Hi, scholar of online abuse here.

No. I cannot overstate how dangerous and inadequate this is. For years, I've watched people proudly post harassment and abuse under their legal names, with photographs attached. Facebook is a cesspit despite its anti-anonymity policies. https://twitter.com/Schneider_CM/status/1349025916857569283

Deindividuation is but one of *many* contributing factors to online abuse and extremist organisation. The fact that these people don't think they're doing anything wrong is a much bigger problem, as is the fact that it's easy to lose sight of your targets' humanity online.

More than deindividuation, *dissociation* is the greater threat: separation from the consequences of your words and deeds online, the cutting off of any empathy for your targets, et cetera. Killing anonymity addresses exactly *none* of this.

And regarding the attacks of the 6th, it's noteworthy (but in no way surprising to me) how little effort these people made to conceal their identities, posting loudly and proudly to several social media platforms with their legal names and workplaces attached or not far away.

Anonymity online is, I would argue, a latter day civil right. And it's especially vital for everyone from political dissidents, to trans people, to sex workers, to abuse/DV survivors, and so on.

*sighs* Been saying this for almost ten damn years and people still keep ollying up to say "hey, what if *anonymity* is the cause of all our woes on the internets!?"