^Tagcensorship

Planet Earth from Space, People's Republic of China warm glow highlighted state borders and counties animation, city lights, 3d illustration

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
October 20, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Global Technology

Tagged
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, censorship, China, Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), LinkedIn}

LinkedIn Says Goodbye to China

_{If the blasé business world of LinkedIn cannot pass the Cyberspace Administration of China’s rules, then what platform can?} _{Heather Zeiger

October 20, 2021

6

Business and Finance, Censorship, Global Technology}

LinkedIn announced that it will no longer host social media and content sharing in China. Instead, it’s China-only app will be a job-board site. This comes after LinkedIn received criticism for blocking certain researcher profiles in China as well as human rights advocates and journalists who write on China. LinkedIn, which was bought by Microsoft in 2016, was one of the only U.S.-based social media outlets still operating within China. Twitter, Facebook (including Instagram, WhatsApp), and YouTube (owned by Alphabet, Inc.) are banned. Google (also owned by Alphabet, Inc.) left in 2010. Signal and Clubhouse were banned in 2021. Other apps, such as TikTok (owned by ByteDance, Inc.) have their own Chinese version that complies with censors and data regulators. Read More ›

Justice and law concept. Gavel on sounding block in hand's Male judge at a courtroom, working with document law books, report the case on table in modern office.

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Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
August 8, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Big Tech censorship, censorship, Chris Cox, Clare Morell, Communications Decency Act, First Amendment, Free speech, Josh Hawley, Philip Hamburger, Ron DeSantis, Ron Wyden, Section 230, The Tyranny of Big Tech (book)}

Section 230: What Is It and Why the Controversy?

_{Does Section 230 provide Big Tech too much power, or is it necessary for the moderation of misinformation and inappropriate content?} _{Caitlin Cory

August 8, 2021

10

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

At the center of the controversy between free speech and the rights of private companies lies Section 230, the controversial U.S. code dating back to 1996. Toward the end of his term in 2020, former President Donald Trump famously tweeted that Section 230 should be “completely terminated.” Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard voiced their support, but by and large, the sentiment was met with fierce resistance. Advocates for the reform (or complete repeal) of Section 230 argue that it shields Big Tech companies from accountability when they engage in politically-motivated censorship and content moderation. Supporters of Section 230 argue that it is essential to keep the internet free of misinformation and vile or obscene material. Section 230 Read More ›

Books and crumpled paper in the bin. Books that do not read, low-grade literature, copy space

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Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
June 22, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media, Technocracy

Tagged
Amazon, blacklisting, Cancel culture, censorship, Josh Hawley, Regnery Publishing, Simon & Schuster, The Tyranny of Big Tech (book)}

The Tyranny of Big Tech: The Book That Almost Wasn’t

_{How cancel culture came for a book taking on Big Tech monopolies} _{Caitlin Cory

June 22, 2021

8

Censorship, Social Media, Technocracy}

On May 4, Regnery Publishing released The Tyranny of Big Tech, a book written by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) uncovering the deceptive and antitrust practices of companies like Facebook and Google, and laying out a policy plan to break up the monopolies and protect the interests of America’s common men and women. The book has done well. In its first week, it became the number one bestseller in three separate categories on Amazon lists, and it made the Publisher’s Weekly list of hardcover nonfiction at No. 6. “Big Tech represents today’s robber barons,” Hawley writes in the first chapter, “who are draining prosperity and power away from the great middle of our society and creating, as they do, a new Read More ›

Business risk control concept, Businessman protect wooden block fall to planning and strategy in risk to business Alternative and prevent. Investment Insurance Business.

