The decision to disable an infamous message board fell to Matthew Prince, an internet executive who is deeply uncomfortable with his own power, writes incoming BKC affiliate Evelyn Douek.
“Content moderation is moving down the stack, away from the application layer that users see. It needs to happen in a way that is transparent, consistent, and accountable,” Douek says. “Otherwise, decisions like the one to stop hosting 8chan may look like efforts to tame the wild west of the internet, but without any safeguards in place they remain lawless—and just prove that no one knows who the sheriff should be.”