4 ms·

The Great Firewall comes to the US

by engineer_22 5y ago

alphabetting 5y ago
I don't like the move but this isn't remotely similar to the great firewall.
- nomel 5y ago
  > this isn't remotely similar to the great firewall. China uses the same justifications to block Western news sources, with the goal of reducing dissent and maintaining harmony. There's almost certainly truth in this claim of propaganda, but I don't see a big difference in the mindset, reasons, and methods (government applying pressure to social media companies). This may be "right", but it's definitely similar in many aspects.
  - kashunstva 5y ago
    In the case of YouTube, though, isn't this a decision made not by the state but by a corporate entity? In the case of China, censorship is top-down, whereas many of the corporate pull-outs from Russia are being driven differently. It's possible that that governmental pressure has been applied to YouTube, but the article doesn't specifically mention it. If Russian state media wants to get its word out despite the YouTube ban, it's free to seek other means of distribution, whereas the distribution of prohibited content in China is still subject to government restriction.
    - droptablemain 5y ago
      In this case the corporation is acting as a proxy for the U.S. government. Banning RT just moves RT watchers over to Rumble, Odysee, etc.
      - spacemanmatt 5y ago
        > In this case the corporation is acting as a proxy for the U.S. government. [citation needed]
        zardo 5y ago
        RT reports on the details here. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lbvPNI7nYJ0 https://youtube.com/watch?v=lbvPNI7nYJ0
        spacemanmatt 5y ago
        You're accusing an American company of secretly acting on government orders with RT as your source? I just...nope.
        mardifoufs 5y ago
        You missed the joke.
        spacemanmatt 5y ago
        Not everything deadpanned is funny.
        GauntletWizard 5y ago
        I can't load that, it's blocked by Youtube.
  - SR2Z 5y ago
    The actual difference is that China is a repressive, authoritarian nation and the US is more-or-less a free country. It's not like YouTube is obligated to be neutral - the invasion of Ukraine is horrifying and YouTube is well within their rights to think so and take action by deplatforming Russian state media. It's unlikely that they were even _asked_ to do this by the United States; given that YouTube actually gives a shit about free expression and democracy it makes sense that they'd ban RT on their own. That goes double now that Russia is banning western media left and right as Putin cracks down on dissent. The "big difference in mindset" is that Russia is actually doing something awful.
    - CyanBird 5y ago
      Wouldn't it be funny if YouTube were to also ban UAE and Saudi Arabia media because of their apologia of the genocide in Yemen? But of course, we all know that won't ever happen
      - spacemanmatt 5y ago
        That would be hilarious, or at the very least, I will fake all the necessary mirth to make it count.
      - SR2Z 5y ago
        Well, yeah. If US-Saudi relations deteriorated even a little bit I'm sure YouTube would get itchy trigger fingers. The price of being a global company is that you're gonna end up doing business in some awful places. That doesn't mean you have to be consistent about enabling shitheads.

The Great Firewall comes to the US

alphabetting 5y ago

I don't like the move but this isn't remotely similar to the great firewall.

nomel 5y ago
> this isn't remotely similar to the great firewall. China uses the same justifications to block Western news sources, with the goal of reducing dissent and maintaining harmony. There's almost certainly truth in this claim of propaganda, but I don't see a big difference in the mindset, reasons, and methods (government applying pressure to social media companies). This may be "right", but it's definitely similar in many aspects.
- kashunstva 5y ago
  In the case of YouTube, though, isn't this a decision made not by the state but by a corporate entity? In the case of China, censorship is top-down, whereas many of the corporate pull-outs from Russia are being driven differently. It's possible that that governmental pressure has been applied to YouTube, but the article doesn't specifically mention it. If Russian state media wants to get its word out despite the YouTube ban, it's free to seek other means of distribution, whereas the distribution of prohibited content in China is still subject to government restriction.
  - droptablemain 5y ago
    In this case the corporation is acting as a proxy for the U.S. government. Banning RT just moves RT watchers over to Rumble, Odysee, etc.
    - spacemanmatt 5y ago
      > In this case the corporation is acting as a proxy for the U.S. government. [citation needed]
      - zardo 5y ago
        RT reports on the details here. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lbvPNI7nYJ0 https://youtube.com/watch?v=lbvPNI7nYJ0
        spacemanmatt 5y ago
        You're accusing an American company of secretly acting on government orders with RT as your source? I just...nope.
        mardifoufs 5y ago
        You missed the joke.
        spacemanmatt 5y ago
        Not everything deadpanned is funny.
        GauntletWizard 5y ago
        I can't load that, it's blocked by Youtube.
- SR2Z 5y ago
  The actual difference is that China is a repressive, authoritarian nation and the US is more-or-less a free country. It's not like YouTube is obligated to be neutral - the invasion of Ukraine is horrifying and YouTube is well within their rights to think so and take action by deplatforming Russian state media. It's unlikely that they were even _asked_ to do this by the United States; given that YouTube actually gives a shit about free expression and democracy it makes sense that they'd ban RT on their own. That goes double now that Russia is banning western media left and right as Putin cracks down on dissent. The "big difference in mindset" is that Russia is actually doing something awful.
  - CyanBird 5y ago
    Wouldn't it be funny if YouTube were to also ban UAE and Saudi Arabia media because of their apologia of the genocide in Yemen? But of course, we all know that won't ever happen
    - spacemanmatt 5y ago
      That would be hilarious, or at the very least, I will fake all the necessary mirth to make it count.
    - SR2Z 5y ago
      Well, yeah. If US-Saudi relations deteriorated even a little bit I'm sure YouTube would get itchy trigger fingers. The price of being a global company is that you're gonna end up doing business in some awful places. That doesn't mean you have to be consistent about enabling shitheads.