Tired of Facebook blocking your posts and/or flagging what you’re posting with their fact checks? Has the social media giant dumped you in “gaol” because you failed to get the message about the content of some of your posts? Are you sick of having your content censored? Then you are probably looking for somewhere else to spout your spleen and your deliberate and damaging misinformation. Therefore, what you really really want is another social media site where you can feel right at home amongst like-minded individuals who are as mouthy as you are.
And I’m not talking about a healthy differing of opinions here, I’m talking about the deliberate promotion of rabidly inaccurate inflammatory trash.
Therefore…welcome to MeWe and Parler! Both these alternative social media networking sites will be right up your alley because you can say what’s really on your mind, no matter how nonsensical it is, with very little (if any) censorship on what you’re posting, and where you can interact with others of the same ilk. If you believe it, you can post about it any old how you want.
MeWe calls itself the “next gen social network” and is owned by a company called Sgrouples, which was founded by a guy named Mark Weinstein, who thinks he has the potential to be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Well, in 1988, Mark Weinstein did create a very early social network type site called SuperGroups, but it only lasted three years because the site’s investors shut it down in 2001. Okay then, not quite in Mr Zuckerberg’s league yet…
Both MeWe and Parler have become very attractive, however, with Donald Trump’s supporters over the last twelve months or so, as well as with a motley crew of anti-vaxxers, racist types, QAnon and various other extremists since Facebook and Twitter started coming down on those spreading damaging misinformation (anti-vaxxers mainly) and bile (Trump supporters mainly) via their stance on blocking posts where the content is blatantly wrong or deliberately misleading, and if you are one of those who posts that type of content then that would definitely pee you off, because how can you stir up controversy if no one can read your rubbish?
Anyway, as well as those who sign up to MeWe as members, any random individual can set up an account on the network and pretend to be an official outlet for various genuine individuals or groups and, naturally, this appeals to MeWe as it makes the site appear to be attracting more active growth than it actually is. What makes it so attractive to those with nonsense to share though, is that there are no filters regarding fake news items and information that is just plain wrong. The site prefers to view posts such as these as “opinions” which apparently make them okay. Could be why there is so much QAnon content on MeWe.
The type of users MeWe has been attracting lately though are making it look an awful lot like Parler. Like MeWe, Parler is based in America and is another site which has become very popular with Trump supporters, right wing extremists, anyone into antisemitism, QAnon, and those who live and breathe conspiracy theories and generally see Big Brother everywhere they look.
So what is Parler? Parler is also a social media platform which resembles Twitter in many ways and was first launched in 2018. It has become the go-to site for those who have been banned from mainstream social media networks because of their rabidly over-the-top and/or potentially dangerous posts. The site markets itself as a “free speech” unbiased alternative to the other mainstream social networks, and yet it censors conservatives. So I’m guessing “free speech” only applies if you are spewing the same trash as all the other OTT types Parler appears to attract. Talk sense and you’re outta there, hon.
So why would any normal person want to go there? Well that’s just it, normal people don’t. It’s the other lot which find MeWe and Parler so attractive and what could be worrying is the growing number of members drawn to these two sites, and their dogged belief in the content they see there. With luck, the lot of them are simply all talk and no action.
With luck…