A growing number of people are voicing their frustration over the spread of unreliable information on the Internet and advocate for government control to put a stop to this practice. While I share their concerns to some extent, in my opinion, such a radical step would do more harm than good.
For starters, it would give unprecedented power into the hands of world leaders. There are a number of politicians who already have a tendency to disregard the rule of law and govern in an antidemocratic way, the control of the Internet would create a great opportunity for them to abuse their power. Imagine an election where the acting government has the means to delete all the information about their opponents! Furthermore, they could spread their own propaganda and ban their citizens from accessing factual information.
On the other hand, fears about the dangers that the Internet is posing are not baseless. It’s very simple to hide behind an alias and decieve other users. It can be especially harmful for children who are too young to know right from wrong. With that said, there is already a plethora of regulations put in place to mitigate these negative effects that aim to protect Internet users and make the online world a safer place to navigate. For example nowdays cybercrime is taken just as seriously as criminal acts that are committed in the so-called real world.