Undeterred “free speech” has a self-limiting feedback loop where the most extreme views shared by a majority of users eventually drown out minority views. Threats and insults are a kind of self moderation in communities like those, they incentivise uniformity in opinions and demographic while deterring people from minority groups from interacting, which is exactly what happened with 4Chan. For example, as of 2025 roughly 80% of 4Chan users are male compared to, say, Tumblr’s 49%

Formal moderation, while not always well done, is a way to protect diverse opinions.