Social media censorship roundup

[Undertoad]

No, you truly cannot.

[Undertoad]

Netflix reveals the nine times a government has requested they take something down.

Singapore: 5
New Zealand: 1
Vietnam: 1
Germany: 1
Saudi Arabia: 1

They don't operate in China.

[Undertoad]

Canada has requested and gotten a country-level ban of the cannabis review subreddit r/CanadianMOMs.

Partly in response, users joined the subreddit /r/GeographicCensorship. It was immediately banned... entirely.

[Undertoad]

The actual list from Netflix

• In 2015, we complied with a written demand from the New Zealand Film and Video Labeling Body to remove The Bridge from the service in New Zealand only. The film is classified as “objectionable” in the country.

• In 2017, we complied with a written demand from the Vietnamese Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI) to remove Full Metal Jacket from the service in Vietnam only.

• In 2017, we complied with a written demand from the German Commission for Youth Protection (KJM) to remove Night of the Living Dead from the service in Germany only. A version of the film is banned in the country.

• In 2018, we complied with a written demand from the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to remove Cooking on High, The Legend of 420, and Disjointed from the service in Singapore only.

• In 2019, we complied with a written demand from the Saudi Communication and Information Technology Commission to remove one episode—“Saudi Arabia”—from the series Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj from the service in Saudi Arabia only.

• In 2019, we received a written demand from the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to remove The Last Temptation of Christ from the service in Singapore only. The film is banned in the country.

• In 2020, we complied with a written demand from the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to remove The Last Hangover from the service in Singapore only.

[Clodfobble]

If that's the only thing Germany ever requested to have removed, then it's only because Netflix had already done some serious self-policing. They've gotten a little better in just the last few years, but Germany's censorship laws are still surprisingly draconian.

[Griff]

Bacefook has hired Jennifer Williams a former Fox and Friends producer to help "curate" the news, whatever that means.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by Griff

Bacefook has hired Jennifer Williams a former Fox and Friends producer to help "curate" the news, whatever that means.

Curate is a technical term that means responsibility without authority, aka "you got left holding the bag."

[Undertoad]

Reddit banned several moderators of already-quarantined subreddit /r/The_Donald, and posted a strange set of rules for whom they would like to be the next moderators.

Understand, as a private place they can manage political matters however they like; but this brazen micro-management of a forum is ridiculous. I'm like, that's not how this works.

Separately, Reddit announced that they would ban users who "consistently upvote policy-breaking content within quarantined communities."

Good lord. This means they're doing data-mining to locate users they don't like!

My theory is that Reddit, which started out very okay, has lost its mojo over the last year or two -- due to an influx of low-quality users. I'm talking about teenagers, low-IQ shitposters, brazen keyboard warriors. Better quality users are departing, because why deal with all of that?

All these types are attracted to Reddit because its lack of real community; how it treats anonymity, how it fails to protect communities and instead tries to protect itself. How it does not support real conversation.

Reddit's answer to this is to create and enforce its own personal and, BTW, corporate cancel culture.

Bold strategy, let's see if it pays off.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Reddit banned several moderators of already-quarantined subreddit /r/The_Donald, and posted a strange set of rules for whom they would like to be the next moderators.

Understand, as a private place they can manage political matters however they like; but this brazen micro-management of a forum is ridiculous. I'm like, that's not how this works.

Separately, Reddit announced that they would ban users who "consistently upvote policy-breaking content within quarantined communities."

Good lord. This means they're doing data-mining to locate users they don't like!

My theory is that Reddit, which started out very okay, has lost its mojo over the last year or two -- due to an influx of low-quality users. I'm talking about teenagers, low-IQ shitposters, brazen keyboard warriors. Better quality users are departing, because why deal with all of that?

All these types are attracted to Reddit because its lack of real community; how it treats anonymity, how it fails to protect communities and instead tries to protect itself. How it does not support real conversation.

Reddit's answer to this is to create and enforce its own personal and, BTW, corporate cancel culture.

Bold strategy, let's see if it pays off.

You can do shit like this all you like, just so long as you know that corrections happen.

[fargon]

I try to stay off of politics forums, and other such BS. The only thing I look at on Reddit is the BBQ and smoking meat forums. This morning I was looking at Fark.com and every tab I clicked on was either about trump, or Bernie. I haven't been back.

[Happy Monkey]

How are the rules strange?

ETA: Legit asking, I have no idea what their rules are for that or any other subreddit

[Undertoad]

New applicants for moderator must:

- Be in good standing with our Safety team (e.g., no account suspensions in past year)
- Have at least 1000 total karma
- Have at least 500 karma in the_donald
- Not have more than 500 karma in quarantined subreddits (aside from the_donald) or subreddits banned for rule violations (not including communities banned for being unmodded)
- Have at least 1 month experience moderating a subreddit in good standing
- Not be an alt of any ineligible accounts


Perhaps not so "strange", in the sense that these might be rules they would come up with, but certainly "strange" in that these rules were constructed just for the management of this one subreddit.

I've participated in a quarantined sub before (not that one; I've never participated in the_donald) and my opinion is that the quarantining of the sub I was in was absolutely arbitrary, and almost certainly just a bias on the "Safety team"'s behalf. Reddit now intends to expand its quarantining program. Let's see if it pays off.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Let's see if it pays off.

By "pays off" do you mean "drives away their user base"?

[Happy Monkey]

As they grow, they're just discovering the tragedy of the commons.

Those look like a pretty good rule set, assuming the karma numbers are good (I have no reference point), and as long as there exist places to get the one month experience if it expands.

[Undertoad]

More in the meme sense, intended to be ironic/sarcastic (click the image for more information)