In a world not that distant from 1984’s dystopia, social companies are rushing to install algorithmic moderation that would monitor our every word and delete any nonconforming views before we have the chance to share them. More importantly, Facebook recently noted the importance of it being able to log every violation of its thought rules and archiving a copy of the offending speech.
As censorship moves from a post facto review process towards active deletion, speech that social platforms disagree with will no longer even have brief moments of circulation, but instead will be prevented from ever seeing the light of day in the first place.
As Facebook reminded us this past March, that can include silencing debate about its business practices, including calls for regulation or greater data privacy laws.
Eventually these rules won’t apply only to public posts but instead will be used to censor our private phone calls and in-person conversations.
Please read the full article. Then consider. Think deeply.
