POLL: Two-Thirds Of Conservatives Do Not Trust Facebook, Twitter And YouTube Due To Bias And Censorship
by Neetu Chandak
Nearly two-thirds of self-described conservatives believe social media companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are censoring conservative voices, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The Media Research Center (MRC), a non-profit media watchdog, released a poll that was conducted between Aug. 22 and Aug. 27 through online interviews by McLaughlin & Associates, according to a press release.
Questions gauged conservatives’ attitudes surrounding social media. Along with increased cynicism toward social media censoring political views, 66.1 percent of conservatives did not trust Facebook for treating all users equally when it came to political beliefs. Nearly 67 percent of conservatives also had less trust in Facebook than they did one year ago.
Nearly 48 percent of conservatives are still Facebook users and do not have plans of leaving the platform. About 7 percent of conservative users, however, left the platform altogether and 22.2 percent were seriously considering leaving the social media site.
“These trends should set off alarm bells at Facebook headquarters,” MRC President Brent Bozell said in a statement. “They are bleeding a major customer base.”
The survey comes after complaints of social media sites shadow-banning, censoring and deleting videos that violate “hate speech” policies.
PragerU, a non-profit educational service led by conservative pundit Dennis Prager, said some of its videos were shadow-banned and none of its followers could see the account’s posts. One of the videos taken down was “Make Men Masculine Again,” a video by YouTube personality Allie Stuckey, who made the argument against feminizing men, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported Aug. 17.
Facebook apologized for mistakenly removing the videos in a tweet Aug. 18.
“The question Facebook and other social media companies need to ask themselves is this: Do you want to be seen as an open platform for all political beliefs or would you rather be considered a left-wing public interest group that censors free speech worldwide?” Bozell said in the statement.
The survey randomly recruited 1,000 likely general election voters. Survey respondents included 351 conservatives, 387 moderates and 262 liberals and were asked 43 questions.
The poll of 1,000 likely voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a 95-percent confidence interval. The survey from the 351 conservatives had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points with a 95-percent confidence level.
TheDCNF reached out to McLaughlin & Associates for comment, but did not receive an immediate response in time for publication.
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I have NEVER been a Facebook user nor have I ever set up an account. (The only such media site I’ve ever had is Linked-in I set up in 2009 and used very briefly while looking for a job but NEVER since – and I can’t figure out how to destroy it!!)
This is the dynamics I can’t figure out; Facebook is a PRIVATE Corporation and can do with their property – Facebook – as they see fit. They can make it as LEFT WING Anti-American as they please!!! Yet conservatives have flocked to their private product in droves – in spite of all the vile things their product promotes and OFFERS including child pornography! Their argument; “but it is the best way to reach out to other people”.
Now they don’t like the product and claim it is “unfair” – yet they keep using it. (!!!!)
That is what I don’t understand.
I am an Americanist!!! I don’t violate my Americanist principles in the name of convenience! If 48% of conservatives cannot figure out the “Free Market” principles of market driven prices and products then I have a warehouse full of Buggy Whips to sell them. Facebook is USELESS to our cause! Stop complaining and GET OUT!!
And stop being conservatives – a meaningless undefined “label”. Stand for something – AMERICANISM!!! Read about Americanism. It’s all there in our DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!!