Student Opinion – Strictly Right-Leaning Social Medias Will Not Work

Social media has received unified distaste from Conservatives for accusations of bias and censorship. Conservative-led alternatives such as Parler, Truth Social and others have attempted to counter apps such as Twitter and Facebook but have largely fallen flat. Frankly, they won’t find a major victory against Big Tech platforms.

To start, the market for a conservative media outlet just isn’t there. Pew Research found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to use social media, especially by a wide margin on Instagram and Twitter. Facebook use is almost even between the two parties.

Twitter has 217 million active users while conservative sites struggle to maintain more than a few million. Former President Trump, the martyr for the anti-Big Tech censorship movement, tried leading the charge on his new platform Truth Social, but even he doesn’t post on it.

With that flop, Conservatives are still left without a strong platform.

Twitter is already dominated by a small group of fringe partisans that are mostly left-leaning. If Republicans jump ship, Twitter won’t be forfeited to the left wing because it always has been. 

Conservatives by their very nature are taken out of the dialogue on social media. Why does a Republican cattle rancher in Texas care what Justin Bieber posts? These rural, non-college educated voters are the bread and butter of the Republican Party, and they normally use technology less than the average urban Democrat.

This doesn’t excuse the poor content moderation done on these liberal-leaning platforms, but it’s the reality of the situation. 

There are various outlets out there tailored to Conservatives that emphasize free speech, and Conservatives are more than welcome to join and boycott against Big Tech censorship, but they won’t accomplish much. The number of Conservatives outraged enough to boycott the likes of Twitter would be hard pressed to hurt the company’s bottom line.

If they don’t like Twitter or Facebook because of their censorship and bias, terms of service can be changed, but the bias will always be there. The First Amendment prohibits the government from limiting speech, not private companies such as Meta. When users sign the terms and conditions to use a platform, they agree to the rules the company sets for taking down content deemed inappropriate. 

Recent events have allowed these companies to tighten their views on what is acceptable, and right-wingers have been on the receiving end, much to their outrage.

The power is in the hands of the companies. Sure, legislation is an option, and Big Tech has become a popular punching bag. However, legislation can’t fix the free market.

Unfortunately, conservative media is a losing fight.

browder  is an opinion writer.