Many conservatives are switching to other social media platforms such as Parler, MeWe or Gab instead of Facebook or Twitter. These social networking services have been around for several years and classify themselves as free speech platforms that support privacy, transparency, equality and religious freedom.
“Over five million individuals were active on Parler yesterday, an eight-fold increase from daily activity just a week ago,” CEO John Matze said in a recent letter. “Our session activity has increased by well over 20 times during the same period.
“Facebook and Twitter’s suppression of election information was a catalyst, causing many people to lose their trust. But the movement away from these platforms was already well under way. Many of you have been activists alongside us, calling out the lack of transparency and unjust, biased policies of our competitors, as part of the Twexit and Erasebook campaigns we launched earlier this year.”
The surge in users comes after mounting pressure this year over big-tech censorship among conservatives, pro-lifers and some affiliated with the White House
Parler proponents began sharing their support this summer, but the comments have increased following the presidential election. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted, “I’m proud to join @parler_app — a platform gets what free speech is all about — and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
READ: Ted Cruz slams Twitter CEO: “Who the hell elected you” to censor news?
Another supporter tweeted, “When this election is over I will be exiting Twitter. It is time and things have run its course. I refuse to prop up a platform that suppresses freedom of speech all bc someone supports their President. I will ALWAYS support MY President @realDonaldTrump join me on @Parler.”
Other prominent Parler users include Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo.
Other social media platforms gaining users recently include MeWe and Gab, both of which are proponents of free speech without censorship. While MeWe and Gab are similar in format to Facebook, Parler is more like Twitter. MeWe says it has “No Ads, No Targeting, No Political Bias, No Newsfeed Manipulation, and No BS!” MeWe users include South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Gab founder Andrew Torba says simply “Jesus is King, speak freely on Gab.com.” Ann Coulter, Roger Stone and Milo Yiannopoulos are among Gab’s users. While Donald Trump does not yet have an account on any of the three newer platforms, his Twitter account is posted on Gab.
Posts on all three platforms are not limited by algorithms, so they are visible to everyone, including 100% of your contacts, without having to be “boosted.”
Parler and Gab have grown to over 8 million users each; MeWe says it has about 10 million. These numbers could easily double, triple or more by years end.
Metro Voice is working to set up accounts & pages on all three of the new formats.
It’s not just social media that’s seeing a backlash from controversial election coverage. Even Fox News is seeing pushback from those who feel the news giant has strayed from conservative principles. President Trump and others had blasted Fox for election projections, especially after it called Arizona for Biden when very few votes had been counted. Many TV news watchers have migrated from Fox News to Newsmax or OAN.
–Dwight Widaman & Lee Hartman | Metro Voice