3 ms·

Can confirm works on my own videos, even if they are unlisted. My own video, 0 views, 0 comments. 共匪, 五毛党, or 五毛 These are all instantly deleted, roughly 10-

Can confirm works on my own videos, even if they are unlisted. My own video, 0 views, 0 comments. 共匪, 五毛党, or 五毛 These are all instantly deleted, roughly 10-20s

mytailorisrich 6y ago
These are insults, trolling terms. It sounds like Youtube now has filters against harassment in order to keep things a minimum civil (rather than being involved in a pro-China conspiracy...) There is plenty of material highly critical of China and its government on Youtube.
- AlchemistCamp 6y ago
  That's not true. The 1st term is a historical name for soldiers on the winning side of the civil war that has become a political smear somewhat like "Rethuglicans" or similar. The second and third refers to the well-documented practice of government paid commenters trying to shape public opinion. There's no good justification for YouTube to censor all comments on that topic. If anything the topic has become more important over the years and people are more concerned about it than ever after the 2016 elections.
  - mytailorisrich 6y ago
    So the first one has indeed become an insult (if it wasn't all along...) The second and third are also insults. Whether the Chinese government pays posters or not, the fact is that the terms are most commonly used in an insulting and harassing manner against anyone that has posted something deemed too "pro-China".
- PeterisP 6y ago
  That probably applies to 共匪, but 五毛党 (50 Cent Party) or 五毛 (50 Cent) are reasonable terms that can be used to discuss a particular phenomenon and don't carry anything inherently insulting, the only insulting part is the reference to that group (so if someone considers that group to be immoral, then associating with an immoral group may be considered as an insult) - if everyone decided to call them "fluffykittens" then soon "fluffykittens" would be a trolling term and insult in some sense, but that definitely would not be a reason to delete posts using "fluffykittens". Clear nominative use should always be allowed. I mean, calling someone a troll is an insult pretty much equivalent to 五毛党 but we clearly want to be able to talk about trolls and trolling here, and we want to be able to call someone a troll even if that might insult them. To invoke Godwin's law, calling someone a nazi is usually an insult, that does not justify deleting posts using the word "nazi" even when clearly using to associate someone's actions or behavior with nazis - a reasonable discourse needs the ability to equivocate bad actions with other bad actions, comparing them with appropriate labels, and there are actions where every appropriate label will be insulting simply because the actions themselves are bad, and every non-insulting label will be unappropriate whitewashing.
- gwd 6y ago
  > It sounds like Youtube now has filters against harassment in order to keep things a minimum civil Is that really what's going on? Do they delete normal English "uncivil" words, or do they delete words that are deemed sensitive by one particular group -- and a large and powerful government at that? I have no objection to platforms trying to keep things civil; but I do have an objection to giving the CCP special treatment. I don't know the cultural significance of 公匪; but the fact that 五毛党 is included in the list makes me more inclined to believe this is the second.
peter_retief 6y ago
I just tested and found the same, comments just vanish

Can confirm works on my own videos, even if they are unlisted. My own video, 0 views, 0 comments. 共匪, 五毛党, or 五毛 These are all instantly deleted, roughly 10-20s

mytailorisrich 6y ago

These are insults, trolling terms. It sounds like Youtube now has filters against harassment in order to keep things a minimum civil (rather than being involved in a pro-China conspiracy...) There is plenty of material highly critical of China and its government on Youtube.

AlchemistCamp 6y ago
That's not true. The 1st term is a historical name for soldiers on the winning side of the civil war that has become a political smear somewhat like "Rethuglicans" or similar. The second and third refers to the well-documented practice of government paid commenters trying to shape public opinion. There's no good justification for YouTube to censor all comments on that topic. If anything the topic has become more important over the years and people are more concerned about it than ever after the 2016 elections.
- mytailorisrich 6y ago
  So the first one has indeed become an insult (if it wasn't all along...) The second and third are also insults. Whether the Chinese government pays posters or not, the fact is that the terms are most commonly used in an insulting and harassing manner against anyone that has posted something deemed too "pro-China".
PeterisP 6y ago
That probably applies to 共匪, but 五毛党 (50 Cent Party) or 五毛 (50 Cent) are reasonable terms that can be used to discuss a particular phenomenon and don't carry anything inherently insulting, the only insulting part is the reference to that group (so if someone considers that group to be immoral, then associating with an immoral group may be considered as an insult) - if everyone decided to call them "fluffykittens" then soon "fluffykittens" would be a trolling term and insult in some sense, but that definitely would not be a reason to delete posts using "fluffykittens". Clear nominative use should always be allowed. I mean, calling someone a troll is an insult pretty much equivalent to 五毛党 but we clearly want to be able to talk about trolls and trolling here, and we want to be able to call someone a troll even if that might insult them. To invoke Godwin's law, calling someone a nazi is usually an insult, that does not justify deleting posts using the word "nazi" even when clearly using to associate someone's actions or behavior with nazis - a reasonable discourse needs the ability to equivocate bad actions with other bad actions, comparing them with appropriate labels, and there are actions where every appropriate label will be insulting simply because the actions themselves are bad, and every non-insulting label will be unappropriate whitewashing.
gwd 6y ago
> It sounds like Youtube now has filters against harassment in order to keep things a minimum civil Is that really what's going on? Do they delete normal English "uncivil" words, or do they delete words that are deemed sensitive by one particular group -- and a large and powerful government at that? I have no objection to platforms trying to keep things civil; but I do have an objection to giving the CCP special treatment. I don't know the cultural significance of 公匪; but the fact that 五毛党 is included in the list makes me more inclined to believe this is the second.

peter_retief 6y ago

I just tested and found the same, comments just vanish