I find myself conflicted about this. Free speech is a valuable thing and is much more limited in places beyond the US and Europe. People can be locked up or even killed for criticising leaders or religion. I know there are some on Hive who see it as an outlet for those who get banned elsewhere and they do tend to be on the political right wing. I can see why any commercial platform would not want them, but then they tolerated Trump for years and allowed him to build a massive following. Twitter have shut down thousands of ISIS accounts. Should they be encouraged to use Hive too?
The front ends do have blacklists as they have to conform to local laws. I know there was someone sharing pirated movies on Steemit. Anyone can set up a site to show the content and decide what they want to block, or not. They could ignore flags. They could even set up their own blockchain with the same software.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens next, but I really hope that Hive can still be a place for the rest of us. I know some people have been put off that extreme content is allowed.
I personally feel a bit like a political nomad these days. This feeling started after the 2008 bank bailouts. Prior to this, I was as Republican as the next person voting red. I look back and think about my past self, and though very conservative, was no where near the type of mindset we see in the likes of Trump's support group. I voted for conservative principals, not for a man.
I encourage Republicans to use this platform. I can live with it, I can communicate with someone who holds conservative values in a reasonable manner. It's the fanaticism that I oppose, which is what I feel Parler and Trump's message produces.
I agree that its going to be interesting, and a hell of a ride if an extreme group commandeers Hive. For one to believe Hive is impervious to corruption or shutdown due to extremism, is to disregard history of humanity itself.
I'm mostly left-leaning, but I have some issues with the UK Labour Party (confusingly our red party). Following a particular party involves compromise, but it seems to me that Trump hijacked the Republicans and they just went along with it. He's (ab)used his platform for his personal issues rather than what is good for the country. I am sure the Republican party represents a spectrum of views, so how many will be unhappy with what he has done?
I don't want to see Hive restricted in who it accepts or overtaken by any particular politics. I think having many more users would make that more viable. Many people are not that interested in talking about politics online anyway. What you tend to see are the extreme views as those who are not so bothered won't be talking about it.