Nothing New Under The Sun

There was no Social Media in the 17th Century but what they did have was the Printing Press which caused a very Social Media like fuss when the cost of printing reduced so much that anyone could print anything, and they did in the form pf pamphlets.
The sudden explosion of cheap print unleashed a tidal wave of inexpensive pamphlets that could be produced and distributed with unprecedented speed. Before this surge, most information flowed through relatively narrow channels but suddenly, anyone with modest resources could circulate opinions in the streets.
This led to what historians describe as pamphlet wars, in which anyone with a beef weaponised print to attack their enemies, circulate conspiracy theories, and harden ideological lines. The tone of many pamphlets was and filled with character assassinations and exaggerated claims designed to inflame readers.
Authorities were so alarmed by the loss of their narrative control that Parliament passed measures such as the Licensing Order of 1643 in an attempt to suppress 'scandalous and unlicensed printing'.
Today the British Government are attempting their own version of the Licensing Act to suppress scandalous and unlicensed digital messages, especially those aimed at our children so confirming that old proverb that nothing is new under the Sun meaning events today are merely repetitions of what occurred before, only now with Mobile Phones rather than a more unwieldy Printing Press.