'Free Speech' is a lie. Anyone that's lived through the early internet, or has moderated social media platforms of any size or shape understands that as an idea

'Free Speech' is a lie. Anyone that's lived through the early internet, or has moderated social media platforms of any size or shape understands that as an ideal it is unobtainable. It's useful as a framework for governments to prevent jailing people for critique, to prevent throwing reporters into jail for dissident and so forth. But as a private platform it simply cannot work nor will it ever work. It falls apart at scale because as a platform you MUST make a decision as to whom you decide to support or not. Some users will inevitably harass or stalk or make the most vile comments to other users and will chase off people. If you do nothing, then the most toxic users of your platform will run the asylum. This was true of Usenet. This was true of IRC channels, forums, Digg and many more smaller sites. Sites like Parler, Gab and so forth pride themselves on being 'Free Speech' platforms but prove the dynamic I mention above. The reality check is that people should learn from the past, but I have a feeling the cycle of people thinking free-er speech will solve the problem will continue into infinity. And I have a feeling the people intent on believing that they're free speech absolutists will never be in a position to learn this lesson.