Email and Usenet include metadata, and no one really complains about an infringement of their liberty. Social media networks are more anonymous than either, har

Email and Usenet include metadata, and no one really complains about an infringement of their liberty. Social media networks are more anonymous than either, harder to police, and they are far larger in scale than any other websites. Some form of metadata may curb anonymous abuse. In the case of repressive countries, it could be masked. And before anyone talks about VPN and Tor...try posting to HN from a Tor browser and see what happens to your post...blacklists exist. And the average shitposter isn’t going to go to the trouble. The Arab Spring is widely seen as a triumph of social media over repression, but its effects were short-lived and those who posted were often tracked down and persecuted.