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Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

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Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#121

Post by kmfrk »

When YouTube Gaming was doing livestreaming, people who posted in stream chats also risked having their entire accounts flagged.

In the EU, Google now offer the option of separating your Google accounts from each other (Gmail, YouTube, etc), but someone warned me that it broke a lot of stuff for their friends, so it sounds a little like the usual malicious compliance with regulators we're used to.

Has anyone in the EU actually taken Google up on the offer and split up their Google/Alphabet accounts, and did you live to tell the story?

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#122

Post by bdw5204 »

dotnet00 wrote: post #84
shrimp_emoji wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep it on there in an encrypted volume! Cloud backup AND privacy in one.

Wouldn't be surprised if "too much encrypted data" also triggers a ban because it'd stand out as unusual and a potential liability.

I suspect that large tech companies are going to be increasingly relying on AI moderation to identify "unusual" behavior and ban accounts for it.

Failing to proactively ban a tiny obscure account posting illegal or extremely unpopular content just sets you up for political attacks either in the form of hostile new laws or of activist groups contacting your advertisers to convince them to stop doing business with you. Outlier users are definitely potential liabilities.

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#123

Post by jupp0r »

namaria wrote: post #77
vouaobrasil wrote: post #28

The other day, I saw a movie scene on YouTube where a guy is knife-fighting with another guy. There is a stab in the throat at the end, where all the life drains from his face. Blood is gushing and we see a human being kill another human being. I really don't understand why Google (and Western society) condones this sort of content while having a near zero-tolerance policy towards sex and love. But I figured it out t…

Violence is channeled by western society as a righteous vengeance. Sex is channeled as the reproductive force of nuclear families. It's not that one is celebrated and the other oppressed. Violence against the innocent is always punished by a righteous warrior. And sex is not condemned. It is celebrated in the context of long term coupling to raise children. Promiscuity and non-reproductive sex is therefore seen as th…

There is plenty of scientific evidence out there that even people in western rural areas enjoy sex because it's fun.

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#125

Post by sillysaurusx »

giantg2 wrote: post #52
paxys wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they are just a backup, all these companies scan your data for offensive material and report it to the authorities if their algorithm deems it fit. There have been plenty of cases of parents being investigated by the police just for taking photos of their kids on their phone.

It depends on how you want to store it. You could store it encrypted. Any true backup worthy of the title should, in my opinion, be encrypted. Otherwise it's just a copy.

Surely you jest, you joker you. The number of problems with that idea far outweigh the benefits.

Should I go into detail?

Love your profile text, by the way.

EDIT: one quick example is that I’ve lost more data by forgetting passwords than I care to admit. They’ve all been from an age where I thought it was a good idea to encrypt my secret documents, lest prying eyes get to them. Turns out the secrets would’ve been interesting to me, but are no longer accessible. I suspect this isn’t uncommon.

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#126

Post by nickelpro »

jupp0r wrote: post #103
nickelpro wrote: post #62

Misleading title, none of the authors involved are claiming they're locked out of the accounts. The exact quote from the OP's mastadon is "An author lost access to her explicit writing when she shared it with alpha and beta readers." Google says you may not use its services to distribute sexually explicit content. This is a very common and reasonable policy. The authors violated that rule, and while none of them are…

Why not remove the sharing flag instead of locking the author out of their own writing?

Things are very unclear. The author claims to have been able to download their own work prior to filing the appeal, so perhaps that's exactly what happened.

We're following a bread crumb trail of discord screenshots and instagram posts, no one is being straightforward about what is going on.

Google of course is a black box about enforcement actions on the foundation that transparency benefits spammers and doesn't help their bottom line, which is likely also true.

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#127

Post by danpalmer »

zb3 wrote: post #82

What's wrong with sexually explicit content? Is Google controlled by Taliban or something?

Google operates in many countries and is subject to many laws. Even in the US websites need to check whether you're over 18 to view (or read?) pornography, and Google Docs does not appear to have an age check at 18. Do you think this is an important feature that Docs should be working on? I'm not sure I do personally.

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#128

Post by beeboobaa3 »

gcr wrote: post #60
kyrra wrote: post #44

The currently linked site is just a forum post, which links to Instagram, which is a screenshot of a discord chat. Instagram has the screenshots at least: https://www.instagram.com/sloan_spencer_author/p/C48JN_TrvxO... It does look like the author just lost access to docs they shared with others, not their entire account. Author is currently appealing. We have seen this kind of thing in the past. Drive has to be care…

Author’s last screenshot states that her whole account was frozen just after submitting the appeal and she no longer has access to her docs. I would have far less of an issue with this if certain docs were marked unsharable, or even if her entire account could no longer share, but losing access to previous work written before the policy change feels like a big misstep to me. Here’s what she said: > “As of right now,…

> Atter processing the appeal, a pop up said my account was frozen pending review

Google presuming guilt until proven innocent. An appeal locking the account in retaliation is absolutely disgusting.

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#129

Post by shagie »

shagie wrote: post #39

Scrolling through the screen shots linked on Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/sloan_spencer_author/p/C48JN_TrvxO... ) > I find out at midnight tomorrow if I lose my docs all together. I've transferred them to word and backed up onto my hard drive. Further along ... > ... As of today, I'm unable to share my docs with my alpha and Beta readers. After reading the policies the only rule my docs "violate" is that the…

In the Instagram screen shots was a message that I believe linked to Abuse Program Policies & Enforcement - https://support.google.com/docs/answer/148505

> Sexually Explicit Material

> Do not distribute content that contains sexually explicit material, such as nudity, graphic sex acts, and pornographic material. This includes driving traffic to commercial pornography sites. We allow nudity for educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic purposes.

Re: Google suspends romance author's account for writing sexually explicit content

#130

Post by danpalmer »

b800h wrote: post #102

This looks as though the author shared the document with around 20 people, which combined with the nature of the content would have flagged the author for sharing explicit spam. May be less of a big deal than is being suggested.

Or just that it got flagged for review, and upon review was found to be in violation of the terms of service perhaps? The ToS say you can't distribute sexually explicit material.
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