Gab vs Parler

Gab vs Parler

June 4, 2019 1 By Elaine Arias

Oh my god, I am already annoyed. People on both platforms are slating the other – people on Gab saying it’s a honeypot set up by the left, and people on Parler saying Gab’s a cesspool of anti-semitism and nazism.

I am proudly on both platforms and I’m already sick of this stupid shit. This isn’t doing anyone any favors. There’s legitimate reasons for preferring one over the other, but both are very valuable for our movement.

Gab was set up first, has a larger userbase and is run by passionate people who believe in free speech. They’re also very innovative, coming up with the Dissenter site and the Dissenter browser (of which I am still using; I’ll get around to writing a full review soon). Gab has definitely been a target of the mainstream media due to the fact that their moderation policy is “if it’s legal speech, it’s okay” and yes, that’s allowed a lot of anti-semites to flourish on the platform.

But it is NOT a cesspool of any sort. You don’t have to read any of that shit. You can just mute the anti-semites, or block them. Some groups are basically free of that crap anyway. You can also engage with them, and tell them how utterly stupid they’re being.

As for Parler, they’re pretty new. Parler is not just a microblogging service, they also serve as a commenting plugin for blogs. I want to replace the comments on this blog with the Parler plugin but I haven’t quite figured that out yet. They also have iOS apps, which I like because I can share whatever I come across while browsing on my iPad or iPhone.

They haven’t gotten shit from the mainstream media because they’re new. If the President does set up an account (it’s been rumored that his reelection campaign is looking into setting up an account there), I can assure you the media will focus its hateful lens on Parler too, and the mobile apps will swiftly be removed from the App Store because ‘muh hate speech’.

I have accounts on both, and I’m not deleting either one. I will use both to express myself.

And, of course, the founder of Gab, Andrew Torba, has “attacked” Parler, according to The Daily Beast.

MAGA Social Media Networks Are at War With Each Over a Potential Trump Account

The two most prominent right-wing social media networks are clashing over who will score a Donald Trump account, even though it’s not clear that the president will be posting on either of them any time soon.

(archive.today link)

Now, it’s not like Andrew Torba is wrong – not about the fact that Parler is new and untested. Also, as I said earlier, Parler is going through growing pains, because it was only launched last year.

But this bullshit rivarly (which, as far as the founders of each respective network, is one-sided) is not doing anybody any favors. It’s not fucking helping, okay?

Not that anyone is going to listen to me.

Photo by Victor Freitas from Pexels