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YouTube "Error" Leads to Censorship of Chinese-Language Phrases Critical of the CCP

posted by martyb on Wednesday May 27 2020, @03:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the oops!-(we-got-caught) dept.

takyon writes:

YouTube is deleting comments with two phrases that insult China's Communist Party

YouTube is automatically deleting comments that contain certain Chinese-language phrases related to criticism of the country's ruling Communist Party (CCP). The company confirmed to The Verge this was happening in error and that it was looking into the issue.

"This appears to be an error in our enforcement systems and we are investigating," said a YouTube spokesperson. The company did not elaborate on how or why this error came to be, but said it was not the result of any change in its moderation policy.

[...] Comments left under videos or in live streams that contain the words "共匪" ("communist bandit") or "五毛" ("50-cent party") are automatically deleted in around 15 seconds, though their English language translations and Romanized Pinyin equivalents are not.

[...] The accidental censorship is even more puzzling considering that YouTube is currently blocked in China, giving its parent company, Google, even less reason to censor comments critical of the CCP or apply moderation systems in accordance with Chinese censorship laws.

The automatic deletion of these phrases was highlighted on Tuesday by US technologist and former Oculus founder Palmer Luckey on Twitter. But earlier reports of the issue date back to the middle of May when they were spotted by human rights activist Jennifer Zeng. As mentioned above, though, The Verge also found complaints on YouTube's official help pages dated to October 2019.

Shadows of Project Dragonfly.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @01:19PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @01:19PM (#999609)

    The most regularly touted conspiracy theory about the Chinese coronavirus pandemic is the claim that the virus did not originate in Wuhan, China, where the first cases were reported, but in a U.S. Army laboratory in Maryland.

    Funny that, my brother-in-law was on the phone to his sister in the 'States a couple of days back, she more or less came out with the same story, though with the Gates mob thrown into the mix as well.

    Assuming she's not unique in thinking this, when a percentage of US citizens also believe that the Chinese aren't totally responsible for this as well based on what they're being 'fed', you do have to wonder who's pulling the strings, and to what ends..and bear in mind, even if it's ultimately Chinese propaganda this stuff is based on, it is quite possible for any Chinese global 'shit-stirring' to be both beneficial to China, for internal consumption there, and to the countries they're deploying said 'shit-stirring' against, the 'political reaction' to said 'shit-stirring' being useful for internal consumption in the targetted countries.

    TL;DR We're all being played, so welcome to the planet of the mushrooms!; so very, very dark, and so much shit to digest...

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday May 27 2020, @01:55PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 27 2020, @01:55PM (#999624) Journal
    Or it could just be the usual rumor clusterfuck that surrounds events like this. Keep in mind that there are a bunch of people trolling as hard as they can, just for the lolz.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:11PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:11PM (#999636)

      True, but when all the major powers now employ/deploy state sponsored troll units as part of their IW operations (hello there, anyone from the 77th reading this...) it's becoming increasingly difficult to spot the /b/tards from the bastards....err, well, you get what I mean..

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:43PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:43PM (#999664) Journal
        I think the whole thing will end up being an educational moment for everyone, including those propaganda units. Not much really happens with those rumors and the more rumors that pile on, the less effective the whole mess is.