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Author
News
Date
June 16, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Anthony Fauci, Big Tech censorship, censorship, Josh Hawley, Mark Zuckerberg, Ron DeSantis, Section 230, The Tyranny of Big Tech (book)}

The Push to Break Up Big Tech Monopolies

_{Facebook is "acting as an arm of the state," says Florida's governor} _{News

June 16, 2021

5

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeared on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, hosted by Maria Bartiromo, over the weekend. The two discussed Big Tech’s alarming censorship power and Florida’s efforts to combat that power. Recent government emails obtained through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits suggest that Dr. Anthony Fauci and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg coordinated what should and should not be dispersed through social media platforms regarding COVID-19 and its origins. “Do you believe Fauci colluded with Mark Zuckerberg? Does this expose Facebook to legal action?” Bartiromo asked DeSantis. DeSantis answered by calling Facebook “an arm of the state”: Here’s an example of working with Fauci where Facebook, you can argue, is essentially acting as an arm of the state, because they’re Read More ›

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Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
June 3, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media, Technocracy

Tagged
banned from YouTUbe, censorship, Eric Metaxas, Florida, Free speech, Naomi Wolf, Scott Atlas, social media, Texas, YouTube}

Big Tech Scrubs Religious Radio Show From YouTube

_{This isn't the first time YouTube has infringed on free speech} _{Caitlin Cory

June 3, 2021

4

Censorship, Social Media, Technocracy}

YouTube removed an entire radio show from its platform this week, hosted by popular Christian author and social commentator Eric Metaxas, citing violations of their community standards. Metaxas – author of biographies on the lives of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther, and William Wilberforce, among many other books – announced the news to his social media pages on Tuesday. “It’s happened,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “Despite our going FAR out of our way to comply with their arbitrary ‘community standards’, YouTube decided to remove every single video we’ve ever done on the Eric Metaxas Show off their platform.” The Eric Metaxas Radio Show, humorously called “The Show About Everything”, has featured a host of big name guests, including former Read More ›

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Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
April 8, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Bryan Hughes, censorship, Clarence Thomas, Facebook, Greg Abbott, Section 230, Senate Bill 12, Supreme Court of the United States, Texas, Twitter}

Texas Senate Passes Bill Prohibiting Big Tech Censorship

_{The bill seeks to reign in Big Tech power and protect the principle of free speech for Texas citizens} _{Caitlin Cory

April 8, 2021

4

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

Last week, the Texas Senate passed a measure that would prohibit large social media companies like Facebook and Twitter from censoring political and religious viewpoints of Texas citizens. The bill now awaits a vote in the Texas House. Senate Bill 12 was introduced in March by State Senator Bryan Hughes. Titled “Relating to the censorship of users’ expressions by an interactive computer service,” the bill would not only prohibit censorship, but would require social media companies to disclose their moderation policies, publish reports about any blocked content, and create a legal route for people to appeal any censoring or deplatforming decisions. Social media companies currently enjoy legal protections against lawsuit under Section 230 of the U.S. Code, which on the Read More ›

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Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
April 6, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Amazon, apple, censorship, Facebook, Google, John West, Ken Buck, Mike Lee, Parler, Twitter}

Parler vs. Amazon: Amazon Strikes Back!

_{Amazon is trying to avoid a state lawsuit through a hardball legal maneuver} _{Caitlin Cory

April 6, 2021

6

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

Parler, an alternative social networking site, has been in a fierce legal battle with AWS/Amazon since it was removed from Amazon's platforms on January 10. Read More ›

a man using digital tablet with building hologram and internet media icons. Smart city, 5g, internet and networking technology concept

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Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
March 18, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Data Privacy, Law

Tagged
Blockchain, censorship, Disney World, Featured, Government Policy, Innovation Zone, Nevada, Privacy, Reedy Creek Improvement District, Smart Cities, Steve Sisolak, Toyota}

Nevada Announces New Cities in State To Be Run By Big Tech

_{The zones promise technological freedom, but what are the dangers to handing so much political power to big corporations?} _{Caitlin Cory

March 18, 2021

5

Business and Finance, Censorship, Data Privacy, Law}

Nevada is courting technological business by offering them the opportunity to develop cities independent of government regulation. In his State of the State address on January 19th, Nevada Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak announced proposed legislation to create “Innovation Zones” in order “to jumpstart the state’s economy by attracting technology firms.” The long-term vision for these Innovation Zones is a county independent of local government, run solely by a technological corporation for the purpose of pursuing advanced technology without the red tape of bureaucracy. The proposed legislation draft calls “traditional forms of local government” “inadequate” in their ability “to provide the flexibility and resources conducive to making the State a leader in attracting and retaining new forms and types of businesses…” Read More ›

The concept of building a business network Businessmen experience a global network and global online trading development system exchange.

