So, what is happening at Soi Twilight?

[sglad]

Where would the Forum - not to mention business publications generally - be without it? Gossip and speculation, after all, formed the original basis for the Watergate investigation and the current probe by Mueller of Trump. You could argue it had a role in bringing down the government in Malaysia recently. It's part of what it means to be an open society, not a semi-closed dictatorship like Thailand

No, it doesn't. In an open society, people would be free to speak their minds on the many platforms available and theoretically have access to a freer press and a variety of news sources, thereby reducing the need for/incidence of gossip and speculation. If anything, it is in closed or semi-closed societies and dictatorships that gossip and rumour-mongering tend to breed and thrive.