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Barack Obama has suggested that people who are “rude,” “obnoxious,” or “lie” on social media should have be stripped of their online anonymity.
Yes, really.
The former president made the comments during a keynote conversation with The Atlantic’s Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg at the ‘Disinformation and Erosion of Democracy’ conference.
After Obama initially claimed he was “close to a First Amendment absolutist,” his response to Goldberg asking him how he would regulate social media companies “to make sure that they’re not privileging anger, privileging division and polarization through their algorithms,” suggests otherwise.
Obama argued that online anonymity protections should be removed when it comes to speech of which he doesn’t personally approve.
“In some circumstances, it’s important to preserve anonymity…so that there’s space in repressive societies to discuss issues but as we’ve all learned, it’s a lot harder to be rude, obnoxious, cruel, or lie when somebody knows you’re lying and knows who you are and I think that there may be modifications there that can be made,” said Obama.
Who would determine what constitutes “rude” or “obnoxious” behavior or whether or not someone is telling a “lie” wasn’t specified, although in practice it would almost certainly be the same far-left Big Tech outfits that have become notorious for censoring conservative voices.
“While Obama frames himself as a close to a First Amendment absolutist, he has previously called for Big Tech regulation to curb “crazy lies and conspiracy theories” – a proposal that seemingly rubs up against the First Amendment,” writes Tom Parker.
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