Dissent, discourse, disagreements, and compromises are good for all of society. Originally social media was a free flowing, politically neutral environment where political discourse was welcome, and occasionally tempers flared. Unfortunately, in recent years, social media has become fragmented. Social media networks started removing political content, often leaning towards one side of the political spectrum or the other based upon the company's values.
The launch of "Truth Social" is just another step towards establishing echo chambers and segregating users based upon political affiliations. This has been spurred by increased political division within the United States (and other countries), as well as distrust of the news media and often politicians themselves.
As conservative users scramble to distance themselves from heavy-handed censoring artificial intelligence on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, a new challenge is emerging. Not only are some of the alternative networks not secure, some of them are completely fake.
Take for example the 2021 Parler data breach, which allowed unlimited access to almost every post and video. While tech giants with large funding pools have tried and true cyber security practices, for smaller social media networks the concept of "secure code" is something new.
Add to this imposter networks, such as "MAGA Hub - Truth Social Trump", which was downloaded over 100,000 times by confused Android users. Users searching for alternative social networks has become a cyber security nightmare, especially when some apps such as Parler have been removed from app store listings and apps with similar names, like Parlor, find themselves with an influx of confused users.
Don't get me wrong, competition in the market for social media is always a good thing. However, what is not a good thing is "politically themed" social networks, establishing echo chambers and ultimately becoming large, angry mobs of torches and pitchforks, hating the users of "the other network".
Unfortunately, there's no clear answer to this problem, and as long as politicians and news media continue to further the political divide, things will only get worse. Maybe it's time to go back to MySpace. Tom let us customize our profiles, play music, and generally live in harmony with each other. All he asked in return is that we be his friend.
Ken is a Cyber Security professional with over 15 years of experience. All opinions are his own, and do not reflect the opinions of his employer or clients.
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