It's Time

We have no choice but to regulate social media. These sites are and always will be echo chambers of lies, hate, conspiracy theories, and divisiveness. 

We had a free press prior to twitter - we can have one after. 

These internet sites are too easily exploited, too easily transformed into megaphones for the paranoid, the irresponsible, the criminal, and the insane. It is unbelievable that you can lie through your teeth about an election, purposefully dividing an entire nation, while threatening all future elections, and democracy itself, and do it freely on a platform that reaches millions of people, with zero consequence.

Licenses and rules of behavior for the airways were put in place because people realized the potential harm broadcast media could cause. Guess what - a tweet can reach millions and cause even greater harm. 

Twitter and all the rest of these sites are broadcast media stations - not some guy on a street corner, or at a townhall, and it's way past time to regulate them. 

Make it law that if you choose to broadcast over the air, cable, or through these internet sites, you can and will be held accountable for what you say. Furthermore, the broadcast media sites you use will be held accountable if they allow you to broadcast disinformation, deliberately. This goes for radio, TV, and social media sites - anything that has the potential to reach more than say 200,000 people at one time.

They are in the public realm, they reach thousands, if not millions, we have precedent with earlier forms of broadcast media, it's time.