The UK is attempting a radical redesign of the internet | The Verge

A rare non-Brexit UK headline; for more details, see U.K. unveils sweeping plan to penalize Facebook and Google for harmful online content | Washington Post

"An internet that has been stripped of terrorist content, child exploitation, and revenge porn would certainly be welcome. And yet given what we know about the difficulties of content moderation at scale, it’s difficult to understand how the regulations now in development will achieve their aims without significantly undermining political speech. One person’s “trolling,” after all, is another person’s good-faith discussion — and God help the regulator tasked with drawing a line between them.

What’s more, tough new moderation requirements may prove impossible for all but the largest platforms to meet, further entrenching their power and making it more difficult for startups to challenge them. If you believe that Commonwealth countries have been more willing to regulate tech platforms in part because they resent the fact that America owns vast swathes of the internet — and I do — it’s worth considering that a primary effect of these new rules could be to dramatically increase American companies’ power."

The UK is attempting a radical redesign of the internet | The Verge