There are similar moves to "make people accountable" for their online actions in the west as well; only the details differ, the motivation is the same -- structural control of online activities and content.
I don't know if somebody is being funny, but I think it's cool that my post on free speech was flagged and censored.
Posts about divisive ideological topics are often (in fact usually) low-quality and lame, so it's natural for them to be downvoted or flagged. That's to be expected on a site that is trying to hover at least a little above internet default, with its flames and its rages and its repetitions.
People don't post about these things out of intellectual curiosity—they mostly just reiterate pre-existing positions and points and agendas. Such comments typically make up for the lack of curiosity or information with rhetoric and indignation. That's what we're trying to avoid on HN.