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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Government financed and government run aren't necessary the same thing. I wouldn't want a government agency running social media for obvious reasons but a government giving out grants or the equivalent of a crown corp.
I think the fediverse could actually act as a very effective system of checks and balances. Each country could finance an instance that their citizens use while allowing the free flow of information from country to country that gives these platforms value in the first place. federation would mean the only truly effective censorship would be defederation which would at least be highly public.
But I agree, even in countries with effective governments it would be very hard to implement. But one can dream!
It just seems kind of weird to me the instinctive distrust of government for social media but complete acceptance of them for roads, physical mail, and other public services. Or maybe I'm just missing something. I mean, it's not like the companies are showing amazing efficiency and results here.
This happened with our ambulance service - the volunteers dried up, and so we had to put it in our taxes. There was a donation push to get us to the next tax year, but then it's something we all pay for to have an ambulance available.
propaganda. If I becomes A political dissonant they can't really stop be using the roads. Physical mail is a crown corp where I am, they are funded by the government but the government can't effect their day to day function, same with our state funded news org. It would be pretty bad if a rogue politician could give out an order to restrict the viability or content of the mail, like what happened with the CDC in America during the pandemic. In order for the same to happen to a crown corp you'd have to have a parliamentary vote, which would take months and involve a lot of public oversight. You'd need the same institutional checks on a new social media service too, lest they randomly or silently start censoring things.
The problem in the US is that the mail is kind of special, I just wish it wasn't. If our government paid a company, it'd just be the same as us paying a company, and we'd still get ads, just Facebook or whoever would also get a huge government check. Not what I'd say a success or improvement.
Of course, that just says more about how bad the government is really. I just think charity (donations) is a horrible and unreliable way to run any sort of "needed service" (for a given definition of needed).