The article is here; the introductory paragraphs:
The internet is the latest in a long line of communications technologies to have enabled greater freedom of speech. From the printing press to the radio to the television and the cell phone, technological advances have made it possible for more people to express themselves, share news, and spread ideas. At every stage, speech has been further democratized, empowering people who could not previously make themselves heard and challenging the influence of the traditional gatekeepers of public information—including the state, the church, politicians, and the media. These advances have often been met first with excitement and enthusiasm, followed by a public backlash fueled by a mix of legitimate concerns about the impact of technology on society and moral panic stoked by the vested interests whose power has been challenged. In time, these pendulum swings have come to a resting point through a combination of the normalization of the technologies in society, the development of commonly understood norms and standards, and the imposition of guardrails through regulation.
The internet has enabled the most radical democratization of speech yet, making it possible for anyone with an internet connection and a phone or computer to express themselves, connect with people regardless of geographical barriers, organize around shared interests, and share their experiences across the world in an instant. Over the last two decades, social media and instant messaging apps have turbocharged internet-enabled direct communication—and have exploded in popularity. More than one-third of the world's population uses Facebook every day. More than one hundred forty billion messages are sent every day on Meta's messaging apps, including Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
These technologies have made it possible for grassroots movements to grow rapidly and challenge established authority and orthodoxy, and in doing so, change the world—from the Arab Spring to the Black Lives Matter movement and #MeToo. A decade ago, sociologist Larry Diamond called social media a "liberation technology." Without the ability of ordinary people to share text, images, and video in close-to-real time, and to have it amplified via networks of people connected through social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, the groundswell of public support for these causes and others would never have been possible. Social media also made it possible for millions of spontaneous grassroots community-based initiatives to start and flourish during the emergency stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to help the vulnerable or celebrate frontline workers, and for millions of small businesses to stay afloat and reach customers during lockdowns.
It would be naive to assume that connection inevitably leads to progress or harmony. The free and open internet is not a panacea. With hindsight, the techno-utopianism of the Arab Spring phase of social media was never going to last. But the pendulum has now swung far the other way, as it has done in the aftermath of previous technological advances, to a phase of techno-pessimism, with many critics decrying social media as the source of many of today's societal ills. This backlash has led us to a pivotal moment for the internet. Politicians around the world are now responding to the clamor with a new wave of laws and regulations that will shape the internet for generations to come.
