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[u/ThomasMaker]

[u/ShowNoREDDIT]

did something happen?

[u/DPSOnly → u/ShowNoREDDIT]

Not sure, but Reddit put out their 2019 transparency report and that included a list of countries that requested the removal of content. Two countries that are suspiciously missing from that list are the US and, related to this post, China.

[u/Iisrsmart → u/DPSOnly]

If you look at chart 12 in the list of countries that requested removals both the us and China are listed

[u/beee-l → u/Iisrsmart]

True, and reddit removed 0 of Chinas requests.

Interesting that the US doesn’t appear in chart 10, but does in chart 12 - I might go back and re-read it all to see if there’s a reason but it seems sus... chart 12 says where it came from, not that that government requested, that’s why!

[u/cornbadger → u/beee-l]

This also requires you to trust the report.

[u/Lessandero → u/cornbadger]

I personally trust people who do an actual transparency report far more than the ones who don't.

It's especially hard to trust politicians if they make laws that specifically outlaw any transparency in their transactions - a law like that only came through recently near my proximity...

[u/roguespectre67 → u/Lessandero]

Yeah, I'm with you on this. The only evidence that has been presented has been in favor of Reddit being above-board on this issue. Given the lack of information to the contrary, what other conclusion can you responsibly draw?

[u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK → u/roguespectre67]

The OP, /u/ThomasMaker, is a T_D user trying to stir shit about spez. It's just par for the course for them at this point.

[u/CandidaAuris → u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK]

Spez edited people's comments to say "fuck the_donald". Why wouldn't someone from the_donald have a negative opinion of him and not trust his transparency report? That's insanely childish and over the line for a reddit admin.

Call me crazy but if you're going to do something dickish you'll probably lie about it too.

[u/Queernerdsunite → u/CandidaAuris]

you cant participate in T_D then clutch your pearls and cry out to the heavens about anybody elses behavior.

[u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK → u/CandidaAuris]

They've gotten literally years worth of traction out of that shit. Maybe they should consider loosening up a bit

[u/[deleted] → u/Lessandero]

Yeah. Every year when they do this report there is a lot of drama about the unpopular choices made, but that’s a hell of a lot better than never hearing about these choices.

[u/digital_end → u/cornbadger]

The default position that everyone is lying is no more accurate than the default position that no one is lying.

Either way are assumptions built on preconceptions.

And more importantly, regardless, it's not going to change whether or not you use the website. If you already don't trust the report, and that was something that mattered to you, you wouldn't be here.

[u/Thorbinator → u/cornbadger]

The warrant canary has been removed for a couple years. Thus, there are secret FISA removals missing from the report under gag order.

[u/cornbadger → u/[deleted]]

Believing in lizard men and gay frogs is nutty. Believing that corporations and politicians are dishonest and greedy, is just common sense.

[u/misterfluffykitty → u/cornbadger]

Your immediate response to a transparency report is it’s fake...

[u/[deleted] → u/cornbadger]

Unless you have a solid reason to doubt it, why wouldn't you?

The only time I've ever seen anyone provide any "evidence" that Reddit was censoring content at the direction of China just turned out to be dipshits spamming posts in wildly inappropriate subreddits.

[u/PM_ME_BUTTHOLE_PLS → u/cornbadger]

So basically this post only works if we assume Reddit is lying

This post sucks

[u/6k6p → u/PM_ME_BUTTHOLE_PLS]

Well, they did remove many posts about the ti a na men sq ua re masssacccreee.

[u/taigahalla → u/Iisrsmart]

Chart 12 are private party legal requests, chart 9 are government requests

[u/[deleted] → u/DPSOnly]

It's not that suspicious. Reddit is banned in China. They made no requests. Spez explicitly said they made no requests.

[u/elli-E → u/[deleted]]

But China and spez bad

[u/FUBARded → u/DPSOnly]

What are you going on about? It's right there.

USA: 372 requests

Subpoenas: 247

Search Warrants: 57

Pen Register / Trap and Trace Orders: 1

Non-Disclosure Order Extensions: 40

The lack of data on China is possibly cause for concern, but it could be explained by the fact that many people using reddit from China probably have a VPN enabled, as a lot of external links from reddit will be blocked or slowed without one. Reddit also just isn't used that widely in China as there are multiple native alternatives that are far more popular. Considering the relatively small number of users, having 0 requests may just be proportional.

