By Michael Bielawski
After numerous allegations of censorship against the popular Vermont-based social media outlet Front Porch Forum, at least one candidate for office is taking the initiative to try a competing site.
GOP candidate for State Senate David Koch recently wrote on Nextdoor, “I am running for the Vermont State Senate in the Washington District to help make Vermont more affordable, and take real steps toward climate and flood resilience. Unfortunately, FPF labels posts critical of the incumbents as “misinformation” and censors or completely cancels the truth.”
FPF has been in numerous VDC headlines over the years as conservatives including candidates have accused the site of playing political favorites under the guise of moderation.
Koch was highlighted by VDC in September for an incident of alleged censorship by FPF. The report states “He posted an opinion piece with VDC back in August about the state’s recently mandated massive investments to mitigate climate change. The same commentary was submitted to FPF – which wouldn’t run it unless he removed some supposedly deceptive content about man-made climate change.”
Jay Eshelman of Westminster, a business owner and former Work Force Investment Board and River Valley Technical Center board member, is another high-profile conservative to sound alarm.
“I’ve been impressed with the number of reports by various VDC readers confirming the totalitarian nature of Front Porch Forum (FPF), couched in the guise of a so-called Public Benefit Corporation,” he wrote for VDC.
Is Nextdoor any better?
Nextdoor users may still need to keep an eye out for censorship. The nationwide, publicly traded company has also faced accusations of silencing users over political views. According to the left-leaning political news site Vox, the nationwide operation faced similar accusations during the 2020 election.
“Nextdoor, which has reportedly signed up more than 10 million users and nearly 220,000 neighborhoods in the US, is mulling a public stock listing and has long tried to set itself apart as a safe space for local discourse,” the article states.
The Vox story continues, “Nextdoor prohibits certain forms of misinformation, such as false information that could interfere with voting and calls to incite violence. The company also doesn’t allow political ads, and to discourage tense political debates, it directs discourse about national politics to less prominent areas of the Nextdoor website and app.”
Another story by NPR alleges that a message involving Black Lives Matter was taken down without just cause. The results of the incident could be more censorship.
The report says, “[Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar] said that Nextdoor is taking several more steps to improve the moderation of comments. It will soon offer unconscious bias training to all moderators. It will also launch a campaign to enlist more Black moderators. And it is ramping up efforts to detect and remove instances of racial profiling.”
The Nextdoor website says in its section on moderation states, “False or misleading information about the cause of national or international acts of violence against political figures.”
Both sites take public money
Both Front Porch Forum and Nextdoor take public funding. Initially reported by Seven Days, FPF has taken “more than a third of a million dollars in public funds last summer, which calls into question FPF’s categorizing itself as a private media company as it pertains to free speech laws,” according to a VDC report. Nextdoor became a publicly traded company, first announced in 2021.
For both companies, taking public money changes to rules they must follow when it comes to the moderation of users’ content. An analysis of the First Amendment by the National Constitution Center states that when it’s a public entity, censorship is not ok.
“The First Amendment only protects your speech from government censorship. It applies to federal, state, and local government actors. This is a broad category that includes not only lawmakers and elected officials, but also public schools and universities, courts, and police officers. It does not include private citizens, businesses, and organizations,” it states.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle