When you have nothing to offer on real issues (inflation, housing, pay, jobs, transport, health, education, social mobility etc), you have to constantly whip up fear over non-issues (people online). (both with the general population, and your own back benches)
Once you have have spent years whipping up fear over non-issues, you inevitably have to do something about them.
But you cannot actually do something that doesn't have side effect worse than the intended effect. But you can't just admit that or walk away. You have convinced your electorate these are the number 1 issues facing the nation.
So you write a law that's meaningless nonsense, and poop it out into Parliament.
That is how we got this bill. That's how we got Brexit.
Whether we can overcome this sort of disfunction will basically decide whether algo-sphere style democracy is sustainable...
Once you have have spent years whipping up fear over non-issues, you inevitably have to do something about them.
But you cannot actually do something that doesn't have side effect worse than the intended effect. But you can't just admit that or walk away. You have convinced your electorate these are the number 1 issues facing the nation.
So you write a law that's meaningless nonsense, and poop it out into Parliament.
That is how we got this bill. That's how we got Brexit.
Whether we can overcome this sort of disfunction will basically decide whether algo-sphere style democracy is sustainable...