It’s hard to know what will become of social media post-Trump. But one thing is now certain. What started back in 2012 as a promise to connect people, is now used to divide them. The mass gagging of Americans, starting with President Trump, is now causing tens of millions to abandon Twitter and Facebook. According to a January 13 announcement, rival platform Telegram “surpassed 500 million active users,” and “in the past 72 hours alone, more than 25 million new users from around the world joined Telegram.” This is nothing short of staggering.
Facebook’s new WhatsApp policy, which gives it permission to “mine” data from this popular mobile messenger application, is also driving tens of millions of WhatsApp users to migrate to apps like Signal and MeWe. What we are witnessing is a mass exodus from Twitter and Facebook. Now more than ever, the two social media monopolies are perceived as heartless tyrants willing to use their immense power to further corrode freedom for their own political and financial aims.
Social media, as I see it, emancipated the voiceless, the deprived, the dissidents....
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