For the purposes of opening a bank account or for getting a loan then it would be considered identity theft. Pretending to be someone else online though? That's perfectly legal free speech in the US as far as I'm aware
So you'd be happy if people created social network profiles pretending to be you and posting whatever they want people to believe you said because of free speech? Sounds pretty weird, are you sure you don't have a law against such abuse?
I thought free speech was me saying what I want, not a free pass to mislead people to believe I said something I didn't.
I wouldn't be happy with it but that doesn't make it illegal. In some countries it might be considered libel/defamation depending on what was said, but those standards vary wildly between/within countries and are to my understanding generally not considered criminal
And permitting lying or misleading speech is a pretty core part of free speech, it might be socially frowned upon or disincentivised by terms of service/moderation/other methods, but it's certainly not illegal
1337shadow|3 years ago
I thought free speech was me saying what I want, not a free pass to mislead people to believe I said something I didn't.
mojzu|3 years ago
And permitting lying or misleading speech is a pretty core part of free speech, it might be socially frowned upon or disincentivised by terms of service/moderation/other methods, but it's certainly not illegal