Comment by blagie
4 years ago
I agree, but...
Whose freedom? And what is freedom?
Market dynamics support corporations which can generate the largest numbers of ad clicks. You can't run an organization which doesn't ultimately conform to market dynamics. That leads to polarization, hate, and misinformation. Do we want to go down that path?
Are corporations people? Should corporations have freedom-of-speech? Should corporations be free to lie? Should government employees? Should corporations be free to engage in speech which is known to actively harm people?
I really don't know.
I do feel like some forms of intentional lying should be illegal. If a government employee says something, or an academic does, I should be able to trust they're not being intentionally untruthful. Where does that line lie? I don't know.
I also feel like individuals should have real freedom of speech. Not just freedom from government prosecution after speech, but freedom from economic prosecution, and to some extent, social ostracization.
I feel like we need a serious discussion here, though.
I’m thinking Trump’s new social network will be a very interesting new development.
For a long time those who have wanted not to be censored could always build a competing service.
The new risk now is that people will become more cut off from one another. Having opposing views on the same forum was always a civilizing force.
But now we will see an experiment begin on how segregated echo chambers will effect society.
What happens when people become un-cancellable?
It seems inevitable we will see right leaning equivalents of all the tech platforms.
Funny though that everything hinges on the advertisers, whose risk-averseness appears to be the most effective moderating influence on society we have.
Whether a free speech platform can find a sustainable business model is a big unknown.