Some Alternatives to Big Tech
I purloined this list by Matt Margolis at PJMedia.
Parler (currently down)
Parler has been around for a few years and was scapegoated by Big Tech for the assault on the Capitol. It is currently down.
Probably one of the first real free-speech social media alternatives to really gain an audience, Gab launched in August 2016 and has been targeted by Big Tech ever since. Dubbed a “far-right” social media network, it has managed to survive and thrive without relying on Big Tech. It started off as a Twitter alternative but now feels more like a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook. They also have GabTV, which is dubbed as an alternative to YouTube.
I hadn’t heard about this one until last week when conservative actors Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson started promoting it on Twitter.
MeWe is another social media network that thrives on the concept of free speech. It is arguably the most Facebook-like free-speech alternative to Big Tech, though it kind of looks like the love child of Facebook and MySpace (remember that?). You can join and create groups and chat. Sharing is the same as it is on Facebook.
Rumble is a video-sharing site that dubs itself the free-speech alternative to YouTube and it has seen tremendous growth in recent months. “We don’t censor political debate or dialogue,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said last year. “We welcome all viewpoints.”
If you’re concerned about being tracked by Big Tech, Brave has a lot of features to protect you.
If you use multiple browsers and then choose to switch to Brave from Chrome or Mozilla/Firefox, download Dissenter. It is built on Brave by the folks at Gab.
Even if you don’t think you can change browsers, you can change your default search engine. They also have a mobile browser for smartphones. If you can’t ditch Big Tech completely, the least you can do is make it harder for them to track you.
You can create an account for free, or pay for some premium features. To facilitate the move to ProtonMail, you set up all your Gmail to forward to your new account, and over time switch the linked email address for various online accounts to your new one.