I was in the “libertarian” camp on this. But now looking at all the damage caused (including killings in India on false social media rumors) I certainly think “mainstreaming of social media” is warranted.
For one remove anonymity from social media. That in itself should clean up half this mess with existing laws.
This is my issue with the libertarian stance. It’s easy to make arguments in abstract that sounds really good about personal liberty and responsibility, preventing authoritarianism etc. But humans can be really crappy and bad actors will always try to ruin something good (see Internet, environment, poverty programs, insurance, banking, etc), which is then why we end up with regulations.
What I don’t get is this idea that we shouldn’t learn from our mistakes because the #1 thing is to hold onto some kind of immutable ideal. Isn’t that why we continue to have legislation despite constitutions having been already written? That the world changes and thus government should change with it?
> For one remove anonymity from social media. That in itself should clean up half this mess with existing laws.
And it should also enable going after people with unpopular opinions even more.
And preventing people from spreading disinformation doesn't mean that the disinformation will magically go away. It's just that the only people allowed to spread disinformation will be the government and the capitalists. And you will be punished if you call them out on it.
People going after people for unpopular opinions is a society problem. Did that happen in the US or Europe before Twitter? It did not.
I see this touted a lot. But supporting trolls to spread disinformation online isn’t protecting free speech. Free speech protection comes from society and it’s laws. Not anonymity.
For one remove anonymity from social media. That in itself should clean up half this mess with existing laws.