Tripadvisor's App, and More Than 100 Others, Have Just Been Blocked in China (cnn.com) 71
China says it has pulled Tripadvisor (TRIP) from mobile app stores in the country as the government embarks on a fresh bid to "clean up" the internet. From a report: In a statement Tuesday, the Cyberspace Administration of China said it had removed 105 apps it considered to be "illegal," including that of the US travel giant. Most of the platforms belonged to local Chinese firms, and it was not immediately clear why Tripadvisor -- which features reviews of hotels and holiday destinations -- was caught up in the crackdown. The Massachusetts-based company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of Tuesday afternoon, Tripadvisor's website was still accessible in China. Chinese regulators said the apps they removed were the first of many that would be taken down in a wide-ranging "clean-up" of online content that started last month. The campaign is being held in accordance with several Chinese laws, and is intended to wipe out content related to illegal activity, including obscenity, pornography, prostitution, violence, fraud or gambling, according to authorities. "The Cyberspace Administration of China will continue to ... strengthen the supervision and inspection of mobile apps' information services, promptly clean up and dispose of illegal mobile applications and application stores, and strive to create a clear cyberspace," the agency said in a statement.
Of course! (Score:4, Informative)
Of course Tripadvisor is blocked. What did you think?
"Master, what is outside China?"
"Nothing. There is only China."
Re: (Score:3)
Nothing of the kind.
All the stuff which is being blocked have message boards and discussion threads.
China is absolutely merciless on this one. You either subscribe to the fact that Winnie The Pooh (especially the Russian version) and Tienanmen do not exist or you do not get to work in China.
I am now going to commit one of the greatest crimes in modern China and start humming the Winnie the Pooh song about the bees from the old Soviet version (which is actually a lampoon of the gerontorcracy and the id
The wrong people got bad reviews? (Score:3)
The problem with governments with One major political party. Is that it gives the wealthy people a single source to suck up to, and have things done for them, without much or any oversight. So I would expect some influential hotel owners got some negative reviews on TripAdvisor, while they cannot block content on an American Company, they could work with their government to try to get it blocked.
This isn't a Communism problem, but a problem with a government without oversight and checks and balances. This type of stuff happens in the United States as well, however it is often less drastic, because the Influencer will need 2 parties to try to get on the same page. Not impossible, but much more difficult.
Re:The wrong people got bad reviews? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's funny how näzis killed barely a tenth of people that communists did, and have been removed from power almost a century ago, and yet are universally reviled.
Communists not just killed far more, but also enslaved far more and tortured far more. And they do it to this day, when the biggest ongoing genocide right now is committed by Communists. And yet. "This isn't a problem unique to Communism" "Real Communism has never been tried" "Capitalism kills even more than Communism because I redefine what "kills" means, also remember näzis are bad!" keeps getting regurgitated.
It's almost like Communism is the single best ideology known to man when it comes to making worst aspects of humanity acceptable to those who have tendencies to commit such things.
Even here on slashdot, näzis is a censored word so I have to use umlaut a to send a message with it. Yet Communists are allowed.
Re: (Score:2)
We are talking about blocking a Website and Mobile App. Not about other crimes of the government.
I never stated the Communism is good or a noble form of government. Just for this particular case, I see it more as a case of a single Party government than the ideology of said government.
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
And that was my point. That people who have these tendencies find excuses. As you do.
Here for example, your search for excuses lead you down the path of going from extremely wide scope of things "but the capitalism!" to extremely narrow "but the capitalism, but only in this small thing, and only from the view that I allow".
For example, you chose to ignore the fact that US, the country to specify as a comparison has rule of law, nor does it have an opaque organisation that has power to ban anything it wants
Re: (Score:2)
Dude you need to take a chill pill, stop watching Fox news it is rotting your brain, and stop putting in words that I didn't say.
1. I never stated Capitalism being a problem here. Just a single party system, where the government controlled by one party can be easily corrupted.
2. I ignored the fact that the US has a Rule of Law, because China also has a Rule of Law. It is just a very different rule of law. However Rules of Law to be effective need enforcement and oversight.
