Shadowban Over but Can I Still Speak Freely and Gab?

by Kim D.

Do you have the gift of Gab?  If you haven't gotten it yet, read this then hurry and sign up to speak freely! 

Apparently my shadowban hell is over 🙏 pic.twitter.com/O0XjvGbAr2

— Kim (@JBaileysMom) September 28, 2016

Last Tuesday I was tweeting out some links to Twitchy articles and posts on our blog when all of a sudden my account was locked due to suspicious activity.  I was forced to change my password to regain access and then was locked out several more times that day until I provided a Twitter code received via cellphone text. This was more than annoying; it was weird.  I had been tweeting just like I've been doing for the past two years.

I had done nothing different; however, Twitter algorithms obviously had changed and were targeting my account. Since I am a conservative and tend to have political tweets, this harassment was suspicious until I learned it was happening to many other accounts I follow. 

By the next day I noticed that my notifications were bare.  Each time I log onto Twitter I will see at least a handful of mentions, but now that feed was empty.  It took some investigation, but I finally realized that I was shadowbanned, meaning that my followers could not see my tweets unless they visited my timeline. Even when someone interacted with one of my tweets, it did no good for me to reply because I wouldn't show up in the person's mentions.  

I was basically reduced to DM interactions as tweeting was unproductive by Twitter design. Adding insult to injury, our blog Righting on the Wall was also being censored.  If followers click on a link to the blog, Twitter issued an ominous warning, accusing our site of being malware which was complete bulls*&t because we are a non-profit, educational site. We collect no user information nor do we do anything nefarious. 

The simple solution to the blog censoring was to start over and change the blog site address. Unfortunately, fixing the shadowban issue was harder.  In fact, there is no way to do this. Other Twitter users reported the ban lasted about 24 hours.  For me it was one week. 

While I am glad that the ban has been lifted, it leaves me wondering. Can I truly speak freely on Twitter?  I am not a troll (unless Sally Kohn or Deray say something exceedingly stupid) and am no threat to anyone shivering in a safe space.

Over the weekend, out of frustration, I visited Gab and requested access.  This is a new social media platform that promises users can speak freely (unless spreading porn or terroristic threats).  Currently the site is in beta testing and is allowing users to join sparingly as the platform works out any kinks.  

It works similarly to Twitter which cuts down on the learning curve when joining a new social media site. To help those who are more sensitive to certain sentiments and questionable language, Gab offers a self censoring tool.  Users can mute accounts they don't wish to see in their timeline and flag words that they'd prefer not see.  Basically, Gab allows you to create a safe space (#SeeNoEvil), should you need one, letting all users speak freely without the threat of site-imposed censorship which is definitely opposite from what Twitter is currently doing.

I know change is hard and most will prefer to stick with Twitter, but I would strongly suggest you consider signing up for Gab just in case you tweet something the Twitter algorithms see as suspicious or if the SJWs decide to pile on and flag you as spam.  You might find yourself shadowbanned for a period of time and may want an alternative site to chat with followers. 

Currently, if you sign up for access you will receive an email telling you that the site isn't fully up and running and there is a waiting period.  Last night many were reporting the wait time was very short - only a couple of hours.  Keep checking your email for account creation access and find and follow @jbaileysmom and @ecklebobchiselfritz on Gab.