One thing the coronavirus pandemic has revealed: The Tech Giants of Silicon Valley (Google/YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) are out of control. Dr. Wittkowski, who holds 2 doctorates in computer science and medical biometry, had his viral YouTube video with 1.3 million views removed for questioning the scientific basis of an extended lockdown.
Censorship of “unauthorized thinking” has been going on for quite some time. Dr. Augusto Zimmermann, a constitutional law professor in Western Australia, could not promote or post on his Facebook account an event in 2019 about “Christianity and freedom of religion.” How ironic.
With clear evidence of censorship, un-subbing without consent, rejecting religious ads, and unsearchable posts that do not promote Silicon Valley’s ideology, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can no longer be trusted. They are “quarantining” Christians and conservatives. Creators are searching for alternatives, but none seem well-developed enough. They often have video processing problems. Some lack a mobile app. Some cost to join. Why have people not considered VK.com?
10 Reasons I am switching to VK.com
- It’s FREE, just like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
- It is Europe’s largest social networking service (SNS), which makes it the largest social network site in the world outside of America (not counting popular Chinese social sites that are not friendly to English speakers: Weibo and Qzone).
3. It’s outside the control of Silicon Valley. How do I know? My main fan base is on YouTube, across two channels, where over 300,000 subscribers follow my Christian comments on the news, the Bible and world events. As soon as I announced that I would like to try migrating some videos to VK, and posted my VK profiles for people to follow, my subscribers told me YouTube blocked my links!
I didn’t believe it till I clicked my own links from inside Youtube.
Personal Profile: https://vk.com/cioccolanti
Public Profile: https://vk.com/discoverchurch
Here’s what my subscribers and I saw:
Google/YouTube blocked a valid VK address. This fact alone tells me that VK is outside of the reach of Silicon Valley. VK users should be safe from US censorship.
4. Its mobile app functions well without bug. You can play music offline and do live video with your friends. Download it and try.
5. VK is like Spotify, Facebook and YouTube combined. You can explore American and international music using VK’s built-in audio player. You can upload not only your own photos and videos, but also third-party music and videos.
VK’s current lack of censorship would be illegal in most other countries, but it has yet to be challenged in a European court. Many American celebrities use the platform to market their songs.
6. It looks better, is easier to use, more fun, and more trustworthy than Facebook — that’s according to an IT study out of the German Heinrich Heine University, measuring 8 matrices.
7. It’s not enough that its design is logical and easy-to-use, its user interface (UI) should be constant. VK’s rarely changes.
This is one of the most annoying things about the dominant tech monopolies. They keep dumbing down their products. New updates take away features and add more clicks to get to the same features that used to take one click.
Facebook’s interface is constantly changing to copy or keep up with its competitors. “Schedule post” has been taken away unless you click into Creator Studio. It’s imbecile.
Facebook’s new backend (or “Creator Studio”) looks like it’s trying to clone YouTube’s. Meanwhile, YouTube’s Creator Studio has already changed to a dumbed-down version. The overall effect is one of ever-increasing childishness. VK looks streamlined and fit-for-service.
8. VK has a much better search function than Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even YouTube. Instagram’s search is terrible. When you search current events, YouTube now down-ranks independent reporters and promotes official news outlets to keep away “misinformation” from us, regardless of the people’s vote (likes, shares and comments). It’s unflattering to know that YouTube thinks most people cannot think for themselves.
9. VK feels a lot more personal. One of the reasons VK’s search function is so good is that each user can say a lot more about themselves in their profiles. One of the first things I noticed when I joined 3 years ago was that Russians do not seem to have the hang-up that many Americans do. Americans have a rule, which gets violated at whim, “Don’t talk about religion or politics at the dinner table.” The first things VK asked me to put were my religion and politics. There are no less than 9 fields for me to fill in to share my “interests” and no less than 7 fields to share my “personal views.”
You can also fill in all the other basic info that Facebook asks, like education and work. VK aks about your relatives at the top of your profile settings — second only to your “basic info” (like name, gender, birthday, home town). This to me reflects the stronger family values of Eastern Europeans versus the stronger value of independence of Western Europeans. VK also asks about your military service.
All this information gathering means that VK can function as an organic dating app for singles. If your personal information is genuine, and it should be if it’s public to your family and friends (it can be fake and hidden in American dating apps like Tinder), then the ability for singles to find potential partners is enhanced.
(For the record, I have not used a dating app except for writing research, so I caution against anonymous online dating. Please be careful!)
10. VK’s advanced search function translates to better-targeted ads (if you can figure a way to make VK Pay work without rubbles; I believe they accept PayPal).
Switching your main social platform is risky, so I would think a mature platform, rather than an upstart like Minds or Gab, would be the safest. I hope these new ventures last but we really don’t know the future. They are battling uphill costs and hostile financial gatekeepers. For immediate safety, let’s migrate out of the Californian Tech Giants’ control.
2 Big Objections!
- “But VK is RUSSIAN!” I hear you say.
