Modern Corporate Machine Learning Censorship
I can't be the only one who is both disgusted and concerned how in this day and age of rampant interconnectivity and unprecedented opportunity for creativity, many of the voices who dare approach sensitive topics (where what's "sensitive" is often completely dependent on the PC sentiment of the day) get blocked or muted. Professional YouTube creators receive the business end of the dreaded demonetisation hammer, and private communication channels are being monitored and their messages blocked in the name of safety.
Here are a couple of examples - try them yourself (or at least watch the videos):
- YouTube demonetising a historical video on the composer Shostakovich because it talks about Stalin and the USSR in which the composer had lived in:
Also, try sharing a link to a torrent file on Facebook messenger:
Facebook will also ban assorted messages discussing Bitcoin, and will (definitely wrongly) block random other stuff, like a link to a local car shop (on completely unknown grounds):
(And this is in the western world, not China!)
The most likely reason all of this happens is almost complete reliance on algorithms to sort out who's naughty or nice, without any significant real-person input. While this approach is necessary since there's just SO MUCH new content created every day, having shitty or non-existent user support and not offering any way to prove innocence are introducing a dangerous precedent - especially for the younger generations who are now growing up thinking all that is "normal". These generations will build the world of tomorrow accordingly.
Yeah, no-one HAS to use Google or Facebook, but come on, the hermit population isn't exactly booming.