The world is changing by the minute and one of the industries most in flux is the social media sector. Take for example the litany of Twitter alternatives that have launchd in the last few years including Rumble, Gettr, Gab, and Truth Social. One of the more interesting additions to the space is Counter Social which is run by a famous and influential hacker-activist known as the Jester.
Who is the Jester?
The self-proclaimed Cyber Minuteman is as elusive as he (or she) is influential. Some believe he is an ex-Military hacker while others believe he is a front for the CIA. The Jester refers to himself as a grey hat hactivist, a digital vigilante responsibe for attacks on Wikileaks and Islamist extremist websites in the name of American patriotism. While his conservative bent has been on display many times it is clear he is no fan of Former President Trump [1].
A great deal has been written about the Jester since his debut. Time Magazine listed him as one of the Most Influential People online [2], NBC thought him worthy of investigation [3], and he has been interviewed by CNN [4]. The Jester has now pivoted, at least in part, away from his hacking activities and has set his sights on fixing social media [5].
What is CounterSocial?
"CounterSocial is the first Social Network Platform to take a zero-tolerance stance to hostile nations, bot accounts, trolls and disinformation networks who are weaponizing OUR own social media platforms and freedoms to engage in influence operations against us" according to the site itself [6].
Modeled on a hybrid of Twitter and TweetDeck, the Twitter management tool used by many social media experts, CounterSocial launched in November 2017 with a mission of being a better social media site. Almost immediately the site was attached as xenophobic for banning users from countries with high rates of cyber attacks; Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Pakistan. The platform is ad-free and doesn't run promotional content. Counter Social says, “Our users data is not mined or sold for any purpose. [7]”
Should I Be on CounterSocial?
The problem with CounterSocial is that the site has not really caught on in any meaningful way. A recent release by the company claims only 30,000 active users. Given the sheer number of options it is hard to legitimize putting time and resources into a platform where the upsides are small by comparison. Further, with their no advertising policy the potential for using the platform to promote candidates or businesses are almost non-existent.
While a social media experience absent the harvesting of users data and nefarious actors is a great asset, if no one uses the tool it doesn't serve any purpose.