My main issue with this line of reasoning is that it feels largely emotion driven. Even if communities with zero moderation do offer more likely spaces for extremist thoughts to develop and become action, I can't claim I've seen a broad academic consensus that sacrificing current free speech rights would actually solve or otherwise impact the problem in a meaningful way.
I don't think communities that turn a blind eye to hatespeech are wholly innocent, especially in light of how many threads downright enourage people thinking of taking violent action, but if we take a step back this doesn't seem wholly different from blaming violent video games for glamorizing gun violence or blaming rap music for gang culture. There's a reason that most people, including racists/bigots/etc. don't go on shooting sprees or run people over with cars. Handwaving the problem as a free speech issue ignores the long spans of time we weren't seeing these trends in spite of having the same rights to speech we have now. I don't know what the right answer is, but censorship affects everybody so it seems like it should be the last solution considered imo.
> but if we take a step back this doesn't seem wholly different from blaming violent video games for glamorizing gun violence or blaming rap music for gang culture.
One big difference is that generally video games don't claim that mexicans are trying in invade USA right now. They are violent, but they are not trying to convince you to take gun and kill real people. Unlike members of community we talk about right now, that have that political Goal and executed that political goal.
It is difference between Der Stürmer and Sherlock Holmes crime story. One of them claims to contain real stories. One of them is going out of its way to convince people to be violent while the other is going out of its way to be fun.
> There's a reason that most people, including racists/bigots/etc. don't go on shooting sprees or run people over with cars.
Yes. Most racists/bigots believe in own superiority, but do not actually believe Latinos are mortal threat that requires immediate action. You may believe they are dumber without perceiving them as acute threat or being so afraid.
That has to do with them not living exclusively in extremist bubble, but instead consuming different media.
And even those who do are in fact afraid to throw away their lives completely just like that.
Free speech isn't currently threatened here; providers are just exercising their freedom of association.
I also think waiting for "academic consensus" to act is not the neutral position it seems. Skepticism in the face of a pressing concern is not neutral, but instead acts to support the status quo. [1]
If we don't do something, more people will die. Possibly a lot more people. Academics have documented the dramatic rise in online radicalization. [2] Violent radicals themselves have described how online fora have pushed them towards extremism. So if you're going to argue a wait-and-see approach, I think you have to justify the bodies that will stack up in the meantime.
It's entirely meaningful. These people can still post whatever terrible garbage they want on their own privately hosted sites. The government is not intervening; neither is any other powerful group. It's just that some people don't want to host 8chan anymore given its body count.
Not employing people of a certain race is also freedom of association. But since freedom from racial discrimination is something we also value, sometimes that wins.
I don't think communities that turn a blind eye to hatespeech are wholly innocent, especially in light of how many threads downright enourage people thinking of taking violent action, but if we take a step back this doesn't seem wholly different from blaming violent video games for glamorizing gun violence or blaming rap music for gang culture. There's a reason that most people, including racists/bigots/etc. don't go on shooting sprees or run people over with cars. Handwaving the problem as a free speech issue ignores the long spans of time we weren't seeing these trends in spite of having the same rights to speech we have now. I don't know what the right answer is, but censorship affects everybody so it seems like it should be the last solution considered imo.