WASHINGTON — Reuters reports that social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have started to ban conservative commentators and the American president from their platforms. <br /><br />Amazon Web Services even went so far as to shut down a website called Parler, touted as a free-speech alternative to Twitter. <br /><br />The big tech companies behind the move say they're doing this because some of the commentators on these channels are inciting violence. <br /><br />Conservative and liberal analysts alike have expressed concern over the move, with the American Civil Liberties Union saying: "It should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions." <br /><br />With Parler closed down, conservatives now have few dependable platforms to speak through. The most popular option seems to be a social network website called Gab, which is touted as a website that can't be shut down because it provides its own web services. <br /><br />Other options are the Telegram messaging app, the Rumble video platform, MeWe, and 2nd1st.
