Calls to end social media anonymity give platforms more power without actually fixing the problem
The online abuse the England football team received after the Euro 2020 final has pushed people towards drastic measures to stop it happening again: giving social media companies their legal identification.
Sociologists and digital rights campaigners have pushed back against this, however, for a number of reasons: many platforms already enforce real-name policies, the risks of data breaches by malicious actors is too great, and that the problem with racism is embedded in society but encouraged by social media algorithms.
