Shadowban: How Social Media Platforms are Censoring Grassroots Environmentalists (Including Me)
Recently I've begun to believe that social media platforms are banning or hiding my content due to algorithms (or zealous employees) convinced that my criticisms of wind power, solar energy, and electric vehicles mean I am a climate change denier.
I've been fighting global warming since I was 12. I joined a climate science expedition to the Siberian Arctic as a journalist, filmed and edited a short documentary about global warming, and have been organizing resistance movements against the fossil fuel industry for well over a decade. I've climbed on top of equipment to block tar sands mining, organized coal train blockades, and participated in pipeline blockades.
Even talking about this makes me sound crazy. But it's common knowledge that social media companies rank posts based on content, creating "filter bubbles" that feed people with the material that will keep advertising revenue flowing—not material to promote education, healthy debate, or the public good.
I talked about this with Jeff Gibbs, Director of the film "Planet of the Humans," which faced a determined campaign of censorship. He told me that YouTube is "de-prioritizing searches for stuff that does not fit the dominant climate narrative," and that Pinterest is "banning not only whatever they deem climate denial, but posts that deny the solutions to climate change." Similar policies appear to be in effect here as well.
Dissidents have long recognized the danger of corporate control of mass media; the phenomenon is obviously not new. What is new is the combination of supposed-democratization of online media creation and ever-tightening censorship. What is new is the ability of modern media monopolies to shape public opinion using trillions of data points and a censorship that is, at times, so subtle it is nearly impossible to recognize—or even verify.
The dissident writer Chris Hedges recently had a video archive of his work deleted from YouTube. In response, he wrote: "Censorship... magically appears to make a crisis go away. It comforts the powerful with the narrative they want to hear, one fed back to them by courtiers in the media, government agencies, think tanks and academia. The problem of Donald Trump is solved by censoring Donald Trump. The problem of left-wing critics, such as myself, is solved by censoring us. The result is a world of make-believe."
Censorship and de-platforming may begin with people you disagree with, but it never stops there.
I'm not interested in a world of make-believe. I'm interested in the truth. Anyone who falls prey to the censorship of modern technology monopolies is essentially powerless—at least on those platforms. For a while now, I've been meaning to launch an email list to bypass tech monopolies. This pushed me over the edge, and I have now started a newsletter. Click the link in the first comment to sign up for free.
I've also opened up some paid subscription options for people who want to support my organizing work. Paid subscribers will get periodic behind-the-scenes report-backs on the organizing work I'm doing, and founding members will get access to some private videos, unreleased drafts, and other works-in-progress—but almost everything will be free.
Photo: a cliff-dweller at Thacker Pass.
Wishing you great luck!
It's definitely happening. The powers that be expressing their powers. I'm glad platforms like Substack exist. I haven't used social media for years and somehow came across your work, Max, so there is hope the message will get out. Paid subscriber here and happy to pay for what I find valuable.