3. I did not assume equal merit
Re: (Score:2)
I love how in the same statement, you project the apparent source of your ignorance, trust in mass media as a source of political knowledge with pretending I put words in your mouth.
And then proceed to invent strawmen of my points that have little to nothing to do with points I raised. Like I said, justifications to oneself. For example, you continue to engage in the standard far left games of "if I redefine what words mean, I can pretend that they mean something completely different. And then I can pretend
Re: (Score:3)
It's funny how näzis killed barely a tenth of people that communists did
It's funny how some people are so gullible that they believe that a N'azi who says they're communist should be automatically believed. China is no different from Hitler's Germany in any practical sense. Indeed, it is Hitler's Germany taken much further towards its logical conclusion than he ever managed.
But, yeah. Communist - just like the National Socialist Party was socialist.
Re: (Score:1)
It's funny how näzis killed barely a tenth of people that communists did
It's funny how some people are so gullible that they believe that a N'azi who says they're communist should be automatically believed. China is no different from Hitler's Germany in any practical sense. Indeed, it is Hitler's Germany taken much further towards its logical conclusion than he ever managed.
But, yeah. Communist - just like the National Socialist Party was socialist.
Be careful- you're very close to to confusing those fools that think the NSDAP was socialist simply because it's in the name. Safer to simply say this: "autocrats gonna autocrat"
Re: (Score:2)
As opposed to their political platform that contained socialist elements such as demands to socialise corporations and that corporations share profits with workers?
Citations: Points 13 and 14 in their 25 point programme.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, apologia like this. "Real Communism has never been tried, also all Communists who came before me are actually Näzis".
Funny part is, National Socialists were in fact Socialist. Read their 25 point programme. Most easily recognised parts would be parts 13 and 14:
13. We want all very big corporations to be owned by the government.
14. Big industrial companies should share their profits with the workers.
Which is why in their own time they were indeed considered a far left organisation, like all other m
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, apologia like this. "Real Communism has never been tried, also all Communists who came before me are actually Näzis".
Funny part is, National Socialists were in fact Socialist. Read their 25 point programme. Most easily recognised parts would be parts 13 and 14:
13. We want all very big corporations to be owned by the government.
14. Big industrial companies should share their profits with the workers.
No legitimate historian or political scientist considers the NSDAP to be socialist. They are fascist.
The term National Socialism arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of socialism, as an alternative to both Marxist international socialism and free-market capitalism. N*zism rejected the Marxist concepts of class conflict and universal equality, opposed cosmopolitan internationalism and sought to convince all parts of the new German society to subordinate their personal interests to the "common good", accepting political interests as the main priority of economic organization,[9] which tended to match the general outlook of collectivism or communitarianism rather than economic socialism. The N*zi Party's precursor, the pan-German nationalist and antisemitic German Workers' Party (DAP), was founded on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s, the party was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party—to attract workers away from left-wing parties such as the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Communists (KPD) — and Adolf Hitler assumed control of the organization.
Point 13 is full on fascism: the full control of business by the state.
Fascism presented itself as an alternative to both international socialism and free market capitalism.[211] While fascism opposed mainstream socialism, it sometimes regarded itself as a type of nationalist "socialism" to highlight their commitment to national solidarity and unity.[212][213] Fascists opposed international free market capitalism, but supported a type of productive capitalism.[118][214] Economic self-sufficiency, known as autarky, was a major goal of most fascist governments.[215]
Re: (Score:2)
It all sounds to me like the Soviet Union, where the business was fully controlled by the state. Soviet Union was also nationalistic, albeit a bit more veiled at that. There wasn't really internationalism. They just didn't explicitly single out one ethnic group as a target.
Re: (Score:1)
Soviet Union was deeply internationalist. Not only did they support ideals of Communist International and propagandise their people to the very time of the fall of USSR with "other nations' people are oppressed by their capitalist masters, and it is our duty as Communists to bring Proletarian revolution to them to rescue them".
This ideology was well demonstrated in Olympics of 1980 in Moscow, where Muscovite women were encouraged to have sex with and have children by the visiting athletes, resulting in what
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, apologia like this. "Real Communism has never been tried, also all Communists who came before me are actually Näzis".
