Ed Bracho-Polanco interviewed about Parler and the right-wing exodus from Twitter

Ed Bracho-Polanco has been interviewed by the Media Diversity Institute about the social media platform Parler. The article, by Mikhail Yakovlev, notes that after Twitter started adding warning messages to Donald Trump’s Tweets many US-based alt-right accounts quit the network, crying ‘censorship’. The article asks, whether this “right-wing exodus,” as The Independent dubbed it at the time, alleviated the impact of online hate?

In the interview Bracho-Polanco says “when I see that the likes of far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones or xenophobic provocateur Katie Hopkins have migrated to Parler after being banned on so many media platforms because of their hate speech and misinformation antics, I can’t see how this platform can claim to be inclusive, pro-plurality and pro-diversity.” Bracho-Polanco goes on to say that “if social and political polarisation prevails in the USA, then there’s reason to believe that a site like Parler will grow,” noting too that “with Trump in power this is likely to be the case. And it’s likely that Parler would grow from a fringe site to one not only significantly larger but also more radically right-wing.”

The full article can be read on the Media Diversity Institute website.

Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash