Trish Regan: Censoring Problems Online Doesn't Make Them Disappear

December 19, 2020

I started this year with around 700,000 Twitter followers… wonderful, loyal, and intellectuals fan who stayed with me to see my posts and share their thoughts on important topics.

The ability to engage and follow likeminded individuals on social platforms is such a great thing, right? There’s content out there for everyone…

Or at least, there used to be…

Now, YouTube and Twitter – among others – have started shadow-banning their users, effectively preventing people from seeing their posts.

Shadow-banning is when a user’s posts are essentially rendered invisible to other people using the platform. That user may not even notice a change in their experience, until dozens of people begin reaching out, asking why they can’t see their posts anymore…

Or in the case of other prominent Republicans, even President Donald Trump… when hundreds of thousands of people are prevented from seeing their posts. (My friend and colleague Buck Sexton wrote about this for American Consequences last week.)

I mentioned my Twitter following at the start off this article… 700,000 around the beginning of the year. And right now, at the time of writing this, I have 745,462 Twitter followers. That’s a great number, and I’m incredibly happy to reach so many users… Or at least, I would be if I could reach them…

Let’s compare that with Parler, another social media networking site that touts that it is unbiased and doesn’t censor its users. I joined Parler about a month ago, and I just passed more than 1 million users. Why the stark difference?

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Chris Pavlovski, CEO of freedom-minded video platform Rumble, joined me on the latest episode of my American Consequences podcast to share his insider insight behind shadow-banning on mainstream media.

Rumble, much like Parler, encourages free speech and user-generated content regardless of the user’s political affinity. And that’s why hundreds of thousands, or in some cases millions, of users are leaving YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

Part of why I love being in politics is the ability to discuss all sides of a particular topic. And as social media grew into what it is today, it gave millions of Americans, myself included, a platform where we could easily discuss politics and economics in a civil way, understanding each side.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer…

Now, mainstream social media sites are dictating what can and cannot be shared on their platforms. As Chris said, “That’s not a platform… That’s a publisher.”

Only by listening to all sides of a topic can we expect to grow and improve, right? Even if someone disagrees, the entire purpose of a debate is to at least discuss differing opinions.

How can anyone talk about all views when an entire side of the debate is being blocked from even communicating?

It’s like the mainstream media doesn’t want to hear what we have to say… and doesn’t want anyone else to hear it either.

Any posts containing Republican thoughts, or even mentions of the impact that lockdowns are having on small businesses seem to be getting blocked.

These lockdowns may not affect big businesses like YouTube or Twitter, but what about the smaller independent owners?

Well, my second podcast guest this week has firsthand knowledge of this – Chef Andrew Gruel, owner and chef of Slapfish Seafood and host/analyst on the Food Network.

Chef Andrew has been forced to close a few locations of his ventures because of the lockdowns happening across the country. And he perfectly expressed what’s going on with the decisions around the nation, and the publicity of those decisions in mainstream media.

From the very beginning, [the lockdowns] followed the data and the science… But when that no longer fits the narrative they want it to fit, they don’t follow the data and the science, they follow the emotion…

And that’s exactly what’s going on… Struggling restaurant owners across the country, as well as their supporters and advocates, were first shut down by lockdowns, and then shut down again by the mainstream media whenever they try to spread the word about the real problems. It’s a double whammy…

But YouTube and Twitter seem to believe that if they block people from discussing it… maybe the problem will just disappear.

Well, in reality, it’s more like their user base is disappearing. And that’s what happens when an open social platform dictates what users are allowed to talk about.

You can listen to both full interviews on the American Consequences podcast here.

P.S. Our December magazine published this morning – have you read it yet? It’s filled with original political and financial content you won’t find anywhere else… Plus, we have some holiday content sprinkled throughout, too (Has COVID-19 killed the mall Santa? Click here to find out.)