Prominent personalities such as Joe Rogan, podcast host, and Senator Rand Paul, R.Ky. have announced plans for leaving major social media platforms amid rising backlash against censorship.
Rogan announced late on Sunday that he has created an account at Gettr. posting remarks critical of Twitter on the platform.
“Just in case s— over at Twitter gets even dumber, I’m here now as well,” Rogan wrote. “Rejoice!”
Rogan interviewed Robert Malone last week, one-day after Twitter. Malone is a prominent virologist as well as a vaccine skeptic. suspended Malone for posting alleged COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. Rogan’s move to Gettr occurred later in the same day as Twitter permanently banning Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also for COVID-19 misinformation.
Greene, who has been a long-standing presence on other social media sites like Telegram and Gettr, was also temporarily removed from Facebook Monday morning. Greene’s permanent ban earned Twitter the ire of many prominent Republicans, including Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy who said in a statement that “it is clear any speech that does not fit Big Tech’s orthodoxy gets muzzled.”
Join me at GETTR. https://t.co/a5uHczl84K
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) January 2, 2022
“Diversity of opinion is the lifeblood of our democracy,” McCarthy said. “And yet that fundamental American value is under assault by Big Tech—entities that have amassed more power and more control over more speech than any other institution in history.”
McCarthy’s sentiment was echoed by Paul, who wrote an op-ed for The Washington Examiner in which he declared his New Year’s resolution was to quit YouTube, citing the platform’s history of censorship.
“[T]oday, I announce that I will begin an exodus from Big Tech,” Paul wrote. “I will no longer post videos on YouTube unless it is to criticize them or announce that viewers can see my content on rumble.com.”
Rumble is a video-sharing platform similar to YouTube that bills itself as “immune to cancel culture” and attempts to provide a technological ecosystem independent of Big Tech. The company partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of former President Donald Trump’s social media venture TRUTH Social, in December.
“My goal is to eventually quit Big Tech entirely,” Paul wrote. “I’ve created a news aggregator site, libertytree.com, that brings together writers and news in defense of small government and expansive personal liberty.”
YouTube had suspended Paul in August over a video in which he questioned the efficacy of cloth masks, in violation of the tech giant’s COVID-19 misinformation policy.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. Email us to inquire about licensing opportunities for this original content. [email protected].
You have an opinion on this article? Send an email to let us know your opinion. [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Make sure to include the URL of the article or the headline, as well as your name and hometown.
