VOA常速英语:特朗普支持者们在社交媒体上的挣扎

It's a frustrating time for many Americans wanting to share thoughts online about the recent election. Twitter and Facebook have slapped warnings on some messages, and in a few cases blocked postings that make false claims about the election process and the results. Now they are finding other places to go online. One of them is Parlor which promises it won't censor anything. It is now the most downloaded app on the apple itunes store, and popular with supporters of president Donald Trump. We have gained well over four million new accounts in the last several days, maybe five, I'm losing track. The rise of Parlor comes with Americans divided over whether they want social media firms to do more to keep their sites free from misinformation and calls for violence, or should the Internet be a place for all speech. Enter Parlor from the French word parler to speak. Prominent conservatives have flocked to the Nevada-based platform and some are calling for people to leave Twitter and Facebook for Parlor. I think there's a lack of trust and when they hear that there is somebody out there who says we are an unbiased neutral free speech platform. They're willing to at least give it a shot at a certain point.

Much of the conversation on Parlor echoes president Donald Trump's unsupported claim that the November 3rd election was stolen by democrats through massive voter fraud. There are calls for action. Demonstrations are being planned. Sometimes users cross the line, an Arkansas police chief used Parlor to urge violence against democrats. He claimed were preventing the reelection of Donald Trump. When the posts appeared in news stories, his public account was removed and he was forced to resign. While the Parlor algorithm does not promote posts to keep users engaged. The company says it is serious about its commitment to free speech and does not block extremist content. The fact that we don't block out the content from various extremists does not mean that our goal is to further all of those views, right? What we are planning to do is give the widest freedom possible so that people can have a full discussion. That is not much different from the founding missions of Facebook and Twitter, but the major Internet firms criticized for keeping people engaged by suggesting content that is more extreme have increasingly taken steps to curtail the spread of misinformation, and then came Parlor. It potentially suggests that if platforms do try and steer people away from these echo chambers, steer people away from what they want that people will just migrate elsewhere, right? That's it's a reminder that as powerful as these platforms are, and is overwhelmingly unpopular as they are. And there are, it's, it is not a monopoly. It's too soon to know whether Parlor will have lasting appeal, but for now as the US grapples with the results of the 2020 election, Parlor has carved out a unique digital hangout. Matt Dibble for VOA news San Francisco