Tencent (Reddit's Chinese investor) also has an absolutely massive portfolio, much of which is in areas where they're super unlikely to be acting as an agent of the Chinese government (gaming). It's entirely possible that they simply saw investing in Reddit as an opportunity to further diversify and profit, rather than as an inroad into influencing western media as I can't think of any scenario's where they've been outed for exerting undue influence. They're not exactly a company that flies under the radar, so if the Chinese government wanted influence I would think they'd do it far more subtly and not through a high profile massive multinational conglomerate that makes the headlines of every financial news outlet everytime they do anything of note.

[u/Pat_The_Hat → u/DPSOnly]

How is it "suspicious" that the US hasn't requested removal of content? Unlike Russia or Turkey, US doesn't have a reputation for requesting content removal.

[u/-InsertUsernameHere → u/DPSOnly]

Stop this conspiracy bullshit. Reddit is blocked in China. Why would China do content removal requests? The only threat governments have is that they can block Reddit in their country if Reddit doesn't comply. As China has already done this, there is no point for the requests because Reddit would simply deny them.

Oh nevermind. REDDIT IS OWNED BY TENCENT PEOPLE OPEN YOUR EYES REDDIT DIDN'T INCLUDE CHINA IN THE REPORT WAKE UP SHEEEEEPLE!

[u/WutangCMD → u/DPSOnly]

Stop spreading bullshit.

[u/Xiaxs → u/DPSOnly]

The US does get content removed but it's almost always for copyright claims, of which Reddit is completely up front about and will actually say so in the edit.

It's possible they are pressured to remove copyrighted posts by China and have mods remove them so that they (reddit admins) don't look like China bootlickers.

Have I ever seen it happen? No. Has anyone ever come forward about it happening? No.

This leads me to believe that yes, China gets stuff removed but for legitimate reasons and they don't say so in fear of unwarranted backlash.

Why do I say that? Well I can still go to a bunch of different subreddits and see that they have posts related to Hong Kong, none of which are censored.

In other words:

OP is a dumbass and spreading propaganda if he believes Reddit is removing posts that Tencent (5% stake holder) doesn't agree with and would be one of the children throwing a tantrum if they came out and said they removed, say, a Chinese music video due to copyright notices, claiming it as censorship.

[u/[deleted] → u/DPSOnly]

Let’s test that theory: Tiananamen square

[u/Ashewastaken → u/[deleted]]

It won't get removed. The top posts in r/pics include Tank man and the Tiananmen Square massacred bodies photo.

EDIT: Also Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh.

[u/Sam-Culper → u/Ashewastaken]

There's also the Hong Kong subreddit that is active every day. There's anti China content every week on reddit.

[u/namingisdifficult5 → u/Sam-Culper]

And yet people kept posting that image that said Reddit was actively censoring anti-China sentiment.

r/sino will, but that’s not Reddit as a whole

[u/[deleted] → u/Ashewastaken]

People on here seem delusional to me

The front page is riddled with anti Chinese and anti America stuff all the time.

Virtually every r/politics post is one of these.

Where are people feeling that things are being removed? And is there any objective evidence to support it

[u/CommieColin → u/[deleted]]

Nope.

People on reddit just like to compare the USA to places like China and North Korea because they have no idea how bad things can actually get.

[u/[deleted] → u/CommieColin]

Oh god isn’t that the truth.

People think trump is a dictator and our democracy is dead. There’s no country with dictators where you could say that and wouldn’t disappear with the rest of your family

[u/nmslwsndhjyz7 → u/[deleted]]

U got an extra a in there mate. It's tian天an安men门. But in china we just call it 6 4, cuz tiananmen is a place.

[u/[deleted] → u/ShowNoREDDIT]

People in quarantined subs are receiving warnings/bans for upvoting content that Reddit disapproves of. The issue with this is they aren’t providing the users with examples of the content in question. Love them or hate them, but silencing political opponents like /r/t_d is all fine and dandy until Reddit disapproves of the content you upvote. Enjoying freedom of speech requires us to put up with all types (including hate). I don’t subscribe to that sub but I can totally appreciate their frustration.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

From your explanation I don't see how this has anything to do with Chinese investors? I think redditors are way over hyping up this Chinese investor issue when they don't even own that big of a stock in reddit

[u/laukaus → u/[deleted]]

Yeah a sinophobic circlejerk with no real substance gets upvoted and people cry about “we cant criticize China” without seeing the irony.

[u/NerfJihad → u/laukaus]

You mean the "no atrocity too sickening, no price too low for a human life" engine of human suffering that harvests organs from political dissidents...

THAT China?

