alt Hacker NewsAs someone who doesn’t use these products (FB, TikTok, Twitter, &c) I think it’s very clearly time to require proof of citizenship and formal ID verification to at least post content.
I’m not suggesting all of the Internet needs to go that way, but for large social media platforms I don’t see why not. You can argue that journalists need anonymity but I’m confident we can find a workaround or solution there.
I understand there’s this hacker spirit of doing things anonymous and I get it, and agree with it, but these platforms are the most mainstream things imaginable and they are way past the point of having gotten out of control.
You can’t have MAGA/Hamas/Iran/Antifa/Russia/Cuba/China/India/Pakistan all participating in shaping public opinion and sowing disinformation without contest. I’m surprised that western countries have been somewhat resilient to all of this BS by and large (nothing is collapsing, just degrading), but for how long?
Maybe they can work out some ZKproofs of ID thing and it becomes more palatable. I know there’s people in the crypto world trying to solve problems like that. At the moment kyc results in private data later being stolen or sold - and buying stolen ids to register is too easy. But maybe oneday we can prove who we are (or prove unique human) without needing to trust the authority of the site owner at the same time