Topic: Media Research Center
For a while now, the Media Research Center has been pushing the narrative that Twitter discriminates against conservataives -- while almost completely ignoring the existence of an alternative.
The lone mention of one at the MRC's main content site, NewsBusters, came in a Sept. 10 post by Corinne Weaver complaining that Google removed the Gab app from its Android store for violating hate-speech policies (though this actually happened more than a year ago). Over at MRCTV, folks were a little more vociferous toward Gab:
- An August 2017 post touted how James Damore, who lost his job at Google after writing a screed alleging that the company was discriminating against conservatives, "has been offered a job at Gab, a Twitter competitor for free speech activists."
- In January, P. Gardner Goldsmith gushed that "Social media platform Gab.ai is blossoming exponentially thanks to the dissatisfaction of conservative and libertarian Twitter users giving up on the big blue bird."
- Goldsmith gushed again on Sept. 24 after right-wing actor James Woods was suspended by Twitter: "So maybe, just maybe, Twitter CEO [Jack] Dorsey’s statements don’t match the actions of his corporation. Perhaps that is why so many people have migrated to Gab as a free alternative.
So, with all this conservative hate atainst Twitter, why doesn't the MRC just abandon it altogether and move to Gab? Weaver vaguely alluded to the issue by noting that Gab "has some questionable users"; however, she failed to elaborate further on how exactly "hate speech" got Gab kicked out of the Android store.
As Ars Technica points out, Gab is the place togo "when right-wing trolls and outright racists get kicked off of Twitter," and it doesn't ban content that attacks people based on their race, gender, or other protected category. Additionally, Gab's frog logo looks not unlike Pepe, the cartoon frog alt-right extremists have adopted. The MRC considers itself to be a respectable right-wing organization that doesn't associate with such fringe elements.
Another reason the MRC won't put its money where its mouth is and actually leave Twitter is because it knows where its bread is buttered, and raging against Twitter is an attention-getting narrative it wouldn't have if it just up and quit Twitter -- it's more profitable to stay than leave. After all, as one observer noted (on Twitter, natch), an right-wing-only social network "will give users no way to trigger the libs, and so what's the point? People will just get bored."
