Category: censorship

DoJ asks Congress to limit protections for social media companies

[ad_1] Politicians have been poking at Section 230 for months. The DoJ doesn’t typically weigh in on legislation, but now, Barr is asking Congress to roll back critical aspects of Section 230. Not only is that unusual, it could add to speculation that some politicians are attempting to “bully tech companies into political submission,” as […]

Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ will self-regulate to avoid India censorship

[ad_1] The Indian government has been hesitant to censor streaming services and would rather they keep themselves in check. This theoretically keeps officials happy — they don’t have to worry as much that parents will inadvertently play inappropriate movies for their kids, or that there will be no way to report a TV show. Services […]

Facebook accused of ‘cultivating authoritarianism’ in Thailand

[ad_1] “Our group is part of a democratization process, it is a space for freedom of expression,” he told Reuters. “By doing this, Facebook is cooperating with the authoritarian regime to obstruct democracy and cultivating authoritarianism in Thailand.” After careful review, Facebook has determined that we are compelled to restrict access to content which the […]

Trump’s threat to ban TikTok might be legal, but it’s super shady

[ad_1] The answer to that question is a resounding, “well, it’s complicated.” But before we jump into that legal briar patch, let’s take a quick look at the company that has so effectively managed to raise the president’s ire. If you don’t know what TikTok is, go ask literally anybody under the age of 30. […]

TikTok will exit Hong Kong because of China’s new security law

[ad_1] All those efforts aren’t necessarily helping, though. When asked about it by Fox News, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US is “certainly looking at” banning Chinese social media apps like TikTok. In addition, the US Senate recently asked intelligence services to probe TikTok to see if it presents any kind […]

Facebook will ‘pause’ responses to data requests from Hong Kong

[ad_1] China just recently imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong, a region not subject to the country’s restrictive “Great Firewall” that censors the internet throughout the country. However, legal experts believe the new law gives police the power to order individuals and companies to remove content. But despite the law, it sounds […]

Apple removed a popular podcast app in China by government order

[ad_1] Apple also recently removed Castro Podcasts from the App Store for similar reasons. “We think it might have been our support of the protests in the Discover tab,” Castro tweeted. “We were not given specifics.” China is Apple’s third largest market after the US and Europe. To that end, it often obliges requests to […]

The Trojan Horse in Trump’s anti-Twitter executive order

[ad_1] “The Order would circumvent the role of Congress and of the courts in enacting and interpreting [Section 230] …and purport to empower multiple government agencies to pass judgment on companies’ content moderation practices,” its lawsuit states. “The Order clouds the legal landscape in which the hosts of third-party content operate and puts them all […]

YouTube blames bug for censoring comments on China’s ruling party

[ad_1] One of the phrases YouTube is censoring is “五毛 (wumao),” which roughly translates to “50-cent party,” a derogatory term aimed at online censors who the Chinese government pays to direct conversations away from criticism of the ruling party. According to The Verge, what YouTube isn’t doing is deleting the English translations of those phrases nor their Romanized […]