This comment reminds me of something I read a while back about Tor, I2P, and Freenet-- that the fact that those services are loaded with child porn and other nasty stuff is in a way a positive commentary on our society. It shows that the mainstream is healthy enough that the vast majority of speech and activity does not feel a need to go underground. You could say the same thing about "censorship-free" alternatives being full of fascists and racists and people announcing that they're "going in" before shooting up a synagogue.
That being said I do subscribe to the Larry Flynt doctrine of free speech-- free speech is measured by the freedom of the least sympathetic speakers. The fact that platforms like gab.ai can be created without legal ramifications means that we still basically have free speech.
Most Chinese citizens do not feel the need to go "underground".
North Korean citizens generally don't go "underground" either.
Do you think they're well informed about the world?
It's a different story in the west now, where information is generally available without the need to go "underground", so to speak - so why would be not be intent on keeping it that way? It seems that some people would like to drive things underground because it hurts their feelings. Is China the role model we're aspiring to become?
That being said I do subscribe to the Larry Flynt doctrine of free speech-- free speech is measured by the freedom of the least sympathetic speakers. The fact that platforms like gab.ai can be created without legal ramifications means that we still basically have free speech.