{"id":61526,"date":"2022-01-17T19:23:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T00:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=61526"},"modified":"2022-01-17T19:23:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T00:23:36","slug":"dont-underestimate-how-badly-the-powerful-need-control-of-online-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=61526","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Underestimate How Badly The Powerful Need Control Of Online Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Don\u2019t Underestimate How Badly The Powerful Need Control Of Online Speech<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Seems like almost every day now the mass media are blaring about the need for speech on the internet to be controlled or restricted in some way. Today they\u2019re running stories about\u00a0Joe Rogan and Covid misinformation<\/a>; tomorrow it will be something else.<\/p>\n

The reasons for the need to control online speech change\u00a0f<\/span>rom day to day, but the demand for that control remains a constant. Some days it\u2019s a need to protect the citizenry from online disinformation campaigns by foreign governments. Sometimes it\u2019s the need to guarantee election security. Sometimes it\u2019s the need to eliminate domestic extremism and conspiracy theories. Sometimes it\u2019s Covid misinformation. The problems change, but the solution is always the same: increased regulation of speech by monopolistic online platforms in steadily increasing\u00a0coordination with the US government<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually pretty comical at this point, once you notice it. It\u2019s like if you had an expensive Prada bag that your friend really coveted and she was always making up excuses to try and take it home with her. \u201cGosh I\u2019m carrying all these small objects and I have nothing to carry them in!\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re going on vacation? I\u2019ll look after your Prada bag for you!\u201d \u201cOh no you slipped and now you\u2019re clinging to a cliff\u2019s edge! Quick! Throw me your Prada bag!\u201d Once you know what they\u2019re actually after, their attempts to obtain it look clownish and silly.<\/p>\n

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