Not every opinion is equal

Many of my LinkedIn followers have noticed that I had disappeared from the network for a while. I had been suspended – allegedly for spreading false news.

I did not expect them to give me any detail on why I was suspended but I was half-wrong here. At least they pointed out the 3 posts they took issue with but without further details. I was fishing in murky water for my appeal.

Therein, I pointed out how each of the 3 was a statement of opinion and not a statement of fact. There is a difference between claiming that the lizard people live among us and having an opinion on the reasonableness of a certain policy. One is manifest nonsense, the other one is an opinion.

Long story short, they accepted my lengthy appeal.  My access is restored now.

Let’s be blunt: LinkedIn is a private company. It’s their website and of course, they may dump me whenever it pleases them. But if they censure me, they make editorial decisions. There are consequences with being considered an editor of news instead of a simple aggregator of third-party content but so is life.

Why am I pointing this out to you all though?

Many before me have learned the hard way how quickly their Social Media presence might disappear. As long as we keep using only those platforms for our interactions, we always run the danger of being silenced if and when we say things others might not like. There is considerable online activism with the aim to get voices with opinions they don’t like silenced.

Luckily, there is a fix.

You can either follow me on a number of different Social Media sites. Here is a list of all those I post my comments to.

Or you take the no-risk option and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. Need more information on that?

Ready to sign up without any further ado? Scroll down to the footer of this page and sign up. ATTENTION: you will receive a confirmation mail that you need to validate your subscription. This mail sometimes goes into your spam folder so make sure you look for it there as well.