Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world, ranked by number of active users. With almost 2.9 billion users every month, Facebook far outranks rival social networks in popularity.
However, many people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with Facebook. The social platform has been involved in many scandals, mostly relating to user privacy and censorship.
In this post, I’ll talk about some of the best Facebook alternatives that don’t have censorship but first, let’s discuss why Facebook is so problematic.
Facebook Problems – Why Users Are Shying Away From Facebook?
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1. Censorship
Facebook is prone to deleting posts that it deems to contain questionable content. Unfortunately, many of these posts are deleted by algorithms, and human review is often insufficient or lacking.
People get banned for posting all kinds of content on Facebook, ranging from political content to language or pictures Facebook deems inappropriate. However, its algorithms are frequently mistaken, and while there is a repeal process, it isn’t very good.
Anyone can report a post they don’t like, and Facebook regularly acts on such reports without enough investigation. There’s even a term that has arisen due to all the bans – “Facebook jail” – referring to being banned from posting or commenting for a certain period (often 30 days).
The algorithms often use image recognition technology to detect if a post has offensive content. For example, posting a Facebook story that has guns in the image may result in a ban, even if it was just a meme and did not serve to incite violence.
Other images that have resulted in bans or censorship include images of women breastfeeding.
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2. Pro-government Censorship
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If all that was not enough, Facebook has been accused of censoring posts that were critical of governments. This kind of pro-government censorship should not be taken by any kind of global social network that purports to support free speech.
For example, Facebook has removed posts deemed blasphemous by the Pakistani government, and it has also routinely censored content related to various conflicts around the world.
There is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to censorship by Facebook, and it covers the many instances of pro-government censorship quite well.
Often, censorship is in line with US foreign policy, meaning Facebook bows to the US government’s stances in foreign regions when determining whether a person, organization, or content should be allowed on the platform or not.
During the Hong Kong protests, Facebook lost a lot of popularity in Hong Kong after it started banning groups and content that supported the protest movement, including apolitical groups whose members had expressed support for the movement.
Not only that, but Facebook has been accused of censoring content that was critical of Facebook itself, using algorithms to detect keywords that indicate anti-Facebook content. It has also limited links to its competitor, Minds, an open source Facebook alternative included in the list below.
When users would post a link to Minds, Facebook would deem it insecure and force users to fill out a captcha to visit the link.
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3. Centralization
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A major issue with Facebook is centralization. There is one company – Meta – that decides which content is okay and which isn’t.
Considering Facebook is the most popular social media network in the world and has nearly 3 billion daily users, that is quite dangerous. No one individual or company should be able to control how you interact with friends.
Indeed, Facebook and other social networks have become critical to human communication in the modern age. Many people primarily use chat apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp (which is also owned by Facebook, as an aside) to keep in touch with acquaintances, business partners, close friends, and family members.
If a company has the power to ban your account because of something you posted, you may no longer be able to communicate with the people in your life as before. Many people don’t have time to talk with their old buddies on a regular basis, which is why they use platforms like Facebook to see status updates others have posted.
In short: no single person or organization should have so much control over your communication. Open-source alternatives or those that do not have censorship are much better.
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4. Privacy Concerns
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Facebook has access to a lot of data, more than most people realize. Of course, it knows the basic information you provided when signing up for your account, such as your name, date of birth, hometown, school, place of work, etc.
Even that is pretty scary, as that information can be used for all sorts of nefarious purposes. However, it gets even scarier when you realize just how much Facebook knows about you:
- It knows who your friends are and the friends of your friends.
- It knows which friends are close to you based on your chats with them, how often you interact with their posts (liking and commenting on them), how often you visit their profile or view their stories, etc.
- It knows people who went to school with you or worked with you at past or current jobs.
- It understands which type of content you like, what topics interest you, which movies and songs you like, etc.
- It knows which restaurants you go to, which places you hang out at, etc. (if you check in or tag your location in your posts or stories).
- If you tagged others, or even if you uploaded pictures of you with them at the same place, it knows who you were hanging out with and where.
- It understands your political leanings, which politicians you likely support, which viewpoints you hold, etc.
The vast wealth of data Facebook has on every user is simply mind-boggling. There’s no reason any single entity should have so much data on you, especially when it has been shown to cooperate with governments when pressure was applied.
If you’re looking for a free-speech alternative to Facebook where you can speak your mind without worrying about getting censored, you’ve come to the right place. The following Facebook alternatives are the best if you’re sick of Facebook’s out-of-control censorship.
Many of these alternatives are also open source and/or distributed, which means there is no single person who can tell you what you can post or has access to your data. Open source also adds an extra layer of transparency, as you can see how the code and algorithms work for yourself.