VK’s founder Pavel Durov created another popular social media app called Telegram. My question to you would be, “Do you mistrust Telegram just because a Russian created it?” On the contrary, many Americans recommend using Telegram over Facebook’s messenger due to its privacy and security.
It’s like avoiding Tesla and using PayPal, then realizing both were founded by Elon Musk!
Or hating Pixar films and loving Apple products, then realizing both were created by Steve Jobs.
So what if Telegram and VK were made by Russians? What do you have against Russians?
My personal views are clear. I shared them in my first post on my VK Public Page:
The purpose of this VK Community is to post ideas that will not be controlled by Silicon Valley’s thought police or deleted by the Big Tech companies. I am not pro-Russian or anti-Russian; I am anti-communist and pro-Christian/ pro-freedom. VK is a well-developed social media alternative to serve as a temporary refuge for us when Silicon Valley becomes more hostile to Christians and conservatives.
My other question is, “What alternative do you suggest?” VK is FREE and you can upload unlimited music and videos. I don’t see a downside to this as a temporary solution in case of a digital “blackout” from Silicon Valley.
Prophetically-speaking, Christians expect that there will come a day when all communication will be disrupted. There will come a global blackout when you will not be able to contact your family or friends. It will last at least 2 weeks. Then when the lights come back on, the world will have changed.
A new world leader will emerge who will ask for you to relinquish your national sovereignty in exchange for “peace and safety.” This charismatic man will be what the Bible calls the Anti-Christ.
If you see this happen, VK is not going to save your data, and no one is going to save your soul except Jesus Christ. Please repent and put your trust in Jesus before, but certainly during this troublous time. There wil be no other hope. The Tribulation will last for about 7 years. Some Christians disagree on the length of time (it could be 3 and a half years, if the Lord shortens the time), but Christians do not disagree on the fact that prophecy is real and an unprecedent time of Tribulation is coming. My books and my blogs apply mainly to people who live before this globalist takeover and deception.
2. “VK has objectionable content–like soft porn!”
So does Twitter…yet millions of American Christians are on it. Would you rather be on a social media platform that censors dissenting viewpoints (like anyone who questions the WHO and China’s response to the coronavirus) but allows Islamic radicals and soft porn, or be on a social media that doesn’t censor at all?
The dark side of freedom is that VK allows “adult content” and pirated intellectual property to be shared on its platform. Those of us with strong family values and religious scruples should click away whenever objectionable material pops up or gets suggested to us. The goal of being born again is that we would police ourselves, not by law, but by the work of the Spirit inside our renewed hearts and renewed minds.
SUMMARY: WHAT IS VK?
Launched on 10 Oct 2006, VKontakte (Internationally branded as VK) is the 23rd most visited website in the world with 400 million registered users, as ranked by Alexa as of May 2020. It is the second most visited site in Russia — after Google.com.
Like Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, VK’s founder Pavel (Russian for Paul) Durov was a university student with a goal to “allow students and graduates from various universities and faculties always stay in touch.” Unlike Facebook’s CEO, Durov was forced to sell his shares of the company in 2011 to Russian elites who are unlikely to use social media to overthrow the government.
What are some differences between VK and Facebook?
The experience will be virtually the same for most people. Both apps will function smoothly. Six differences I found through use are:
- VK is more popular with young people, Facebook with the older crowd.
- VK is more popular with men, Facebook with women. Facebook gender distribution is 54% female users and 46% male. Of all internet surfers, 83% of women & 75% of men use Facebook. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have more women users than men. Reddit, Tinder and VK have more men users than women.
- VK’s “follow” and “friend” buttons are practically indistinguishable. VK etiquette is that people will not accept you as “friend” unless you really are a friend. It’s normal to just “follow” a celebrity or person you like. If you try to “friend” someone you don’t know, they are likely to “block” you on VK.
- To create a VK public page, you start a new community or group inside your profile. One restriction I found with the VK public page is that you cannot use your mobile app to share a live video.
- You will have to download two different apps if you start a community or public page: VK and VK Admin. Use the second one to interact with your community.
6. VK has other features I’ve not yet explored, like a market (which may be like Alibaba) and a gifting service whereby you can send free or paid stickers to your family and friends. This is a bit like LINE and KakaoTalk, which are popular in Asia, and Asians like to buy and send stickers to their friends. It’s a short way to say to someone that you like them or you care.
Take Action before online control gets worse!
Now you know what VK is about and why I’m gradually switching over my content. I invite you to try it out and “follow” my personal and public profiles:
Personal Profile: https://vk.com/cioccolanti
Public Profile: https://vk.com/discoverchurch
I will be using VK to upload some videos in case YouTube becomes more hostile to free speech. I promise to upload my video about “A Vision of the Tribulation” — it’s on YouTube right now, so please go there and sub if you like.
Several of you suggested I store my videos on my own website/ app. We are working on this as a long-term solution. Kindly support our humble efforts: http://www.discover.org.au/partner
As I am on various social platforms, and exploring more, the “catch-all” social site for my loyal friends is on Patreon. To join my private community as a supporter, just click here: https://www.patreon.com/cioccolanti Let’s stay connected!
