I received one of the best news tips in years this week, and at the same time it was one of the most bone-chilling signs of our new reality. I should point out that in 2009, I hosted a Night Show in Fargo which had a live video stream in-studio component to accompany our call-in live radio show. The show was awesome. We had live music, event promoters, local leaders, people popping by on their way to the black tie gala only to be followed up by SlipKnot cause they were in town promoting their concert in 45 minutes at the civic center. There was a “green room” with a local chef-catered spread and everything. In fact the show was so popular in its time, it was featured as the top stream one night on UStream. Yup UStream, that’s like bragging about your GeoCities or Angelfire website. Sorry Millennials, you are going to have to look up 90% of the words in this opening paragraph.
Two years earlier, I had assisted so many singers and bands with their MySpace pages we ended up writing a front-page story on The Power of MySpace for the local Business Journal. Well in 2006, MySpace had actually created a legitimate site to help independent musicians make money and promote their talent and craft. This truly was the ground floor, grassroots way to make money on the Internet.
I bring up the old school social media because back then it was the Wild West. It was the free market and it showed how great ideas can flourish and also those with enough money, power and access can buy an audience. So regulations started.
Fast forward to today. In May 2020, The Crude Life interviewed Monte Besler of FrACN8R on why he was banned from LinkedIn for citing facts about Climate Change and Energy Production.
Monte shares his story about how and why he was banned from LinkedIn. From the post itself to attempts to understand to trying to reach LinkedIn are discussed in the interview. Monte still to this day is banned from LinkedIn and believes it is for life.
Monte said that really impacted his business. He also had to reinvent his entire social media strategy. That’s not an easy overnight project either. Censoring Monte was instant, but his network and content generation was years of work. This is happening more and more everyday.
Then there is an even more secret way. In fact it’s so secret the term is called “shadow banning”. This would be akin to doing less than the legally required amount. But make it so close, no one in real power or in decision-making positions of power are going really care. More so, they aren’t going to understand.
PCMag defines Shadow Banning as
Making a user less visible on an online forum or social network because of inappropriate comments. Also called “stealth banning,” banned users are not necessarily aware they are being censored. For example, by placing a post in a less prominent location, there will likely be few or no responses. When shadow banned, users may receive a confirmation of their post even if it never becomes public. Twitter, Reddit, Instagram and many other services have been known to shadow ban members.
And it’s been going on for years, on all levels of government, media and now Big Social Tech is at it again.
- In the mid-1980s, BBS forums including Citadel BBS software had a “twit bit” for problematic users which, when enabled, would limit the user’s access while still allowing them to read public discussions; however, any messages posted by that “twit” would not be visible to the other members of that group.
- Craigslist has also been known to “ghost” a user’s individual ads, whereby the poster gets a confirmation email and may view the ad in their account, but the ad fails to show up in the appropriate category page.
- Early on, Reddit implemented a similar feature, initially designed to address spam accounts. In 2015, Reddit added an account suspension feature.
- In 2017 the phenomenon was noticed on Instagram, with posts which included specific hashtags not showing up when those hashtags were used in searches.
And today The Crude Life is seeing it first hand on social media and also hearing more and more stories about posts and people being banned. Not taken down or suspended, but banned.
Here is another layer to the social media shadow banning that is currently happening. Check out what these two posts have below. One is kinda political and they other is legitimate news. The InfoGraphic does give the perception of public news, however the language and the selective choice of facts makes it political.
Now compare this with the Harold Hamm interview. This interview was not political, and there was news. It wasn’t just a puff piece, there was some steak with this sizzle. The legitimate news was that one of the largest oil icons in America is talking about carbon capturing solutions for the first time publicly. This along with the importance of synergy and collaboration in energy, education and empathy. Understanding each energy’s strengths rather than politicizing the science.
My decade plus of being an Editor-in-Chief for newspapers and magazines would have certainly found at least four to five news stories in that interview with Ken Lavin and Harold Hamm or the recent partnership with North Dakota’s wealthiest man.
Nope, just an opportunity for me and others to learn about Climate Science. More about the legitimate news from Hamm by the way.
Within 60-days of that interview with Lavin, the same man who uttered those words on carbon solutions, showed the world he is a man of action. He donated millions to Oklahoma State University and University of Mary Bismarck so tomorrow’s leaders can be educated today. He also invested $250M into carbon capturing solutions with a partnership with Gary Tharaldson.
