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Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#191

Post by mason240 »

jimmytidey wrote: post #33
sp332 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is a given. When Facebook is many people's main communications platform and source of news, censoring Facebook is, effectively, censoring communication and news. Since they have such power to affect our societies, they should have some obligations.

I completely agree with the above. The idea that society should accept that it has no control over the design of a major artery of communication is not sensible. With print media, TV, phone and post, all developed countries have special regulations that ensure these (often privately run) services align with values of democracy (with varying effectiveness). I think the ideal solution would be to compel Facebook to mak…

Society has complete control in deciding whether or not Facebook is a major artery of communication.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#192

Post by jedberg »

Houshalter wrote: post #161
jedberg wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The way to have a fully naked woman in a PG-13 movie is to fill her with bullet holes." I don't know who said it, if anyone, but it's true.

PG-13 is a lot more restricted than it used to be. You can't have much blood or gore or say more than one bad word. So I don't think that really supports your point.

I believe it applied more in the past, but the point still stands. At some time in recent history, a naked woman was considered worse than a naked woman with holes from being shot, which is just wrong.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#193

Post by nvarsj »

dmix wrote: post #42
antirez wrote: post #37

The United States are a great country, but in the topic of censorship, balanced politically correctness and easy to speak about all the topics, I believe that the old Europe has very interesting things to say, so I'm also a bit worried that the technological leadership of US may have an effect on what is believed to be sensible to discuss / post in Europe too. I hope is the other way, that is, we european can in some…

France in the 18-19th century had many smart people who spoke against this type of stuff (everyone loves to quote Voltaire). But modern France has become the absolute counter-point for wishing to have less censorship and centralized social control. So this problem isn't limited to the United States. This is an issue in all modern liberal societies. Big government and centralized control has exploded over the last cen…

It's absurd to think governments grew because of "community complaints". The rise of nation states happened precisely to benefit the megacorps that now exist - to support massive, centrally planned economies and subsidize megacorps that now rule the planet. The gov (or rather, the public, us) have every right to demand certain basic guarantees from these companies that benefit so much from public investment.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#194

Post by jessaustin »

webkike wrote: post #153
smokeyj wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet we make no distinction between theatrical nudity and actual nudity.

...what is the distinction? Both are "actual" nudity. Nudity is nudity.

A theatrical work that showed a woman wearing one of those "naked lady" t-shirts wouldn't be treated the same as a theatrical work that showed a naked woman.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#195

Post by lunula »

mason240 wrote: post #184
equalarrow wrote: post #18

I don't get why this is such an issue. I understand the sheer numbers of people that use fb and get their 'news' from it, but it amazes me that people are shocked that fb censors the content. Facebook never claimed to be a news organization nor part of the 5th estate (which, pretty much doesn't exist). So that being the case, I would never expect fb to be a partner for democracy. Just because some recent revolutions…

It's strange because the people upset over this are the same people who are full steam ahead on censoring anything and anyone they don't like, waving that XKCD comic as battle flag.

They also seem to be unable to imagine turning off FB. Which would be the first thing I would do and ask my friends and family to do if I were really concerned with their control of the media. They are seen as default, as if they are the entire universe, so inescapable that we have to beg mercy from the master rather than simply leaving.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#196

Post by jessaustin »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #136
harryf wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's some serious security control you imagine there...

Eh? I wasn't let into R rated movies unaccompanied in high school. Most of the time when we snuck in after buying a ticket to another movie we were caught. They'll come around asking for your tickets during the film if they suspect you are underage or didn't pay or whatever.

Where did you grow up, Soviet Russia? I wasn't even one of those "mall rat" kids, and most of the time I went to the movies with friends we switched to a different screen.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#197

Post by pessimizer »

weberc2 wrote: post #90
omginternets wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>beheadings are at least as controversial as nudity From one internet stranger to another, and with all due respect: bullshit. We as a society positively freak out over nudity and drop our middle-school kids off to see violent movies without even thinking twice. To claim differently is to either a) appeal to an exception that does not represent the overall social norm b) be disingenuous (which I don't think is your c…

Or, you know, d) I thought we were talking about actual beheadings (e.g., ISIS promo videos) and not theatrics.

If you're talking about ISIS, I don't see any distinction being made between showing ISIS beheadings or just people who support ISIS talking; both are equally censored. ISIS mass beheadings and burning of people alive are shown on prime time news programs up until the instant of the first cut, and until moment the flame is actually lit, and people speaking in support of ISIS are shown without subtitles, and interpreted by newsreader copy. Talking about ISIS beheadings isnt't the same as talking about beheadings, the fact that it is propaganda being distributed by a force declared as the enemy complicates the matter.

Also, prosthetic nudity and artistic depictions of nudity are censored too, so I'm not sure of the effectiveness of the distinction you're trying to make. If what you're trying to say is that we don't censor special effects violence just as we don't censor special effects nudity, it's simply not true.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#198

Post by pessimizer »

drstewart wrote: post #109
omginternets wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The theatrical dimension doesn't change much. That's how strange the US is in this respect. The amount of censorship for "real" violence is virtually nonexistent, contrary to the amount of censorship applied to sex, real or otherwise. Do Americans censor "real" violence more than theatrical violence? Possibly. Do they censor "real" violence less than any form of nudity? Yes. You can show Braveheart or a video of a st…

>And once again, this is not the norm around the world. The US is special. Really? Have you been to the Middle East, or is your definition of "the world" a handful of western European countries?

Just because many other cultures have a prudishness about nudity doesn't make our particular prudishness about nudity a universal value, and ours isn't similar at all to the Middle East's. Our censorship arrangement is uniquely our own.

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#199

Post by kybernetyk »

It's facebook's platform. They can do with it whatever they want. And if they prefer to remove certain content it's their good right.

If you don't like their policies don't use their platform. (No, "all my friends are there" is not an excuse. At some time you have to decide what's more important - your morals or whatever your peers pressure you into).

Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world

#200

Post by [deleted] »

mgleason_3 wrote: post #54

Americans are so bought into the idea that "explicit" images are bad that they can't see another viewpoint. Its become "natural". And, as the author pointed out, Americans are so blind to it that you don't even see the problem with censoring nipples but not beheadings. We literally cant see that noone should be injured by seeing a womans breast, but seeing a beheaded body - thats OK? Its interesting to see this story…

[deleted]
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