[NayamAmarshe]

> There are literally thousands of options for a regular user to create their own 'newspaper' without having to pay large sums up front or anything at all.

That's like saying censorship is not censorship because the banned users can just write their opinions in a text editor.

[AstralStorm]

They literally can write their opinions in a text editor and publish it on the internet for cost of ISP and a PC, and a public internet address. You can skip the public address part potentially with more complex censorship resistant tech like Freenet.

Even the software is free. Now, the problem with social media is the network effects creating popularity and visibility, which cannot be replicated.