Big Tech Liberal Bias? Shadow Ban That Silly Thought From Your Head

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If whine were wine, MAGA Republicans would be crapulous from their incessant squawking about the fantasy of “Big Tech” (the “Big” is to make it sound scary, you see) bias against them.

In fact, not only is there scant evidence of such bias, but it’s just the opposite.

Twitter commissioned its own study in 2020 showing the bird app amplified conservative politicians and personalities more than liberal ones, which Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) cited during his questioning of sad-sack Putin Praetorian, Matt Taibbi, during Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) version of the House Un-American Activities Commission a few weeks back.

And, if science isn’t your thing, anecdotes make crystal clear MAGA bleating about bias is untrue. You see, also introduced at these very same hearings, under oath, were the cornucopia of times the Trump White House picked up the phone to scream at Twitter officials to remove mean things about him from the platform. Like when Chrissy Teigen called Trump a combination of words that roughly translates to cat, derriere and female dog.

In other words, for all the gibberish emanating from the likes of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), repeating the lie over and over doesn’t make it true.

Need another anecdote? Ok: Me.

I have a YouTube channel called The Blue Amp Channel. YouTube, to its credit, has made a priority of removing accounts that share anti-vax and election-undermining conspiracies. Great, right? Well, sure, if their algorithm can tell the difference between a channel promoting conspiratorial propaganda and those debunking it.

My channel set out to do the latter. For that, we got caught up in their algorithmic no-no list and received a “strike.”

This meant our video was taken down and we couldn’t post for a week — not even to let our subscribers know what was happening. After a whole lot of emails, calls, etc., YouTube finally admitted its error and five days into our seven-day suspension, restored our account.

Yet, what about lost views during that time? Too bad. Lost income? Good luck!

Worse, though, is the chilling effect this has on liberal YouTube channels. We all know from the get-go we can’t mention certain terms, even critically, such as “Ku Klux Klan,” or “Qanon.” For the very same reason my channel got a strike.

So, while YouTube’s policy may be well-intentioned, it enables conspiracies. The people sharing these lies are on a mission. Once their accounts get suspended, they find ways to set up new ones. And the cycle continues. It’s those  like my channel — who wish to debunk this detritus — who fear mentioning these conspiracies.

Meanwhile, within two weeks of our strike, Trump, the capo di tutti capi of conspiracy-mongering, had his YouTube account restored. Not long afterwards, the former president held a rally honoring the domestic terrorists who attacked our Capitol, replete with video footage and a theme song.

Sure, there are problems with “Big Tech.” Ever since the Reagan years, we’ve seen what was once a competitive economy transformed into sector monopolies. In 1983, 90% of media companies were controlled by about 50 corporations. Today, it’s down to just six.

Tech is not immune. Think of any mechanized product you use and then count how many companies from which you could realistically buy it.

Yet, we really can’t have any conversation about tech bias without mentioning Facebook’s role in letting Cambridge Analytica use its data to target and arguably change the results of the 2016 election. And on Twitter these days, an ever-shrinking Elon Musk has open company policy conversations with someone who goes by…Catturd 2 (Catturd 1 must have been taken. Bummer).

The simple truth is, social media is a mess right now, but it has nothing to do with “liberal bias.” It is rife with bullying and disinformation, profit motive over user health and, as I found out, algorithms that don’t work as designed.

But no honest picture of “Big Tech,” not to mention the rest of the media landscape (see Dominion lawsuit and Fox) displays liberal bias. Studies prove it, anecdotes make clear and, well, now I’ve experienced it.

Cliff Schecter is a bestselling author and former ad writer for President Joe Biden’s 2020 Presidential Campaign. You can find and follow him at his now fully restored YouTube Channel at @cschecter, or on Twitter @cliffschecter

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.