It would be workable to designate these social platforms as public spaces, removing liability for speech entirely off of the proprietors and onto the courts if we also implemented mandatory licensing for use of these networks.
You can’t drive without a license and identification. It’s not dystopian to suggest that, as a society, we’re at a point where we need to insist on public places on the Internet and personal accountability for speech.
We can’t abdicate our responsibility to regulate this space to tech companies and pretend that billions of people interacting is somehow magically beyond the point of governments.
>You can’t drive without a license and identification. It’s not dystopian to suggest that, as a society, we’re at a point where we need to insist on public places on the Internet and personal accountability for speech.
ay yo you got a license for that speech?
ya, no, it is dystopian to suggestion people should have to have a license to speak.
And you will never sell me that speaking on the internet and speaking in the public are different enough to justify it.
social media sites have become the new town square. General public speech has moved from afk to on the internet, you can't just ignore this because its inconvenient to your view point.
The same protections we have for speech in an town square should exist for speech on the virtual town square. ie: only moderated by the courts under protection of the 1st amendment.
They’re completely different. On the Internet, no one can grab you by the cuff and arrest you on the spot. On the Internet, you can disappear into a fake profile, a pseudonymous account, and create continue to create chaos. On the Internet, Sybil attacks are a real problem in a way that is completely foreign to speaking on your soapbox in the park.
Speech on the Internet is more like a hit-and-run.
It’s dangerous foolishness to pretend otherwise.
But we agree that this speech should be handled by the government and the courts, and removed from the sham jurisdiction of big tech “terms of use”.
More "real names" policies won't do anything about misinformation. People are already mostly accountable for their speech, but since misinformation is legal that accountability doesn't do anything.
Alex Jones was able to post disinformation on the radio under his own name for years before he finally overstepped into defaming the Sandy Hook parents.
You can’t drive without a license and identification. It’s not dystopian to suggest that, as a society, we’re at a point where we need to insist on public places on the Internet and personal accountability for speech.
We can’t abdicate our responsibility to regulate this space to tech companies and pretend that billions of people interacting is somehow magically beyond the point of governments.