Thread by @matthewlesh

The Government has taken this timely opportunity (?!) for more announcements on the online safety bill.

They are about (1) anonymity and (2) ‘legal but harmful’.

Buckle up for another wild ride…🧵 1/n

(1) Anonymity: Govt will require larger social media sites to provide the option to block non-verified users — that means forcing Big Tech to create a new online identity system. 2/n

This duty is built on the false premise that anonymity is illegitimate and responsible for abusive behaviour.

Practically, it will create two versions of social media: one for the privileged few and one for everyone else who has legitimate reason to want to stay anonymous. 3/n

That means lesser social media access for vulnerable people who need to stay anonymous including victims of domestic abuse, whistleblowers and those in hiding from a totalitarian regime.

Or plenty others will simply not wish to join a new digital identification scheme. 4/n

(2) The Govt will also require firms to provide users the option to hide ‘legal but harmful’ material — it’s unclear how this will interact with previous plans to regulate away this material altogether. 5/n

This duty represents magical thinking – it is simply not possible to create an entirely sanitised version of the internet for some users.

There remains a serious risk that platforms will be more censorious overall in order to avoid creating two versions of their product. 6/n

These new duties will impose extraordinarily high regulatory burdens at immense costs to enterprises, that will inevitably scare away investment and tech jobs.

Every silly idea that pops into the head of a government minister should not be written into the law. 7/7