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Best Facebook Alternatives With No Censorship
1. Minds
The best alternative to Facebook for censorship haters is Minds.com. It is open source, unlike Facebook, and it is dedicated to freedom of speech and freedom on the internet.
As a community-governed platform, there is no single entity that controls who gets to say what. According to its whitepaper, it aims to solve several problems common with “Big Tech” platforms like Facebook:
- Algorithm manipulation that leads to businesses seeing less visibility and engagement
- Surveillance and lack of privacy
- Secrecy, control, and censorship
One thing that makes Minds awesome is how it rewards users for contributing to the community with the Minds token, which is a cryptocurrency that powers the Minds social network.
When you post something on Minds, people can interact with your content. As on Facebook, they can like it, comment, and more.
You will be rewarded for valuable contributions with tokens from the Daily Rewards Pool, depending on your contribution score.
What can you do with the tokens you earn? One option is promoting your content to get more visibility, while another is rewarding your favorite content creators in the form of tips.
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Another way to support content creators is by signing up for a Minds+ membership.
With over six million members, Minds is constantly growing.
2. MeWe
MeWe is a California-based social media platform that is very similar to Facebook. The format and interface will be familiar to all Facebook and Instagram users, as it drew heavily from both apps for design inspiration.
Like Facebook, MeWe allows users to see updates from others, share statuses, join groups and communities, and message each other on MeWe Chat. However, unlike Facebook, it has no ads whatsoever.
It claims to give users full control over their content, without using any algorithm to determine which content gets shown to others. In other words, you can be sure that you will see all the content the people you are following are sharing, unlike Facebook, which hides some content in favor of others.
The app also claims not to have any political bias or censorship, positioning itself as the ultimate “anti-Facebook.”
MeWe gained a lot of popularity in Hong Kong when concerns grew among residents about Facebook and its pro-China censorship, according to Vice.
So, how does MeWe make money without ads? It relies on optional Pro memberships, which give you perks like more cloud storage space and unlimited video and voice chat on the messaging platform.
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3. 4chan
4chan is a famous posting board that generally has no censorship. There are boards in many categories, such as science and math, outdoors, toys, business, and more.
There is also a whole series of boards focusing on different types of adult content. Facebook does not allow adult content.
Posts on 4chan are anonymous, unlike on Facebook, as you don’t need an account to create threads or reply to them. You can upload images and accompanying text and browse threads posted by others.
4chan has very little oversight, and people generally post whatever they want. It has been the subject of various controversies, however, as it tends to attract extremists due to the lack of accountability.
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4. Mastodon
Mastodon is a free-speech and open-source social media networking platform. It touts its decentralization as one of its most attractive features, making it a great alternative to the centralized Facebook.
Different groups and communities on Mastodon are hosted on “servers,” and you can join a server and follow the people you like. The posts they share will show up in chronological order, unlike on Facebook.
You can always switch your account to a different server if you don’t like the rules of the current server and you won’t lose your followers. You can also create your own server if you don’t want to join a server created by another person and follow their rules.
The platform is completely open source, and while the different servers exist on an infrastructure that supports interoperability, they remain separate nodes.
Each server can create its own rules, so there is no centralized body controlling what you are allowed to post. You can host your server locally as well, giving you even more control.
Mastodon supports different types of content, including polls, audio, pictures, videos, and more. You can create public posts or private ones that only your followers can see.
The platform is entirely free to use and run by a nonprofit.
Support comes from sponsors, but unlike Facebook, Mastodon will never show you ads. Information about sponsors is publicly available to increase transparency.
You can see a list of servers on this page.
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5. FreeTalk 45
FreeTalk 45 is a social networking app that promises freedom of speech and zero censorship. It is available online and on its mobile apps.
You can follow others and post links to breaking news stories without worrying that you will be banned.
While FreeTalk 45 is based on a good concept, it does have a long way to go in terms of usability and design, as it has several bugs and glitches that can frustrate users. Nevertheless, it’s still worth checking out.
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6. diaspora*
diaspora* is a social media network that offers a great alternative to the centralization of Facebook. It is made of interconnected pods, with each node being privately owned.
Thus, no single entity controls or owns the diaspora* network, making it truly distributed and allowing free speech. The Diaspora Foundation, which is part of the Free Software Support Network, manages the development of the software, but it is open source.
You can join a pod (server) created by others, or you can create your own. When you create your own pod, it can be just for you, or you can create your own private mini-network for your family and friends.
When sharing a post, you have a lot of control over who can see it. You can make it public or restrict visibility to certain categories of people, called aspects.
Default “aspects” include family, friends, work, and acquaintances, and you get to decide which social users fall under which category. You can also create your own custom categories.
