Off & online content, apply profit motive
GoI's trying to introduce some element of self-regulation in online content creation. Since a very large part of the information we consume today is being created or processed by online creators, it's right in trying to plug the regulatory arbitrage between legacy and digital platforms. There should ideally be no difference in treatment of freedom of expression available offline and online, including attendant obligations.
This would apply more critically to broadcast, especially when it can be done through social media by an individual. Persons broadcasting online for profit should be held to a higher threshold of accountability.
This is where things get complicated. The nature of online communication can very well transform personal opinion into a broadcast. Using the profit motive as a differentiator would allow a section of broadcast content online the wider liberty of freedom of expression.
Would it then require a narrower reading of online freedom? Or involve legal barriers to transmission? Neither approach is desirable. And applied on a population scale, self-regulation breaks down. Government overreach then becomes the most likely outcome.
The profit motive, however flawed, will have to serve online self-censorship. It works both for content creators as well as platforms that carry content. Tighter curation benchmarks are easier established among platforms in their self-interest.
Content created for profit will likewise require peer certification. For the rest, legal restrictions on freedom of
