Stop using big tech apps — go open source
Censorship is the beginning of any totalitarian system
Censorship is the beginning of any form of government that does not want discourse to take place. Mostly these are dictatorships — it doesn’t matter if they are communists or fascists. In recent years, and especially with the onset of the Covid crisis, one also sees increasing censorship in supposedly democratic states. Why I consider even our apparently still democratic states no longer democratic in the original sense, I will explain in another article. Back to censorship. Already in 2019, a survey was conducted on the expression of opinions in Germany. The result is frightening. Only 22% of respondents thought that people can freely express their opinion on certain topics. During the Covid crisis, the facts have intensified. We have seen in relation to the Covid crisis how doctors, scientists and quite generally opposing opinions were first defamed and then censored. In Germany, even epidemiologists whose professional assessment had provided direction in past pandemics, such as during the swine flu pandemic, were censored. Opinions that warned that lockdowns do not have the desired effect and cause enormous harm, especially to the youngest among us, were censored. This sometimes went so far that people lost their jobs and livelihoods because they did not share the majority opinion. Meanwhile, it is gradually turning out that many of these experts were right from the start.
There is no restoration of their reputation or at least an apology in sight. I could probably write a whole book of such examples. But what does this teach us?
Censorship must not take place. It prevents people from talking and discussing with each other, from questioning the status quo. If we do not question the status quo regularly, there would be no progress. Intolerance toward people who disagree is on the rise. This makes us as human beings more vulnerable, more divisive, more controllable. How often have I seen defamation and censorship distract from the real issue by simply portraying people as right-wing or anti-Semitic. Is a Lockdown critic automatically an anti-Semite, that is, someone who hates Jews? These were the defamations advocated by many people in the media. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. This way of dealing with another opinion is dangerous. First, it trivializes the atrocities that Hitler did to the Jews in the Third Reich, and second, it distracts from the real question: are lockdowns purposeful and, if so, is their benefit greater than their harm?
This example is meant to show why perhaps before we start arguing about various issues such as Covid, vaccination, environmental policy, war, etc., we should agree to never censor, but rather all agree to allow everyone to express their opinion. A healthy discussion culture and proper questioning of statements will bring the truth to light and allow a solution to be found that is tolerable for most people.
The role of Big Tech
Big tech plays an immensely important role here. On YouTube and Facebook, opinions that do not correspond to the official narrative are censored. In addition, there are so-called fact-checkers who, as we have already experienced, are paid by one side or the other and thus work as gatekeepers. If we allow other opinions, there will be enough smart people who can refute a false statement. For that, we don’t need fact-checkers, who often don’t have the proper training to understand certain facts.
The logical consequence that should have been drawn after repeated censorship is not drawn. If we want a world in which everyone is free to express their opinion, we must no longer support such platforms. I myself stopped using Whatsapp two years ago, for example. I will no longer support a data collection and censorship machine. There are plenty of alternatives, especially in the open-source sector.
The best way to take power away from these systems is to stop using them. Social networks only work because of high user numbers. It is unknown to us what rules these platforms are using to censor. The recent events about the Twitter-Files showed us that the rabbit hole can be deep. And as I expected a lot of political agenda and ideology was behind the censoring. With open-source solutions, we as users could check for ourselves how this is done.
Right now, I’m giving Twitter a chance. Musk seems to stand for freedom of expression and wants to clean up Twitter.
That means we not only have to educate ourselves again to be more tolerant and able to discuss things, but also Big Tech.
I dream of a world that is free of censorship, where free discourse can take place. A world in which we use decentralized services that don’t misuse our data and that give different ideas — including those that question the status quo — a space.
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