Reading some thoughts from Jack Dorsey, the founder and former CEO from Twitter, I am persuaded.
Dorsey says he’s come to believe in three principles: (1) Social media must withstand “corporate and government control.” (2) The author should be the only person who can remove content they produce. And (3) “Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.”
Perhaps the key of the three is the second principle. Only the person who does the tweeting should be have power to erase the tweet.
I believe I read elsewhere where Dorsey suggested one reason for Twitter should not be deleting tweets is that then the tweeter remains responsible for what he (or she) said if you leave the comment up. If what they said is slanderous, they can more assuredly be held accountable. And, if the person doing the tweeting deletes his tweet in attempt to step clear of the law? While they can remove their words from the public square, there should remain an archive of all their tweets -- both those left up and those removed. That way, there is a record of the libel.
And, what of Dorsey's saying, "Social media must withstand 'corporate and government control"? Keep government and Big Tech out of the business of saying which tweets are libelous. Don't allow government or Big Tech to ban anyone, nor to shut down any of their websites. The web user remains accountable to the laws of free speech, but free speech is not ripped away from him (or her).
And, what of fake news and misinformation? Perhaps -- instead of censoring content -- you allow the populous to attach corrections. Yes, surely lies and false innuendos should be challenged. You can already respond to tweets. We just need to have vigilant citizens willing to set the record straight. In addition to the fact-checkers writing critiques on their own websites, they should attach their comments directly to the false tweets.
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