Trumpists Admit That Their Own Social Media Platforms Aren’t Much Fun When They Can’t Use Them To Own The Libs

We've covered some of the difficulties Trump's Truth Social is having getting users to actually use the platform, and the same appears to be true for the various other Trumpist Twitter wannabes like Parler and GETTR. NBC News has a somewhat hilarious story in which its reporters went to talk to conservative influencers" to get their thoughts, and they all seem unenthusiastic about those other platforms, whining that they're all just echo chambers."

That buzz was tempered by influencers who said while they do use these platforms, they don't see them as a replacement for the wide reach of the mainstream options. Many of them used the phrase echo chamber" when discussing their concerns about the platforms.

I think the challenge that a lot of these newer ones have is to not be an echo chamber for people who hold similar beliefs," said Alex Weber, a content creator who was embraced by conservatives online after posting videos criticizing mask mandates, vaccine mandates and the mainstream media. I think why Instagram and Facebook and all these are so impactful is because you've got all different types of people."

This is amusing (and telling) on multiple levels. First of all, considering how much time they spent whining about how Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. were their own echo chambers" they actually know, deep down, that those sites actually have got all different types of people." That's because contrary to the Trumpist narrative, none of those sites actually ban people based on ideology. They only do so if you violate their rules. The narrative of viewpoint-based discrimination is bullshit. And conservatives know it.

It's also amusing in that it emphasizes that these influencers" are only doing this because they want to engage in culture wars. They get clout by owning the libs" or whatever other nonsense, and you can't do that unless you can rile people up.

But, most importantly, it should put into stark relief what many of these pretend free speech" battles are about. It's not about the right to speak - because they have that on all these other platforms. What they're really demanding is a right to an audience, and no matter what Elon Musk says, free speech principles" have never included that.