Perhaps it was inevitable.
This past week Twitter banned Donald Trump. Then Facebook and other platforms followed soon after. Then there were cries of 1984 and that our 1st amendment rights were at grave risk. Are we moving towards that type of dystopian future? I think you need to look at two questions: 1) Does Social Media inevitably lead to violence? 2) Is it a direct trip to 1984 if these companies start restricting what people can say and do on their platforms?
1984 vs. 2021
My initial reaction to the Trump ban was “Good.” Kind of like that feeling of relief when a drunk heckler is finally dragged out of the room. But of course, then the broader considerations start to kick in: Is this going to be a slippery slope? Can we trust corporations to do the right thing most of the time? The answers are complex. It is not going to be resolved with answers as simple as “private companies should have the discretion to do whatever they want” or “any type of ban is a violation of free speech or civil liberties.” We’re in new territory here (which gets to my second question below).
But to those concerned about free speech let me just say this: We’ve only had the freedoms of the internet for maybe 20/30 years (and things like twitter and Facebook for about 15 of those). Prior to the internet, people were not calling the US a repressive, Stalinesqe regime. Quite the opposite in fact. Speech, in particular the ability to broadcast widely, was highly constrained by a few institutions like the major TV networks, publishers and newspapers, and then FCC regulations on top of that (remember Howard Stern?) Even with the Trump bans in place, he still has way more options to get his message out to the public today than he did 15 or 30 years ago.
Social Media and Violence:
But I don’t deny that the path to 1984 is still a real possibility. So I think you need to look at the risk of keeping these platforms completely open. Which gets to the question of whether violence is inevitable in that case. I think the answer is Yes.
The internet, and social media in particular, enable immediate communication with everyone, everywhere at all times. In the past you might have believed the election was stolen. But you would have been pretty isolated or maybe had a small group of people nearby to discuss it with. With the internet, you find and form communities instantly. The algorithms do accelerate this community building, but the root issue is that supporters of the most fringe theories and extreme beliefs can now find each other and build actual movements. I’d wager that the mob that stormed the capitol this week came from all over the country, not just one town.
Can the Show Keep Going On?
And therein lies the problem: You’re always going to have people seeking conspiracy-theory type answers; and there’s always going to be leaders that are willing to indulge them. Let those two mix for long enough and violence seems inevitable to me.
The sad thing is that for each fringe group looking to do violence, there’s probably thousands of peaceful groups and millions of people who are just happy to find communities that share their completely benign fringe quirks and interests. The internet has been a boon for them. But then people like Trump come along and abuse the system. But at some point the hecklers just get too numerous and loud, and the club is forced to just shut down.
So, is moderation required? I think Yes. Can we remove the hecklers and keep the show going on? I think so. Is it going to be easy? Absolutely not.
Intergalactic Dance 