There have been few moments in history when public debate has been as rich and accessible as it has been in recent years. And this is thanks to social networks. The networks create the illusion of being back in the Athenian assembly in which every citizen can express their opinion, even if it was noisy, and participate in the formation of the general opinion of the polis. However, this richness has an increasingly sinister side. In the networks, the new public space of communication par excellence, not only political or social ideas are exchanged. Content devoid of any democratic value is also disseminated; alongside legitimate political ideas, threats, insults, humiliations, violations of privacy and, in general, messages that violate the fundamental rights of others are also launched into the public space.
Faced with this situation, some political and legal establishments are proposing to put an end to what is – improperly – called anonymity on the networks. The idea, in essence, would be to require that the large platforms that host them require users to provide reliable identification before granting them access. The proposal has encountered furious opposition, especially from those who call themselves liberal and argue that it would be an attack on freedom of expression and, practically, the prelude to a dictatorship determined to censor the few courageous dissidents who express themselves freely.
