No, blockchain social media apps can’t be censored by central authorities. The reason for this is because of their distributed ledger technology operations.
The data stored on the blockchain social media apps’ servers are decentralized, so no central authority has control over them.
It is the mechanism that allows such social networks to create self-governing communities that can do what they want.
There are several sides to blockchain social media apps. The first one is that blockchain social media apps solve several problems with current social media setups.
The most critical of these problems is the problem of security.
Blockchain Social Media Apps Solve Security Problems
Regular social media platforms have always been problematic as far as security issues are concerned.
We have seen a series of data breaches on several major social networks.
These data breaches occurred because of one fact: social media platforms are subject to security issues.
The major reason for this is that there are so many actors on any social media platform simultaneously.
And there’s one thing that bad guys are always after, which is private information.
So, the incidences of data breaches are on the increase rather than the reverse.
Blockchain social media apps are immune to this phenomenon, though.
The reason they are immune is that blockchain technology is based on cryptography.
So, blockchain technology’s first focus is security first.
It creates a situation where security is not a problem with blockchain social media apps.
Rather, as people see the benefits of the apps, they will flock to use them.
It leads us to the main issue that people have with mainstream social media.
Censorship has Issues
Censorship of social media platforms has its issues.
We now live in an age where corporations have a major say in how we express free speech.
Many democratic settings guarantee the right to free speech.
The major problem with that has been the consequences of free speech.
Recent events in the United States of America point to some of those consequences.
It is these consequences that technology firms point to as proof of the need for censorship.
The recent actions of the big technology corporations have also created a dangerous precedent.
Once where a single authority has become judge, jury, and executioner.
Then again, it brings back to the fore the chicken and egg argument of free speech and consequences.
It has also created a scenario where the technology companies are wielding enormous amounts of power over everyone.
It is in addition to the already enormous powers that they already wield over user data using the fantastic tools of data science.
Blockchain social media apps have no central authority that can censor activities.
Self-Governance Creates a New Form of Social Interactions
Blockchain social media Apps have created a new form of regulation: self-governance.
For the current form of the platforms that exist, the clusters of social media groups are subject to a form of their self-governance.
Each of these self-governing clusters creates their own rules and generally abide by them.
They also have systems of rewards for those who can create compelling content.
Steem is one of those who have a working rewards system that works efficiently.
Such models that reward content creation are becoming popular.
They may even become the next generation of social media platforms.
While self-governance may present a way out n the absence of central control, it also has problems of its own.
One of these problems is bias.
Bias is a Major Limitation to Self-Governance
Self-governance is one of the alternative forms of social interactions that have made the twenty-first century exciting.
However, the limitations have more to do with bias than with any other factor.
Blockchain social media apps will always have several forms of bias existing in self-governing units that exist within them.
In many cases, this bias may also be against basic human decency and in the extreme criminal in nature.
One place where such bias exists in copious amounts is on the dark web.
The use of decentralized technologies to access these hidden parts of the internet has created havens for criminals to transact their businesses without fear.
The rise of blockchain social media apps could increase bias.
It will also create a new type of cyber-criminal.
One who knows that he or she cannot be caught unless the blockchain is breached.
If authorities get lucky.
Another form of bias may also be inciteful and meant to whip up human emotions.
Issues such as racism cater specifically to this type of bias.
Blockchain social media apps could be used for the instigation of such bias.
Already, fringe groups are considering how blockchain social media apps could be used for their interactions.
The one problem about their musings are simple: most of the members of such groups don’t have the required savvy to communicate on such platforms.
Generation Z could change all of that, though.
Chilling as it seems, the future holds promise for equilibrium as these technologies are also subject to one thing: the human conscience.
Decentralized Social Networks are the Future
Right now, centralized social media networks are at their prime.
Technology executives are the masters of the Universe, or so it seems.
Everybody points to the fact that it is easy for anybody to interact with everybody else because of mainstream technology platforms.
The ease-of-use, of course, comes with several risks attached.
And then we now have the rise of censorship, which is a big minus as per freedom of expression.
As people begin to explore distributed ledger technologies, they will shift from centralization towards decentralization.
This shift will become obvious especially where social media networks are concerned.
People will realize that the powers that they have given the big corporations can be taken back through decentralized networks.
When this happens, there will be a mass shift as individuals will want their privacy to be protected at all costs.
They will also want to be secured while at the same time enjoy the benefits of interactions without any censorship.
Blockchain social media apps offer these advantages without the clutter that the centralized platforms come with.
A Black Swan Event will Propel People
For trends to occur, black swan events must drive them.
Serendipity is on the right side of history where black swan events are concerned.
Several of them have already occurred to propel the emergence of distributed ledger technologies (DLT).
Black swan events will propel people to also leave the centralized social media platforms to blockchain social media apps.
And humanity may not be far away from such a series of events.
These events will make people question why exactly they are on popular centralized platforms.
The mass exodus to blockchain social media apps will then occur.
When this happens, we will see the rise of the next generation of social interactions.
As internet communications grow, we shall see that people will realize the advantages, risks, and inherent dangers that regular social media platforms pose.
Then, with the emergence of serendipitous black swan events, they shall question their use.
People will then experience reactance and, once reactance occurs, they will seek higher forms of freedom and security.
Once they find that they have these forms of security, they will want to stay.
It is when blockchain social media apps will take their place.
But not without a war with the centralized platforms first.
