Why has Utah Sen. Mike Lee Joined A Twitter Alternative And Is Urging Others To Do The Same?

Susan Walsh, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mike Lee has joined what he calls an unbiased alternative to Twitter that attracts conservatives who were banned from other social media platforms.

And the Utah Republican is urging others who have “grown increasingly impatient with Twitter’s apparent bias against conservatives and libertarians” to create accounts on Parler.

“It’s a nonbiased alternative to Twitter. Please join today! To be sure, Twitter has every right to exist and can choose to be biased if it wants to; but it will do so at its own peril — especially as alternatives like Parler become an option,” Lee posted Thursday on Facebook.

Parler (meant to be pronounced “par-lay” as in the French word for “speak,” but abandoned in favor of the English pronunciation) launched as a “free-speech” alternative to Twitter. It allows up to 1,000 characters in a post compared to 280 on Twitter.

“After being exhausted with a lack of transparency in big tech, ideological suppression and privacy abuse, our co-founders, John Matze and Jared Thomson, decided to create an alternative solution,” according to the Parler website.

Parler immediately attracted a host of notable conservatives and libertarians, including some who were banned or suspended on other social media platforms.

High-profile users include political commentator and activist Candace Owens, former presidential candidate and Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale and Trump lawyer Rudy Guilliani.

“The whole purpose was to give people that power rather than having a central point of authority being the only figure that has that power,” Matze told the Epoch Times in June.

The senator’s most recent post Thursday goes after Twitter.

“Here’s what I see: Twitter was more than happy to have the term ‘Massacre Mitch’ trend nationally. But when the McConnell campaign posted actual threats against the Senate Majority Leader — threats that were no doubt encouraged by that false, unfair, and defamatory term — his campaign was locked out of Twitter.

“This is seriously not cool. Twitter: can you tell us there is no double standard at play here? If there isn’t, I’d really like to know.”

In the wake of this weekend’s deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, the hashtag “Massacre Mitch” trended on Twitter and some gun control activists rallied outside Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky home.

Twitter locked out McConnell’s campaign account Wednesday after it posted videos of demonstrators calling for someone to stab him “in the heart” and to break his “raggedy” neck.

Lee also posted the same or similar comments about the McConnell situation Thursday on Twitter and Facebook. He engaged in some back and forth with a person who argued that Twitter is a private company and can pick and choose who resides on its platform.

“Yes, Twitter can do what it wants. But why would it be in the interests of Twitter and its shareholders for Twitter to discriminate so blatantly against certain political viewpoints? And as that discrimination becomes more bold and obvious, why wouldn’t many users abandon it?” Lee replied.

Some of Lee’s half-dozen other Parler posts — all in May — touch familiar themes regarding government power.

“Why do some Americans place such great trust — almost amounting to faith — in the federal government? Given that most acknowledge that Washington has the opposite of the ‘Midas Touch,’ it is stunning that anyone would want to put the federal government in charge of everything from healthcare to manufacturing,” he wrote.