Liberals want to blame rightwing 'misinformation' for our problems. Get real | Thomas Frank

In progressive circles these days, there is a palpable horror of the uncurated world, of thought-spaces flourishing outside the consensus

One day in March 2015, I sat in a theater in New York City and took careful notes as a series of personages led by Hillary Clinton and Melinda Gates described the dazzling sunburst of liberation that was coming our way thanks to entrepreneurs, foundations and Silicon Valley. The presentation I remember most vividly was that of a famous TV actor who rhapsodized about the wonders of Twitter, Facebook and the rest: No matter which platform you prefer," she told us, social media has given us all an extraordinary new world, where anyone, no matter their gender, can share their story across communities, continents and computer screens. A whole new world without ceilings."

Six years later and liberals can't wait for that extraordinary new world to end. Today we know that social media is what gives you things like Donald Trump's lying tweets, the QAnon conspiracy theory and the Capitol riot of 6 January. Social media, we now know, is a volcano of misinformation, a non-stop wallow in hatred and lies, generated for fun and profit, and these days liberal politicians are openly pleading with social media's corporate masters to pleez clamp a ceiling on it, to stop people from sharing their false and dangerous stories.