the conundrum is that both sides have a bad track record in moderating content. governments in the past have used their power to silence political opponents, an

the conundrum is that both sides have a bad track record in moderating content. governments in the past have used their power to silence political opponents, and businesses are silencing critical voices and undesirable content because it hurts their bottom line. neither is acceptable. the US made a good start by disallowing government censorship completely. europe could do the same, perhaps with a carve out for outright hate speech, and obvious falsehoods like holocaust denial. but these exceptions need to be very clearly defined, which currently is not the case. what is missing is a restriction on private businesses, to only allow them to moderate content that is obviously illegal or age restricted, or, for topical forums, off topic, for the latter they must make clear which content is on topic.