Thread by @balajis

1) Man goes viral
2) Man uses attention to raise ~$1M for charity
3) Journalist finds old posts to attack him for clicks
4) Man apologizes
5) Journalist's old posts now surface
6) Journalist is now getting canceled

Mutually assured cancellation.

https://twitter.com/DMRegister/status/1176723106171432960

Due to social media, everyone is a public figure and everyone is a journalist.

Because everyone is a public figure, professional journalists feel justified in attacking them for clicks.

But because everyone is a journalist, professional journalists will get similar treatment.

Return fire changes the incentive structure for professional journos.

Before, they could simply attack someone's reputation for profit without much consequence. Now there is significant downside for doing so.

What the mob surfaces can be used by their peers to outwoke them.

This is not a stable equilibrium, however, because professional journalists cannot easily refrain from character attacks in our modern era without leaving the profession (even if they want to!).

Because people click names, and conflict is attention. So their peers will do it.

So I think the long term solution has to involve a change in incentives.

Perhaps new social networks that incentivize truth via prediction markets & deter character assassination via pseudonymity.

But in the short term, prepare for years of retaliatory cancellations.