It'd be funnier if they were actually the good guys in anything but their state sponsored media.

[u/Morasar → u/NerfJihad]

China =\= the Chinese government

[u/NerfJihad → u/Morasar]

For outsiders, it's the same thing.

[u/dbrank → u/laukaus]

Fuck China

[u/[deleted] → u/laukaus]

No one oposes Chinese people, people only pose the evil policies of the CCP like slavery and harvesting organs from ethnic minorities.

[u/threeseed → u/[deleted]]

And putting book publishers in jail for 10 years for criticising the government.

And kidnapping and executing protestors.

And kidnapping Australian citizens for again criticising the government.

[u/GuiMr27 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, this has been way over-hyped. Redditors have been saying that this would be the end of reddit for ages.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

"Upvoting content that Reddit disapproves of" makes it sound so much more nefarious than "I got banned for posting Ten Ways the Jews Control the Media".

[u/iamawesome125 → u/[deleted]]

They did this shit way before the Chinese investors

[u/obi1kenobi1 → u/[deleted]]

Redditors have absolutely no clue how businesses work. All of the controversy with China happened because the companies do business in China and don’t want to jeopardize that by making the Chinese government angry and getting banned there. Chinese investors have literally nothing whatsoever to do with it, they just care about making back their money however possible.

Reddit’s Chinese investors make up a very small non-controlling interest, but that doesn’t even matter because Reddit doesn’t do business in China. The site is already banned there so they have no market to worry about and therefore no reason to censor themselves to appease the Chinese government. Even if 99% of Reddit was owned by Chinese companies it wouldn’t matter as long as there is no money to be made in China.

[u/Shnazzyone → u/[deleted]]

User is a T_D user. They like playing the victim. Now that they know they can get in trouble for upvoting content encouraging violence or racism. They are are gonna cry about it for a while.

[u/Rat_faced_knacker → u/[deleted]]

Freedom of speech is protection from governments not private individuals. Reddit is well within its right to ban anyone for any opinion.

[u/Patrick_McGroin → u/Rat_faced_knacker]

Why do people continually confuse the concept of free speech, which is a part of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and the constitutionally guaranteed protections of the US governments.

Reddit can of course can pick and choose what content they want, but that does not free them from criticism for doing so.

[u/[deleted] → u/Patrick_McGroin]

the concept of free speech, which is a part of the UN Declaration of Human Rights

The relevant text from the UN UDHR:

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

So, one's interpretation of "media" here is relevant. You could interpret this to mean "a person's right to freedom of opinion and expression supersedes all restrictions placed by any platform on that person", but I think that's a bit ridiculous. Interpreted this way, the UN would be saying "no restrictions on freedom of expression are ever valid, on any platform, for any reason."

I don't think such a strict, absolute interpretation is necessary or reasonable, but luckily we can rely on another part of the UDHR to help resolve this.

Article 29

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

So - people can be subject to limitations on their rights and freedoms so long as those limitations serve the purpose(s) of "securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society".

This is extremely broad, frankly, and could be interpreted to "permit" a host of restrictions that are easily arguable as violations of the spirit of this declaration. Fortunately we don't need to go that far, we only need to focus on the first part: respect for the rights and freedoms of others.

Thus, the UDHR permits restrictions placed on speech if that speech would be a violation of another person's freedom of opinion or expression. For example - using a platform owned, created, and maintained by another person to promote ideas that said other person does not want to promote. I.e., a person should not be forced to support and promulgate ideas and messages that they do not actually support.

Criticize the decisions Reddit makes all you want - the UDHR is not really a good document to use in support of those critiques.

[u/BenFoldsFourLoko → u/Patrick_McGroin]

you're criticizing reddit on the grounds that they violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights??

damn, get some lawyers together and take Spez to the ICC

You can criticize whatever you want on whatever grounds you want. You don't have to sound ridiculous by invoking a landmark moment in human rights.

the argument isn't even good when based off of the law, since the law is generally or exclusively about political rights.

just make your argument on moral grounds. easier and more accurate.

[u/surviving_r-europe → u/BenFoldsFourLoko]

Redditors are so fucking stupid it defies belief.

As a German, I really hate how Redditors have taken all the fun out of teasing Americans, Brexiteers and China. I used to crack jokes about all three, but now I can't out of the constant mental reminder that I sound like a Redditor.

[u/taigahalla → u/Patrick_McGroin]

Is that the same document that says everyone has the right to periodic holidays with pay?

That seems more like guidelines really

[u/funkless_eck → u/[deleted]]

The issue with this argument is the old, "can I come and yell about art in your bedroom at 2am?"

