4 ms·

as we all know, it's a private platform and they have no obligation to host speech that violates their guidelines. nothing to see here.

xvector 7y ago
Being a private platform does not absolve you of social responsibility. When you take on the role of a public forum or place of communication, you also take on some social responsibility, whether you like it or not. Whether you choose to ignore it with carefully crafted "Community Guidelines"-based legalese or you choose to respect and acknowledge it, it doesn't change the fact that the responsibility exists.
- zamadatix 7y ago
  The problem with this kind of statement is "social responsibility" isn't one thing. To their social group this is what being socially responsible is. To your/my social group it isn't. Saying "you have a social responsibility to not do that" is only one step better than arguing "I don't think you should do that" as a reason someone shouldn't do something.
  - xvector 7y ago
    I hate to resort to an extreme example, but Nazis thought they were being socially responsible. They obviously were not. Regardless, I am pretty sure that TikTok's developers are aware that what they are doing is simply preserving the state's iron grip over those that dare challenge it. Just because they are fine with it doesn't make it OK.
    - linkregister 7y ago
      The newsworthy part of this story is that the censorship is extending beyond Chinese users. The journalists based in England were unable to find trending topics on Hong Kong. That is unprecedented for other popular social media platforms outside of China.
      - yorwba 7y ago
        Which article do you mean? Neither the Guardian nor the BBC article submitted originally show any indication of trying to verify their anonymous source beyond just asking the company for a statement. Citizen Lab does that kind of censorship analysis (e.g. https://citizenlab.ca/2019/06/censored-commemoration-chinese-live-streaming-platform-yy-focuses-censorship-june-4-memorials-activism-hong-kong/ https://citizenlab.ca/2019/06/censored-commemoration-chinese... ) but I can't find anything by them on TikTok.
  - kps 7y ago
    More generally: being a private entity does not exempt you from criticism.
- nyolfen 7y ago
  what about the chinese state's social responsibility to maintain order?
- systemtest 7y ago
  I don't see TikTok as a public forum, it's literally a place for 10 second clips of teens doing silly dances.
  - Fjolsvith 7y ago
    You have not done any real exploration of TikTok. I've found more thoughtful political discourse on it than anywhere else.
big_chungus 7y ago
The fact that someone owns a platform does not mean we are not free to criticize what he chooses to do with it. Saying we could not would be a greater violation of speech.
linkregister 7y ago
Yep, let's delete this topic. Sure having a company censor foreign users' content on political grounds is bad, but it's legal! What? You don't like something? Is it legal? Then you'd better clam up, buddy! As we all know, all things that are legal are just the way it is, and we have to just deal with them.

xvector 7y ago

Being a private platform does not absolve you of social responsibility. When you take on the role of a public forum or place of communication, you also take on some social responsibility, whether you like it or not. Whether you choose to ignore it with carefully crafted "Community Guidelines"-based legalese or you choose to respect and acknowledge it, it doesn't change the fact that the responsibility exists.

zamadatix 7y ago
The problem with this kind of statement is "social responsibility" isn't one thing. To their social group this is what being socially responsible is. To your/my social group it isn't. Saying "you have a social responsibility to not do that" is only one step better than arguing "I don't think you should do that" as a reason someone shouldn't do something.
- xvector 7y ago
  I hate to resort to an extreme example, but Nazis thought they were being socially responsible. They obviously were not. Regardless, I am pretty sure that TikTok's developers are aware that what they are doing is simply preserving the state's iron grip over those that dare challenge it. Just because they are fine with it doesn't make it OK.
  - linkregister 7y ago
    The newsworthy part of this story is that the censorship is extending beyond Chinese users. The journalists based in England were unable to find trending topics on Hong Kong. That is unprecedented for other popular social media platforms outside of China.
    - yorwba 7y ago
      Which article do you mean? Neither the Guardian nor the BBC article submitted originally show any indication of trying to verify their anonymous source beyond just asking the company for a statement. Citizen Lab does that kind of censorship analysis (e.g. https://citizenlab.ca/2019/06/censored-commemoration-chinese-live-streaming-platform-yy-focuses-censorship-june-4-memorials-activism-hong-kong/ https://citizenlab.ca/2019/06/censored-commemoration-chinese... ) but I can't find anything by them on TikTok.
- kps 7y ago
  More generally: being a private entity does not exempt you from criticism.
nyolfen 7y ago
what about the chinese state's social responsibility to maintain order?
systemtest 7y ago
I don't see TikTok as a public forum, it's literally a place for 10 second clips of teens doing silly dances.
- Fjolsvith 7y ago
  You have not done any real exploration of TikTok. I've found more thoughtful political discourse on it than anywhere else.

big_chungus 7y ago

The fact that someone owns a platform does not mean we are not free to criticize what he chooses to do with it. Saying we could not would be a greater violation of speech.

linkregister 7y ago

Yep, let's delete this topic. Sure having a company censor foreign users' content on political grounds is bad, but it's legal! What? You don't like something? Is it legal? Then you'd better clam up, buddy! As we all know, all things that are legal are just the way it is, and we have to just deal with them.