It's time to show our faces in the 21st century agora

Germany’s chancellor wants citizens to post under their real names. Critics warn of chilling effects. But anonymity may be corroding the very trust democracy depends on.

Dear Reader,

How should we imagine social media platforms and their purpose in a modern democracy? The idealistic vision of social media — one set out by Elon Musk upon his acquisition of Twitter in 2022 — is that it is a digital “town square”, the modern version of the Greek agora.

If that is the ideal, then it helps to ask a simple question: what would …