I don't disagree, but the difference with the internet is that it's so easy to be anonymous, or at least hard enough to unmask that it's not worth it, and the cost is almost nothing.
With a printing press, you have to procure materials, a printer, wide distribution of physical items, etc., and all of those contacts mean that someone somewhere can probably point fingers if the law wants to find you. But try finding the people behind the 10,000 anonymous Reddit throwaway accounts, half in foreign countries. Or the guy writing fake news articles that get picked up by Twitter, who paid for his hosting account in Bitcoin and lives in Thailand. Radio is more anonymous, but can't be instantly shared in the same way things can online. A friend would have to tell you the frequency, you'd have to make time in your day to tune in and listen, and if a pirate station gets shut down there's not always another one lined up to take over instantly.
That's the problem here--nearly free, instantaneous, global, mostly anonymous communication, that friends and family can share into your inbox instantly and effortlessly. Firehose after firehose turned on, aimed directly at you, by people wearing masks. That's why this situation is different from the printing press or the radio.
my theory has always been that 95% of the issues are generated by people not _that_ motivated. Like if you get banned from twitter a couple of times then you'll just kinda give up.
Or you'll just say "twitter ain't for me, gonna go for nazi mastodon".
Infowars exists, there's always going to be a platform for these people, but it's more about making their efforts less worthwhile in other parts of the net.
With a printing press, you have to procure materials, a printer, wide distribution of physical items, etc., and all of those contacts mean that someone somewhere can probably point fingers if the law wants to find you. But try finding the people behind the 10,000 anonymous Reddit throwaway accounts, half in foreign countries. Or the guy writing fake news articles that get picked up by Twitter, who paid for his hosting account in Bitcoin and lives in Thailand. Radio is more anonymous, but can't be instantly shared in the same way things can online. A friend would have to tell you the frequency, you'd have to make time in your day to tune in and listen, and if a pirate station gets shut down there's not always another one lined up to take over instantly.
That's the problem here--nearly free, instantaneous, global, mostly anonymous communication, that friends and family can share into your inbox instantly and effortlessly. Firehose after firehose turned on, aimed directly at you, by people wearing masks. That's why this situation is different from the printing press or the radio.