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Eric Weinstein has expressed views on anonymity across various contexts, including social media, peer review, journalism, and blockchain technology. He describes anonymity as an amoral tool that can serve both constructive and destructive purposes.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] In social media discussions, he highlights its use by individuals such as whistleblowers, political dissidents, shy teenagers, and conservative teachers facing professional risks, while also noting its exploitation by bots, stalkers, harassers, predators, and institutional actors for astroturfing, fear-uncertainty-doubt campaigns, and reputation destruction. ^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[5] ^[6]

Eric argues against oversimplifying anonymity as inherently good or celebratory, emphasizing its complexity and potential for abuse against named individuals. ^[2] ^[3] ^[6] Regarding peer review in academia, he criticizes the reversal of anonymity norms, where reviewers are anonymous while authors are not, and deems it unethical to grant anonymity to rent-seekers who block work without risking their own positions, such as by "shorting" the ideas they reject. ^[7] ^[8] He also addresses anonymity in journalism, observing a shift where traditional protections like off-the-record assurances and source anonymity are less strictly upheld by younger, activist-oriented reporters. ^[9] ^[10]

More broadly, Eric calls for a distinct conversation on the intersection of internet anonymity, targeted behavior, and free speech amid societal tensions. ^[11] He supports anonymity for positive applications but opposes its use for harm, including intellectual infanticide and career theft in academic settings. ^[4] ^[12]

On X[edit]

@EricRWeinstein

CLAIM: It is unethical to offer rent seekers anonymity w/ peer review if they refuse to risk profit 'shorting' what they block.

11:20 PM · Nov 15, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

The anonymity differential in peer review has been exactly reversed from what makes sense.

Not to mention, obviously so.

8:18 PM · Apr 5, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

Hey twitter. I see #CancelNYT trending. What's up with that?

[Starts to hear why]

Let me stop you. 10 years ago when the NYT gave you an assurance, it meant something. Now some of their people print off-the-record comments & mention what you said to other interviewees by name.

10:00 PM · Sep 26, 2019

@EricRWeinstein

Let me stress that this is not yet universal. But there's a new informal change in professionalism and the culture of journalism/reporting. The new reporters and editors are often younger with an activist orientation. Off-the-record and anonymity used to be strict.

Not anymore.

10:00 PM · Sep 26, 2019

@EricRWeinstein

@DavidBCollum Interesting. I’m much more worried about the young person with an advisor pretending to help but desperately trying to force her or him out of the field by shutting off that person’s oxygen within the star chambers. Freeman has a job and a pulpit while many were quietly silenced.

12:00 AM · Jan 27, 2020

I suspect that is field dependent. Can't say I have ever witnessed that in chemistry. We run more of a serf-like system wherein the advisor gets the credit anyway.

12:03 AM · Jan 27, 2020

@EricRWeinstein

Interesting. I always refused to “kick up” as they say on The Sopranos.

12:03 AM · Jan 27, 2020

@EricRWeinstein

What no one dares discuss is intellectual and academic infanticide. Career theft. Destruction of reputation using the veils of anonymity provided to older members against their field’s own young. Some of us are self advised for this and other reasons.

12:05 AM · Jan 27, 2020

@EricRWeinstein

We‘ve got to talk about these relentless lying & distorting anonymous / pseudo-anonymous accounts whose function is to psychologically harass actual people from behind a wall of anonymity into silence & division.

Why are such unaccountable accounts mixed w/ actual humans? @jack

3:51 PM · Feb 18, 2020

@EricRWeinstein

Why is @antihero_kate gone and @uberfeminist still here? Is cruelty about someone’s deceased sibling the free speech we defend while we chill meaningful speech?

Is that account a paid for troll? Is that an instituon? Someone who needs help with trauma? What is it? Why anonymous?

3:51 PM · Feb 18, 2020

@EricRWeinstein

No. Your job is to liberate physics.

Mine, to liberate you. Presumably some of you understand the peril we’re in. We can’t stay here.

I didn’t mention Geometric Unity to the 🌎 from the early-mid 1980s until 2013. Let’s see if the Satoshi collective can go that long. #TimeToGo

7:06 PM · Jan 3, 2021

Become one of us bitcoiners. Eric

5:19 PM · Jan 3, 2021

@EricRWeinstein

I have contributed nothing to the vision of distributed computing. I don’t talk much about the essay even.

I’m not a Bitcoiner. Keep me apart from that discussion and I will always support you all.

People confuse the new as-if physics for money. So I stayed out to do my vision.

7:06 PM · Jan 3, 2021

@EricRWeinstein

I would however come to any credible meeting about freeing Satoshi’s genius from the loss of anonymity to the ledger that is the blockchain.

Bitcoiners are the logical saviors of physics. And post-Einsteinian space travel and local digital conservation laws are out best hopes.

7:06 PM · Jan 3, 2021

@EricRWeinstein

But Bitcoiners must stop fetishizing the BTC/USD exchange rate and wealth. Set your sights higher. Become the numeraire. Time to fund the worthy outside your communities. There aren’t many. Become our adults.

And also look for an update from me around April Fools day. Hopefully.

7:06 PM · Jan 3, 2021

@EricRWeinstein

It’s time. Put distributed computing on a bundle. Stop worshiping the initial blockchain innovation. Time to move to full digital physics with space-time replaced by the networked computers in distributed computing, and by the Observerse in actual physics. We can’t stay here. 🙏

7:06 PM · Jan 3, 2021

@EricRWeinstein Anonymity shouldn't be an issue if the response is informative, provocative, and novel. Just think of it as a Pen name.

7:10 AM · Jan 12, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

We are all in favor of constructive use of anonymity. It’s the other thing that causes me to dislike it.

