Mint Quick Edit | Meta’s morphosis: Good news or bad?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. It was known all along that Elon Musk, the billionaire acquirer of Twitter (later rebranded X), was against the moderation of posts on social media, preferring to let comments call out fake news and the like.
That Mark Zuckerberg has declared Meta ready to discard fact-checks and ease other filters for Meta’s unencrypted platforms, effectively adopting a similar model, can be attributed to Donald Trump’s return to power in the US, where politics has moved rightwards. Meta would rather err on the side of free speech now.
In an ideal world, a free market for ideas would foster creativity and innovation, provided the views expressed are sufficiently diverse. Unfortunately, online platforms have led us to a “post-truth" world of echo chambers, rife with hate-mongering and vulnerable to incitement that could endanger lives.
Clearly, there’s a trade-off between the gains and harms of unfiltered posts. Even a policy of minimal intervention, though, should adhere to this classic bar on free speech: What puts lives at risk must not be allowed.
As an offline example, even if we’re free to say whatever we want, yelling “fire" in a packed hall is never okay. Social media owners and users should take note.
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