Back in 2008, I remember learning about a platform called "Facebook" that allowed you to chat with your friends, upload photos, and meet new people. Being an IT professional myself, I thought this was great, and I immediately made myself an account and started using it. Facebook grew tremendously in the years to follow, and everyone I knew seemed to enjoy it.

Then the problems began..

In the early 2000's users started complaining that Social-media companies were quietly suppressing content. A new term dubbed "shadow banning" emerged amoung several Social-media platforms. While the original intent of a shadow ban was to enable moderators to deal with spammers, trolls and bots by making their posts invisible to everyone but the posters themselves. Little by little, this led to intolerance, bias, and outright censorship.

In recent years, things have become much worse. Users often complained online that their Facebook accounts were disabled for no apparent reason, and the company barred many of them from appealing the decision.

"Facebook Banned 1.3 Billion Accounts Over Three Months To Combat 'Fake' And 'Harmful' Content" Forbes - Mar 22, 2021    | reference |

After the 2016 campaign, Facebook deployed a team of so-called "Fact Checkers" to determine if a post is considered false, or misinformation. In May 2020, Twitter announced it would add labels to tweets with false or disputed information about COVID 19.

Twitter banned conservative author Alex Berenson due to comparing the COVID-19 vaccine to a therapeutic, citing "It doesn't stop infection. Or transmission. Don't think of it as a vaccine".

Not so long ago, Facebook's algorithms have ruled that parts of the US Declaration of Independence are hate speech.

Even YouTube now censors ideas - violating Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects them from lawsuits in exchange for maintaining an open platform.

I could go on and on. These are just a few examples. There are tons more you could research, but it's my beleif they should get out of the censorship business. Will they? No, not likely .. It seems social media censors anything or bans anyone they please - even a sitting US president.

"If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." - Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan    | reference |

The problem is the Social-media companies have somehow assumed that they are the sole arbiters of free speech, hate speech, accurate speech and truth. Often, resulting in arbitrary decisions tainted by their personal beleifs and/or political leanings. They believe their opinions are indeed facts. Once you start trying to decide what is permissible speech and what is not, the question becomes "Who is the censor?". The only way to truly protect free speech is to protect it for everyone, even those whose opinions are intolerable to many others. That way no matter who comes to power, free-speech rights cannot be repressed.

Our solution .. provide alternatives

At Patriots Media we believe censoring free speech sets a dangerous precedent. The free speech protections provided by our constitution embody the simple principle that more, not less, speech makes for a better democracy. They protect not only the right to give your thoughts, ideas, and opinions, but also the right of people who oppose them.

Popular speech rarely needs protection. To maintain a free society, we must protect unpopular speech, have the freedom to disagree, and tolerance for those who disagree with us.

Patriots Media was born to fix these wrongs left to us by Facebook, Twitter and others. Our various projects offer alternatives that uphold Free Speech and free users of invasive policies and practices. We beleive that what's not popular today could become popular tommorrow. We beleive social media should simply provide the means to allow to free exchange of ideas, and not be the Editor in Chief of society. We beleive in the people to police themselves, and history shows..they often do.

Speak freely - Patriots Media