>Trolls and abusive behaviors thrive on for-profit social platforms in part because at some level the platforms don’t mind this.
They'd thrive even more on a government-funded platform which is legally obligated not to censor their speech.
They'd thrive even more on a government-funded platform which is legally obligated not to censor their speech.
Later in the article, the author explicitly suggests that accounts be connected to real world identities in order to prevent fake accounts and discourage trolls.
This solves one problem and introduces about ten other massive issues with underrepresented populations, protected classes, and stalking.
This is not a new idea. It's been tried many times before and shot down regularly for very obvious reasons.
I think the author already considered this. From the article:
"An account on a public media platform would be tied to a real-world, local identity, like a driver’s license or library card. Anonymity online has real benefits, and a user name doesn’t have to be your real name. The public social media network could keep this information hashed, unscrambled only when action against a user is required, which would make it easier to crack down on fake and troll accounts."
Anyone who says this has no technical credibility.
Then the author is delusional (not offense). If we could create any platform that consistently tied an online profile to an online identity it would be a holy grail. But alas here we are.