The world is increasingly hostile to anything which does not meet the approved narrative. The term “misinformation” is everywhere. Apparently this was not the case until Donald Trump won the US Presidential election. A year or two afterwards the term was in wide use and suddenly there was a “misinformation crisis”.
One connection to privacy is that social media platform police what one says and is allowed to say and be heard saying. Whether it is out and out de-platforming or the more subtle tweaking the algorithm so few hear what you have you to say. Somehow it is becoming common assumption by much repetition that it is a duty of Big Tech including Social Media to police right-thought.
Increasingly there is real danger to your reputation or ability to get a job or ability to keep your career if you should say what you think that is not inline with approved narratives online. There are many individual and organization activists that will take you to task if they thing your reach is large enough. Increasingly part of “due diligence” to get hired is a search of your likely opinions from posts and comments you made somewhere online. There have been cases of people being fired, losing licensing, even being de-banked for what they said.
In this world it becomes more important than ever to avoid attaching one’s official identity to communicating online to the public. Of course one may simply wish to not be cowed and bravely say one’s piece with no extra precautions taken. That is of course admirable. Or you may not wish to chance at least small martyrdom just now.
Arguably it is not the business of random possible employers to dig into your opinions and thoughts about matters having nothing to do with the work you are being hired to do. This is in fact a violation of privacy. However businesses get roped into this general self-conscious punitive rot.
Some of it comes from very high up the Financial pyramid as Blackrock signed up for ESG and ESG enforcement. What this meant in practice is that they refuse to invest in businesses or other Financial houses that don’t have similar guidelines. For those of you who may not be aware ESG is “Environment, Social, Governance” guidelines and positions. They originally flowed out of the World Economic Forum and UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). Blackrock is pretty much the global financial house king. So from the to the actual flow of financing and other money to businesses of all sizes can be used as a tool of extortion forcing compliance with various policies – many of which are rather subjective to say the least.
In this environment it is not surprising many companies large and small as well as many institutions play along. Which is quite frightening. Possible real tyranny or the equivalent of Social Credit system instrumented by financial extortion.
The long and short of it, however it came to pass or is perpetuated, is that it is being made unsafe to practice free speech if tied to your official identity. This has a powerful self-censoring effect and is a real “threat to democracy” that few talk about.
Who gets to say what is “misinformation”? Government? Government and/or corporate captured “experts” or “fact finders”? How many times have we seen “misinformation” that people were punished for today turn into accepted truth a year or less later?
Why not expect people to freely think and question and select what they believe for themselves? Isn’t that what is required of any remotely free and civil society? Isn’t that crucial to questioning governments and others that are out of control and headed to a dark place?
Another tie to privacy is that the attempt to “stop misinformation” calls for other measures to restrict privacy such as digital ID everywhere online and more data gathering about your opinions and more analysis of those opinions. This is in short an incentive to do more of everything that is a major threat to your privacy and security.
The UK now has laws on the books that they can punish some types of misinformation or another rather murky category, “hate speech”, with imprisonment. There were ideas and even bills floated in the US for such punishment for COVID misinformation not so long ago. I would not bet against such things resurfacing and some being actually passed for this or that cause of the day.
Of course we need to fight these things by political and all other means. But we also need to be aware of the dangers of failing to practice privacy when the consequences can be dire.
I will track and keep you apprised of developments in this area