Many use it here for coordinating harm. Can’t stand that.

7:21 AM · Jan 12, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

Anonymous accounts are used by institutions for both astroturfing & bot farming. They are used for FUD campaigning by institutions and their armies to destroy those who stand up under their own names.

I really don’t get this. This is not pro-underdog. Something else is going on.

This platform will protect anons for this reason particularly

7:42 PM · Jul 9, 2023

7:42 PM · Jul 9, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

A pro-underdog position would be different. It would not assume that accounts standing up to protest would be just individuals against unjust institutions. It would view anonymity as an amoral tool rather than a good thing in and of itself.

To celebrate anonymity makes no sense.

7:50 PM · Jul 9, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

But if you the tech company have a better idea as to who is behind the anons then maybe you are the winner. They are not anonymous to you.

But to not acknowledge the very real problems and dangers anonymous accounts pose to safety, fairness, individuals and civil society is to pretend that they all belong to whistleblowers and noble individuals and never farms, trolls, stalkers, harassers, and institutions. Something is off.

7:57 PM · Jul 9, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

Added: Notice the number of anonymous accounts saying I am anti-anonymity. I’m not. Duh. I’m against using anonymity to abuse individuals.

I’m anti-oversimplification and misrepresentation. I’m anti-AstroTurf. Anti-FUD. Anti-Bot farm. Anti-false populism.

Anonymity is an amoral tool. Full stop.

8:13 PM · Jul 9, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

There is a major disconnect on anonymity. Imagine that:

@DogNose371 Wants to talk about being a suicidal non-believing Mormon.

@sunnydazeNM is a bot that attacks non-believing Mormons and remains anonymous to avoid consequence.

@urfriendTabitha is an intelligence community account.

@ITrackuOK is a stalker who lives for lulz.

@EnoughOfficeBS is a whistleblower.

@DebateMeUWuss is a serial harasser.

@NoMoreLiesPersian is a political dissident in fear of her life.

@TheDoctorOfTruthMD doxxes people.

@letsBgoodforgod is a predator.

@noConspiracyNutsZone is part of a bot farm hired to destroy the reputations of those who stand up to corrupt institutions.

@tryingToFindPeaceYall is a shy gay teenager who uses his account to connect with people without fear.

@LincolnLogRepublican is a conservative teacher who is afraid she will be fired for standing up for her beliefs.

———-

Yes. I do think anonymous accounts are a significant issue. They aren’t a slam dunk as per the above.

If you think I don’t understand why anonymous accounts “are simply a good thing”, educate me using the list of fictitious accounts above. I genuinely have no idea how anonymity is simple in your minds. It’s amoral. Used for both good and bad. A tool of the oppressed and the oppressor alike. I just don’t get the simplicity of anonymity as a simple good. It is a complex issue. Obviously. Am I wrong? Thanks. Keep it civil and I will better understand you. 🙏

5:22 PM · Jul 10, 2023

The reason I'm anonymous is that I'm open about my cannabis use on this platform and I support legislation efforts. If my employer found out I'd be out of a job. Literally.

4:49 PM · Jul 10, 2023

A lot of people misunderstand the difference between amoral and immoral.

6:39 PM · Jul 10, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

I’m learning that now.

7:08 PM · Jul 10, 2023

@EricRWeinstein

People assume my desire to avoid slipping into anarchy, civil strife & madness is about turning the other cheek.

That it’s about extending the benefit of the doubt/tolerance to those who’d recruit our own kids to kill us.

You aren’t listening. And I can’t help that.

Aug 29th:

12:01 PM · Sep 13, 2025

Decent people give others the benefit of the doubt. At first we assume that a stranger is telling the truth.

But the stranger becomes known, over time, on the evidence of their actions.

At some point it becomes clear that such others no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt - a decent person must assume that the other is probably acting in bad faith.

To continue giving the benefit of the doubt to others beyond that point is to willingly acquiesce to being a doormat.

When a person publicly exhibits, through their own carefully curated appearance, that they hold a set of beliefs at odds with seeking truth, we should heed that warning.

11:27 AM · Sep 13, 2025

@EricRWeinstein

If you want to save our country from what is coming you are going to have to face hard facts:

A) We have growing fringe movements in the parties looking for opportunities to turn to armed struggle.

B) The main asymmetry between the parties is party affiliation of institutional actors.

C) Media and Education are the two most dangerous institutions, and they are now suffused with normalized revolutionaries.

D) Revolutionaries have been normalized as if they were liberals. They are not. They are different.

E) Revolutionaries recruit people who have not been “dealt in”. You can’t stop this without dealing people in. No one is dealing these people in. They don’t see a path.

F) Every attempt to point out E) results in someone who got themselves dealt in talking loudly about how easy it is if you have grit. This works….bur it only works for some individuals. If it is so easy: show us all how to deal in three generations AT SCALE with AI on their heels as well.

G) We are going to have to stop fighting the kids and fight the party leaders.

H) The big tents are a huge problem. The sane center people have to see more in common with counterparts across the aisle than with their fringes itching to kill.

I) We need to help those who can be brought back. Identify those too far gone. And pray we can know the difference.

J) We are going to have to recognize how far gone this situation already, is and work like hell of we want to bring it back to sanity.

K) China, Iran, N Korea, Russia, etc. are watching. Likely not always passively.

12:18 PM · Sep 13, 2025

@EricRWeinstein

L) We are going to have to have an entirely different conversation about the collision of internet anonymity, targeting behavior and free speech.

12:21 PM · Sep 13, 2025

@EricRWeinstein

Sorry about the typos. As always.

12:23 PM · Sep 13, 2025

Related Pages[edit]

Digital Wetwork

References[edit]

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