5 ms·

This but much broader. One of the things that really bothers me is the suppression of non-US use of language (or, from the opposite perspective, the incentivisa

This but much broader. One of the things that really bothers me is the suppression of non-US use of language (or, from the opposite perspective, the incentivisation of US-like language & conformance to US cultural norms). Take Youtube "content-creators" as an example making a living from ad revenue: Aussie / Scottish other native-English-speaking contributors face "de-monetisation" for presenting their natural selves and instead are asked to present according to US cultural norms in order to use the platform. And this isn't unique to Google/Youtube - the same applies to content-moderation across the internet.

spaniard89277 4y ago
It's a problem in the spanish speaking world. It's a recurring theme saying that you have to conform to your ad-revenue overlord, and that certain topics can't be discussed. Some people does the content anyway but publish in non-US platforms, or at least somewhere small that can't curate content.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Tijdreiziger 4y ago
  It's a problem in the English-speaking world too. IIRC the reason why YouTubers always say 'the pandemic' instead of 'COVID-19' or 'the coronavirus' is because of the risk of demonetization. Some channels (e.g. RealLifeLore) even gate their videos on more controversial topics (e.g. war) behind a Nebula or Patreon subscription, with the rationale that they would get demonetized on YouTube.
exikyut 4y ago
Do you have any more info about this? I'm not sure what you mean and imagining people in AU going through accent training to sound like they're from the US... please tell me it's not that bad
- hrnnnnnn 4y ago
  One notable difference is the c-word, which is a gendered slur in the US, but not in Scotland or Australia. I'm self censoring here because this is a US-run site and I'm afraid I'll get shadowbanned if I use it in full. I am not from the US and this word does not carry the same weight for me.
  - Y_Y 4y ago
    If I'm going to be censored for saying "cunt" I at least hope I don't have to do the censoring myself.
    - tut-urut-utut 4y ago
      Only a cunt would censor you for saying "cunt". Also, I find it funny that "cunt" is considered a gendered slew in the US (according to one of the parent comments). Being a cunt has nothing to do with gender, and everything with a character.
      - thwarted 4y ago
        There's a bit that comedian Bill Burr does where he observes that referring to someone as "that fucking $XXX" is considered racist while "that $XXX motherfucker" isn't and it has to do with the former talking about the group $XXX as a whole and the latter very explicitly (uh, no pun intended) referring to an attribute of an individual.
      - fknorangesite 4y ago
        > Being a cunt has nothing to do with gender Surely you see, though, how it could.
        itintheory 4y ago
        I see this argument as similar to the idea that 'bitch' doesn't have to do with gender. If that were true, wouldn't calling someone a 'dog' carry the same weight? Let's stick with 'asshole'.
gadflyinyoureye 4y ago
Does rumble require the same standard? Perhaps it’s time for more people move to the alternative websites.
- lucideer 4y ago
  Rumble is an "anti-cancel-culture" initiative and cancel culture is really a very separate phenomenon: cancel culture pertains to deplatforming based on political beliefs and impact, rather than based on where you're from or the way you speak. I have no evidence to support the following, but looking at what causes this problem on mainstream platforms I would strongly suspect Rumble to be even worse. The cause of this problem is socially conservative US advertisers: Youtube's demonetisation algorithms are tuned to language that their advertisers feel it's acceptable to be associated with. My instinct would be that the subset of these advertisers who use Rumble would be more, not less, socially conservative. If I'm wrong in my guess above, it's likely a result of scale. Rumble being smaller might simply not have reached the scale whereby algorithmic demonetisation is a thing. In which case it's only a matter of time.
redox99 4y ago
I remember a guy who got his xbox account permabanned because his username was "kike8572", and the support wouldn't give him his account back even after explaining that kike in Spanish is just a shorthand for the name "Enrique" (his name).
- branon 4y ago
  To me, even a single instance of this is more hurtful and wrong than every other usage of the word "kike" online combined. Better one hundred guilty people go free than one innocent be convicted wrongly. Something is horribly broken about our current system.

spaniard89277 4y ago

It's a problem in the spanish speaking world. It's a recurring theme saying that you have to conform to your ad-revenue overlord, and that certain topics can't be discussed. Some people does the content anyway but publish in non-US platforms, or at least somewhere small that can't curate content.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Tijdreiziger 4y ago
It's a problem in the English-speaking world too. IIRC the reason why YouTubers always say 'the pandemic' instead of 'COVID-19' or 'the coronavirus' is because of the risk of demonetization. Some channels (e.g. RealLifeLore) even gate their videos on more controversial topics (e.g. war) behind a Nebula or Patreon subscription, with the rationale that they would get demonetized on YouTube.

exikyut 4y ago

Do you have any more info about this? I'm not sure what you mean and imagining people in AU going through accent training to sound like they're from the US... please tell me it's not that bad

hrnnnnnn 4y ago
One notable difference is the c-word, which is a gendered slur in the US, but not in Scotland or Australia. I'm self censoring here because this is a US-run site and I'm afraid I'll get shadowbanned if I use it in full. I am not from the US and this word does not carry the same weight for me.
- Y_Y 4y ago
  If I'm going to be censored for saying "cunt" I at least hope I don't have to do the censoring myself.
  - tut-urut-utut 4y ago
    Only a cunt would censor you for saying "cunt". Also, I find it funny that "cunt" is considered a gendered slew in the US (according to one of the parent comments). Being a cunt has nothing to do with gender, and everything with a character.
    - thwarted 4y ago
      There's a bit that comedian Bill Burr does where he observes that referring to someone as "that fucking $XXX" is considered racist while "that $XXX motherfucker" isn't and it has to do with the former talking about the group $XXX as a whole and the latter very explicitly (uh, no pun intended) referring to an attribute of an individual.
    - fknorangesite 4y ago
      > Being a cunt has nothing to do with gender Surely you see, though, how it could.
      - itintheory 4y ago
        I see this argument as similar to the idea that 'bitch' doesn't have to do with gender. If that were true, wouldn't calling someone a 'dog' carry the same weight? Let's stick with 'asshole'.

gadflyinyoureye 4y ago

Does rumble require the same standard? Perhaps it’s time for more people move to the alternative websites.

lucideer 4y ago
Rumble is an "anti-cancel-culture" initiative and cancel culture is really a very separate phenomenon: cancel culture pertains to deplatforming based on political beliefs and impact, rather than based on where you're from or the way you speak. I have no evidence to support the following, but looking at what causes this problem on mainstream platforms I would strongly suspect Rumble to be even worse. The cause of this problem is socially conservative US advertisers: Youtube's demonetisation algorithms are tuned to language that their advertisers feel it's acceptable to be associated with. My instinct would be that the subset of these advertisers who use Rumble would be more, not less, socially conservative. If I'm wrong in my guess above, it's likely a result of scale. Rumble being smaller might simply not have reached the scale whereby algorithmic demonetisation is a thing. In which case it's only a matter of time.

redox99 4y ago

I remember a guy who got his xbox account permabanned because his username was "kike8572", and the support wouldn't give him his account back even after explaining that kike in Spanish is just a shorthand for the name "Enrique" (his name).

branon 4y ago
To me, even a single instance of this is more hurtful and wrong than every other usage of the word "kike" online combined. Better one hundred guilty people go free than one innocent be convicted wrongly. Something is horribly broken about our current system.