Luke LeBrunNov 18, 2022

The collapse of Twitter for (basically) self-inflicted reasons makes a strong case for building online infrastructure structured as a non-profit or public utility.

People rely on these platforms for public information, use them for democratic debate and many invest their livelihoods in them.

These platforms are too important to public safety, peoples’ livelihoods and democracy to leave in the hands of eccentric billionaires or the whims of stock markets.

Show threadDystopicRedheadNov 18, 2022
@llebrun Absolutely agree.
I have even thought we, the people, the Twitter users, should actually campaign to get public ownership of Twitter.
Show threadDave JohnsonNov 19, 2022

@DystopicRedhead @llebrun

The government used to do that. Things were declared to be public utilities and regulated for the common good.

The telephone system was regulated because the "network effect" meant everyone had to be on the same system or the system wouldn't work.

That is Twitter for the "town hall" effect, and Facebook for connecting with friends and relatives.

Show threadTRiGNov 19, 2022
@dcjohnson @DystopicRedhead @llebrun The problem is that this puts the government (or a government-owned body) in charge of moderation. In the USA in particular, with its free speech laws, that gets weird fast. In other countries, it's still not necessarily ideal.
Show threadDave Johnson
@TRiG I think a functioning democracy should be able to handle that.
Nov 19, 2022 at 6:44pmWeb
Show threadTRiGNov 19, 2022
@dcjohnson In principle, yes, but it would get tricky in practice. Not an insurmountable problem, probably, but certainly something to bear in mind.
Show threadDave JohnsonNov 19, 2022
@TRiG Yep. Also we have to find a functioning democracy to try it out.