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Sometimes I'm a bit confused by the discourse around #SocialMedia in the West. On the one hand they rail against censorship and decry countries like China who practice it. On the other hand, they demand for moderation, which, well, means censorship of certain content. (It's just a nicer way of saying it lol.)

I've come to believe that unbridled "freedom" on social media is damaging and "censorship" is a necessary evil. This is based on my experience as a Malaysian used to "cybertroopers" who are used to sway public opinion in Malaysia, sometimes dangerously. In our last election, teenagers were recruited as cybertroopers to incite people to attack minorities after the election. The platform refused to take down the content for weeks. There was a lot of fear that racial riots would happen.

Even in China, where there's lots of censorship, social media like Weibo is rife with terrible content that spread rumours, destroy people's lives and cause violence. What I'm saying is, I feel that social media is tearing apart society's fabric in some way, and there's still no good solution to this.