Now, this is something I like to see, ingenuity! Yes, there is complaining, but there is also action that is being taken by one conservative Christian man after the Nazi-style censorship of Facebook against his Christian and pro-Trump posts.
After Steven Andrew had nearly 70 million people blocked from his posts by Facebook, he decided to use it as a positive thing and begin a brand new social media page, and the name of the new venture might be catchy to some, USA.Life.
Andrew said, "Facebook lied to Congress and America" during Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress in April.
Zuckerberg told Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), "We consider Facebook to be a platform for all ideas."
However, Andrew says, "Zuckerberg misled Congress."
"Facebook blocks more than 98% of my reach," said Andrew. "That means 4.9 million people per month are missing. Facebook increased censorship after President Trump was elected."
Instead of communicating to 5 million people per month as in 2016, Facebook showed Andrew's posts to 97,685 people last month. Andrew has almost half a million followers.
"Facebook's censorship caused millions of fewer people to follow God and strengthen their families, a financial loss of donations likely in the millions of dollars and a reduction in communicating with millions of more people by email and our website," he said. "Facebook is anti-American, since they censor those who believe like the founders."
On this, we can agree. Facebook is purposefully censoring material that is vital to people who are wanting to be informed.
While I grant that Facebook wasn't necessarily created in order to spread "news" or political commentary, the fact is that many who are on Facebook are not simply there to "connect" with family and friends, but to promote ideas.
Andrew has set up a crowdfunding page to fund the new project, which is expected to launch in the summer.
"Freedom and privacy could be lost forever without USA.Life. However, we can save the Internet if 70,000 people give $10, or if 7,000 people give $100. If people want privacy, it is at USA.Life," Andrew said.
I don't think the issue is so much about privacy, though that is an issue, as it is about censorship. Those who are being censored are pretty public about who they are and their political view.
However, with that said, the donations that have come in have amounted to $82,550.
Andrews identifies where he is placing the funds in a chart.
According to a statement, "Steven Andrew is a Silicon Valley technology and Christian leader, who loves America. What makes him unique is he passionately believes like our founding fathers that God gives us liberty. He has extensive business and technical leadership experience to the Fortune 500 and start ups, including for Cisco, Stanford, Sega and Better Homes and Gardens, where he has successfully led multi-million dollar initiatives."
Andrews has also constructed a search engine, 1776Free.com. I found it to load rather slow, and you have to create an account to use it, which I don't understand why that is. Perhaps that will change as things develop.
He also provides his assessment of risks to the project and also answers frequently asked questions here.
Andrew is joining a long list of new social media ventures that are seeking to break the Facebook mold such as Steemit.com, Minds.com and Patreon.com. Several of these are seeking to use blockchain technology in order to actually pay users for the content they provide without annoying advertisements.
I wish him well in his endeavor as I wish the others in theirs because the freedom to get real news and commentary out, along with innovative ideas is essential to freedom.