Summary
Many Americans joining China’s social media platform RedNote are encountering strict censorship uncommon in Western platforms.
One non-binary user had a post asking if the platform welcomed gay people removed within hours.
Posts on LGBTQ+ topics, fitness photos, and sensitive cultural content have been censored, frustrating users unfamiliar with China’s moderation rules.
RedNote is hiring English-language moderators to handle the influx. While some users enjoy cultural exchange, others criticize restrictions.
Analysts see RedNote’s growth among US users as a soft power win for China.
The fuck did they expect going to a Chinese platform
Well the tankies seem to think that China is actually a Utopia that the western governments are hiding from us, so naturally there shouldn’t be any censorship issues lol
People moving to Red Note aren’t tankies and I’ve only heard people who describe what tankies say that tankies think China is a utopia that our governments are hiding from us. Kinda like Ben Shapiro describing what “the left” people say or do.
lemmy.ca has some tankie instances defederated, so it would make sense why you don’t see what tankies are saying
https://lemmy.ca/instancesBut I do agree that people using rednote aren’t tankies.
I wish .ca would list a reason for defederation.
If you checked out those tankie instances or listened to them in your home instance for just a few minutes, you wouldn’t have to ask lol.
.world still federates with .ml and man those guys can have the most braindead takes… and they’re one of the more reasonable tankie instances.
Oh .ca is still with .ml, I go there to laugh every once in a while.
This can help, but it’s reports against instances in general and not specifically from .ca https://gui.fediseer.com/instances/censured
You are assuming TikTokers have any intelligence, morals, principle or talent (or even humanity)
This is an extremely weird take.
Ikr, that’s the whole world, not just TikTok users.
Somehow TikTokers even surpass that (Along with Twitch streamers)
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Who Lemmy.World ??
On Lemmy it’s not, this place is filled with pseudo-intellectuals with no critical thinking abilities at all. They literally have no idea what a ban like this means. The problem is I can’t tell I’d they’re shills or worse, they really think this is a good thing cuz “le short videos bad”. I’m starting to think that only the worst people from reddit came here.
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“I’m an American and have a right to free speech, no matter what country the service is hosted in!”
That’s certainly what certain people on lemmy.world seem to think despite the server being in The Netherlands.
But what if there is no country that “allows” the speech you want to say? I want to call for the beheading of billionaires. I assume you don’t think I should be able to do that?
My question is how much of these articles are manufactured outrage. Like, I can’t imagine anybody expected anything different - especially since some of this stuff is censored already on American social media (especially LGBT related stuff), and the media has spent 50 years telling Americans how much censorship there is in China and the Great Firewall.
Probably 90% from my personal experience, I see loads of LGBTQ posts on RedNote. I wonder if they’re being sensored or just waiting to go through the moderation queue.
I could see English posts maybe accumulating negative sentiment scores or even just a lack of known words causing a post to end up in a moderation queue.
For reference sentiment scores are basically a numeric way of scoring a post. Words like “hate” get -10 points neutral words get 1 point, and positive words like love and friendship get +10 points. At least when I was in college, this was a popular way for social media to determine if they should push your content or not.
I said in another comment about what I learned from following a Chinese lesbian on Twitter is that with China it’s like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” - you can say and do things that you could or should get in trouble for, but as long as you do it the right way, it’ll be overlooked.
There’s gay bars and a big lesbian scene in China, but there’s a common practice there, that used to happen in Europe and the US as well before the culture shifted, where lesbians get married to men - either gay guys or just a guy they have an arrangement with - to fulfill the cultural obligation expected of them to get married, and then they basically live their own separate lives.
So most likely what’s happening is people who don’t know the cultural do’s and don’t’s are getting censored for stepping over the line.
But LGBTQ stuff is censored all the time on other social media anyway, whenever they think they can get away with it, so it’s not like it’s all that surprising - especially when you add in China’s official stance on LGBTQ people.
These feel like they’re freaking out about something that everybody already knew was gonna happen, and omitting the fact that it happens elsewhere as well to make it seem like a big deal.