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Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
March 12, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Media

Tagged
bias, censorship, encyclopedia, Encyclosphere, Günter Bechly, Intelligent design theory, Larry Sanger, Neutrality claims, Walter Bradley, Wikipedia}

Wikipedia’s Bias Meets a Free-Speech Alternative

_{The famously free encyclopedia’s pages on abortion, communism, and historical figures reveal a left-leaning bias} _{Caitlin Cory

March 12, 2021

6

Censorship, Media}

Last December, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger announced that he would be launching a free speech alternative to Wikipedia, a website that Sanger believes has lost its credibility as a neutral source of information. Sanger’s Encyclosphere is meant to be “an open encyclopedia network” (Sanger compares it to “the blogosphere”) with the goal of “build(ing) a network that … all of humanity owns and no one exclusively controls.” One of Wikipedia’s declared “fundamental principle(s)” is NPOV – neutral point of view. Wikipedia defines NPOV as “representing fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias, all the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic.” “This policy is non-negotiable,” the website states. But according to Sanger, “Wikipedia’s ‘NPOV’ is dead.” Read More ›

Like facebook 3d box with white background. 3d rendering

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Author
News
Date
February 17, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance

Tagged
censorship, China, Coca-Cola, Corporations as progressive (Woke), COVID-19, Douglas Murray, Facebook, Facebook advertising, Facebook and health data, Facebook moderators, Hershey, Lee Smith, UnHerd, Unilever, Verizon}

Who’s Afraid of Facebook? Maybe We Should All Be More Wary

_{A whistleblower showed that rules are enforced very unevenly. Facebook allows extremist language to flourish in some venues and censors mainstream speech in others} _{News

February 17, 2021

7

Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance}

Facebook is, according to Fortune Magazine, the “dominant social media app,” with $84.2 billion in revenue in 2019, especially after acquiring Instagram. So dominant that government hearings into questionable activities offer mere slaps on the wrist. There is a reason for that, as we shall soon see. Facebook is, of course, a censor but at best a clumsy one. It removed a page by international disease experts critical of the COVID lockdowns, as if they were mere health cranks. Recently, Facebook announced that it plans to continue to take down posts whose claims its fact checkers “deem false” (February 8, 2021). To get some sense of what that means, Facebook censored an article at UnHerd that was critical of the Read More ›

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Author
John G. West
Date
February 16, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Media, Social Media

Tagged
Amazon, apple, censorship, discrimination, Facebook, Free speech, Google, Lawsuits, Parler, political discrimination, Seattle}

Little-Known Civil Rights Law Could Bring Big Tech to Its Knees

_{Many tech giants have considerable assets and many employees in Seattle's jurisdiction} _{John G. West

February 16, 2021

13

Censorship, Media, Social Media}

SEATTLE—As state and federal lawmakers consider drafting new legislation to counter big tech censorship of dissenting political voices, few seem to realize that an anti-discrimination law already on the books could spell big trouble for big tech companies that engage in political censorship. Ironically, the law was enacted by one of the most politically progressive cities in the country: Seattle. Unlike most political jurisdictions in the United States, Seattle expressly forbids discrimination on the basis of “political ideology.” Seattle defines political ideology expansively as any idea or belief, or coordinated body of ideas or beliefs, relating to the purpose, conduct, organization, function or basis of government and related institutions and activities, whether or not characteristic of any political party or group. This Read More ›

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Author
Eric Holloway
Date
January 25, 2021

