Akademy: Freedom and the internet

Sounds like good points regarding the constant attempts to control content, but this is true in other forms of written expression too. We are dependant on publishers, distributors and booksellers, for example, to get our written works to a larger readership, some of whom claim a stake in those works. Also, achieving a mass audience is not necessarily a desirable outcome. William Morris was concerned enough about the poor quality of printed output in the 19th century to set up the Kelmscott Press. In the same way, social media are not some natural inevitable endpoint, and the insignificant puff will take its toll. It sounds to me that he's therefore right to warn against governmental or other coercion towards requiring social media accounts, which influences the lifespan of these things and may do other social damage along the way.

S