The banning of US President Donald Trump by social media giants including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has prompted a mass exodus of conservative voices from mainstream platforms.

Many have flocked to the alternative and largely unregulated platform Parler, raising fears extreme content will become more widespread.

Victorian MP and former Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson told Joe Hildebrand the social media giants’ relationship with free speech is complicated, as “providers of content” that purport to platform anyone, regardless of their views, within certain guidelines.

“The real damage is done to society overall because, as Parler has demonstrated, if you suppress people’s opinions even if they’re difficult or challenging, so long as they’re lawful you’re actually pushing them underground.

“They won’t go away … it actually validates them, and actually increases the chance that you’ll have more people think that their ideas have value.”

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