> that is frankly not a feature you can consider a tenet of free expression or privacy
Why not? Isn't passing information on to other people in your social circle part of free expression? And isn't the fact that it is within your social circle part of privacy?
Passing information on to to other people is fine. However, in this case, why forwarding? If you are convinced by the information, why not do an effort and post it yourself in the group?
I found this extract summarizing well Author's POV "This means that while groups can generate high levels of solidarity, which can in principle be put to powerful political effect, it also becomes harder to express disagreement within the group. If, for example, an outspoken and popular member of a neighbourhood WhatsApp group begins to circulate misinformation about health risks, the general urge to maintain solidarity means that their messages are likely to be met with approval and thanks. When a claim or piece of content shows up in a group, there may be many members who view it as dubious; the question is whether they have the confidence to say as much. Meanwhile, the less sceptical can simply forward it on. It’s not hard, then, to understand why WhatsApp is a powerful distributor of “fake news” and conspiracy theories."
> Passing information on to to other people is fine. However, in this case, why forwarding? If you are convinced by the information, why not do an effort and post it yourself in the group?
If you are convinced by a presentation of some information that someone else has already done, why go to all the trouble of doing your own presentation of the same information, when you can just point to what has already been done? I don't see how that isn't part of free expression. Free expression doesn't mean you have to re-say everything yourself at tedious length.
Basically the author is complaining that when people have free expression, some of the things they freely express will be false. Yes, that's correct. Welcome to the real world.
Why not? Isn't passing information on to other people in your social circle part of free expression? And isn't the fact that it is within your social circle part of privacy?