I assume you also believe that China is a People's Republic. I mean - it says right there in the country name. Must be true.
Funny part is, National Socialists were in fact Socialist. Read their 25 point programme. Most easily recognised parts would be parts 13 and 14:
13. We want all very big corporations to be owned by the government.
14. Big industrial companies should share their profits with the workers.
You're doing it again. You take their word for it. You are such a gullible fool; they would have loved you.
You have to judge them by what they do, not what they say. The Nz's divided corporations up among party members who where able to keep the profits just like any other company. You could say they were "owned by the government" in the sense that anyone could be shot and replaced at
Re: (Score:2)
Remember folks. Every system is fascism, because I redefined fascism to mean whatever I want it to mean.
In conclusion, on merits of your own argument, you're obviously a fascist.
P.S. I literally talked about merits of the system rather than what it's called. But since you're doing nothing but redefining works, I guess "words" have been redefined to mean "merits" within the same argument.
WW2. (Score:2)
it's not odd.
NÃzis made WW2 and almost conquered the planet.
BTW, the war related deaths are often ignored when this topic comes up because:
Communists haven't openly started WW3 against the planet. Not likely to either since communist governments are nearly extinct (the label itself isn't.)
Re: (Score:2)
>Communists haven't openly started WW3 against the planet.
I'm genuinely interested. Let's ignore the massive amount of Communist warfare in last century and the many millions it killed as you do for some reason (ignorance?).
Do you seriously think that without MAD, Communist International would not have followed its ideals and attempt to conquer the world?
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, I've often argued that WW3 already happened and that is what the cold war was; they couldn't fight conventionally because of MAD so it became multiple proxy wars with a death total near WW1. I just avoid going into that topic by not saying WW4.
I actually do not think of them as all that different from the USA in their empire building; both kept trying to control other nations and each loved to claim the other as justification for their actions which probably only was the case in a few situations.
Re: (Score:2)
>I've often argued that WW3 already happened and that is what the cold war was
"I've redefined what world war means, therefore it happened".
The level of minimization of what World Wars were here is astounding. That said, I can completely understand why a US citizen that never had to experience strife and is completely drowned in propaganda would find Cold War to be "oh my god, totally same as World War!"
>Furthermore, I never got the impression they were all that big on invading the planet but were a re
Re: (Score:2)
You must think world war is impossible because it is not going to happen like that again. There is no set of rules; it doesn't have to impact all nations equally either.
The USA didn't suffer from either WW; it wasn't any worse for the USA than the Flu. Trump2020!
(I'm kidding.)
Re: (Score:1)
Luckyo writes Do you seriously think that without MAD, Communist International would not have followed its ideals and attempt to conquer the world?
Alfred E Neuman deserves a Nobel peace prize.
Re:WW2. (Score:5, Interesting)
Very benevolent!
Why, it's not war or colonizing if you 'unify', and not genocide if you starve 50 million of you own people - that's a cultural revolution!
And, it's not gatekeeping to block teaching in Western nations about mass killing in communist authoritarian countries (this, the Red Terror, Holodomor etc) because Germans apparently...
Re: WW2. (Score:3)
I live in Qinghai. Never heard of a Han social worker living with a Tibetan family even once. Tibetan films are actually growing national treasure and recently I read some news about thangkas in a museum in Shanghai. I am friends with a relatively famous Tibetan actor and know many in the Tibetan film industry.
You literally are a mouth piece of propaganda. If you had any shame, you would start feeling it now.
Is everything perfect, no but since you are likely an American, you should consider your nations
Re: (Score:2)
Never heard of a Han social worker living with a Tibetan family even once
It's possible that OP miswrote, and meant to write "Uighur families". [economist.com]
since you are likely an American, you should consider your nations own history of inequality
What do atrocities committed by the US have to do with atrocities committed by China? There's a moral obligation to call out injustices when you see them. Even if it's hypocritical (and I don't believe it is in this case), the criticism, and the call to do better, can be valid.
Re: (Score:2)
"There is a moral obligation to call out injustices when you see them".
Can you reference where this moral obligation comes from? I mean I am genuinely interested in what you would reference as the origination of this idea.
