A new report from America’s leading media watchdog found Big Tech censorship impacted hundreds of millions of people in the first quarter of 2022 alone, proving that Silicon Valley’s rampant censorship is trampling on free speech and debate online.
 
The Media Research Center report released Wednesday found 144 million cases of “secondhand censorship” – a phenomenon that defines the number of times a social media user has information kept from them – across seven different platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and Spotify.
 
The MRC report found Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were the biggest purveyors of secondhand censorship, with Facebook being the worst offender. Readers of war-related content – typically related to the conflict in Ukraine – were the most impacted.
 
The report proves that the censorship and blacklisting of independent online voices who refuse to adhere to the prevailing popular dogma has a sprawling and dangerous impact on the way people are able to communicate online, and further highlights the importance of disruptive platforms like GETTR which have a firm commitment to free speech and fostering online debate.
 
“This report confirms what we have known all along: Big Tech’s sprawling censorship operation has rendered them a modern day thought police. The MRC findings show just how stark the state of online debate, freedom of expression, and even democracy, have become not just in the United States, but globally,” said GETTR Chief Executive Officer Jason Miller.
 
“Now more than ever, we need challenger platforms who are willing to take these companies to task and give people a real alternative where they are encouraged to speak freely, share their views, and engage in healthy debate. With livestreaming technology, Direct Messages and Vision, our own alternative to TikTok, GETTR is the leading platform to deliver that competition.”
 
Today, GETTR boasts nearly 6 million users in 192 different countries, more than 160 million livestream views, and 3 million views on Vision, GETTR’s short-video platform, which launched in June to challenge TikTok and Instagram Reels. Earlier this month, the platform also released Direct Message for all of its users.
 
GETTR remains the fastest growing social media platform in history, having marked its first million users less than three days after its formal launch on July 4, 2021. By comparison, Twitter took 24 months to attract one million users while Facebook took 10 months and even Instagram still took 3 months.