China Wants All Social Media Comments To Be Pre-reviewed Before Publishing (technologyreview.com) 58
China is fine-tuning its censorship machine, this time proposing changes in how to regulate the billions of online comments posted in the country every day. From a report: On June 17, the internet regulator Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) published a draft update on the responsibilities of platforms and content creators in managing online comments. One line stands out: all online comments would have to be pre-reviewed before being published. Users and observers are worried that the move could be used to further tighten freedom of expression in China. The new changes affect Provisions on the Management of Internet Post Comments Services, a regulation that first came into effect in 2017. Five years later, the Cyberspace Administration wants to bring it up to date.
Welcome to Rubber Stamp Land (Score:2)
How can any company realistically oversee every single social media comment?
Unpossible, so as a result I predict a rubber-stamp department that literally loads a post, claims to have read it and just hits "approve" as fast as possible, maybe some random "disapprove" thrown in to make it look real and any posts with a set of banned keywords automatically not approved.
post our way or go to prison! (Score:3)
post our way or go to prison!
Re:Welcome to Rubber Stamp Land (Score:4, Informative)
How can any company realistically oversee every single social media comment?
Two ways:
a) By not having any. The CPC wouldn't mind it if all social media sites died.
b) By having a list of pre-approved comments, similar to how multiplayer games for children work. It's the equivalent of reactions, except that in words. Throw in some very strict AI for the illusion of free-form writing.
Option "b" can branch into pre-appproved-only comments for free-tier users, and free-form comments for paid users, so that anyone wanting to actually type something will pay the censors who'll determine whether their post is acceptable or not.
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By not having any. The CPC wouldn't mind it if all social media sites died.
Well honestly I cannot argue this point at all.
By having a list of pre-approved comments
Yeah I could see some companies go this way.
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You are projecting. That's how it would work in the US. An outright ban wouldn't be allowed, so they just make it impossible to comply with the law. Kinda like how voter suppression works.
In China they can be direct. If the CCP wants all social media shut down, all social media will shut down. No need for shenanigans.
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If the CCP wants all social media shut down, all social media will shut down. No need for shenanigans.
Chinese authorities want control not quite exactly for controls-sake alone, but to deter rebellious impulses and organizing. To outright ban social media sites when a huge number of their population already got used to them and use them daily, would be to court mass protests in all cities in China. To avoid that it pays to go the slow route and kill those one small step at a time, while carefully measuring the amount and intensity of rebellious sentiment so it keeps within the (tiny) threshold Chinese autho
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How can any company realistically oversee every single social media comment?
Unpossible, so as a result I predict a rubber-stamp department that literally loads a post, claims to have read it and just hits "approve" as fast as possible, maybe some random "disapprove" thrown in to make it look real and any posts with a set of banned keywords automatically not approved.
How about AI checking the new posts for "undesirable" posts. Of course the Chinese government mandates that all companies need to use a government funded AI, which is trained to separate the chaf from the wheat.
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How about AI checking the new posts for "undesirable" posts.
I did think about that but the feel I got from the summary at least was, that AI review alone was not going to cut it for the government and they wanted people reading each comment, people they could punish for letting BadThink through the wall.
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How can any company realistically oversee every single social media comment?
They used to call it "letters to the editor".
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Sure, as long as you don't mind being executed from time to time when a pooh bear comment slips through. No, instead I predict something like that scene in Catch 22 in which Yossarian is given he job of editing outgoing letters from soldiers to redact classified information, and mostly what he does is just leave the introduction and the signature, and redact the entire body of the letter.
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If you've ever done business with China, you'll know that they really love their stamps. You'd better put your personal stamp on everything to make it official. Seriously.
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If you've ever done business with China, you'll know that they really love their stamps.
Yeah actually that was why I chose that metaphor. :-)
Maybe it's something endemic to communist counters? I know Russia also loves stamping things, but not sure how Cuba is.
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Newsweek prevents you from posting if you include certain keywords, one of which is "stupid" (as I discovered when trying to post s.t.). I suppose the CPCC wants more than just automatic blocking of keywords, but that would be a start.
