Sounds familiar? You go on Reddit, see a post where an enthusiastic crowd is happily discussing how to further regulate entrepreneurs, raise taxes, or ban something in the name of the common good. Being a rational person (and especially a libertarian), you write a polite, rock-solid, well-argued comment about the harm of government regulation and the fact that taxes are theft.
What happens next? Perhaps a constructive dialogue or a battle of intellects? Not a chance! Within five minutes, your comment is sent to hidden, your “karma” plummets, and the platform system informs you: “You are posting too often, please wait 15 minutes.” And the next day, you discover that due to your negative rating, you can no longer leave comments or publish posts at all. That’s it, you’ve been silenced.
Therefore, the system of downvotes (dislikes) and collectively assessed ratings (“karma”) can only be described as one of the most vile and sophisticated tools for suppressing freedom of speech online. Of course, it is absolutely correct to say that these are private platforms and they have every right to set whatever conditions they wish. But no one is calling for the antitrust service to be unleashed upon them. The conversation right now is not about property rights, but about the culture of free speech.
In terms of suffocating discussion, the mechanics of these platforms have long since equaled state censorship. The only difference is the form: Comrade Major beats you with a baton and files a criminal charge, whereas here you are stoned by the “democratic majority.” The result is identical—dissent is erased from the public sphere.
This is nothing other than the tyranny of the majority, the dictatorship of the mainstream. If your opinion deviates even by a millimeter from the general line of the local clique (be it left, right, or simply conventional), you are literally erased from visibility. This fosters a level of conformism in people that makes Soviet schools look mild. People begin to engage in cowardly self-censorship: “Oh, I’d better not write that I’m against the gun ban, otherwise they’ll drain my karma and I won’t be able to publish my programming articles.”
This affects libertarians directly and hits them the hardest. Why? Because we historically stand in stark opposition to the etatist mainstream! Ideas of freedom, voluntary exchange, and personal responsibility have always been a thorn in the side of those who love a “strong hand,” free rides, and collectivism. By trying to promote ideas of freedom on platforms with karma, we are playing in a casino where the croupier has rigged the roulette wheel from the start. As a result, such sites quickly turn into sterile, stale echo chambers where everyone happily pats each other on the back, and any non-conformist thought is extinguished on arrival.
This vicious practice of collective silencing should be sent to the dustbin of history immediately. Social ratings in this form belong in dystopias, not in free communities!
But what should replace dislikes? First, leave only likes (upvotes). Do you like the thought? Support it, and then it will rise to the top. Good ideas will surface naturally. Second, if you disagree—write a reply! Let people see your arguments. Discussion should be conducted with words, not by an anonymous click of the “bury” button that hides someone else’s text under a gray banner. Third, personal rather than collective moderation. Don’t want to see posts from a specific author because they annoy you? Hit the “Block User” button personally for yourself. Customize your own feed! But do not dare decide for other people what they should read and what they should not.
The removal of dislikes will not lead to chaos. It will return to the web what we all originally came here for—the ability to speak and argue openly, without looking back to see what an aggressive crowd with pitchforks thinks of you. Good ideas should compete and win based on their value, not because a crowd of conformists staged a corporate raid and burned down the competitor’s stall using downvotes.