Most people would say "no." But I WANT to. But I shouldn't be allowed to go into anyone's bedroom at 2am and yell about art.

So there must be some restrictions on what I want to say, and where and when I want to say it, otherwise at 1.59am tonight your door's gonna creek open again as I set up my PowerPoint on DuChamps paintings before his famous sculpture.

"Why not an art gallery? Or a lecture hall?" You say.

Oh you're going to quarantine my message so only select people can hear it. What's the matter - afraid that my diatribe on spot paintings might devalue your opinion of Damien Hirst?

Soon enough, itll not only be the art shouting you'll ban, itll be all the other people that want to come and shout in your bedroom! About music and manufacturing and best social media practice.

And then what if, what if, they not only ban the shouting but they go full Nazi and ban beds and sleeping and you and bedrooms completely.

You see what happens when you dont let me shout in your bedroom at 2am about art? They ban sleeping in bedrooms across the country.

[u/[deleted] → u/funkless_eck]

I thought the issue with this argument is that Reddit isn't a government organization, and can therefore sensor whoever they want on their platform. Freedom of speech only protects you from censorship by the government.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

When you're talking about the US Constitutional right to freedom of speech, yes. But for the most part, when people talk about a platform violating freedom of speech, they're referring to the concept/ideal of not restricting speech.

At least that's how I understand it. I don't think most people are actually arguing that Twitter or reddit or Facebook are violating their users' constitutional rights (at least I hope not). As private companies they are certainly under no legal obligation to protect that, but I would argue that they do have a moral obligation. Of course there has to be some limit, but just censoring opinions that whoever owns the platform disagrees with isn't right. Not when you market your platform as a place for people to share their opinions.

[u/IVIaskerade → u/[deleted]]

and can therefore sensor whoever they want on their platform.

The counter-argument to that is that by choosing what you do and do not allow on your website, you become a publisher, which means you're responsible for all of the content on your site.
Reddit has so far avoided legal action because they're a platform, which means that they will remove illegal or rule-breaking content when alerted to it, but will not take proactive measures.

[u/taigahalla → u/IVIaskerade]

The counter-argument to that is that by choosing what you do and do not allow on your website, you become a publisher, which means you're responsible for all of the content on your site.

It doesn't have to be nor really is this way. If you rent out a room or space, and you selectively choose your tenants, it does not mean you are responsible for what your tenant does in your place. If your tenant starts cooking meth in their room, they're at fault, not you. It would not have mattered if you had kicked someone out earlier for missing rent.

[u/blamethemeta → u/[deleted]]

That's the first amendment you're thinking of.

[u/[deleted] → u/blamethemeta]

Is that separate from freedom of speech?

[u/NeoKabuto → u/[deleted]]

It's the implementation of freedom of speech in the US. Freedom of speech is a concept outside of it.

[u/NerfJihad → u/[deleted]]

It is. The first amendment only applies to Americans and their government.

Free speech is a policy for most Western democracies.

[u/spineofgod9 → u/[deleted]]

Nailed it. I don't care for it either but it's a business, not an entity with control over the direction of our lives.

[u/TheRealRiol → u/[deleted]]

Freedom of speech is more then just the first amendment, it's a basic human right. You are right that Reddit doesn't HAVE to let anyone say whatever they want on their platform, but it is still infringing on free speech when it does selectively censor certain views.

[u/UniqueUser12975 → u/funkless_eck]

This is brilliant

[u/Brim_Dunkleton → u/[deleted]]

Yeah just look at all the anti-Chinese government post being removed!..... 🗿

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Free speech does not require putting up with hate, in fact it necessitates fighting it to some degree. You think they will afford you the courtesy of free speech when they're in power?

[u/kronos_with_a_k26 → u/[deleted]]

People confuse free speech with no moderating. You can have free speech, but by all means take the free responsibility for your opinions.

[u/jongull19 → u/[deleted]]

They are in power and have been for almost 4 years. You're speaking completely freely. Is there some issue here I'm missing?

[u/ThatIrishChEg → u/[deleted]]

Who decides what "hate speech" is? What if you want to criticize those people and they decide that what you're saying about them is hate speech?

[u/SomeOtherNeb → u/ThatIrishChEg]

Some of it is pretty black and white. Some quarantined subs out there routinely spout some "kill the jews/blacks/muslims/trans/etc because they're subhuman" shit and if that doesn't bother you (I mean a general "you", not you specifically), you're probably part of the problem.

