Conservative and pro-life voices are under attack across various social media platforms. From YouTube to Twitter and Facebook, it doesn’t seem like there is a safe place for people who do not agree with the progressive Left point of view. This became more apparent earlier this week as Pinterest joined the censorship movement by targeting Live Action, a pro-life website. 

A whistleblower at the company was the one who broke the story by alerting Project Veritas, an undercover investigation team, that Pinterest was deliberately censoring content from Live Action. After an undercover investigation, it quickly became apparent that Live Action was on the “porn domain block list,” which limited the ability of people to pin stories to the photo sharing website from Live Action. The whistleblower who brought this situation to the attention of Project Veritas was fired, and Live Action was completely blocked from using the platform.

In response to the allegations from Project Veritas, Pinterest said, “Religious content is allowed on Pinterest, and many people use our service to search for and save Pins inspired by their beliefs. To protect our users from being targeted based on personal characteristics such as their religion, we have policies in place so that ads and recommendations don’t appear alongside certain terms.”

This vague statement doesn’t make any sense because Live Action is not a religious group. It’s a conservative, pro-life, nonprofit organization with religious connections and influences. Being pro-life doesn’t necessarily equal religious, but the Left often makes this assumption. There are pro-life people who are not religious and have come to recognize the sanctity of life, but it’s becoming more apparent that just holding a conservative viewpoint is often enough to get someone into trouble.

After the initial story broke earlier this week, YouTube and Twitter have also moved into the fray. The video sharing platform came under fire just last week for demonetizing Steven Crowder over claims he was harassing LGBT activist Carlos Maza and has now decided to remove the Project Veritas’ whistleblowing video over concerns about “privacy.” Twitter also banned the official Project Veritas account features so it couldn’t tweet, retweet or use other features. A stunning bit of coordination against an organization doing nothing more than trying to illuminate the internal bias of big businesses.

All of this is incredibly alarming. Most of these big businesses who run social media say that they are unbiased or that anyone can post on their websites, but what is actually happening is conservative pages and groups get shut down while Leftist, progressive groups receive minimal censorship. Most platforms are clearly struggling to either keep their political opinions to themselves or are quick to acquiesce to the progressive social media mob, and conservatives and free thinkers are finding themselves often shut out or dismissed with the designation as a bigot. There has been some thought online, and frankly around our office here at The Daily Citizen, about having a separate social media space online for those who are not of the progressive variety. But is that really the best solution? 

Jordan Peterson, the Canadian academic who has gained a broad following online in recent years, has proposed a new website called Thinkspot, a place where “individuals can explore and exchange ideas in a thoughtful and respectful manner.” It sounds like a place for those that have been silenced for believing and saying that life begins at conception or that marriage should be between a man and a woman. But here is how New York Magazine described the site: “The grand idea of Thinkspot, as far as I can tell, is that it’s a place for people who know how to be racist and sexist in a more dog-whistle-y way, not in the more direct way you might see on Twitter.”

It’s an unbelievable statement and shows that to have a different opinion than big businesses or the progressive Left must mean that you are racist, sexist, a homophobe or a whole host of disparaging designations just because your ideas are different. If social media platforms are more concerned about censoring content based on political leanings than on ISIS, terrorists or other organizations that incite violence, then there is clearly something wrong. 

Most polls agree that at least 50% or more of the country holds pro-life views, and an even higher number believe in some sort of abortion restriction. That Pinterest would designate Live Action as pornography is a terrible abuse of power, and for YouTube and Twitter to add their own versions of censorship is a serious escalation. If this is how social media companies continue to operate their businesses, the future looks rather grim and increasingly divided as shared spaces become more subjective to the thought police.