discord dickery: what's going on with social media in the u.s.*
by now, you'll already have heard the story over at the Verge about how Discord will require face-scan or ID globally in March. This comes after coverage by Aftermath indicating that Discord is headed for an IPO launch- to become publicly traded (rest in pepperonis). And also after 70,000 users had their information stolen because Discord's 3rd party data storage company was, well... a bit shit.
Oh, and also after that weird lil survey about AI. hmm wonder what that's about.
but we also need folks to know why some U.S. users are making contingency plans for a deeply fractured digital future.
in the U.S., Congress (who still don't know how to convert a word doc to a pdf) meets early in the year to review, table, and set national tech policies. this year, that includes a bipartisan campaign to end the internet's free speech protections: Section 230. Well-intentioned as they may see themselves, sunsetting this law will cement corporate monopoly power and erode the free speech protections you use online everyday.
Section 230 is flawed but it held the internet together by ensuring "no provider or user" is considered a content "publisher" by the U.S. government. If Section 230 falls, there will likely be a free-for-all of lawsuits by states attorneys general and civilians to sue social media companies and individual users for posts about things like:
immigrants living in dignity
political opinions they don't agree with
weird christian nationalist bullshit
and if government ID is now tied to digital identity, this could leave a segment of users who have to submit their PII data very vulnerable to vexatious litigation.
Quit Nitro- Hit Discord in the only place they register feeling- their bottom line. Cancel your subscription today to help push back against Discord's dumbassery.
Diversify your network. We're all in this position because of monopolistic-one-app-for-everything behavior. Discord has become the single biggest platform where gamers communicate. Spread things out across multiple platforms. Find your friends.
Make a contingency plan in your Discord server. Tell folks who are not U.S.-based what's going on.
Push back against the sunsetting of Section 230 and other bad internet bills. Follow trusted sources. Share accurate info with people, not panic or hype.
*this post does not constitute legal advice. i am not a licensed attorney. i'm like... just a possum who emerges from their trashcan sometimes???
