Articles about Censorship

A leaked document suggests that Google is planning on making a return to China, launching a censored version of its search engine to comply with strict Chinese laws.

Going by the codename of Dragonfly, the project has been in the works since 2017 and has led to the creation of China-specific Android apps with the internal testing names Maotai and Longfei. But while the documents and people familiar with the matter say that the launch date could be just six to nine months away, China says the reports are not true.

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YouTube has taken action against Infowars' Alex Jones, hitting him with a strike and removing four of the right-wing conspiracy theorist's videos from its platform.

The videos -- two about Muslims, one about transgender people and one about "preventing liberalism" -- were removed for violating YouTube policies about hate speech and child endangerment. Infowars has hit back by saying that YouTube is violating its own policies in taking down the videos.

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Facebook faces lots of criticisms and questions, and while much of this is focused on privacy and security, there are also lots of queries about what is permitted on the platform. To help users to understand what's allowed and what's not, the company has published its Community Standards for everyone to read.

As well as making it clear exactly what sort of content is likely to attract the attention of censors, Facebook is also introducing a new appeals process, giving people the ability to fight back if their content is removed.

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Following a huge backlash over the weekend, Weibo -- the Chinese equivalent of Twitter -- has announced a reversal of a policy that would have seen gay content banned from the platform.

Originally announced on Friday, the "clean-up" operation was due to last three months, and covered violence and pornography as well as homosexual content. Now, however, Weibo has felt the pressure of public outcry and backed down saying: "We're no longer targeting gay content".

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Chinese microblogging service Sina Weibo has begun the process of removing gay content from its platform in order to comply with new laws. Violent and pornographic content is also subject to blocking or removal, and a lot of fan fiction has fallen victim.

Weibo -- comparable to Twitter -- has 392 million active monthly users, and a three-month campaign is now underway to help create what the company describes as a "clean and harmonious community environment" in accordance with China's "laws and regulations such as the Cyber Security Law".

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We all know that some countries censor their citizens' access to the internet. But which are the most intrusive when it comes to online surveillance?

Consumer security site Security Baron has created an infographic showing the best and worst, along with those named by Reporters Without Borders as, 'enemies of the internet'.

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Just over a week ago, YouTube decided to remove an InfoWars video from the Alex Jones' channel for breaching site rules about harassment. In videos, students who had spoken on TV about the Parkland, Florida shooting were described as "crisis actors". Jones described the move as "giant, massive censorship" and went as far as saying his channel was about to be shut down.

Now advertisers are showing how they feel about InfoWars, with a number of large companies -- including Acer, 20th Century Fox, Grammarly, Paramount Network, Alibaba and  Mozilla -- pulling advertising after learning that their ads were appearing on Jones' channel.

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YouTube has said that new moderators were to blame for the removal of some right-wing videos from the site. Just a few days ago InfoWars' Alex Jones had a video removed for violating YouTube harassment policies and following this a number of right-wing and conspiracy theory channels received warnings or were suspended.

Now the video site has admitted that some of the removals were the result of its policies being applied incorrectly -- side-stepping the claims of censorship that have been banded around. It says that any videos that were removed in error will be reinstated.

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Alex Jones' conspiracy-theory-heavy InfoWars has been censured by YouTube for violating its policies. A video entitled "David Hogg Can't Remember His Lines In TV Interview" -- in which it was alleged that students appearing on TV talking about the Parkland, Florida shooting were "crisis actors" -- was removed from the Alex Jones Channel for breaching YouTube's rules about harassment.

Unsurprisingly, InfoWars is describing YouTube's actions as censorship, but there's a more pressing concern for The Alex Jones Channel and other InfoWars channels -- they run the risk of being closed down entirely.

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Continuing its drive to take control of the internet, the UK government has unveiled a new tool that it says can block extremist content "on any platform" with astonishing accuracy. The system -- as yet unnamed -- was unveiled by Home Secretary Amber Rudd and cost £600,000, paid for with public funds, and has been designed to detect jihadist content.

The government says that the algorithms can automatically detect "94 percent of Daesh propaganda with 99.995 percent accuracy." Speaking to reporters in London, Rudd said that "we're not going to rule out taking legislative action if we need to do it," opening up the possibility that the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google could be forced to use the system.

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Twitter faced criticism over the weekend after it was discovered that the search term "bisexual" appeared to have been blocked. Users noticed that searching for the word returned no news or photo results, leading to claims of censorship and discrimination.

The company refers to the issue as "an error with search results for certain terms" and is "working quickly to resolve" it.

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The New York Times has announced that it is launching a Tor Onion Service version of its website. The new, more secure way to access the site will open it up to people around the world whose internet connections are blocked or monitored.

It also caters to a growing breed of people who are concerned about what their web browsing habit might reveal and who have turned to Tor to protect their privacy.

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Rose McGowan -- one of many actresses to have spoken out about Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse and harassment -- has been slapped with a temporary suspension from Twitter. The sanctions came after the Charmed and Nip/Tuck star talked about the Weinstein allegations.

While Twitter has not revealed exactly why McGowan's account was suspended, it followed her speaking out about sexual abuse, and telling Ben Affleck to "fuck off" after he said he knew nothing of Weinstein's reputation for sexual harassment.

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Twitter was accused of censorship after banning an "inflammatory" ad campaign by Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn. But just one day after implementing the ban, the company has backed down, saying the video -- which sees Blackburn talking about fighting to stop "the sale of baby body parts" -- can be promoted on Twitter.

Despite maintaining its belief that the video contains inflammatory language, Twitter now says that it is permissible within the context of the ad. Furthermore, the company says that it will "refine" its policies around the issue.

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Twitter has blocked an ad campaign by Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn after it was "deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction."

In the ad, Blackburn says she "stopped the sale of baby body parts" from abortions by defunding Planned Parenthood -- a false claim. The pro-lifer claims Twitter is censoring her, but the company has said the ad campaign can run without the "body parts" claim.

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