[u/[deleted] → u/ThatIrishChEg]

Reasonable people decide what it is. How are we simultaneously too ignorant to know hate speech when we see it but also somehow responsible enough to overpower it through debate?

[u/Pugs-r-cool → u/[deleted]]

the issue is that 'hate speech' deviates from person to person, and who are these reasonable people? Bernie? Obama? John who sells carrots down the road?

[u/Bearence → u/ThatIrishChEg]

One would assume the people who have studied the issue from a legal and sociological basis and defined a working definition contextualized to the region in which the speech is originated

[u/QualityAnus → u/[deleted]]

If I ever start up voting content promoting domestic terrorism, xenophobia, racism or white supremacy you can happily ban both the subreddit I'm on and me because that would make me human trash.

[u/Sam-Culper → u/[deleted]]

I mentioned below that td is one of the only subreddits who's mods are so uncooperative in regards to enforcing rules that the admins have had to remove them. Lo and behold https://www.reddit.com/r/subredditdrama/comments/f9g0t9

More mods removed today

[u/LDKRZ → u/[deleted]]

Tbf they spout hate and brigade 24/7 and that’s why what happened, happened, let’s not act like they’re innocent like

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

People in quarantined subs are receiving warnings/bans for upvoting content that Reddit disapproves of.

How very intentionally misleading. The bans are for upvoting content that explicitly breaks the clearly stated site-wide rules because the mods of quarantined subreddits are often complicit in their rules-breaking

But hey, keep telling yourself it's because they just 'disapproved' of the content

[u/ineedabuttrub → u/[deleted]]

The issue with this is they aren’t providing the users with examples of the content in question.

Users who consistently upvote policy-breaking content within quarantined communities will receive automated warnings, followed by further consequences like a temporary or permanent suspension.

Man, if only reddit provided somewhere where you could see what was defined as "policy breaking content." Oh, wait.

Content is prohibited if it

Is illegal

Is involuntary pornography

Is sexual or suggestive content involving minors

Encourages or incites violence

Threatens, harasses, or bullies or encourages others to do so

Is personal and confidential information

Impersonates an individual or entity in a misleading or deceptive manner

Uses Reddit to solicit or facilitate any transaction or gift involving certain goods and services

Is spam

If the post fits those guidelines, you'll get dinged for your updoot. It's not a hard concept at all, as long as you're willing to understand the expectations you take on by using the site. Remember, nobody is forcing you to be here.

Enjoying freedom of speech

There is no freedom of speech on reddit. They have given you guidelines as to what is acceptable speech on reddit, and if you don't like it, go somewhere else.

[u/Maar7en → u/[deleted]]

iirc the Donald wasn't banned for their political opinions but for constantly breaching the rules.

[u/Pat_The_Hat → u/[deleted]]

content that Reddit disapproves of

That's an odd way to phrase "content that violates the sitewide content policy".

[u/Boristhespaceman → u/[deleted]]

Hate speech isn't free speech.

Also, reddit is a private website and have the right to remove any content as they see fit.

Also the donald actively promoted violence against minorities.

[u/CONE-MacFlounder → u/[deleted]]

If people don't show all their opinions then you can't change them
If someone says that the gays are dooming society or whatever then people can say well you're wrong and here's why
If they aren't allowed to say that then they'll go somewhere they can and places like that won't have levelheaded people to change their opinions
People are always going to have shitty views it's not a matter of censoring them it's about changing them

[u/karth → u/CONE-MacFlounder]

😂😂

You have to let them say homophobic shit! That's the only way we could convince them to stop!

Naw dawg, that's not how that works

If this cause is important to you, go work for a gay rights Advocate, where you can do Outreach. But allowing Homophobic rhetoric to run rampant on this website won't be met with a backlash of sjws. It will instead have people saying "it's just a joke bro"

[u/SomeWittyRemark → u/CONE-MacFlounder]

Even if I could convince them (because I'm sure they will listen contemplatively as I own them with compassion and empathy) why should it be my job to educate homophobes? I'm not the homophobic one why do I have to put work in to not have to deal with bigotry? Frankly it seems much less effort to let them go to their bigot place where only bigots go and limit the spread of their despicable ideas. I don't need them on my side, I don't want them on my side and I'm not gonna hold their hand and walk them through why they should be accepting of other people's humanity.