I think when you end your statement you say your ultimate perspective, by saying that the criticism can be valid. I don't really want to begin this debate of right and wrong because we would first have to agree on what our standards are (e.g. biblical standards, founding American principle
Re: (Score:1)
There are many forms of communism but only one näzis. The näzis were exposed and the world could see what what happening on a regular basis. Communist countries tend to keep the details of what they're doing secret. I expect particular communist countries would be held more accountable if the conditions were the same.
Re: (Score:2)
There are actually quite a few different forms of näzis. They still exist, for example skinheads. I would know, I still have scars from my youth from fighting them. They just generally don't get anywhere near political power because they're considered nearly universally unpalatable.
And if you count fascists, which are very similar in ideology in many ways, though to quote Gentili "fascism doesn't need delirium of race" those ruled nations until at least late 1975 (Franco).
Re: (Score:1)
You think communists are bad, you should see how many people people killed! More people are killed by people than by communists!
You think people are bad, you should see how many living things organisms killed! Those organisms are monsters!
Blindly grouping together a large and very diverse group described only under a single political ideology is dumb, incredibly dumb and serves only to push a stupid agenda. Why not call out specific of horrible actions by horrible people? Oh I guess that won't fit the agend
Re: (Score:2)
>You think communists are bad, you should see how many people people killed! More people are killed by people than by communists!
This is a new one I must admit. "People kill more people than Communists, therefore Communists... good?"
>Mind you I'm also quite impressed that you think "communists" are some universal thing. There's a reason people who actually understand what communism is instead use words like Maoism and Stalinism.
Real Communism Has Never Been Tried. This trope is as old as Gulag Archipe
Re: (Score:2)
Communism and fascism are not the same thing, and you are conflating the two. Yes, China is communist. But far more important for all the negative things you mention, they are fascist... just like the Germans you mentioned. Now, the open question is whether communism can exist without fascism at scale. At small scales, on the order of 25 people, communism works great as an economic model.
Re: (Score:2)
I never said they are, because on their merits, Communism and Fascism are mutually exclusive ideologies. It would be an idiotic to claim otherwise, just as you demonstrate yourself to be an idiot to claim that "Communism can exist with Fascism". As those are two mutually exclusive ideologies, the opposite is true. They cannot exist together.
Your statement appears to suggest that you're one of the "Real Communism has never been tried on state level" people, who think that "bad aspects of Communism on state l
Re: The wrong people got bad reviews? (Score:2)
No, I think it HAS been tried and inevitably devolves to fascism by trying to force everyone in the system to care about everyone else in the system.
Re: (Score:2)
This is getting silly. Define what it is that you mean by "fascism", because you certainly do not mean fascism from those descriptions.
Re: (Score:2)
Communists get a pass because they killed people not only because their ethnicity, but also because of their social status, education, class and wealth. Somehow it makes them less bad in some people's eyes.
Re: (Score:2)
Inclusivity is a good trait, or so they tell us.
That said, Näzis killed people because of their "subhuman" or "lower class human" status in addition to what they called race. I.e. they also killed homosexuals and retarded people. There's a really good example of this in the case of a certain German man who personally asked Hitler to approve killing his disabled son. Hitler reportedly took great personal interest in the case and provided personal authorisation for the act.
Re: (Score:2)
For some reason, left leaning people make up 50%of the population, 80% of media and 98% of humanities lecturers. The more left you are, the more Carl Marx is intellectual catnip. These people give communism a free pass because it speaks to the core of their ideology.
Re: (Score:2)
After genociding, and starving over a hundred million, and crashing the nation into crippling poverty? The China that still has hundreds of millions living in subsistence level poverty to claim status as a "developing nation"?
"Guys, I partially fixed that window I broke. Aren't I a wonderful human being?"
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, I imagine they're very grateful that government is no longer starving them to death.
Re: (Score:2)
And since we are comparing stuff, how many people did capitalism kill? let's calculate that number since when Adam smith gave a definition for it, though capitalism existed in worse forms even before (feudalism etc.). Sow how many peop
Re: (Score:2)
I see you redefined "killed" to mean "all deaths caused in a war started by". Nice. Even the act of killing people can be redefined by ardent communists to protect their monstrous ideology.
