Free Speech Impediment
Despite its stock market challenges, Twitter is the de facto platform for sharing public commentary on the Internet. And as such, it’s become the central battleground in the conflict between a desire for completely free expression, and the ravages of hate speech — operating both as a bully pulpit and a pulpit for bullies. It represents microcosm of the way we communicate now; as our lowered standards for what’s acceptable online bleeds into our offline discourse. Buzzfeed’s Charlie Warzel takes you inside Twitter’s 10-year failure to stop harassment. (I wonder if it really can be stopped.) “Despite its integral role in popular culture and in social justice initiatives from the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter, Twitter is as infamous today for being as toxic as it is famous for being revolutionary. And unless you’re a celebrity — or, as it turns out, the president of the United States of America — good luck getting help … On Twitter, abuse is not just a bug, but — to use the Silicon Valley term of art — a fundamental feature.”
+ Twitter responded to the story saying it contained inaccuracies. (And they said so really nicely, which seems promising.)