I recently had a conversation with one of my teachers about how mass access to social media and technology allows for the corruption of truth. One of the main points this teacher made was that years ago there were only a few resources for news. Today, thousands of news outlets can post their interpretation of the news and, instantly, hundreds of thousands of people can see it. But there are a few major well-funded Leftmedia platforms — print media like The New York Times and The Washington Post, and cable media like CNN and MSNBC — and their perspective is propagated by thousands of news outlets downstream.

Many “Fake News” lies are spread through social media, where they are picked up and believed by many of my peers, and those lies shape their own beliefs. Sites like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram are filled with information that vilifies and dehumanizes conservatives. And our ability to rebut those perspectives is increasingly restricted or banned by the Big Tech First Amendment suppressors.

Young conservative activists, articulate protagonists like Candace Owens and The Patriot Post’s Patrick Hampton, as well as other conservative influencers, have had their views suppressed and their social media accounts suspended. This also happens to those of us sharing our grassroots perspective, as happened to one of my peers.

A few weeks ago as I was scrolling through Instagram, I came across a few posts on a friend’s profile that discussed the importance of free speech as expressed by Candace Owens. Ironically, my friend was banned from using the app for 24 hours due to his posts about First Amendment freedom of speech.

As young conservatives, we’re both discouraged and worried about what this means for our generation. Social media plays a large part in many young people’s lives, influencing what we think and stand for — and the Left knows that. With the censorship of conservative thought and the outpouring of leftist ideas, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for my generation to differentiate between real and fake news, and to know what to believe in.