>And since we are comparing stuff, how many people did capitalism kill?
By your interpretation, it probably killed at least quintillions, because you probably changed what "people" means to include every cell in human body. So every time you shave with a razor, it's mass genocide by capitalism.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I love it when I hit a nerve, and free pattern of thought devoid of restrains of social control surges out for a moment.
Re: (Score:2)
This isn't a Communism problem, but a problem with a government without oversight and checks and balances.
Other than government structures like that being a universal feature of communism; because they have to be. Fundamentally checks, balances and over sight are adversarial in nature and that does not fit 'espoused' communist world view.
Which is not say that other political systems don't lack the same features; but simply that this very much IS a communism problem.
Is it about Israel? (Score:1)
TripAdvisor has been called out internationally for indirectly supporting Israel-occupied areas of Palestine with their listings. The US is a notable exception in general in supporting Israel over Palestine. China is on the opposite side. In many ways, this is probably an indirect attack on the US and TripAdvisor is merely in the crossfire.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/lat... [amnesty.org]
Re: (Score:1)
More likely to be over how they've presented Taiwan.
Re: (Score:2)
Six degrees of separation to blame the Jews. Well done.
Re: (Score:2)
The blame rests with China. But there's probably a tangential thread somewhere to link TripAdvisor to something bigger than reviews. Just not always easy to guess.
Re: (Score:2)
Like I said elsewhere in this thread, a far more likely scenario is that TripAdvisor started to get a bit too competitive with native competitors in China.
At which point, they protect the domestic actor by banning the foreign one from the domestic market. Nothing new or interesting. These things happen as a matter of routine.
Re: (Score:2)
This is what I assumed. I figured either TripAdviser was taking too much market from an existing Chinese company, or the CCP was setting the stage for a Chinese business with the right political connections to roll out their own party approved service. One thing the CCP will not tolerate is competition from outside their control.
Trapadvisor Blocked... (Score:3)
Triggered by this (Score:5, Funny)
Rating: 1/2 *
Review: Started off ok but then tanks rolled in a ruined it. Also, the bathrooms are dirty.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Rating 4*
Review: We were taken back by reports of tanks rolling in but they were quite courteous. They even gave way to us so we could cross the road. It's a tourist friendly place with guards everywhere. A safe place to visit. Worth the visit if you're in town.
Damn that sucks (Score:3)
Who will Chinese travelers turn to for fake reviews?
Re: (Score:2)
https://www.dianping.com/ [dianping.com]
As before. In fact, the likely reason why TripAdvisor got slammed is because it was starting to get popular in China, eating into domestic company's profits.
Translation: Local Chinese Competitor uplift (Score:5, Insightful)
This happens all the time in China. The most likely cause is that some relative of a powerful government official (or just someone who is "donating" to that official for their generous help) has an application that serves the same purpose. It will fill the vacuum that is left when a major foreign competitor is ejected. No real mystery at all. Welcome to China. They'll let you build your business if it isn't offensive to their political or economic interests and then when it's big enough they swoop in to capture the market/profits.
Just a modern day ... (Score:2)
What actually happened (Score:2)
Tripadvisor: Don't mention the Tiananmen Square Massacre that took place on June 4 1989. The Chinese government denies that the event took place and will throw people in jail for mentioning it. Don't do it, even as a joke.
China: REEEE NOTHING HAPPENED ON THAT DAY BAN BAN BAN
They had enough (Score:2)
If you search for the best restaurant in Beijing and already the very first 'best restaurant in Beijing' returned is located in Chongqing, people get mad.
No sins for you... (Score:2)
"is intended to wipe out content related to illegal activity, including obscenity, pornography, prostitution, violence, fraud or gambling, according to authorities."
Nope, just nope. I wouldn't want to live there. I like my obscenity, pornography, prostitution, violence, fraud and gambling way too much.
Maybe it is a good thing. (Score:2)
With incidents get onto the news: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/1... [nytimes.com]
And even when the country's own propaganda mouthpiece had to chime in: http://en.people.cn/90882/8615... [people.cn]
You know maybe its government trying to show determination about properly educating some people before allowing them to travel again.
No backdoors (Score:2)