“12 Rules for Life” author Jordan B. Peterson thrilled fans this week by announcing progress on Thinkspot — a subscription-based “anti-censorship” platform that may shake up the social media landscape.
The famous clinical psychologist is beta testing what is billed as “an intellectual playground for censorship-free discourse” at a time when Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Patreon, and Pinterest are all accused by critics of arbitrarily enforcing vague terms of service.
“Announcing Thinkspot: a new online communication platform (as promised post-Patreon),” he wrote Wednesday on Facebook.
Mr. Peterson abandoned Patreon after popular YouTuber Carl Benjamin, aka Sargon of Akkad, was removed from the platform in December 2018.
Mr. Benjamin’s infraction, ironically, involved mocking his racist critics on another platform by calling them a white version of their preferred racial epithet.
“Once you’re on our platform we won’t take you down unless we’re ordered to by a US court of law,” Mr. Peterson told podcasting star Joe Rogan on a June 9 broadcast, NewsBusters reported Wednesday.
The psychologist’s fans were ecstatic with the news. Some responses include:
- “This is fantastic news and a testament of [sic] the power of the free market to balance things out! Amazing, and truly looking forward to signing up to Thinkspot!”
- “This is great news! Alternative free speech platforms are the only way forward so we no longer have to trudge through the mires of increasing corporate censorship.”
- “I can already see the media hit pieces lining up and the payment processing companies putting together their press releases.”
- “This is what the social scene on the internet needs. Some strict competition to the usual social sites and their censorship garbage. And if it’s backed and headed up by Peterson makes it all the more engaging.”
“The only other major rule on comments he mentioned was that they need to be thoughtful,” NewsBusters added.
Thinkspot’s creators are still trying to determine how best to encourage the highest-quality content.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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