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Amazon Web Services (AWS), censorship, e-mail, encrypted email, Encryption, Featured, Free speech, Gab, MeWe, Multimedia, Parler}

What We Can Do To Prevent More Online Censorship

_{Encrypted email can be an end-around social media companies' monopoly of free speech} _{Eric Holloway

January 25, 2021

4

Social Media}

With all the concern about major social media companies deplatforming those they disagree with, there is a concern that these companies’ monopoly on social media will eliminate free speech. New social media platforms such as Gab, Parler and MeWe have popped up to offer freer alternatives. Yet even that is not without peril, as deplatforming can happen lower down the technology stack. Parler was recently kicked off AWS (Amazon Web Services). However, in the midst of all the hubbub we’ve forgotten the original social network: email. Email is still here. The distance between email and modern social media may be smaller than it first appears. Lets make a short list of the perceived differences between social media and email, and Read More ›

COVID-19 coronavirus in China, renminbi yuan money bill with face mask. COVID global stock market. World economy hit by corona virus outbreak. Financial crisis and coronavirus pandemic concept.

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
January 20, 2021

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
censorship, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), COVID-19, Cyberspace Administration of China, Fang Fang, Featured, Great Firewall, Journalists, Zhang Zhan}

Lawyer Turned Citizen Journalist in China Turns Up Again—in Jail

_{She has been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a crime in China} _{Heather Zeiger

January 20, 2021

10

Technocracy}

Lawyer-turned-citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, 37, went missing on May 15 after documenting on Youtube, Twitter, and WeChat what she saw in Wuhan during the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) pandemic. She has now been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.” Zhang had already been detained for supporting the 2019 Hong Kong protests, which likely played into her harsh sentence. So far, 47 journalists have been jailed for reporting on COVID-19 in China. YouTube and Twitter are inaccessible within China because of the Great Firewall which allows the Communist Party of China (CCP) to control the information that comes into and goes out of the country. Within the Great Firewall journalists must adhere Read More ›

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Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
November 9, 2020

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
censorship, Election fraud, Featured, Hunter Biden, Mechanical censorship, New York Post, Twitter, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board}

Twitter Twitted Over Clumsy Political Censorship

_{Getting the algorithm to censor users can backfire and sometimes the results are funny} _{Jonathan Bartlett

November 9, 2020

4

Social Media}

I once wrote an online forum system called Areopagus. It had a simple “bad words” (profanities, etc.) filter. It looked for common bad words and common variations of those words and automatically prevented any post containing those words or their variations from being posted. This is called “mechanical censorship” and, on its own, it is nothing new. Some users came up with cleverer variations of the bad words than the filter was set for and then moderators had to spot and remove the posts. During the recent presidential election campaign, Twitter has taken mechanical censorship to new levels. Instead of censoring ways of speaking, Twitter has decided to censor specific ideas and thoughts. Automatic censorship of ideas is a problematic Read More ›

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
October 12, 2020

Categorized
Global Technology, Programming, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Ai Fen, censorship, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese Human Rights Defenders (organization), COVID-19, Fang Fang, Featured, Gitee, GitHub, Li Wenliang, Microsoft, Peter Hessler, Wuhan, Wuhan Diary (book)}

China: COVID-19’s True History Finds an Unlikely Home — GitHub

_{The Chinese Communist party, rewriting the COVID-19 story with itself as the hero, must reckon with truthful techies} _{Heather Zeiger

October 12, 2020

9

Global Technology, Programming, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy}

For a brief window of time at the beginning of 2020, China’s internet censors didn’t block stories about Wuhan and COVID-19, the coronavirus. Caixin, a widely-read news magazine, published a multi-page investigative report on everything leading up to the outbreak, including the way in which the provincial authorities in Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, suppressed knowledge of the virus. Fang Fang, an award-winning novelist, kept a Wuhan diary online on Weibo, which was recently published as a book in the U.S. (HarperCollins 2020). For that short time, comments on the coronavirus were not being censored (Wired) at WeChat. Many people were thus able to vent their frustrations and pay their respects when 32-year-old ophthalmologist and whistleblower Li Wenliang Read More ›