This is all just leading up to the TikTok savior Trump winning over the youth crowd. If you force them to a platform that is much worse, they will forget how controlling the previous platform was and just be happy to have it.
Damn, who could’ve seen that circus coming while honking its way over here? Not me.
They mean the second time. I’m sure they mean the second time.
all the lulz
I suppose the real question is whether most users will balk at this and move to a new platform, or just accept it.
My bet is that they’ll just accept it.
It would be interesting to see what the effects are. I’ve heard that TikTok is the only mainstream social media where leftist content isn’t attenuated by the algorithm. Don’t know if that’s true or not, but if it is, and if we assume Red Note is similar in that regard, and if you bet right, they’ll keep getting exposed to leftism without corpo platforms being able to stop it. Unless they do another ban. I’m curious whether there would be a point when the TikTok > Red Note users would realize that and refuse to go back to the corpo propaganda machines.
Out of curiosity, what leftist content do you see there that the “western” social media sites won’t allow on their platform?
I don’t think it’s so much that western social media “won’t allow” leftist content, you can certainly post it and share it, but the algorithms aren’t going to do anything to help it gain traction.
Pretty much all of my Facebook friends skew liberal, leftist, even pretty hardcore socialist and communist. They share their memes and post about politics, and I like and interact with that stuff in positive ways. The few political pages I follow myself are pretty much all left leaning causes- environmentalism, pages devoted to voting out Republican candidates in my local elections, LGBTQ rights, atheism, etc. and I actively block, unfollow, and when appropriate report (though of course the reports never seem to go anywhere) any sort of of homo/trans-phobic, racist, bullshit and any misinformation I come across.
I’m just about the furthest right of anyone on my Facebook, and I’m still pretty far left. I have a few hobbies and interests and such that tend to skew right-wing, like hunting, fishing, guns, etc. but I don’t really interact with any pages relating to any of that on Facebook, don’t post about those things, etc. and the way I approach and interact with those sorts of activities is very different than the way most conservatives do.
If you looked at my ads and recommendations though, you’d think I was some kind of truly insane redneck. Gun stuff, weird Christian tradwife quiver-full homesteader shit, very thinly veiled racism, homophobia, etc, muscle cars and big trucks (I think muscle cars are stupid, I do like trucks but not the big lifted monster trucks that it’s always showing me, I think a stock maverick is pretty damn close to perfect)
The only left wing stuff I see is stuff my friends are sharing themselves, and mostly it’s stuff they’ve posted themselves and not shared from anywhere else on Facebook. Their stuff’s mostly not getting taken down, but it’s not getting promoted to any wider audience by the algorithm.
I dunno, you have a favorite pickup truck. I have a hard time believing you’re on the left.
Yeah, fuck me for having an opinion on something I frequently find myself needing to use.
No, in an ideal world, a truck shouldnt be anyone’s primary transportation. Privately owned passenger vehicles in general should be a rarity and most people’s needs should be served by public transportation.
However, sometimes you need a truck, they do exist to serve the purpose of moving large or bulky things that you can’t with other vehicles, they’re not just for idiots to waste gas driving getting groceries or for idiots to go play in the mud. And people tend to develop opinions on the tools they use. I have a favorite hammer, I have opinions on computer operating systems, a preferred style of cabinet hinges, and opinions and preferences on countless other things.
And it happens that I like trucks. I don’t own a truck, it’s not a practical vehicle for my everyday needs, but I borrow them frequently from friends and family and rent them on occasion. And the maverick is my preferred truck for when I need one.
Ya know, Pick Up Trucks aren’t inherently evil (though I’d argue many current designs are rather destructive in several ways), and there’s, like, lefty farmers, contractors, non-city people, etc. I think policing what people are allowed to like will get us nowhere.
The Toyota Hilux is the People’s Truck!
Powering insurgence globally.
Who is policing? I’m just saying you’re a random entity on the internet who also fanboys over a low visibility, polluting, death machine. Then you go on about how you’re actually pretty far left…could easily be a big old case of the lady doth protest too much (akin to the protonmail guy walking back his maga nature with “I’m left on some issues, right on others”).
All I said is I don’t buy this facade you have.
You are policing, that was my point.
