Can they effectively regulate platforms like Steemit?

If you try to be the "real person" which steemit naively expects from new users in their intro; then steem is even easier to track to all the world than FB. Anyone can easily track every action.

This would be the same on most crypto blockchains should we post our real name and a picture in our wallet which is then made public accessable.

The lesson of the above example is to demonstrate that our annonimity on the net is our responsibility.

If you are not using the Tor browser and a non-tracking search engine like DuckDuckGo then you have no one to blame but yourself for being outed.

Do we really need the bells, whistles and speed of the present day internet to raise awareness and form communities? My thought is no.

As an example let's look at the state of tech prior to the World Wide Web. By '84 the internet was accessable to me via a mainframe at my University. We could call in via modem from my home. The only graphics was ASCI yet words still held power. My Bulliten Board Service (BBS) was added to the Citadel Network in 1987. Each night my computer would call another pre-arranged computer on the CitNet. The machines would exchange common threads/rooms/subjects and emails. This calling would happen throughout north america. It allowed data transfer without expensive long distance charges. It would take 2 days for email to go from coast to coast but they got there.

Freedom sometimes means giving up some comforts. Ask any homesteader about that.

So when they look to shut you down or monitor your conversations ask what is needed to counter that and do what it takes to counter it no matter if it means a sacrifice on your part.