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Have heard about this happening on multiple other platforms too. Substack is human moderated but the moderators are from another culture so will often miss for

Have heard about this happening on multiple other platforms too. Substack is human moderated but the moderators are from another culture so will often miss forms of humour that do not exist in their own culture (the biggest one being non-literal comedy, very literal cultures do not have this, this is likely why the original post was flagged...they would interpret that as someone telling another person to literally set their house on fire). I am not sure why this isn't concerning: large platforms deny your ability to express yourself based on the dominant culture in the place that happens to be the only place where you can economically employ moderators...I will turn this around, if the West began censoring Indonesian TV based on our cultural norms, would you have a problem with this? The flip side of this is also that these moderators will often let "legitimate targets" be abused on the platform because that behaviour is acceptable in their country, is that ok?

ethbr1 3y ago
I mean, most of FAANG has been US values being globalized. Biased, but I don't think that's the worst thing. But I'm sure Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, India, Turkey, Hungary, Venezuela, and a lot of quasi-religious or -authoritarian states would disagree.
- ragequittah 3y ago
  >I mean, most of FAANG has been US values being globalized. Well given that we know Russia, China, and North Korea all have massive campaigns to misinform everyone on these platforms, I think I disagree with the premise. It's spread a sort of fun house mirror version of US values, and the consequences seem to be piling up. The recent elections in places like Argentina, Italy, and The Netherlands seem to show that far-right populism is becoming a theme. Anecdotally it's taking hold in Canada as well. People are now worried about problems they have never encountered. The Republican debate yesterday spending a significant amount of time on who has the strictest bathroom laws comes to top of mind at how powerful and ridiculous these social media bubbles are.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    It's 110% US values -- free speech for all who can pay. Coupled with a vestigial strain of anything-goes-on-the-internet. (But not things that draw too much political flak) The bubbles aren't the problem; it's engagement as a KPI + everyone being neurotic. Turns out, we all believe in at least one conspiracy, and presenting more content related to that is a reliable way (the most?) to drive engagement. You can't have democratic news if most people are dumb or insane.
    - ragequittah 3y ago
      Fully agreed, but the conspiracies are now manufactured at a rate that would've been unfathomable 20 years ago. I have a friend who knows exactly 0 transgender people in life who, when talking politics, it's the first issue that comes up. It's so disheartening that many people equate Trump to being good for the world because they aren't able to make off-color jokes without being called out anymore, or because the LGBTQIA+ agenda is ruining schools. Think of the children! This person was (seemingly) totally reasonable before social media.
- skippyboxedhero 3y ago
  It isn't US values, it is values from the countries where moderators are hired.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    The fact that everyone should be entitled to say whatever pops into their mind is a pretty US value.

ethbr1 3y ago

I mean, most of FAANG has been US values being globalized. Biased, but I don't think that's the worst thing. But I'm sure Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, India, Turkey, Hungary, Venezuela, and a lot of quasi-religious or -authoritarian states would disagree.

ragequittah 3y ago
>I mean, most of FAANG has been US values being globalized. Well given that we know Russia, China, and North Korea all have massive campaigns to misinform everyone on these platforms, I think I disagree with the premise. It's spread a sort of fun house mirror version of US values, and the consequences seem to be piling up. The recent elections in places like Argentina, Italy, and The Netherlands seem to show that far-right populism is becoming a theme. Anecdotally it's taking hold in Canada as well. People are now worried about problems they have never encountered. The Republican debate yesterday spending a significant amount of time on who has the strictest bathroom laws comes to top of mind at how powerful and ridiculous these social media bubbles are.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  It's 110% US values -- free speech for all who can pay. Coupled with a vestigial strain of anything-goes-on-the-internet. (But not things that draw too much political flak) The bubbles aren't the problem; it's engagement as a KPI + everyone being neurotic. Turns out, we all believe in at least one conspiracy, and presenting more content related to that is a reliable way (the most?) to drive engagement. You can't have democratic news if most people are dumb or insane.
  - ragequittah 3y ago
    Fully agreed, but the conspiracies are now manufactured at a rate that would've been unfathomable 20 years ago. I have a friend who knows exactly 0 transgender people in life who, when talking politics, it's the first issue that comes up. It's so disheartening that many people equate Trump to being good for the world because they aren't able to make off-color jokes without being called out anymore, or because the LGBTQIA+ agenda is ruining schools. Think of the children! This person was (seemingly) totally reasonable before social media.
skippyboxedhero 3y ago
It isn't US values, it is values from the countries where moderators are hired.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  The fact that everyone should be entitled to say whatever pops into their mind is a pretty US value.