Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

Found on Reuters on Thursday, 06 May 2021
Browse Censorship

Live-streaming service Twitch will ban users for offenses such as hate-group membership or credible threats of mass violence that occur entirely away from the site, in a new approach to moderating the platform, the company said on Wednesday.

“Taking action against misconduct that occurs entirely off our service is a novel approach for both Twitch and the industry at large, but it’s one we believe - and hear from you - is crucial to get right,” the company said in a blog post.

Their house, their rules. However, trying to control people elsewhere is a no-go.

YouTube suspends Trump’s account, disables comments “indefinitely”

Found on Ars Technica on Friday, 15 January 2021
Browse Censorship

YouTube, following in the path of very nearly every other social media platform, is suspending President Donald Trump's channel due to concerns that he will use it to foment additional violence in the coming days.

While it is possible Trump may have his account reinstated after that period, comments to his videos are shut down "indefinitely," due to "safety concerns found in the comments section," YouTube added.

Like Twitter and others, they only act when they have nothing to fear.

Parler: Amazon to remove site from web hosting service

Found on BBC News on Monday, 11 January 2021
Browse Censorship

Parler styles itself as an "unbiased" social media and has proved popular with people banned from Twitter.

Amazon told Parler it had found 98 posts on the site that encouraged violence. Apple and Google have removed the app from their stores.

If 98 posts are enough to shut down a network, Facebook and Twitter should have been cut off years ago. This will only support the development of decentralized networks without any chance for a normal content moderation; and then extremists cannot be hidden anymore.

Donald Trump has finally earned a permaban from Twitter

Found on Ars Technica on Sunday, 10 January 2021
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"After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them—specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter—we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter said in a company blog post this evening.

What a bold move from Twitter to act now, a few days before Trump goes out of office. For several years, they did not act at all.

Facebook Is Going After Its Critics in the Name of Privacy

Found on Wired on Monday, 23 November 2020
Browse Censorship

Facebook has brought its might down upon a small but scrappy academic team who've done brilliant work in exposing the company's failures to contain scams, rip-offs, and political disinformation.

Facebook promised it would clean up its act. It didn't. And when the Ad Observatory caught the company breaking its promises, it sought to shut them down. This may be par for the course with Facebook, but it's not something we as a society can afford to tolerate any longer.

Facebook always breaks its promises. There's nothing good about it.

Zoom Deleted Events Discussing Zoom “Censorship”

Found on Buzzfeed News on Saturday, 31 October 2020
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Zoom told the Verge at the time that the Sept. 23 talk was in violation of the company’s terms of service. The Verge also reported that the action was in response to pressure by Jewish and Israel lobby groups, such as the Lawfare Project.

“I know that I have free speech rights that are being violated,” she said, “and a private entity is dictating to my public university what I can and cannot say.”

That's what you get for relying on others. If you want to avoid censorship, do it yourself, eg with Jitsi.

Thailand takes first legal action against Facebook, Twitter over content

Found on Reuters on Saturday, 03 October 2020
Browse Censorship

The complaints were against the U.S. parent companies and not their Thai subsidiaries, Puttipong said.

The ministry will file more requests asking Facebook, Twitter, and Google, to remove more than 3,000 items, some of which include criticism of the monarchy, Puttipong said.

While already questionable, they could block access to said content from inside of Thailand; but if they would actually remove it for everybody in the world, it would reduce the possible online content to the minimal compromise between all nations. It would be a really tiny Internet then.

.uk registry operator Nominet responds to renewed criticism – by silencing its critics

Found on The Register on Friday, 25 September 2020
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Speaking at Nominet’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday morning, the organisation’s CEO Russell Haworth shocked members by announcing he was shutting down its internal web forum – the only means of independent communication between members – effective immediately.

What makes the decision to kill any form of independent communication that much worse, however, is the fact that recent criticism leveled at Nominet has been entirely justified.

The week before that, Nominet was accused of actively misleading British punters by sending emails warning them about the need to renew domain names they never ordered and didn’t want.

There is still the Internet, and Nominet cannot stop people from talking about it's shady business practices there.

Facebook will label rule violations as Coke, Pepsi, Starbucks join ad “pause”

Found on Ars Technica on Tuesday, 30 June 2020
Browse Censorship

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will change the way it handles rule-breaking speech from high-profile politicians in the future amid an advertising boycott that has drawn participation from large firms across several sectors.

"A handful of times a year, we leave up content that would otherwise violate our policies if the public interest value outweighs the risk of harm," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook Live video and accompanying post, repeating his usual argument that everyone should be able to read whatever a politician chooses to say on the platform.

So much for Zuckerberg's earlier promises. As soon as the inflow of money drops, his promises drop too.

Zoom suspends account of US-based Chinese activists after Tiananmen meeting

Found on BBC News on Thursday, 11 June 2020
Browse Censorship

Video conferencing giant Zoom suspended the account of a group of US-based Chinese activists after they held a meeting on the platform to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Zoom said the account had been closed to comply with "local laws".

"I asked Zoom whether this is political censorship but it has never replied to me," said Mr Lee, who is chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance - the organiser of Hong Kong's annual vigil for the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.

Local laws of China get enforced in the US. That's a new one.