Gary Tharaldson is an American entrepreneur and founder of the Tharaldson Companies. As of 2019, Tharaldson is the wealthiest individual in North Dakota, and the state’s only billionaire. Sharp as a tack too. If you think you have an idea for the marketplace, odds are Tharaldson has already thought of it and has prospected the land and vetted an industry expert. There’s a reason many of your reading this are just hearing his name for the first time. Remember how I said he’s sharp as a tack? Click here for his recent autobiography
I ask you the question. If I click on the Social Media Climate Science learn more button, provided to me by Big Social Tech, will I get to read the story on Harold Hamm taking action to solve another Climate Science problem? Or will I get a video from Mark Zuckerberg or Mark Ruffalo or a government elected leader like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shaming me for my choices and way of life? By the way, that last sentence was meant to be an actual thought exercise and not snarky rhetorical.
The accepted definition of the word “News” has changed Big Time since COVID, Climate Change and Big Social Tech decided to have an editorial meeting in the shadows.
So I checked all my social media sites and their analytics. I was shocked. I was appalled. I now realize the industry has even more work ahead of itself if it wants to crack this climate cancel culture chaos. Some call it greenwashing others climate change. It’s nothing short of discrimination and selective empowerment. When I began speaking publicly in 2016 on ESG and the New Age Environmental Activists, I actually used the word “Rank Prejudice”. I still believe that is a more correct phrase to describe what is happening everyday.
Here are a couple other examples. One is political, another is factual.
Here is the political one. Incidentally we did notice at first glance, the Musk article got a much higher percentage of Big Social Tech Controlled Feeds than similar ones without Musk. Again, this is subjective gray area in the world of legalize, however, the gut feeling, first glance and smell test are off the charts.
Sadly, you or your Marketing Department probably won’t know you’ve been shadow banned, especially if you don’t know what it is and are only reading about it for the first time now.
The Crude Life has been aware of it since 2015-ish. This is one of the reasons we change keywords, hashtags and headlines. Big Social Tech keeps moving the goal posts and rules of the game. Well this ESG University Classroom Column today is here to officially push the Red Alarm Button. This is serious for oil and gas. Not climate change people or republicans or democrats. No specifically oil and gas.
The industry is under fire by the social media shamers. The industry was supported heavily by President Donald Trump who was banned from multiple social media sites. The industry has many of the 1% club. The industry is currently seeing hard working men and women getting banned from social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram just posting their daily lives.
So what can you do?
First find out what the social media sites deem inappropriate. Here’s a common list.
- Content depicting violence
- Graphic or shocking content
- Sexually suggestive content
- Posts with misinformation
- Spam messages
OK, great everything can be inappropriate by those standards. There are more adjectives and subjective words in those sentences than verbs and nouns. That’s red tape trickery there folks.
So one billionaire polarizing war with energy talks is considered news and another billionaire who invested $250M in carbon capture solutions and is the one taking actual action is the one censored and softly shamed by Big Social Tech.
Again what can you do besides sit on a barstool and complain? Maybe go to a coffee shop and shout louder? Back in my sports talk radio days, we called most of the shows like that “Sports Shouting”.
Test your posts
Send a new post live featuring a very popular hashtag, pic or content subject. Have a few people who do not follow you test the content under that subject or hashtag to see if your post shows up. If it doesn’t you might want take a screen shot and have your friend send an email. No notary needed yet, but my guess is Saul Goodman’s waiting room is filling up.
Check your hashtags
One thing that Instagram has confirmed is that there are certain controversial hashtags that they have hidden. I would assume FaceBook does too. Again, I would, you don’t have to, but I do. This is another test the hashtag and subject exercise.
Review your Social Media analytics
If you suddenly feel like there has been a drop in your activity and engagement, inside or outside of your follower base, there is a good chance you’ve been shadow banned.
Again, what is a company to do? Well unfortunately there isn’t a checklist or one-size-fits-all solution to combat their one-size-fits-all goal.
The Crude Life is actually going to pull back our social media for two weeks to reset and refocus. On one hand the quasi-digital detox will be a mini-vacation for my soul, while my mind is able to take a break in order to have a fresh start. Spring is coming up and so are new beginnings.
In closing, could you do me a solid and share this on your social media page?
Class dismissed til next week.
Questions on today’s lesson? Know someone using Ethical Energy? ESG University wants to know who these leaders are as we continue to showcase and highlight ESG solutions in energy. For consideration, please email studio@thecrudelife.com companies, people and organizations showing ESG in action.
ESG University Classroom Column is written by Jason Spiess and no way reflects the mission or position of The Crude Life. ESG University is an educational paper with classic newspaper op/ed elements sprinkled in. Because of this, we must categorize the column as Opinion and Editorial and run this disclaimer.
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