Liking the concept of a small, utilitarian pick up doesn’t make you right wing. Liking big pick ups might make you a bit misguided in my eyes, but still doesn’t mean you can’t be on the political left.
I am vegan, and could very easily make arguments why you are unethical and aren’t “properly” left wing if you aren’t. I just don’t think that it’s productive, and that you can’t nail down a person’s whole world view over some general issue like this.
This is hownit works. On algorithm-driven platforms you don’t have to ban anything. You can both allow it, and have it not reach any meaningful audience. It’s brilliant really.
A lot of advertisers pulled out of Facebook, so you get the ones going for the target audience.
Pro Palestine opinions get you banned, or de-prioritized on Facebook.
Pro Luigi content gets you a ban on all major US social media.
Mmmm, I see plenty of people supporting Luigi and not getting banned.
For example: https://www.businessinsider.com/luigi-mangione-content-meta-facebook-instagram-youtube-tiktok-moderation-2025-1?op=1
That is one story running covering the ongoing removal of pro-Mangione content. It was an isolated incident.
Well, the billionaires do want to keep things under control. They know their power is fragile.
My bet is that they’ll just accept it.
People won’t care until they or an issue they care about is censored.
this is disgusting. personally I prefer lgbtq related posts be censored by companies like Facebook and Twitter instead.
cisgender is hate speech, y’all
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Leopards and Faces…
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Lol I’m almost permanently shadow banned from youtube for the same reason, only rarely do my comments actually show up, and I can’t even reply to my own comment. The funny thing is I made just one comment to trip their alarm, because everything else I write comments about are usually memes and YTP.
I also saw a fairly well liked reddit mod get banned by the site admins for stating Israel is an ethnostate.
Thn first amendment protects you against censhorship by the government only, so yeah facebook can censor yoyr speech
So if you wanted to talk shit about Israel you could spin up your own lemmy instance and there’s nothing the government or anyone else can do about.
Can the same be said about Mainland Taiwan?
Many Americans joining China’s social media platform RedNote are encountering strict censorship uncommon in Western platforms.
This has nothing to do with the first amendment in the first place.
Being banned from FB however as everything to do with common censorship on western platforms.
Anyone who has been using Xitter over the last couple of years has already experienced Chinese style censorship.
Chinese style censorship is more consistent, though. No one is making up rules on the fly.
That is a poor defence of censorship.
I’m not trying to defend it, just saying that as bad as Chinese censorship is, Musk is worse.
This is consistent. Anything that makes the racists, fascists, incels, tech bros, and billionaires uncomfortable is blocked.
What makes them uncomfortable could change tomorrow.
Did mentions of Tiananmen Square make China uncomfortable before 1989 or did that change? Did mentions of Winnie the Pooh make China uncomfortable before 2017 or did that change?
I’m not sure what point you were trying to make.
My point was just that Musk has very thin skin.
And Xi doesn’t?
That is a comparatively slow rate of change, don’t you think so?
That was only two representative examples. Do you actually want me to make an exhaustive list of all of the changes that have happened over time to the Chinese censorship regime?
The point was obvious…
Chinese censorship is planned and targeted, with the intent to control and suppress dissent. It works hard to maintain a narrative and prevent excessive and rapid shifts so as to achieve a long term goal of control.
The billionaires running American social media (with a special shout to Musk) are mercurial and subject to the petty whims and feelings of the owner.
So while yes, obviously both change and the heads of the CCP are also occasionally subject to emotional responses, the differences between the two are stark and obvious. So no, “everything technically changes” is not a valid counter to the significant differences in intent and volatility.
Claiming you don’t understand the point they were making is just being intentionally obtuse.
Thank you. It seems it was clear enough for at least one other person.
I’m sure your point was very clear in your head but it may not be obvious to you that other people can’t read your mind. Suggesting that anyone who doesn’t get your opaque point is being obtuse is arrogant and childish.
Do better.
