How Big Tech Censorship Could Lead to ‘Second Internet’ Focused on Free Speech
By Movieguide® Staff
Despite Big Tech’s censorship of conservative voices on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the pressure to fit the mainstream narrative has resulted in what some are calling a “second internet.”
Former President Donald Trump recently announced plans for TRUTH Social.
“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump said in a recent statement. “We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable.”
Christopher Bedford, chief communications officer for RightForge, recently discussed the prospect of a “second internet” free of censorship and the Big Tech monopoly.
“We need to get the second internet rolling. We have the intelligence; we have the skills; now it’s time to do the work and get the money,” Bedford told The North State Journal.
“There was this whole idea that if you don’t like something you could just go and build your own,” Bedford said. “And that was constantly used as a defense for Big Tech and a lot of its excesses, a lot of its censorship. And that was even used as a defense of its censoring of a president of the United States, a democratically elected president of a free country being taken off the internet. They’d say, ‘Oh, well if you don’t like it, you can build your own.’ Well, Parler showed that was false because Amazon Web Services, which controls over 90% plus of web hosting in the country, combined with the Apple store and the Google Play store, said, ‘You’re not allowed on here.'”
Bedford continued of Big Tech, “They’re their own judge, jury and executioner,” and they targeted Parler “under completely false pretenses.”
“If anything, Facebook was [behind it],” he added. “And they took it off the internet at a point when it was succeeding and it was the top downloaded app in those stores. They took it down and destroyed it.”
Bedford was teaming up with Trump Media Group and expressed his excitement for TRUTH Social.
“It’s a great honor to be working with the president and Trump Media Group on this,” Bedford said.
Bedford added that the new infrastructure of servers would provide a space for not only conservatives but also alternative thinkers.
“The internet is obviously a very diverse place; there are big actors and small actors, and we welcome all,” Bedford said. “And it’s not just a conservative thing either. It’s pretty wild. If you would have told me, say, 10 years ago that you were going to have political thoughts that were in line with Glenn Greenwald and Elon Musk and Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson, I’d have said, ‘All of them? In the same room together?’ It turns out that the people who are more pro-freedom are getting drawn together.”
“What we’re trying to do right now is get the ground solid so that we can build our castles on rock, as opposed to on sand,” Bedford concluded.
Recently, Variety conducted research to assess the market value for Trump’s TRUTH Social in the land of conservative media.
As one might expect, Fox News has dominated the conservative media space in recent years. However, as Bedford points out, more and more Americans are looking for non-partisan news focusing on freedom of speech.
Variety reported:
This all suggests that the audience for Truth Social will be somewhat limited versus the entire conservative spectrum. If viewers were not happy with the content on Fox News, then the more extreme outlets would see much greater levels of viewing time, which would be indicative of heightened interest in them.
While Trump can expect an initial boost in sign-ups given his relative prestige among his supporters, whether this can hold will depend on what else Truth Social can offer. It will be tougher to sell the TMTG+ SVOD service given the evidence of the niche scale of the most interested audience.
Movieguide® previously reported on how Americans, on both sides of the political aisle, are losing trust in mainstream media and Big Tech—which could be in TMTG’s favor.
Movieguide® wrote:
Although tensions between the two primary political parties in the U.S.—Republican and Democrat—seem only to be increasing, a new survey revealed that the polarized groups agree on one relevant issue: Big Tech companies have too much power.
GetWizer Consumer Insights surveyed 1,500 Americans with a range of political beliefs, including conservatives, liberals, and independents.
Despite the media’s portrayal of American’s rampant disunity, the new study found that while Republicans did have a higher percentage of people concerned with Big Tech overreach, Democrats and Independents were not far behind.
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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