1) Important note. What governments/oligarchs want to do with social media is create what amounts to a Ministry of Truth. I am no fan of Zuckerberg, but AOC's questioning and his responses will lead to social media giants collaborate with government to *decide* what are *lies*.
2) And once *independent* panels DECIDE what are lies and what are Truths, dissent will be censored rather than merely be shadow banned. Guys like the corrupt Michael Shermer or fact checkers subsidized by think tanks will be used to decide Truth.
3) During times of dissent/revolution, social media will be shut down. Pay attention to the charges that *terrorists use social media* because the bottom up and viral nature of social media stands in opposition to the REAL roll media plays in society.
4) The real media role is not to inform or entertain, but to propagate the myths and narratives of oligarchs/elites. If the elites cannot control social media, it becomes a weapon against them in important moments.
5) Russia is testing how to disconnect the entire nation from the global internet. China works with FB and Google to outright censor information. And in the US, Google/YouTube, Twitter and FB have started banning tens of thousands of dissenting voices.
6) The outright banning of FB pages, YouTube channels and Twitter accounts representing opinions outside the general mainstream (like Palestinian pages as an example or libertarian Dan McAdams) did not garner much protest.
7) Banning, shadow banning and censorship starts at the outer fringes and works its way to the center in order to limit the parameters of discussion and dissent. Many will point to dissenting voices allowed to flourish as counter examples.
8) It is an open question whether oligarchs can succeed in restricting dissent thru developing techniques within the social media public square. My fear is that they will try ever more restrictive ways. But dissent always finds a way.
