An article from the trusted Pew Research Center, or is it?

http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/03/2...e-news-online/

The Future of Free Speech, Trolls, Anonymity and Fake News Online

Many experts fear uncivil and manipulative behaviors on the internet will persist – and may get worse. This will lead to a splintering of social media into AI-patrolled and regulated ‘safe spaces’ separated from free-for-all zones. Some worry this will hurt the open exchange of ideas and compromise privacy
◾ Respected internet pundit John Naughton asked in The Guardian, “Has the internet become a failed state?” and mostly answered in the affirmative.
This comment is thought provoking, what does a failed state in the cyber domain mean? That is under controlled by government or international regulatory body? What are the implications of a failed state in the cyber domain? It seems to parallel the risks associated with failed physical states (minus mass migration), with an increase of crime, fracturing of identities, new sub-state groups increasing radical due to listening to their own echo chambers without any balancing views? Furthermore, the cyber domain/state has influence on all traditional states defined by their geographical boundaries, and their populations? Does the failed cyber state enable actors to act outside government control in a way that threatens governments via the promotion of fake news (and other means)? BREXIT, back lash against globalization (without really understanding why), deepening divides between left and right, the perception of chaos, etc. Can states control the impact of this failed state by increasingly regulating it? How does that impact the economy, that is increasingly web based? California is proposing a law to make it illegal to deliberately spread false news. That will prove interesting enough to pass, much less enforce.

Their research resulted in four themes (there are sub themes under each of these worth reading):

Theme 1: Things will stay bad because to troll is human; anonymity abets anti-social behavior; inequities drive at least some of the inflammatory dialogue; and the growing scale and complexity of internet discourse makes this difficult to defeat.

Theme 2: Things will stay bad because tangible and intangible economic and political incentives support trolling. Participation = power and profits

Theme 3: Things will get better because technical and human solutions will arise as the online world splinters into segmented, controlled social zones with the help of artificial intelligence (AI)

Theme 4: Oversight and community moderation come with a cost. Some solutions could further change the nature of the internet because surveillance will rise; the state may regulate debate; and these changes will polarize people and limit access to information and free speech