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How can any company realistically oversee every single social media comment?
I don't know for every website, but I know if I were paid I could read every comment on Slashdot. Most subreddits could be easily moderated by a single person, too.
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Messages with double meaning (Score:5, Insightful)
Will be loaded with so much secret signals it will be impossible to say if they are illegal
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This very likely will create a new language with double meaning between users of social media.
Yes in the case of China something like: "Let's Go Piglet"
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I had to do at a toxic place I once worked as a contractor. Employees hated contractors due to sour history so we had to "talk on eggshells". Lunch was like, "Spiderman put the hopper on 11 and backed off the bat mobile request because Wonder Woman's rope was tangled around the fridge." Basically we made a sub-language out of kitchen idioms and classic super-hero comics.
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That's why you weren't allowed to post here, correct? (Being downvoted =/= not being allowed to post.)
They also want a pony. (Score:3)
I expect that this would just kill the above-ground social media in China, filling its place with a limited amount of primarily propaganda-astroturf while any real communication went to whatever underground channels survive.
Re:They also want a pony. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not real, it's a misunderstanding. I followed the links to the original and used Google Translate instead of their own English translation.
It's saying that platforms must have the capability to pre-moderate comments, to be used in times of "emergency" like when Winnie the Pooh is trending.
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Because Google Translate is more accurate than the CPCC's own human translators?
We've all seen bad instructions for cameras etc. written by Chinese speakers who don't write good English, but I suspect (not know) that the original human translation is correct.
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Just today I saw an article (and now I can't remember where, probably one of NYT, WaPo, ABC or CNN) that said westerners are having difficulty accessing sources in China that internet (I use that term loosely...) users inside China can access easily. The conclusion was what you say: that the CCP is sending different messages to its own people from what it's sending outside of China. The method you suggest, though, is slightly different: that the message is different depending on the language. Of course,
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Yes, because it's clearly impossible to pre-moderate billions of messages a day. If they wanted to shut down all social networks in China they would just shut down all social networks in China.
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It happens on some western sites already. Unless you're already on a whitelist, your comments won't show up until they're reviewed.
I get that it's to prevent spam and trolls but at that point I usually just close the window.
Do it (Score:2)
Just Like Canada! (Score:1)
Website comments on Canada's National Broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, are all pre moderated. It allows the company that was contracted to do the moderation (ViaFoura) to completely control the discussion, and thus public perception of all issues. ViaFoura was founded by several wealthy right wing Albertans. (Alberta is Canada's Texas.) This contracting decision was made during the Harper government (A Progressive Conservative [emphasis on conservative] Party government).
China is actuall
They want the internet to be Cable TV. (Score:2)
It's very clear that the CCP wants the internet to be like Cable TV: something they can control and will only promote an approved agenda. The obvious problem with this is the sheer number of posts, so it's likely they will move toward using "AI" which undoubtedly is going to do a really shitty job. The alternative to have a select number of people that are allowed to post which isn't going to work out.
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It's very clear that the CCP wants the internet to be like Cable
So during the delay between the pre-reviewed moderated posts we will be subjected to mind-numbing and meaningless advertisements?
Finally! (Score:2)
That should be work for 1.5 billion people.
People will just assemble in person to... oh, wait (Score:2)
How lucky a solution to this was recently found: https://www.vice.com/en/articl... [vice.com]
And this is not limited to China. Even western countries outlawed even open-air assemblies under the pretense of "public health" measures [dw.com].
China turns everything into a Potemkin village. (Score:2)
That's ultimately a self-correcting problem, because all they can do is spiral into a vicious cycle of clampdowns that just paralyze their country and freeze it in time at the last moment they were able to tolerate real information. The current sorry state
Exit China, like VPN companies in India (Score:2)
There'll be no end to the demands once you go down the road of appeasement.
automod (Score:1)
Trollollollo (Score:3)
Even the troll ones? I'm all for censorship, but banning trolls seems a bit harsh.
So how long before a post shows up? (Score:2)