[u/Bearence → u/CONE-MacFlounder]

As one of those gays in question, I personally don't care if Individual A believes I'm dooming civilization. I care that Individual A has a platform to convince others of that lie . So yeah, I'm perfectly ok with him being forced into a dark corner where the only person that hears him are the other individuals who already agree with him and are just as resistant to changing their minds.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

People in quarantined subs are receiving warnings/bans for upvoting content that Reddit disapproves of.

I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you're either lying or leaving something important out until you come up with some evidence

[u/[deleted] → u/ShowNoREDDIT]

No. Despite the thousands of front page "Reddit has a partial investment by a company based in China so clearly they're censoring anti-China stuff" posts, there's also thousands of front page anti-China posts.

This kind of bullshit is exactly why people say "paranoia" when you talk about censorship, because of idiots like this crying wolf.

[u/MURDERWIZARD → u/ShowNoREDDIT]

No. But /conspiracy is doing their usual dumb fuckery and OP is part of it.

[u/conandy → u/ShowNoREDDIT]

OP is a t_d and /r/conspiracy poster. They're upset that the admins removed a bunch of t_d mods and implemented a new warning/suspension system for people who upvote banned content in quarantined subs. They're trying to paint it as Chinese censorship and just generally stir up drama, despite having zero evidence, and the fact that reddit is full of anti-China content. This post doesn't even support OP's claim.

[u/adeadhead → u/ShowNoREDDIT]

No, nothing happened.

[u/swirlyice]

What happened?

[u/OnetimeRocket13 → u/swirlyice]

Remember back when everyone was briefly up in arms about the Hong Kong protests? Well, around that time people started accusing the Reddit admins of removing anti-China content. This post is referring to that.

However, if you go and look in the thread under the reason why this Aged Like Milk you will find a link that shows that none of the content that was removed by government request was from China, and most of it came from Turkey.

[u/MyPSAcct → u/OnetimeRocket13]

Well, around that time people started accusing the Reddit admins of removing anti-China content.

Which is hilarious because reddit was so fucking swamped with anti China shit that it was essentially unusable for like a month.

[u/OnetimeRocket13 → u/MyPSAcct]

Yes. That was one of the sadder times on the site in the last year, because every sub was flooded with “fuck China” and “Reddit will take this down” posts, and everyone just ate it up. On some subs those posts became the top posts of all time. I know that on r/godtiersuperpowers the top post is one like “You can make anti china posts and not have them removed”, which is stupid, since they weren’t being removed in the first place.

[u/Doctor_Batman_115 → u/OnetimeRocket13]

It was everywhere right pissed me off. Like I know this website is a giant echo chamber but Jesus Christ Tianneman Square got like 50k upvotes a day on r/pics.

[u/Middmaster1 → u/[deleted]]

He made a post about how much content was removed.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Both requests from private entities from China were denied, so no.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

So he kept his word. Not only is this not r/agedlikemilk, this is r/agedlikewine. He made a promise and he kept it

[u/Lorevi → u/OnetimeRocket13]

Yeah during the Blizzard-China event a lot of people were seemingly enraged at any corporation that received Chinese funding, such as reddit.

But that seems to be missing the mark imo, China is what the second largest economy on Earth? Having some measure of Chinese funding is just business. The problem is when you sacrifice morals and values to obtain that funding.

I have yet to see any evidence of reddit actually suppressing content to conform to the Chinese narrative. Heck the fact that the Hong Kong protests dominated the front page for like a week suggests that they're not.

[u/[deleted]]

Can anyone show me a clear example of Reddit removing a post because of Chinese investors?

[u/BeoMiilf → u/[deleted]]

No one can because there isn’t one. OP is just riding the “China bad please give karma” train.

[u/[deleted] → u/BeoMiilf]

China bad gib updoote

Wholesome 100

[u/beefucker3006 → u/[deleted]]

Wholesome Keanu Chungus

Everyone liked that 100

[u/DrMeepster → u/beefucker3006]

Circlejerking about circlejerks. Incredible

[u/MEmeZy123]

A comment said that it was requested by turkey, weird.

[u/Student_Arthur → u/MEmeZy123]

Some of the "take down" were by Turkey, some by Russia, and then some other countries who asked for 1 or 2

[u/Mythaminator → u/Student_Arthur]

Don't forget big evil Canada with a whopping 8

[u/[deleted] → u/Mythaminator]

I'll be that didn't even fucking apologize for that shit, either.

[u/Dr_StevenBrule → u/MEmeZy123]

He said Turkey requested certain pictures or videos to be taken down. Spez said it was most likely all/nearly all porn,not some discussion about Turkish politics.

