Anonymous CBC Comments Banned: Five Things You Need To Know
Anonymous CBC comments will be banned from the Canadian crown corporation’s website in the near future, the broadcaster reported yesterday evening.
The article cited above attracted over 2,000 comments in the first five hours it was online. Given the vast number of mean-spirited and malicious barbs that are flung around CBC comment sections, as well as the comments left with most online publications that allow them, it may seem somewhat surprising that it has taken the CBC this long to clamp down.
“We recognize the limits of a ‘real name’ policy,” the broadcaster’s general manager, Jennifer McGuire, wrote with regard to CBC comments. “However, in the interests of encouraging civil conversation, CBC will not allow the use of pseudonyms.”
The move by the CBC is reported to come amid concerns raised by members of the New Brunswick Francophone community with regard to hateful comments, which are reported to have included references to the “Acadian mafia,” and calls to “banish all the French.”
1. Trolls have ruined it for everyone.
There are an almost infinite number of examples of trolls taking over such prime opportunities for those with diverging views to meet as internet chat rooms. The Young Turks hosts a YouTube channel with a live feed, featuring chat that is teeming with vitriolic comments, typical of what is found in many online forums.
The CBC describes an objective to “promote and defend free speech, particularly different points of view on controversial matters of public interest.”
That the Canadian broadcaster has held off so long in banning anonymous comments could be held up as evidence of the group holding true to their ideals, demonstrably attempting to be guided by a belief in a universal right to free speech.
Why did the CBC allow anonymous comments in the first place? As a broadcaster that holds the ideal of freedom of speech for all citizens dear, the CBC clearly wanted to provide a platform where any person, no matter how marginalized, had the opportunity to speak their mind.
Even in the age of the internet, Canada has a national epidemic of missing and murdered aboriginal women, as reported by The Inquisitr, not to mention many other social challenges. Imagine a socially isolated person living in a situation with few platforms with which to communicate their point of view, with possible repercussions in their community if they were identified.
The CBC undoubtedly hoped that the internet could help give a platform to those who had none. Comment sections of CBC articles have served as incubators for more than one professional Canadian writer. The decision to ban anonymous comments appears to suggest that the broadcaster’s hands are tied; a small group of people is ruining it for others.
3. The case against allowing anonymous comments.
Why is the CBC forced to make this change? CBC comments left on online articles can be flagged if other users find them to be inappropriate. After being flagged, they are reviewed by CBC moderators. Somehow, comments attacking the Francophone community in New Brunswick were allowed to slip through.
The CBC reports that it processes close to 1 million online comments each month, making it a “challenging issue,” something that would seem quite far-removed from the business of broadcasting. Many other websites require users to post using Facebook or other social media accounts, options which the CBC already offers in addition to anonymous commenting. Further, users are still free to post to a multitude of other forums; though the CBC has attempted to act as a central Canadian clearing house for freedom of thought, the task appears to have been proven a formidable one.
— Rosella Melanson (@rosellam) March 17, 2016
4. The CBC’s exact plans.
The Canadian media producer reports that it has been reviewing its audience engagement and commenting policies, necessitating the rethinking of the prevailing allowance of pseudonyms.
The CBC stated that the ban on anonymous comments is coming in the near future; no definitive date has yet been set. The release by the company stated that more information will be made available and professed a hope that a “smooth transition” to the new policies will occur. Unlike other sites like Popular Science, the CBC appears to have no plans to disable commenting entirely.
Celebrities, public figures, and companies often use verified social media accounts, such as The Inquisitr‘s Facebook page. Even non-verified, personal social media accounts offer some level of assurance that a person posting under a name is actually who they claim to be, but it would seem be far from a perfect system. In early 2015, Huffington Post reported that as many as 170 million accounts with Facebook might be fake.
Though Facebook has made no plans to verify each and every user account, insisting that CBC comments are made by people using their real names, as reports suggest, means that the CBC intends to do just that. One system that allows websites to verify users’ identity without having to submit scans of photo IDs or documents is being employed by the Canada Revenue Agency. The system interfaces with online banking websites, allowing users to log in to the CRA using their online banking credentials. While a solid way of verifying users’ identities, such a system would exclude many readers outside Canada, as well as Canadians who don’t use online banking.
[Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images]
