Speech must run the gauntlet of censorship in order to exist. There are four questions people must ask themselves when deciding whether to share, publish, or host something:
- Will this get me in trouble with the government?
- Will this get me in trouble with my job?
- Will this get me in trouble with my friends/family?
- Will this get me in trouble with an internet mob?
Legal peril, financial peril, social peril, internet peril: all endanger your wellbeing and can catalyse the other perils.
Censorship is worst when it is both very unpredictable and severely harmful.
The severest type is legal peril. Brutalizing people is kinda the state's whole thing. They can all end in death, though.
The most unpredictable is generally the internet.