Which social media platforms do conservatives/the far-right use most?
March 22, 2023 2:55 AM Subscribe
I found this article which listed thirty places where conservatives seem to gather and am assuming by the way the list is ordered that gab.com is where most of the right congregates but wanted to see if anyone knew otherwise (Truth Social? Parler still? Twitter?).
Best answer: That article, and that site, don't seem especially credible. Telegram and Signal are not social media, they're messaging. Most everything else on that list is trying and failing to be the next Twitter or Facebook, and several of them sound like at least half a scam.
Note that our definition of conservative social media platforms includes all social media platforms that are NOT actively censoring conservatives. Put another way, it is social media friendly to the conservative way of seeing things. It is for people of all political stripes who refuse to be censored as far left radicals, Fascists, Communists, Socialists, Nazis, and today’s Democrats would do to them.
If this was a person speaking on a soapbox in a public square, at what point in that list would you start backing away from them?
Odd definitions aside, I'm guessing that conservatives most use the same social media that everyone else does--YouTube, Facebook/Instagram, and Twitter.
posted by box at 5:23 AM on March 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
Note that our definition of conservative social media platforms includes all social media platforms that are NOT actively censoring conservatives. Put another way, it is social media friendly to the conservative way of seeing things. It is for people of all political stripes who refuse to be censored as far left radicals, Fascists, Communists, Socialists, Nazis, and today’s Democrats would do to them.
If this was a person speaking on a soapbox in a public square, at what point in that list would you start backing away from them?
Odd definitions aside, I'm guessing that conservatives most use the same social media that everyone else does--YouTube, Facebook/Instagram, and Twitter.
posted by box at 5:23 AM on March 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
In the sense of people who are Extremely Online, it's probably gab and truthsocial plus varying amounts of Facebook and Youtube. In the sense of the place where your terrible uncle spends 15 hours a day fantasizing about Biden's clone replacement eating babies until JFK Jr leads the military in to stop him, that's Telegram. Which operates a lot more like an old forum than what we call social media today, but the way it is being used is a lot like the Twitter conversation/boost model.
People who are plotting coups or whatever are doing some amount of organization and recruiting on the right-wing socials and kind of chatty backchannels, but based on the Jan 6 evidence it looks like the real specifics are negotiated in email and texts.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:07 AM on March 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
People who are plotting coups or whatever are doing some amount of organization and recruiting on the right-wing socials and kind of chatty backchannels, but based on the Jan 6 evidence it looks like the real specifics are negotiated in email and texts.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:07 AM on March 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
I suppose I'd ask what the website means by "conservatives"? Republican party members? MAGA types? The various alt-right splinter groups? I'm honestly a little confused by the article/website you cited and your question.
In my (very limited! Not an endorsement!!) experience, Gab is where you will find the really noxious alt righters and open white supremacists who migrated there after being banned from mainstream social media sites, e.g. Milo Yiannopoulos. Parler and Truth Social tend to attract former Trump administration officials and those family members you avoid at Thanksgiving, and of course Trump himself is on Truth Social.
I have never heard of the vast majority of the other sites and I think of myself as a fairly Internet-literate type.
posted by fortitude25 at 6:11 AM on March 22, 2023
In my (very limited! Not an endorsement!!) experience, Gab is where you will find the really noxious alt righters and open white supremacists who migrated there after being banned from mainstream social media sites, e.g. Milo Yiannopoulos. Parler and Truth Social tend to attract former Trump administration officials and those family members you avoid at Thanksgiving, and of course Trump himself is on Truth Social.
I have never heard of the vast majority of the other sites and I think of myself as a fairly Internet-literate type.
posted by fortitude25 at 6:11 AM on March 22, 2023
Telegram and Signal are not social media, they're messaging.
Telegram at least has a vibrant culture of public and semi-public group chats, which are social-media adjacent. Some group chats amount to broadcast-only channels by the guy or group who runs it.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:24 AM on March 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
Telegram at least has a vibrant culture of public and semi-public group chats, which are social-media adjacent. Some group chats amount to broadcast-only channels by the guy or group who runs it.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:24 AM on March 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
The Extreme Religious Right group that wants to ban books in my town organizes on Fb and a bit on twitter. They have a private group.
The Hell No, We Don't Want Books Banned group is also in a private group on Fb.
Algorithms mean I never see the gross Hard Right, Racist, Fascist, MAGA crap, and they don't see the Socialist, LGBT-supporting, Pro-choice goodness I like and re-post. Most people want to be where most other people congregate, esp. their family and community, so it's Fb, Twitter, Insta, YouTube, etc.
I do occasionally engage in discussion on my town's Fb page because while I'm unlike to change Bozo McMaga's mind, Bozo's sister or nephew may be open to reality, and they may see and read a thoughtful comment.
posted by theora55 at 12:01 PM on March 22, 2023
The Hell No, We Don't Want Books Banned group is also in a private group on Fb.
Algorithms mean I never see the gross Hard Right, Racist, Fascist, MAGA crap, and they don't see the Socialist, LGBT-supporting, Pro-choice goodness I like and re-post. Most people want to be where most other people congregate, esp. their family and community, so it's Fb, Twitter, Insta, YouTube, etc.
I do occasionally engage in discussion on my town's Fb page because while I'm unlike to change Bozo McMaga's mind, Bozo's sister or nephew may be open to reality, and they may see and read a thoughtful comment.
posted by theora55 at 12:01 PM on March 22, 2023
Goes to article, searches for "Nextdoor," doesn't find it.
Well, I would add Nextdoor to the list. That's where your everyday racist conservative neighbors hang out, anyway.
posted by limeonaire at 12:20 PM on March 22, 2023
Well, I would add Nextdoor to the list. That's where your everyday racist conservative neighbors hang out, anyway.
posted by limeonaire at 12:20 PM on March 22, 2023
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers, everyone. It seems like based on a lot of the answers most people on the right are also using the same platforms and those on the left.
As far as the question of "which has the most right-wing users" or "which has the highest proportion of right-wing users" I was looking for which has the most right wing users.
Thanks again, everyone.
posted by defmute at 3:00 PM on March 22, 2023
As far as the question of "which has the most right-wing users" or "which has the highest proportion of right-wing users" I was looking for which has the most right wing users.
Thanks again, everyone.
posted by defmute at 3:00 PM on March 22, 2023
The top 10 are pretty accurate. I would add Unz.com and ZeroHedge.com, which are news/opinion sites with huge comment sections.
posted by MattD at 3:58 PM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by MattD at 3:58 PM on March 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sagc at 5:17 AM on March 22, 2023