There was this whole discourse floating around where certain voices kept pushing the narrative: "If you're not doxxed and running your real identity as a public figure, your takes don't matter. You're basically nobody."

But here's the thing—those same people often have AI-generated content of themselves splashed across the internet in compromising situations, some of it far worse. And once something hits the web, it's permanent. Forever.

So which is it? Should everyone be forced into public identity verification to earn credibility? Or is the freedom to speak pseudonymously still a core principle in this space? The irony is thick when people making that argument are the ones who've already lost control of their digital footprint entirely.