Investigation Finds Gettr Uses Facebook Trackers & Bans Users For So-Called ‘Free Speech’
So much for "Free Speech."
Koshiro K / Shutterstock.com Gettr, the social media platform that started out as an opposition to websites like Twitter and Facebook — boasting a promise of freedom of speech and giving radical, alt-right minds a space to spew their conspiracy theories — is under attack for going back on what they were setting out to do.
According to an “exclusive” report from Talk Liberation Investigates, Gettr isn’t actually as free and liberating as the far-right app suggests — in fact, it might be even worse than its opposition.
Gettr has Facebook and Google trackers embedded in the code and bans users for hateful content.
According to the report from Talk Liberation Investigates, Gettr is more similar to other Big Tech companies than its users would like to believe and even uses trackers from Facebook, Google, and other third parties.
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The app permissions allow for the surveillance of a wide variety of information about the platform’s users, including behavior and location data. This data is then used to profile users and is shared with third parties.
This information is then used to curate content, such as news, for users through external sources, opening connections between Gettr users to content that is sometimes delivered via unencrypted HTTP which poses major security risks.
Home to some of the most imaginative minds on the planet — like Laura Loomer, who equated COVID to food poisoning and claimed that bad fajitas could kill you faster than the virus — Gettr is a place where the right-wing jungle can roam wild and free, “Yes-manning” all of the other users who are just like them in the conservative echo chamber.
However, their freedom is currently under attack, and their free speech is being tested after one ban has led to another and the think tank is leaking its fluids.
Gettr has been banning so-called 'free speech.'
Former Blaze TV host, Jon Miller, was recently banned from the social media platform over the use of the n-word, which was placed on his profile and was in violation of their Terms of Service.
“Jon Miller was suspended from Gettr because he used the N-word in his profile. This is a clear violation of our terms of service,” a Gettr spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Tuesday evening. “Gettr defends free speech, but there is no room for racial slurs on our platform.”
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Of course, we should all agree that Gettr was right to ban this kind of hate but how can Gettr fans criticize other Big Tech companies for having similar guidelines?
According to Miller, however, he was booted “for no reason.”
“Guess I was too critical of them for suspending others?" he ranted on Twitter. “What does it say when the 1st platform to ban me is the one that sells itself as the free speech alternative?”
But this isn’t the first instance of a conservative commentator getting banned on the social media platform — and likely far from the last.
Nicholas Fuentes, a well-known white nationalist who gained a lot of steam after fighting for Trump’s re-election campaign and attempts to make white nationalism mainstream, was permanently banned from the site for his attempts to spread his white nationalistic ideas on the platform.
Adopting the term “groyper” to describe his fanbase, the social media platform was flooded by his followers and was being attacked by their hateful commentary, causing the ban of the word altogether and permanently suspending Fuentes from the site.
“My official Gettr account has been permanently suspended,” Fuentes wrote on Telegram, another far-right social media platform. “Nice free speech platform.”
Without providing the rejection of censorship the app claims to possess, it makes no sense for Gettr to market itself as being any different from other social media apps. In fact, Gettr may even have even more risks than its competitors.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.