Stay Connected to Natural Health Resources!

Welcome to Modern Alternative Mama, and thanks for your interest in joining the Modern Alternative Mamas! Facebook group!

Because of recent censorship concerns, we have decided to stop adding new members to that group, or putting effort into growing that platform at all.

Not sure what we’re talking about?  Keep reading!  Ready to stay in touch with us?  Enter your email on the form below.

Internet Censorship is Happening….

This has been a few years in the works, but it’s ramping up now.

As of August 1, 2018, Google issued a massive update to their search algorithms that bumps down all natural health pages.  That means that if people are searching for info, they will likely see mainstream sites (like WebMD, Healthline, etc.) coming up at the top, and legitimate natural sources way down the page.

Google has stated that they consider certain categories of pages to be “YMYL” (Your Money or Your Life) pages, and that these types of websites need to be “higher quality.”  That makes sense on the surface — advice that could impact health (diet, remedies, etc.), finances, or legal issues should be “credible.”

The problem is, they’ve decided that the only way someone is credible is if they have mainstream degrees, and give mainstream advice.  They want people to follow the “scientific consensus” on these issues.  And if you’re visiting this website, then you know that just because something is currently consensus, doesn’t make it true.  It doesn’t matter to Google if people have written high-quality articles that link to primary sources; if it calls into question what the mainstream believes, it will be down-rated in their search algorithms.

That means…when you are searching for quality natural advice, it will be harder to find!  It’s their goal to stop people from easily accessing this information, so they will be less likely to make non-mainstream choices.

Pinterest’s Ploy

Further, Pinterest recently updated their Community Guidelines, and now state that “anti-vaccination advice” is not allowed.  They have been going through and deleting pins and entire boards that deal with questioning or rejecting vaccines.  We can assume this is only going to get worse.

Pinterest has also targeted essential oils and other alternative health options for awhile.  Anything that is “non-mainstream” is potentially subject to deletion.

Facebook’s Stance

A few months ago, Facebook deleted — without warning — a large number of natural health pages and groups.  Some had tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers.

More recently, they have cracked down on the types of posts they’ll boost.  They will no longer show posts that discuss natural remedies for anything, even simple stuff like sniffles and tummy aches.  They are becoming increasingly intolerant of any natural health info.

At any point in time, Facebook could decide to simply delete more pages and groups that have specific keywords in them — and we know that the Modern Alternative Mamas! community is at risk.  That’s why we have closed membership and will not put further effort into that community.

What’s Next

What is going to come is a mass decentralization of power.  Facebook, Pinterest, Google, Twitter, and a few other platforms control a large part of the information that is shared online, and can effectively remove most access by censoring what they allow on their platforms.

At this time, because these are private businesses and not government entities, this is completely legal.

There is nothing we can do to force these platforms to remain open and to protect the rights of various groups to share information freely.  All we can do is begin looking for alternative platforms and make sure that we stay in touch.

We are working on a new platform ourselves, as well as working with some other leaders in the natural health world to protect our right to access this type of information.  Please enter your email below to stay in touch with us.  This special form does not place you on our regular email list; it is only for contact about censorship issues and to stay connected to new platforms that arise.

We also urge you to seriously consider if you want to remain on Facebook, Pinterest, and these other platforms that are actively restricting your speech.  Deactivating your accounts may send a message to them that this is NOT okay.  (If you do not want to deactive, choosing to use the platforms less frequently will also send a message.)

Thanks for understanding, and staying in touch with us.