I honestly love Twitter or at least the people I've allowed into my circle. There is a lot that bothers me about mainstream social sites though. Besides the selective censorship we have algorithms dictating what is seen and how things trend, shadow banning and several other issues. For me this is just the straw that broke the camels back. It's really not even about the "fraud" but about closing the conversation about its possibility and only allowing views that disprove the allegations. Ironically, and I'm not pro-ISIS I've said in the past that I would not want to see beheading videos (this falls under decency) I do however feel they deserve a place to air grievances and voice their opinions like anyone else. I may not always agree with free speech but will defend peoples rights to it. If there are no calls to violence, I don't see the issue. I also believe violence tends to ensue when people feel ignored or overlooked and resort to this madness to grab attention. One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter. We've had this conversation before though.
I think mainstream social sites have their purpose and usefulness and would never judge anyone for using them. I'm just choosing to limit my activity and opting out as much as possible. I do think we all need to question how much influence these companies now have over our lives and even the way they may influence our thoughts and behavior.
!ENGAGE
I've been online for a long time and twenty years ago we could not have imagines billions using any service. These companies have grown incredibly quickly and society has not adjusted to them fully. The law cannot keep up. Just makes me laugh when some of them complain it's like communism when it's actually capitalism in action and if their was state control then they would have been able to deplatform their opponents. I still can't believe that someone on Fox compared the Parler shutdown to Krystalnacht! Especially given that there were Nazis in the Capitol.
I think the Parler app is an interesting case too. I seen a meme the other day that went something like...
Don't like Twitter build your own app.
An app gets built but now Google and Apple delist the app.
People continue to use the app, and it loses its hosting.
Where does this end, do we have to build a whole separate internet now just to protect free speech.
I certainly don't have all the answers and don't even know where to begin but I think there is a really big discussion here that we all need to have. I suppose we could all go dark and start utilizing the darkweb for free speech but I think if it comes to that we've already created our dystopia. When people have to rely on darkweb services to organize or voice oppositions we really need to question the society we are living in. I honestly would have never even fathomed this conversation 20 years ago.