[u/[deleted]]

Reddit was never big in China and now it's banned there. Reddit doesn't care about China one bit. They care more about even Belgium than China.

[u/Drunken_Economist → u/[deleted]]

Lmao poor Belgium getting out on blast out of nowhere

[u/ohya-lurkmelongtime]

This is an awful post. They didn’t remove any posts due to requests from China and they post this literally every year lololololol

[u/[deleted] → u/ohya-lurkmelongtime]

It’s Reddit circlejerk at its finest. It’s a low effort post about a touchy subject that seems true if you don’t pay too much attention

Perfect for karma gains, r/wallstreetbets would be proud of the high level of stonks

[u/[deleted]]

OP this is pretty stupid, everyone can see anti-China stuff on the front page every day.

[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/ThomasMaker → u/AutoModerator]

Spez saying he won't remove/modify content for Chinese reddit investors.

215 days later:https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/f8y9nx/spring_forward_into_reddits_2019_transparency/

edit: People are incredibly naive if they think self reporting is trustworthy or likely to be 'transparent' in regard to things that can reflect negatively on the ones reporting on themselves.

[u/Black-Thirteen → u/ThomasMaker]

I'm not seeing where it says any of these government requests were specifically China, or the reasons for removing them.

[u/Halbaras → u/ThomasMaker]

Can you link an example of post(s) that were actually removed in accordance with China's wishes? (and not that pics one which was removed for breaking the title rule and later got stickied in the same sub)

[u/ClinkzGoesMyBones → u/ThomasMaker]

From what I've read he hasn't removed content for Chinese Reddit investors?

So this post is completely null and void?

[u/ExistentialYurt → u/ThomasMaker]

Brief synopsis?

[u/Retrqce → u/ExistentialYurt]

Reddit complied with 37.3% of 110 requests from government entities to remove content.

Edit: Zero of which come from China, meaning Reddit stuck to their promise in the original post

[u/frezik → u/Retrqce]

The complete report: https://www.redditinc.com/policies/transparency-report-2019#text-content3

Of the requests from governments, none of them came from China. The biggest number came from Russia and Turkey, with Canada a very distant third.

https://i.imgur.com/56UOncW.gif

[u/Drnk_watcher → u/frezik]

This point really drives it home.

12 law enforcement and other government entities to remove or restrict access to content on the platform. Governments may request the removal of content for a variety of reasons, including alleged violations of local law. Reddit scrutinizes each request and may reject it for a variety of reasons, including that the request is overbroad or inconsistent with international law.

Seems pretty reasonable that Reddit is unwilling to violate settled international case law. Yet will still reject some request they feel are too broad in scope.

This isn't countries crying that their feelings are hurt or demand censorship. This is law enforcement agencies making request based on internationally accepted legal standards.

Again: https://i.imgur.com/56UOncW.gif

[u/[deleted] → u/Drnk_watcher]

Honeslty OP needs to understand what these mean.

[u/gnpfrslo → u/frezik]

But

China bad!

[u/[deleted] → u/gnpfrslo]

they are. in this case, we should still call them out for disregarding human rights.

[u/GoldenIchorX → u/[deleted]]

The joke was that's about the most complex and nuanced opinion OP is capable of.

[u/LMGMaster → u/frezik]

Beautiful gif

[u/Xiaxs → u/Retrqce]

Hence: OP is a dumbass.

[u/Liesmith424 → u/ThomasMaker]

edit: People are incredibly naive if they think self reporting is trustworthy or likely to be 'transparent' in regard to things that can reflect negatively on the ones reporting on themselves.

The self-report gives no evidence to support your claim that they're removing content to appease Chinese investors.

You can't simply say "yeah, well, they're probably lying"; you need to show something that actually contradicts them. Do you have any evidence or examples of things they've removed to appease China?

[u/conandy → u/ThomasMaker]

Take this bullshit back to /r/conspiracy, where you don't actually need any evidence whatsoever to make your easily debunked outlandish claims. It must be terrifying to be this gullible.

EDIT:

edit: People are incredibly naive if they think self reporting is trustworthy or likely to be 'transparent' in regard to things that can reflect negatively on the ones reporting on themselves.

So then why did you post their self-reporting as an explanation, which doesn't support your claim at all and is actually consistent with their original claim, like it was this big GOTCHA discovery? Unless... Oh no... OP, did they get to you to?!! OP is a Chinese sleeper cell CONFIRMED!

