"It’s Even Worse Than You Think"

An anonymous "trust and safety professional" from within the social media industry warns of European Union censorship coming to America

The European Union is now officially requiring expanded censorship by social media platforms, including Twitter, Google, and Facebook. On Tuesday, Europe’s top Internet regulator, Thierry Breton said “19 online platforms and search engines have become systematically relevant and have special responsibilities to make the internet safer.”

The EU uses the same censorship pretext as the U.S. Censorship Industrial Complex: preventing harm. “The companies will have to do more to tackle disinformation, give more protection and choice to users and ensure stronger protection for children or risk fines as much as 6% of their global turnover,” reported Reuters.

Yesterday, a trust and safety professional within the social media industry, who wishes to stay anonymous, said they felt the need to speak out against the censorship industry. What follows is our conversation:

Anonymous Professional (AP): It’s even worse than you think. Prior to Elon [Musk] taking over the company, Twitter was part of the apparatus. And in any case, even now, it is too big to kill. Smaller dissidents are liable to get squished before they seriously threaten the established order before anyone even knows they exist.

Michael Shellenberger (MS): Incredible. Basically, the censors had control over all the major platforms then.