Furthermore, you can use a fake name when signing up for a diaspora* account. Facebook, on the other hand, doesn’t allow that, requiring its users to use their real names.
While some people do use fake names and pseudonyms on Facebook, Facebook often restricts accounts and requires users to prove their identity using their official ID cards.
When posting on diaspora*, you can share your posts to your connected WordPress, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts. You can add hashtags and mention people.
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7. Friendica
Another great decentralized alternative to Facebook is Friendica, which used to be called Mistpark. It is open source, unlike Facebook, so there is no big corporation controlling your speech and moderating your content.
It makes up part of the Fediverse, which has no connection to Meta’s (the parent company of Facebook) Metaverse. The Fediverse is a network of interconnected but independent servers used for microblogging, social networking, and other web publishing purposes.
One of the best features of Friendica is that it supports networking and connection not only with other users on Friendica but also with those who are using other platforms.
For example, it supports publishing from Friendica to Twitter, Hubzilla, Mastodon, diaspora*, WordPress, GNU Social, and many others.
Like Facebook, you can post status updates and pictures, with the ability to tag others. Unlike Facebook, there is no text length for your posts, so you can publish long posts that contain rich text and advanced formatting, like tables or code blocks.
With military-grade privacy encryption, your posts are safe from prying eyes, and you get to control who sees what.
You can even create multiple profiles for different communities.
One cool feature that I liked a lot is the ability to automatically expire old posts after a predetermined amount of time.
One-to-one chat is supported, as is group chat, which you can make private. One-on-one email chat is available not only with other Friendica users but also with people using other federated networks, like Mastodon and diaspora*.
You can download your personal data at any time, which is a feature that Facebook also offers.
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8. Steemit
Steemit is a blockchain-based alternative to Facebook. It is powered by STEEM, the platform’s built-in cryptocurrency, and it is built in a decentralized manner on the Steem blockchain.
Users can view trending content on the homepage or publish their own content, whether unique or curated. You’ll earn rewards for publishing content based on how many upvotes your content gets, but you can also earn curation rewards for curating content.
For privacy protection, Steemit uses different keys. For example, your master key (password) controls access to your Steemit wallet, so you shouldn’t use it while simply posting content; you can use your posting key for that.
If stolen, your posting key won’t give a hacker access to your wallet. There are, in total, five different keys you can use to secure your account.
In addition to the STEEM token, there are two other tokens.
The STEEM Power (SP) tokens are staked to earn more voting power. Meanwhile, the STEEM Dollar was designed to be a stablecoin pegged to the price of the USD, although its price does fluctuate up to 10%.
The STEEM token is also available for purchase and trading on crypto trading platforms like Binance.
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9. Aether
Aether is a social network that supports one-on-one chat, threaded forums and discussions, and newsletter-style broadcasts. You can follow people and get their newsletters in your inbox; you can also receive threaded discussions in your inbox.
The way Aether is structured is as follows. To start, each community has its own universe, although additional subs can be created for different subgroups of community members.
Each sub has a chat room, forum thread, and email newsletter. Group members can communicate with each other via chat or subscribe to community updates via the community email newsletter; threaded discussions are for more in-depth conversations and back-and-forth.
The chat supports video and voice chat, but one advantage of using the threaded conversations is that messages can be found easier, while it’s easier for a message to get lost in the chat.
There can be multiple threads for each sub, each one covering a different topic.
When signing up for an Aether account, you’re allowed to use a fake name, unlike Facebook.
Although Aether has no censorship, that doesn’t mean to say that it has no moderation altogether. The difference is how the moderation powers are distributed.
There are two types of moderation capabilities on Aether. There is individual moderation available from a sub’s admins, which is already a step above Facebook.
However, Aether combines that with community moderation, giving more power and a stronger voice to community members. Citizen-based moderation on Another allows users to elect their moderators and also prioritizes user choices over admin moderation.
Another way Aether supports transparency is by making admin moderation activities public to users. This feature is lacking in many platforms that give individual admins power over their communities, and it holds moderators accountable.
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10. Sh*tposter Club
Sh*tposter Club, or simply Sh*tposter, is one of the oldest instances on the Fediverse, owned by a crypto guy called Moon. Users can join and post content, and there is very little censorship.
According to the About page, Sh*tposter supports free speech but also doesn’t want the platform to turn into a downward spiral of racism, xenophobia, etc. The rules are simple: don’t post illegal content, no doxxing, no spamming, etc.
You can see the full list of rules (there aren’t that many) on the about page.
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Wrapping It Up
While Facebook is likely to remain the most popular social network for the time being, it doesn’t mean you have to subject yourself to its censorship and invasion of privacy.
As you can see, there are plenty of awesome alternatives that offer more freedom of speech and better data protection.
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