I'm leaving Facebook on Friday the 13th! Here's why...

Forget about the reality that Facebook is a huge time waster for many of us, there are several other key factors that have helped me come to the conclusion that it's time to delete my account.

#MassEX2020

Facebook actively censors conservatives. That's not my opinion, but factually accurate and demonstrably provable. When I have mentioned this on Facebook, my liberal friends scoff. They don't do this out of malice, but, rather because the social network site rarely, if ever, censors people expressing liberal viewpoints. Likewise, whenever our tech overlords like Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, are called in front of Congress, most Americans simply tune out. So, if you're a liberal, the chances of you having been chastised by the tech giants or hearing about it from your liberal friends are fairly slim...at best. Conservatives, especially Trump supporters, are routinely censored and, often times suspended for what Facebook calls "violating community standards" or some such nonsense when posting political stories or memes that Facebook wishes to suppress. This doesn't mean they redact all posts, but they definitely keep Trump supporters on a tight leash. If you want to hurl unfounded accusations (i.e., xenophobe, homophobe, NAZI, Fascist, racist, or white supremacist) at Trump and or his supporters, that's perfectly acceptable, but if you want to share a negative, and perfectly legitimate story about Joe Biden, well, hold on a minute Buster! Facebook restricts the circulation of news stories they don’t like and often either just take them down or their “fact checkers”, a group of Liberal Arts majors, whose only qualifications are that they hate America and despise conservatives, slap a warning on them like “False” or “Mostly False”…even when stories are completely factual, 100 percent verifiable and from sources beyond reproach. Before the November third, if you posted anything negative about the Democratic candidate, you’d get some warning where Facebook makes you prostrate yourself and beg for forgiveness in order to not be locked out of your account. Simply posting a photo of Joe Biden sniffing a little girl’s hair will either get you suspended or a “warning” will be slapped on the post, covering the picture with the words, "No Context”...as if some sort of explanation would put viewers at ease. Two weeks before the election, when damning evidence against Joe Biden and his son was reported on by the New York Post, the nation's oldest continuously published daily newspaper founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801, Twitter froze their account and blocked all links to the story. I don't care what political ideology you follow or which candidate you love or hate, the story has been proven factual and has been corroborated by multiple sources and, at the very least, warrants a serious investigation. Facebook followed suit and “limited” the distribution of the story, essentially protecting their candidate. The mainstream media immediately joined ranks and undertook a full scale mission to discredit the story as “Russian disinformation”. It worked! When asked, 51% of Americans said they believed the story was fake. The bottom line is this...the DNC along with "big tech" and the mainstream media didn't want the American people to see the story and if they did, they were to believe it was fabricated for the sole intent of hurting Biden. Together, they conspired to kill a story that, under normal circumstances, would have landed a mortal blow to any candidate. Regardless of your political leanings, this should alarm all Americans. Sadly, and actually shockingly, not one of my few remaining liberal friends was bothered by this. If they were, I surely didn't see it. A major news story presenting hard evidence of corruption by someone who may become the next President of the United States of America being suppressed across almost all platforms and nobody on the left bat's an eye? That in itself is frightening. Lastly, while we think platforms like Facebook are free, there is a real cost. We are the commodity. They sell our information and make billions and billions by doing so. How many times have you been talking about a product or done a Google search and then, low and behold, an add pops up tailored just for you? Newsflash! It’s not a coincidence. It's a design feature that is intrusive to your privacy. I can put up with the advertising, marketing, and even the metrics cull as I think it's a relatively fair bargain to make. What I can't put up with is censorship...regardless of political ideology. It's completely anti-American. If people have bad ideas, let the disinfectant of daylight expose it. I understand that these tech companies have a right to conduct business the way they see fit...but, fortunately we have the right not to use their products. There is currently a movement to demand that Congress remove the protections that these companies enjoy giving them the ability to censor their users without recourse. There are many articles about this which do a far better job of explaining the differences and complexities of being a Publisher versus a Platform, but, crux of it is that Congress has given Facebook & Twitter the ability to do as they wish with impunity. It will not surprise anyone to know that these Silicon Valley titans are major contributors to pretty much everyone in Congress. So, don't count on anything changing anytime soon. These tech giants have become so powerful and ubiquitous that for all intents and purpose, they've become public utilities, much like the phone companies. Imagine texting or calling a friend and having AT&T or Verizon censor your conversation or slap disclaimers over your texts claiming your statement was "false" or "partly false"? It's absurd...and none of would stand for it. Or would we? If things continue in the direction this country is moving, brace yourselves...because this is on the horizon. It is certainly not inconceivable that companies like Facebook & Google could eventually gobble up every cellular service in the world. Then what? In the meantime, If you don't get a birthday greeting from me this year, it doesn't mean I not thinking of you or wishing you the best. If you notice that I'm no longer on your "friends" list, please know that I didn't unfriend or block you. Millions of Americans have pledged to leave Facebook and Twitter on Friday the 13th to show their displeasure with these companies. I suspect that only a fraction of those people will actually pull the plug. Let's face it, it's a hard addiction to kick. And, most of us who will actually leave are under no illusion that we're going to make that much of a difference to these companies. We're basically just a few grains of sand on a stretch of beach that goes on for as far as the eye can see. But, it's time for me to take a stand. If Facebook wishes to continue to censor and block their conservative users and Congress does nothing about it...like they probably will...then fine. They can have at it. But, that doesn't mean that I need to be a willing participant. In the future, you can find me on Parler @ReidMartin or you can contact me through my website, ReidMartin.com. Until we meet again...