Anonymity, Identity, and Lies

Anonymity is often seen as a source of pathologies for the public sphere, from misinformation to user abuse. A leading scholar sums it up: “If online anonymity is the cause of many of the democracy-related ills of social media, then disclosure might be the best disinfectant.” I argue this overlooks how, in an environment beset by affective polarization, instead of serving as a disinfectant, identification can add fuel to the fire. Conversely, anonymity can be a device to create opportunities for divides-transcending conversation and avoid some of the identity-based mechanisms fueling maladies afflicting social media.

Abstract

Supporters of proposals targeting anonymity sometimes argue that requiring users to make themselves known will remedy many of the pathologies afflicting the digital public sphere, including misinformation. Identification is seen as a tool for creating a more truth-based discourse by inducing speakers to behave more responsibly, as well as providing listeners with information to assess the credibility of the speaker. The assumption often is that anonymity promotes lies and incivility, while identification induces truth and civility. Nathaniel Persily sums it up: “If online anonymity is the cause of many of the democracy-related ills of social media, then disclosure might be the best disinfectant.”

In fact, in an environment beset by political polarization, instead of serving as a disinfectant, identification can add fuel to the fire of mis- and disinformation. Not only that, anonymity can have a role also in enabling public political deliberation that has been underappreciated. This paper surveys literature from multiple disciplines and challenges assumptions behind the prevailing stances towards anonymity and mis- and disinformation. It argues that anonymity and identification do not have a fixed function; it instead refers to the plurality of identification and the plurality of anonymity. “Plurality” is meant to emphasize that both anonymity and identification shape and are shaped by factors such as social norms and platform affordances. As such, whether identification will contribute to a more truth-based public discourse and to a more civic-minded digital sphere is a question that can only be answered if we account for those factors. Considering the identity-based components of the spread of disinformation in polarized contexts, anonymity can serve as a device to create opportunities for conversation and avoid some of the mechanisms triggering those components.