The Complex Debate Over Silicon Valley's Embrace of Content Moderation
Many in tech cheered when Twitter added labels to President Trump's tweets. But civil libertarians caution that social media companies are moving into uncharted waters.
"Uncharted waters?" Oh, Saints Preserve Us! We're sailing off the edge of the world!
But, on second thought, I think not. "Moderation," in all senses of the word, has been a cornerstone of online debate since before the start of the Internet and before Usenet existed: this publication is only one example.
A wise woman once told me that everything I see on TV is never what really happened. I think that also applies to alarminst newspaper stories claiming that "civil libertarians" might not want to disrupt the incredible cash flow of the anti-social hype-machines run by powerful conglomerates, and introduce (No, Lord, I'll Do Anything!) a note of sanity or a soupçon of balance into the electronic spectacle they brand as "Social Media."
Sorry, Dorothy, but they're never letting you go back to Kansas: the lecherous touch of the ever-so-oozy hand on your wallet is neither social nor "media:" just a vehicle by which foreign nations corrupt our presidential elections, by which hucksters and gladhanders and influence peddlers strive to put mommy's credit card into the hands of over-stimulated and unsophisticated pre-pubescent teenagers, and by which a brain-dead braggart seeks to prolong his tenure as the third barracks emperor during the second fall of Rome.
Bill Horne Moderator
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