I’ve had this feeling that since there are forces that do not want us to have free speech, and that the destruction of Reddit and Twitter does this effectively, creating a chilling effect, destroying social links and communities. Might it not be an intentional effort to stifle the ability of the downtrodden to organize and fight the power?
There are so many other ways things are engineered to benefit the minority and prevent the majority from gaining power, why not this too?
Just a thought rattling around in my head.
This has happened with other online platforms constantly over the course of the internet’s history. It’s why there is an enshittification meme that everyone is learning about.
This time it happened after some years where a critical mass of society has coagulated on those platforms, so the effect is more dire.