(ConservativeInsider.org) – One aspect of social media many people love is the fact they can be anonymous on sites like Twitter and share their thoughts without being tied to them. However, this also means there’s a lack of ownership or responsibility if those words are less than true. That right to free speech is a marvelous thing granted by the First Amendment. But, former President Barack Obama isn’t sure about that idea, and recently noted he thinks social media could use some “modifications” to its current anonymity allowances.
On Wednesday, April 6, Obama met with Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, to speak at the Disinformation and Erosion of Democracy conference. During their discussion, the pair began speaking about the issue of determining whether a social media user is a bot, which purposefully spreads false information on the internet, or a human.
When commenting on what he called the “issue of anonymity,” Obama said he thinks there are some “modifications there that can be made” when someone chooses to be “rude, obnoxious, cruel, or lie.” With this, the former president implied he would promote censorship against people on social media.
Writer Dan Gainor shared his thoughts on Obama’s words:
https://twitter.com/dangainor/status/1512148279416569860
If some social media users could remain anonymous while others were exposed, what would that mean for free and open space on the internet? Also, who gets to decide what’s rude, obnoxious, or cruel? After seeing so much censorship over the past two years about alleged conspiracy theories that were eventually proven true, Obama’s suggestions are scary to consider.
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