The biggest danger created by social media platforms is the obscuration of truth

The Supreme Court has considered a number of important cases about social media and free speech.

Frida Ghitis : The biggest danger created by, or rather exacerbated by, social media platforms is the obscuration of truth.

She says John Stuart Mill's idea of free speech and free press, there will inevitably be true speech and false speech, but in Mill ’s view, both have merit.

Ghitis says Mill 's solution to bad-faith actors and competing ideas differs vastly from today 's solutions.

Julian Zelizer : For Mill , it seems, the solution to bad-faith actors and the false information they spread isn’t more content moderation or more censorship.

If the individual cannot think for themselves and resist the influences of public opinion in mass media, then the individual succumbs to the influence of fake news and allows bad actors to maintain their power over the masses, he says.

Mill warns against those who control what opinions, ideas, and information are orthodox in On Liberty.

Social media companies and governments have become super-regulators online.

In our rush to rid ourselves of false information, we are rushing headfirst towards Orwell ’s 1984 , he writes.