The recent move by Twitter to censor political tweets is a move in the right direction. At the danger of shooting oneself in the foot (if you\’re a tech giant), it shows that tech companies feel they should be held liable for hate-speech and defamatory content on their platforms. Moreover, tech giants are always solvable and they make money from other people\’s content. Twitter censorship is a non-ambiguous signal that Twitter and management disavow their immunity.
Fact checks should be added to all posts on social media platforms, just like it was done with the coronavirus pandemic, always pointing to a central source of truth, like the WHO (regardless of whether or not they know they\’re doing), so that users are given the option to explore alternative versions of proposed facts.
Fact-checks are preferable to K-Pop flooding which in itself is reason enough to stop engaging with social media. Fact-checks are also preferable to takedowns.
The complications of ending s.230 safe-harbor are many and will certainly result in various lawsuits, but progress requires some sacrifice, beginning with stripping online platforms of their immunity.