New threats to society from free-speech social media platforms

TL;DR

Free-speech social media platforms like Parler and Gab attract extremists and conspiracy supporters, posing societal threats due to lack of moderation, necessitating policy efforts to understand and mitigate these risks.

Contribution

This paper highlights societal threats from free-speech social media platforms and advocates for policy measures to address associated risks.

Findings

Platforms attract extremists and conspiracy supporters

Lack of moderation increases societal risks

Policy efforts are needed to counter threats

Abstract

In recent years, several free-speech social media platforms (so-called "alt-techs") have emerged, such as Parler, Gab, and Telegram. These platforms market themselves as alternatives to mainstream social media and proclaim "free-speech" due to the absence of content moderation, which has been attracting a large base of partisan users, extremists, and supporters of conspiracy theories. In this comment, we discuss some of the threats that emerge from such social media platforms and call for more policy efforts directed at understanding and countering the risks for society.