Trying to control Twitter

would be rather like trying to herd cats. It can't be done.

The "e-safety Commissioner" has apparently "warned" Twitter that it has to abide by the standards she sets or risk a $700,000 a day fine. Can it be done?

I don't believe people should be able to use a platform like Twitter to deliberately set out to harm others by the words they use. That is wrong. I know there are people who will do that. Those who do should be held to account. How do you stop them? Do you stop the behaviour by preventing everyone else from speaking out as well? Do you prevent just them from speaking out by removing them and not allowing them to say anything at all? Is there something else which can be done?

Obviously there are things that can be done and will be done. Twitter employs people to remove "tweets". Every other platform does the same. There are "moderators" everywhere you look.

The problem is that "moderators" are also human. They have opinions too. If they disagree then they can "guide" the discussion.  There is a Facebook page I am familiar with and I am aware it has several hundred "members". Almost nothing gets posted to it because the single "moderator" is so very strict about what can and cannot go on the page. I don't belong to the page but occasionally see it when a friend shows me. Her view is that the moderator has actually stifled discussion. It seems likely that this is true.

So I was concerned when I read what our Prime Minister has apparently asked the e-safety Commissioner to do and say. Yes, I am concerned that there is some less than healthy "debate" on Twitter. Much of it gets removed. I asked for something particularly vile to be removed and it was acknowledged and removed almost immediately.  There would be very, very few people who approved of what was there. Those who did would have belonged to that tiny tiny group reviled by the majority. 

So, yes we can all help to see that the particularly nasty material is removed...and we should.

What worries me at the moment however is that the e-safety Commissioner is apparently being asked to prevent debate about a serious issue taking place. The Prime Minister does not want it being debated. He has a lot riding on the final decision. A lot of other people have a huge emotional investment in the issue. To the Prime Minister and his supporters there is only one answer. They see no room for debate. They also see no room to provide answers to legitimate questions. Any comment in support of their position is fine. Any comment not in support of their position must be reviewed and, as far as possible, removed. This is occurring not just on Twitter but on all social media platforms and across all media as well. Just a few well known names have been permitted to speak out.

This is not democracy in action.  Twitter and like platforms do cause great problems. They do have great power. Trying to curb it by demanding the debate stops because the government of the day disagrees is the way totalitarian states function. It should not be done here.

The cats have well and truly scattered.