The decision of large networks like Twitter or Facebook to suppress accounts that are too radical and belligerent irrigates the smaller platforms which claim absolute freedom of speech. The assault on the Capitol is praised there
“I’m scared for GAB, Andrew. With this new atmosphere in front of us, GAB is certainly going to be attacked and forced to shut down. I hope there is a plan B. We all need Freedom of Speech. It’s the foundation of human freedom, ”writes @Spurge, hours after the assault on Capitol Hill.
Andrew is Andrew Torba, the founder and boss of the radical social network GAB , launched in 2017, and which has since been removed from app stores for his racist, hateful and fascist messages. The platform contains “no branded content with ads against whites, Christians, Americans, no To Kill a Mocking Bird type bad conscience , no politician who betrayed, no fraud against conservatives, almost zero Communists and no pornography ”, prefers to explain proudly on the home page Andrew Torba.
“Totalitarian socialist leftocracy”
“I have so many friends, relatives, ‘Gabbers’ who are looking for solutions and solace after what has happened. I turn to God and pray to him. God has a plan. You have to have confidence in him and in him alone, ”writes Torba. “All these people on Capitol Hill who are whining that they were afraid for their lives. Let them stop being paid for 9 months and we’ll see what they say afterwards ”exclaims @ rebelgirl54 . “Patriots have three choices now, writes @IncipitZarathustra : submit and live in a totalitarian socialist leftocracy, call for secession of [conservative] Red States or war.”
ATM is a little niche bubble, some might say. But several similar closed networks have sprung up in recent years, to foster a more specialized conversation, a particular subculture, and to welcome the banished from traditional networks, these “de-platformed” – the word has been very trendy since Steve Bannon, the former adviser to Donald Trump, was “misrepresented” from Twitter in November when he called for the beheading of White House doctor Antonio Fauci and Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI. Besides the magazine Verge calls since that disastrous January 6, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to “deplatform” Donald Trump (Mark Zuckerberg publicly announced that Donald Trump would be deprived of Facebook and Instagram at least until the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20).
Dan Bongino leaves Twitter after he’s locked out of account and says he’s moving exclusively to Parler.https://t.co/LYOVB3xK0H
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) January 8, 2021
But the de-platformed generally land… on other platforms, perhaps less powerful, but more welcoming, and even more closed, sometimes difficult to access to external eyes. Rumble, this video-sharing application “where you will never be censored for political or scientific content”, ATM, Telegram, Parler … Couriers, networks, everything is good to take. And as soon as we dive into it, we read the anger against the “elite”, the deep state (those officials and bureaucrats who hold the real power), the techtyrants or the bigtechs, the media, the pharmaceutical lobbies, the feminists, anti-racists, and more.
The assault on the Capitol applauded
Groups on Telegram, very popular with the radical right , have thus rejoiced in recent hours at the events on the Capitol. “We have been waiting for this moment for so long,” writes one, or “It’s better than Christmas”, rejoices the other. “The end of capitalism is just a start – we haven’t seen anything yet,” threatened @Accelerationistdump, three days before the Capitol Riots (“accelerationists” believe that instituting terror will hasten the fall of old-fashioned governments, which will happen when mainstream conservatives agree to resort to violence). A video shows how the police organized the demonstration, dividing up people with barriers – that’s what the user who posts it says, the video is very blunt. Another shows reporter’s video material burning – the film has been viewed over 100,000 times.
The new network which is the most talked-about is called “Parler” , very invested by the conservatives disappointed after the election of Joe Biden. Sometimes nicknamed “the Twitter of the right”, it was the most downloaded application the week after the election on the App Store and Google Play, according to the specialized site Techcrunch, going from 4.5 to 8 million registered in a few days. A Republican kicking in stretchers like Senator Ted Cruz has an account (he has cautiously stayed on Twitter too). Like President Trump and his family, like their lawyer Rudy Giuliani, like the hosts of the conservative and alt-right (alternative right, very traditional and extreme right) media scene Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and others.
“Fake news” and company
The assault on the Capitol is widely commented on. “They will seize these events to get rid of all the Trump supporters,” @Americasangel fears. “If it is necessary to restrict and censor the voice of the people so that the country remains safe, then our country is already lost”, explains the boss of Parler, John Matze, taken up by @FansofTrump, about the “censorship of the oligarchs of Facebook and Twitter ”. A photo of Obama on the catwalk of a plane, presented as detained while trying to escape (while he is funny there smiling): fake news is abundant, with many rather crude photo montages. A message to require the big reset (a new start), one to praise the “true patriots” who must “demand” their rights because they will not be given them …
For Laura Loomer, the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives unhappy in Florida in 2020, anti-Islam, conspiratorial, with 1.5 million subscribers, and who presents herself as the most censored woman in the United States, “c ‘is finished. Democrats now control all 3 branches of government – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Life is going to get very hard for the Conservatives in America, who will be targeted like never before. ” The role of anti-fascist activists is also highly debated. Wouldn’t the demonstration have been infiltrated by antifawho wanted to discredit the true patriots? “Pelosi and his gang will do everything to continue inflicting maximum damage on our country,” continues popular host Mark Levin. Too bad for the unity of the country. It is vital that they are beaten in 2022. And I predict they will be. Of course, the media are behind all of this… ”
To those who still doubt it, the assault on the Capitol has shown how important and real these virtual parlors have become. Between censorship and preservation of public conversation, the radicalization of the political scene offers only a very acrobatic path.