China censors all literature, film, music, and internet discourse employing advanced technologies and multiple tens of thousands of people while also running the world’s largest prison for journalist. VPNs are blocked. Apps like Signal are blocked. Online gaming for minors is limited to 3 hours per day on weekends and holidays only. People get harassed by police for what they post online. Many go to jail for criticizing the government, spreading pornography or health related sexual content (including anything LGBT), supporting Taiwanese independence, or casting doubt on Chinese folk legends. Then, in addition to that (which I have not even begun to do justice to), all media companies run their own internal censorship regimes so as not to get in trouble with the authorities. And this rolls downhill: you the individual self-censor to not get in trouble with your boss or worse.
You don’t think that’s exactly where the US is heading?
Heading is different from already being there.
Is there a pedant brigade or something?
To the contrary… it’s a real concern. That’s why we shouldn’t falsely equivocate the CCP censorship apparatus to the haphazard moderation impulses of a childish social media CEO.
We’ve got a lot more to lose, especially with the long-emerging (and currently accelerating) conflux of state and social media.
For insurance, the pending KOSA bill opens a huge opportunity for future government censorship: https://www.techdirt.com/2024/12/09/new-kosa-same-as-old-kosa-but-now-with-elons-ignorant-endorsement/
Yeah… I don’t think you’re the expert on China censorship you present yourself as.
I think you just regurgitated every piece of Cold War propaganda & every rumor about Chinese censorship that you’ve ever heard.
I mean, all the Chengdu '89 mums get rounded up at the end of May each year still.
You can’t even talk about the Cultural Revolution these days.
Even stating the fact that the RoC still exists will get your WeChat account closed.
I’m not sure what you think PRC censorship is like.
Which of my statements do you disagree with? How would you characterize the state of freedom of speech in the PRC?
The entire worldwide LGBT TikTok population should flood RedNote and post pro-LGBT stuff in their native language. Let Rednote scramble finding moderators that can speak in a language that’s only spoken by a few million people. Then those users should leave after a few weeks and leave RedNote with the bill. And then rinse and repeat after a few months.
So mh maybe spread shit talk in ALL languages on rednote for break them by their censoring?
Well color me constipated, because no shit.
This is why I’m against using Rednote myself. Just try searching tiananmen square in Rednote and you won’t get any results.
Someone here was defending it the other day claiming that China wouldn’t use it for propaganda purposes because politics is banned there.
They didn’t see the problem with that.
Oh, well that makes it completely useless then.
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Are you seriously suggesting that the bloodbathed atrocities committed by the Chinese government on innocent student protestors in Tiananmen Square never happened?
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Now I am quite ready for you to disengage, shut down, and just yell and say I am a crazy person
Do you see a .ml after my name?
And if that’s the “normal response” you’re accustomed to, then maybe other people aren’t the problem.
No, my response is to end this now and to stop engaging in a discussion that is clearly pointless. I’ve said what needed be said on the matter.
People did get killed, but no one died in the Square, and calling it a “massacre” is a stretch. Here are some NSFW/NFSL images and here is a video what actually went on with tank man (who blocked tanks from leaving the square, not entering it).
Thank you
Here’s an archive of the link from that CBS page, since it’s broken now: https://web.archive.org/web/20090606124946/https://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/04/world/worldwatch/entry5061564.shtml
It talks about the soldiers shooting people outside Tiananmen Square. This is the event that “the Tiananmen Square Massacre” refers to. The number of people killed ranges from tens to hundreds to thousands, depending on who you ask, plus more wounded, but nobody can deny that there wasn’t a massacre.
I think that’s splitting hairs and a purposeful distraction from the point that the Chinese government’s murdered innocent people.
To say- “but it happened near the square, not AT it!” is nothing short of disingenuous.
And for the record, they said the west “made it up”. Misinformation at its finest.
Quite a few of the people killed were unarmed military & police, which means that at least some of the “peaceful” protesters were not as peaceful as Western media portray them.
Did the Chinese military kill innocent students protestors or not?
Answer the question without splitting hairs and distractions.
Did they, or did they not?
Given that a few hundred people died, I think it’s safe to assume that government agents must have killed at least some nonviolent protesters, yes. I don’t know anyone who’d dispute that.
Leaving aside the fact that nobody questions that Roth was detained for 20 hours by the Chinese government and quite possibly bribed or blackmailed.