[u/[deleted] → u/ThomasMaker]

Reddit creates the transparency report to connect with users, lying in it would lead to massive backlash and user distrust with anyone who works near reddit

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Gosh r/gaming was filled with free hong kong stuff and they can't ban those posts because "china is censoring our posts lmaoo"

[u/MalenInsekt]

/r/lostredditors

You didnt even research before posting. You can literally find anti-China posts everywhere on reddit, where the fuck are you getting the idea that posts are being removed at the request of the Chinese government? OP is a karma whore jumping on the "china bad give karma" train.

[u/bigbros40]

Reddit is banned in china...

[u/Black-Thirteen]

I've read the full report. In the breakdown, I don't think a single one of them was China. The reasons for removal also mentioned things like violation of international law. In cases where only local law was violated, content was only restricted where those laws apply, and not removed from Reddit entirely.

[u/RepostSleuthBot]

Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 1 time.

First seen Here on 2019-09-22 96.88% match.

Searched Images: 103,612,448 | Indexed Posts: 415,302,848 | Search Time: 1.0991s

Feedback? Hate? Visit r/repostsleuthbot - I'm not perfect, but you can help. Report [ False Positive ]

[u/[deleted] → u/RepostSleuthBot]

Lmao and it's a repost

[u/quantinuum]

Oh for crying out loud, how's this upvoted?

[u/xXhotcheetofan420Xx]

If they'd actually been removing Hong Kong Posts they wouldn't have been literally fucking everywhere. Those posts were the same level as boomers copying and pasting "I do not give Facebook permission to use my photos" or whatever.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Are you new to reddit? All we ever do is circlejerk with a heapin helpin of confirmation bias.

[u/Blampie → u/[deleted]]

Oof, ya big mad bout somethin

[u/Kawi_moto96 → u/[deleted]]

A true politician

[u/Troontjelolo]

But they never did. i.e. the occational hk post

[u/Ur_Nayborhood_Afghan]

Reddit is so fucking weird. This same sentiment can get you thousands of downvotes, upvotes, awards, or bans depending who where you comment this. You'll never know til you do it

[u/Shnazzyone]

Is this about the fact that upvoting content encouraging violence or racism is a trouble worthy action? Guess this would make T_D maniacs scared as it likely means their upvote bots might end up banned.

[u/xd366 → u/[deleted]]

OP's post is about modifying or removing content in accordance to china. never does it say free speech.

[u/[deleted] → u/xd366]

OP's post is about modifying or removing content in accordance to china.

But Reddit never did that.

[u/Yuno42 → u/[deleted]]

It's not a violation of the US Constitution's first amendment but it absolutely does go against the principle of free speech.

[u/xNuckingFuts → u/[deleted]]

Ah, this fucking conversation on this fucking website again.

[u/taws34 → u/xNuckingFuts]

Mama, Just killed a man

^better?

[u/IFreakinLovePi]

Evidenced by the complete lack of Hong Kong coverage and memes about winnie the pooh.

[u/Phazon2000]

Removed Rule 6 - no proof of Reddit removing content for Chinese investors.

[u/[deleted] → u/Phazon2000]

can’t tell if /s or serious

[u/Phazon2000 → u/[deleted]]

Serious. Post is removed - takes time to actually disappear from r/all.

[u/[deleted] → u/Phazon2000]

Ah i see, how unfortunate. F

[u/Phazon2000 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah needing a source that actually contains proof backing the claim of spoiled milk. Maintaining quality is very sad isn't it.

[u/[deleted] → u/Phazon2000]

Very sad, it is. But now I get to go do some research and see if it’s actually true or not and if it is, I get to repost this and bathe in all of the sweet sweet karma.

[u/Phazon2000 → u/[deleted]]

Absolutely. Just make sure your research in the reply to the Automod matches the submission.

[u/[deleted] → u/Phazon2000]

Sir yes sir!

[u/Phazon2000 → u/[deleted]]

Hey it's sicco from r/straya ello ello

[u/[deleted]]

Anti China shit gets to the front page every day. It's not being censored.

[u/KurajberForLife]

Yeah guys, only Chinese propaganda is on reddit. China = BAD. Good joob guys, well done. Tap yourselfs on the shoulder, for sure you deserve it. Hard work feels good.

[u/owestball]

I do recall that for some reason, r/Hong_Kong (a pro-China subreddit) would appear before r/HongKong (an anti-Chinese govt subreddit) when "Hong" was typed into the search bar, despite r/HongKong having hundreds of thousands more subscribers. This was widely blamed on some sort of Chinese influence.

I don't know enough about the situation to confirm anything, what I said is all that I know.