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
September 19, 2020

Categorized
Ethics, Global Technology, Technocracy

Tagged
___longform, censorship, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Disney, Featured, Jeannette Ng, Liu Yifei, Max Brooks, Mulan (film), Turpan, Uyghurs, World War Z (film), Ziba Murat}

Mulan: Disney Talks Freedom at Home, Toes the Line in China

_{Films we see get altered in subtle and not-so-subtle ways to conform to the requirements of CCP propaganda} _{Heather Zeiger

September 19, 2020

10

Ethics, Global Technology, Technocracy}

China’s government allows only about thirty-four Hollywood movies to be shown in Chinese theaters. As a result, entertainment companies like Disney go out of their way to make sure a film appeals to both North American crowds and Chinese Communist Party’s censors. Of course, what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allows and doesn’t allow in films is vague and subject to change, which keeps foreign film-makers guessing. Mulan, Disney’s latest attempt to please both the North American and the Chinese market, has failed to do either, for a number of reasons. Financially, Disney is already hurting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Theaters in the U.S. either remain closed or permit only limited-capacity seating. In response, Disney released Mulan on its streaming Read More ›

The concept of planet Earth similar to the COVID-19 virus

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Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 7, 2020

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Peer Review, Science

Tagged
censorship, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Drake Equation, Featured, Hydroxychloroquine, Iraq War, Jair Bolsonaro, Michael Crichton, Nuclear winter, The Lancet}

Twenty Years on, Aliens Still Cause Global Warming

_{Over the years, the Jurassic Park creator observed, science has drifted from its foundation as an objective search for truth toward political power games} _{Jonathan Bartlett

June 7, 2020

5

Medicine and Health, Peer Review, Science}

In 2003, author and filmmaker Michael Crichton (1942–2008), best known for Jurassic Park, made a now-famous speech at Caltech, titled “Aliens Cause Global Warming.” The title was humorous but the content was serious. He was not addressing some strange theory of global warming; he was warning about the politicization of science. Crichton (left, in 2002, courtesy Jon Chase, Harvard CC 3.0), noted that, over the years, science has drifted away from its foundation as an objective search for truth and given itself over to political power games. The first time that he witnessed that was with the famous Drake Equation, used to turn SETI speculations about space aliens into a science. The Drake equation was a series of probabilities multiplied Read More ›

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Author
Brendan Dixon
Date
March 20, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Social Media

Tagged
censorship, Content moderation, COVID-19, Featured}

AI Is Not Ready to Moderate Content!

_{In the face of COVID-19 quarantines for human moderators, some look to AI to keep the bad stuff off social media} _{Brendan Dixon

March 20, 2020

6

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Social Media}

Big social media companies have long wanted to replace human content moderators with AI. COVID-19 quarantines have only intensified that discussion. But AI is far, far from ready to successfully moderate content in an age of where virtual monopolies make single point failure a frequent risk.

Coronavirus in a World Without Trust

_{In China, medical heroism thrives despite both paranoia and justified mistrust of authorities} _{Heather Zeiger

February 11, 2020

10

Medicine and Health, Surveillance}

While China’s citizens are living in an information vacuum, the government has stepped up its surveillance strategies in order to track people who have been near someone infected with the coronavirus. Some commentators consider these measures disproportionate to the actual risk posed to others and in violation of human rights. Others see them as necessary.

Censorship? But Coronavirus Doesn’t Care!

_{Back when SARS was a threat, social media wasn’t the giant it is today. Censorship, secrecy, and detention are less effective tools of control now} _{Heather Zeiger

February 1, 2020

10

Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Social Media, Surveillance}

Coronavirus provides a test. The Chinese Communist Party offers mainland Chinese people security and prosperity in exchange for the sacrifice of personal freedom. But when the government cannot uphold its end of the agreement—security—the people may become less tolerant of the human rights violations. And the age of information makes it much easier to discover them.