The following letter was posted to Facebook by a pro-liberty user who could no longer tolerate the leftist machine that undermines their beliefs:
An open letter/statement to my Republican, conservative, and non-Marxist friends about why I am leaving Facebook:
In recent weeks, countless posts from my Republican and conservative friends have been accompanied by Facebook’s obnoxious commentary and purported “fact checks.” I have not seen one—NOT ONE—post from a Democrat or liberal friend that was subjected to the same treatment. Not in this election cycle, and not ever. I consider this to be a slap in the face. You should, too.
We know for a fact, and have known for a while, that Facebook censors content that does not conform to contemporary leftist orthodoxy. Facebook’s own people have talked about it on camera and in print, so no serious person can deny it. And it was obvious long before then.
We are complicit in creating this monster. And even after realizing that, we continue to feed it. Why? You don’t like Facebook censorship and election interference? Well, guess what: YOU are the lifeblood of Facebook. You gave Facebook its power by using its platform, and you continue to give it power—even now, after everything it has done—by continuing to use its platform.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You can choose to stop tolerating Big Tech’s intolerance, censorship, and interference.
I can hear it now: “But there’s nothing I can do. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users, so deleting my account won’t make a difference.”
Wrong.
If 60 million Americans were to delete their Facebook accounts, Facebook would be crippled. And no, it doesn’t matter how many users Facebook has internationally. At bottom, Facebook’s business model is to sell advertisements, and its business model will be crushed if half of its American users abandon the platform. Advertisers need an audience. You are the audience that sustains and empowers Facebook. And most of you will continue to do so, while simultaneously complaining about Facebook’s influence.
Or how about this one? “But everyone is on Facebook so we (or at least our political leaders) can’t abandon it or else we won’t be able to communicate our ideas to the public.”
Really? Do you think we are effectively using Facebook to communicate now? How do you know that your posts aren’t being hidden from other users’ timelines because Facebook’s censors disapproved of what you had to say? It is happening, and it will continue to happen. Facebook is not a neutral platform, and therefore you cannot use it as one. Facebook took that choice away from you, and no amount of denial will change that.
Are you waiting instead for Congress to act? Don’t. The Republican Party does not control Congress, and even if it regains control someday it has proven time and again that it cannot or will not enact needle-moving legislation. Regarding Big Tech generally, many Republicans accept donations from its constituent companies and therefore will do nothing to rein in those companies, other than occasionally issuing a toothless condemnation. And in the meantime, even if the Republican Party retakes Congress in 2022, Big Tech will only become more powerful between now and then—and it will do so with your help.
The only solution is to walk away, regardless of the inconvenience. Many of our predecessors have sacrificed far more for this country than giving up their damned Facebook and Twitter accounts. If you can’t or won’t even do that much, don’t complain about Big Tech’s Orwellian control of society. Your choices are to whine ineffectually, or to do something about it. And because you cannot reform Facebook, the only real choice is to walk away.
You will survive. We are all old enough to remember life before Facebook (and even before MySpace), and we were perfectly fine. Not just that, but we were probably happier and healthier without it.
I will delete—not deactivate, but delete—my account in a few days so that we can have discussions in the meantime as necessary. I will look into MeWe and other alternative platforms. I have already moved from WhatsApp to Signal. I look forward to being free of Facebook’s shackles, and to knowing that I am no longer a product for Facebook to sell while it simultaneously disrespects and censors my friends and me.
My parting wish for Facebook is that an influential public figure with a large audience—someone like Tucker Carlson, perhaps—will finally give this issue the attention it deserves and will call for a long-overdue abandonment of the platform or, at the very least, a mass boycott of its advertisers.
Due to the respect I hold for certain of my friends who would not appreciate such a sign-off, I will refrain from closing with the words that best express the contempt I hold for Mark Zuckerberg and the poisonous company he created.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Liberty Block or any of its members. We welcome all forms of serious feedback and debate.
