Social media heavies not friendly to some conservatives

Washington Times:

More than three out of four conservatives feel an unfriendly vibe online, saying that social media giants such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram intentionally censor political viewpoints they consider objectionable, according to a new survey.

The Pew Research Center poll released Thursday found that 85 percent of Republicans think social media sites intentionally try to muzzle certain political opinions, with 64 percent feeling as if big technology companies typically favor liberal posters over conservatives. In all, 72 percent of Americans feel that social media platforms censor political views that they may find objectionable.

“In the midst of an ongoing debate over the power of digital technology companies and the way they do business, sizable shares of Americans believe these companies privilege the views of certain groups over others,” Pew researchers said.

The survey of 4,594 adults found that political partisans have strikingly differing views towards social media platforms, and while seeing the companies as a source of bias, many still say that the overall social impact of big technology companies has been positive.

Millennials were often at odds with their seniors on how they view big technology.

Some 67 percent of adults aged 18-29 say it is likely that sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram censor political views, compared to 81 percent of seniors who would agree.
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Some of their techniques are more subtle than others.  Twitter has been accused of "shadow banning" some conservatives, especially users with large followings.  On Facebook, they use their "Top Stories" feature to push more liberal views and hide conservative views.  You can avoid this if you switch to their "Most recent" category.  For example, they prominently feature former conservative Jennifer Rubin who is now a rabid anti-Trumper in their Top stories.  Most of the responses to her post are generally pretty negative, but they still feature her pretty regularly.

I am not an Instagram user.  However, I have found that probably one of the most hostile companies in Silicon Valley to conservatives is Google.  They changed their search results to reduce the presence of conservative material and their YouTube subsidiary openly discriminates against conservatives.