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Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

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Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#341

Post by mistermann »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #84
gerbal wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this is true, follow the money. HN is run by a Venture Capital firm. What are their incentives? Who does the business have to keep happy?

> If this is true, follow the money Isn't it more likely it was flagged off the front page by overly-enthusiastic users? I'll also admit that this link, to a support thread, is more compelling than the Ask HN, where half the comments were questioning whether the phenomenon was actually happening.

> Isn't it more likely it was flagged off the front page by overly-enthusiastic users?

It's a wild guess either way.

Increased transparency like mandatory reason for flagging, and anonymized stats on flagging per userid including not just aggregate numbers, but also flagged post titles (so ideological patterns could be observed per topic) would improve trustworthiness that HN is an impartial platform, and there are no technical limitations in doing this, although it would require a bit of one-time work. It would be interesting to know why we have some stats here, but not others.

But unless this greater transparency is provided some day, we will have to run on faith, just as other religious people have faith as the basis of trust in their God of choice. Everyone has faith in their axioms, it just doesn't seem that way, in no small part because the mind tends to not let you think in that manner, even if you try.

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#342

Post by qubex »

duxup wrote: post #324
qubex wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As another user posted, there’s a long list of terms dating back to 2012, so this isn’t recent. Even the post referred to dates from the end of 2019, so it isn’t exactly novel. Google might well accept being excluded from China, but I’m assuming that the prospect of being allowed to re-enter that market is periodically dangled in front of them by the ruling party in China, and that consequentially Google has an ongoi…

I get that but that's just conjecture right? As far as China disconnecting from Android or forking it... that seems inevitable. Deleting some comment's wont change that.

Or they could do something awful to Chrome.

Point is, the longer Google can postpone any such occupancies, the longer they can delay a drop in their stock market price (because surely such an event would have a negative effect on their stock, both for rational reasons [such as less telemetry data] and irrational [day traders] reasons).

And yes, of course this is pure conjecture. I’m not Larry Page in disguise spilling the beans of Alphabet’s Boardroom musings.

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#343

Post by ddevault »

scep12 wrote: post #327
ddevault wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have much less mobility as a US citizen to move to another country than I have as a software engineer. Almost any Google employee could have an offer somewhere else within 3 weeks of starting their search.

You couldn't move to Canada easily?

I don't have a degree; they won't take me. I have looked into it many times, but the difficulty of moving to another country (at least to ones which I find it easier to be proud of living in) is very high, especially compared to that of moving to another employer.

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#344

Post by chipperyman573 »

AlexMax wrote: post #305
manigandham wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution is to realize "hate speech" is mostly subjective and revert back to the clear rules that we had last decade before the current political climate of gratuitous outrage.

Those rules applied today would result in indecipherable cesspools of memes at best or a community of authoritarian sympathizers at worst, who would be oh-so-happy to start conditioning their like-minded members to force undesirables away, either explicitly through bans or implicitly through non-stop hatred and coordinated harassment. Neither one is the type of community I have any interest in participating in, and i…

Your first paragraph describes subs like r/esist, r/againsthatesubreddits, r/fragilewhiteredditor, etc. They just don't do what many people would consider hate speech so they don't get banned. I think this highlights that while your goal many occur in parallel with banning hate speech in some cases, on its own it will not accomplish much because the same thing will just happen on whatever side nobody thinks is "spewing hate"

And fwiw, blocking these subs (and subs like r/trumpforpresident! You can block both sides this way) made me completely forget about them until this comment, which I think also shows that self moderation is a perfectly acceptable answer. Why can't everyone make their own bubble? Why do we have to let other people decide how our bubble looks?

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#346

Post by dooglius »

im3w1l wrote: post #219
ddevault wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YCombinator has a financial incentive to support the Chinese regime.

Hacker news and dang in particular has a very good track record of even handed and well thought of moderation. They have definitely earned benefit of the doubt from me. Let's wait a little before bringing the torches.

And how exactly did you determine this track record? It's not as if there's a log or appeals process...

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#347

Post by asdfgininio »

scbrg wrote: post #328
ajconway wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you justify being a citizen of your country? (not sure what country that is, but most of them have done bad things in the past). It's possible to be a part of a large organization and not agree with its every action.

To begin with, citizenship is forced upon you. You don't have a choice about it. Yes, you can (in some cases) renounce it, though that's quite a momentous task - it involved pretty much cancelling your existing life, and takes many years. And as you say - most other countries may be worse - and the ones that aren't may not accept you either way. Not working for Google, in particular, is extremely easy. Something that…

This is, by the way, why I support much more open borders than we have now. There is a humanitarian case to be made, but I also have a strong desire to be able to pack up and leave when I disagree with my country's government.

I would have a stronger civic spirit if I were a willing member of my country rather than a prisoner.

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#348

Post by ashtonkem »

koheripbal wrote: post #112

I think a more fundamental problem is a single private company having a near-monopoly on various public communication channels, and having financial interests in various global dictatorships. The Founding Fathers could not have predicted this. Google's "We're a private company" get-out-jail-free card cannot continue to apply.

I’m always really worried about the unintended consequences of having the government regulate what Google can and cannot moderate on their platform. That strikes me as a larger free speech issue than our current system.

I’d recommend just breaking Google’s monopoly; which is an idea that has more benefits and less downside risk.

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#349

Post by cryptonector »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #154
koheripbal wrote: post #112

I think a more fundamental problem is a single private company having a near-monopoly on various public communication channels, and having financial interests in various global dictatorships. The Founding Fathers could not have predicted this. Google's "We're a private company" get-out-jail-free card cannot continue to apply.

> a single private company having a near-monopoly on various public communication channels Does Google rise to this level? Facebook, Twitter, cable TV and every newspaper and blog would seem to present a decent front of competition.

Before 1988 in the U.S. we had "equal time" laws that required that broadcast media present both sides of political debates with "equal time" for each side. That's because for decades there were three sources of content: ABC, CBS, and NBC. Then cable and alternative radio ended that oligopoly for a while and those laws were removed.

Now we have just a few mass media content producers and a few mass social media outlets. The situation is beginning to resemble that which existed for decades, from the 20s to the 80s, in broadcast media.

Re: Google deletes “communist bandits” from comments on Youtube

#350

Post by gruez »

socrates1998 wrote: post #245

I can't fathom how private companies still think that they can make the CCP happy AND their western customers. The CCP holds values that are completely untenable to western values. As time goes on, companies who don't know this will lose massive brand value in the western world. The NBA has managed to tight rope this so far, but I doubt they can hold it together for very much longer. The CCP is still calling for the…

The bigger question is why google/youtube cares. Isn't youtube/google banned in china?
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