Tax Facebook, just like alcohol and tobacco

The nation responded to the harm caused by excessive alcohol consumption and instituted Prohibition in 1920. The idea was that people could not police themselves, the police could not protect people from the corruption and crime associated with alcohol, and the social problems would go away only if booze went away.

It didn’t work, crime got worse and people figured out ways to get a drink. The nation brought back legal alcohol sales in 1933.

Since then, the federal government, state and local governments have taxed alcohol, heavily in some jurisdictions, to make it more expensive to drink too much, and in many cases to generate revenue to pay for treatment and social service programs and help cover the costs of law enforcement.

It’s not a perfect system, but rather a compromise of what is achievable in society. If the public will not act responsibly and stop harmful behavior and the damage it does to families, children and communities, tax it and use the money in an attempt to at least repair some of that damage.

Yes, it means that responsible drinkers pay the tax too, but that’s how organized society functions — everyone pitches in for the greater good.

It’s similar with tobacco taxes that in some states help pay for stop-smoking programs.

So why not tax Facebook and other social media providers that have not learned — or cared enough — to manage their operations for the good of the community rather than to spread divisiveness in the interest of making a profit.

Yes, Facebook provides a free service for individuals and communities to share information. It’s the other uses that hurt society, as the world saw with the Capitol riots on Jan. 6 and countless other times with irresponsible, angry, sometimes violent posts by people of all political persuasions.

Yes, people have a right to free speech. But just as social media has amplified the reach of that speech to millions of people with the click of a button, so too has it encouraged, even promoted misleading and harmful speech.

And yes, everyone has a right to their opinion, and to share it with others, unless it threatens their neighbors or democracy. That’s where free speech becomes a dangerous problem, and society has to protect itself.

So, rather than count on Facebook or government to become the free-speech judges of the world, why not tax social media and use the revenues for good things. It’s not perfect, but nothing ever is.

I’m not thinking of a tax on individuals — it would be hard to collect pennies from each of millions of users. It would be easier to tax at the service provider level. And the tax should not be based on profits, since companies long ago figured out how to disguise profits to avoid taxes. The tax could be based on each social media company’s total number of clicks or likes or whatever measure is the most representative of the platform’s influence on society.

Tax Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all the others, then let them figure out whether to take it out of their profits or charge for their service like a phone company. The money could go to school programs, child care services, substance abuse counseling and treatment, food banks, job training — most anything that improves lives and makes communities stronger.

Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol and it will not work for social media. At least with a tax, society can get something out of Facebook and others to help their communities.

I admit this probably will never happen. But I can dream of the likes it might get.