Forum Topic

The problem of Twitter

This article by Sunder Katwala is an interesting addition to the racism and Twitter debate:-"Britain is a much less racist country than the one I grew up in. Yet I have received more racist abuse in the last four weeks than the previous 40 years. This paradox can be explained in a single word: technology. More specifically, Twitter."https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/25/racist-abuse-in-the-real-world-is-in-decline-so-why-not-on-twitter

David Ainsworth ● 2635d5 Comments

The problem is only partly Twitter. It’s obviously far too easy to set up a new account with them and provide zero factual info about the person setting the account up.  They also carry out zero moderation so anyone can say anything. More broadly the problem is simply anonymity on the web. People can hide behind aliases (which some have allegedly done on this site too, though they ask for your real name).  Newspapers and news websites often have comment options and even though they are moderated it does allow anonymous anger, bile, prejudice and intolerance to find expression. The people doing this, possibly only a minority but who knows, probably always had these thoughts but nowadays it is far too easy to express them online in public. Call me old fashioned but I don’t like it and it is proving a real disincentive to those standing for public office (for example).

Jonathan Callaway ● 2635d

Agreed, Jonathan.  If you have views or opinions, have the b*lls to openly stand up behind them.  Trolling is a modern day disease that does untold damage.  If I’m feeling charitable, then I remind myself that trolls are desperately unhappy people who have to take on a fake persona to make up for their sad little lives.  It’s high time we had some sort of legislation to weed out the bots and the trolls

Craig Fordham ● 2635d

It would be good to have some legislation around this but the technical and international jurisdiction issues posed mean this isn't a simple task. The delays in the introduction of the UK's legislation for age checks to access porn is a good example of this. It's another example where legislation, for example, the GDPR, can be set more effectively by being part of a bigger legislative drafting and endorsement unit such as the EU. It's also getting a balance balance between open rights and free speech versus censorship; we don't want the great firewall of China - or the internet filtering of the middle east - in the UK.

Michael Ixer ● 2634d

Free speech yes. Anonymous abuse crosses too many lines. Would people be so vile and/or racist if we knew who they were?

Jonathan Callaway ● 2634d

"Free speech yes. Anonymous abuse crosses too many lines. Would people be so vile and/or racist if we knew who they were?"Sadly, we do not seem to be able to identify and prosecute people who phone us claiming to be Microsoft, "our bank", the Met, an insurance company, or even BT (!). So I have little hope for the end of online anonymity.

David Ainsworth ● 2634d