It seems like it’s nearly every day that I hear someone complain about tech censorship on the major platforms. Today, it was about a video that was removed that was from a highly influential individual. It will probably be something again tomorrow, too.

In spite of all this, people are continuing to use the major tech social media platforms, even though there is no sign that the censorship is going to stop anytime soon. And because these platforms can enjoy the smug high that comes with feeding into activism while at the same time profiting heavily off these platforms, is there any reason to expect them to change?

What’s more, big tech can simply remove from web servers the competitors that threaten their establishment position, under the pretext that these alternative platforms promote extremism. It was actually just this year that the free-speech social media outlet Parler was blocked from Amazon’s web servers based on the reasoning that it was there was there that the activists behind the January 6th capitol incursion had organized (putting aside that these activists had actually organized on traditional social media sites like Facebook and Twitter).

It’s considering this that many people are blackpilled into thinking that the tech oligarchs are positioned firmly, and that there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them. But there is, and it’s been with us here for a while. And when you understand it for what it is, you’ll understand that big-tech’s biggest weapon for staying relevant is ignorance.

The weapon of the masses for fighting back against big-tech censorship is the blockchain. It’s a term you might have heard before; it’s a form of decentralized record-keeping that validates itself over a network of volunteers, to put it in just a few words. You’re probably aware of the blockchain’s application in keeping ledgers in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

However, cryptocurrency is only the beginning of the blockchain’s applications. To help stir up your imagination, consider the example of peer-to-peer file sharing. This has been around for nearly as long as the internet itself. It worked with file-sharing programs, which downloaded files chunk-by-chunk until they were complete. Once the files were completed, users could then seed these files, voluntarily making them available to other users who wanted to download copies.

One problem with this old system is that there were relatively few volunteers to seed files. It was largely a labor of love, as seeding could consume system resources, and plenty of bandwidth. But what’s great about blockchains is that they incentivize participation with cryptocurrency, an act that’s called mining.

Those who mine crypto are using their computers to host data on ledgers, being one of many that contain copied data that is used to verify other data on the blockchain. The nature of crypto makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit, or to inflate anywhere outside of what’s allowed by a particular cryptocurrency’s intrinsic design.

But what if the data stored on blockchains isn’t just a ledger for digital currency, but instead entire websites? Sounds like food for thought, right? But it’s not actually a what-if scenario anymore, because it’s actually happening.

One prominent example is the open-source social media platform Minds.com. It’s there that you can do social media posts, upload photos, watch videos, write blog posts, and share memes. You know, the typical social media stuff. It’s like Facebook, except free speech. You can find me there.

Want secure email on the blockchain? You have choices. One of which is Cryptamail. Ledgermail is another option which is coming soon. Do your research to find out which one is right for you.

How about blockchain search engines? Presearch is one choice. People complain about Google’s ubiquity when it comes to online searches, but they’re not acting like alternatives actually exist which aren’t tech giants.

There are even video streaming sites that use the technology. Video hosting site Bitchute may not have become as huge as YouTube, but is a fine example of how the blockchain can create free speech video hosting. The pro-establishment elements try to ignore it, or resort to name-calling. There’s not much else they can do.

What’s that? You thought that YouTube was special because you could embed their videos? How special is YouTube, now?

You see what I mean? The main thing that the tech oligarchs count on to keep themselves afloat is ignorance. If people were aware that they could escape their censorship through websites that they can’t do anything about, such as those that I’ve linked to above, they’d experience afresh the joy of the internet reminiscent of two decades ago: completely candid and honest, belonging to the people, and not to tech giants.

And really, why should you trust tech giants with your web usage? The blockchain is intrinsically more reliable than what’s stored on their servers. But what’s more compelling is that, by using their web services, they are storing information about you.

Based on what you click on, what you search for, how long you have their websites open on tabs, even your web activities as long as their cookies are on your browser, the tech oligarchs can build an extensive psychological profile about you, which can then be sold to networks of advertisers.

And as long as you continue to use the likes of Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc., they are going to continue collecting information about you.

Just weeks ago, China started cracking down on cryptocurrency. As much as it’s understandable what their stakes would be in controlling the currency, I suspect that it’s about more than that. When you’re an immense dictatorship, the prospect of a decentralized internet that cannot be censored is terrifying. With VPNs, China cannot keep their own people from seeing the internet the way the rest of the world sees it. And with websites on the blockchain, the websites that they want censored cannot be shut down, whatever the incentives that they have to offer the tech giants.

Likewise, Russia restricts what their citizens can do with Bitcoin. If crypto were like any foreign currency, their stringency would make little sense. But if it were about the implications of the blockchain for a pseudo-democratic dictatorship, their trepidation would be understandable.

For years, we’ve watched in slow motion as the major tech institutions became propaganda outlets for the establishment. The time has come to take back what rightfully belongs to us. We have all that we need to do so. In fact, we have well more than what’s necessary. And in time, we shall have far, far more.

This is our internet. Have no reservations about taking it back.

“We cannot afford the luxury of men whose minds are so limited they cannot adapt to unexpected situations.”

Grand Admiral Thrawn