a particular agenda. Many of these "new" sites, including those mentioned by the author as "legitimate" news sources are guilty of this.
Well said. While I don't frequent Anti-Media or TheFreeThoughtProject, I have read articles on the site which were highly biased and inaccurate. I would also argue that these are far from credible sources of news.
Personally I applaud Facebook's and others efforts to purge their sites of fake news and hate. But it's an impossible task. There will be innocent victims in the censorship war and some that are guilty will slip through the cracks.
Yes Facebook is better without those crap, hate spewing sites.