YouTube has automatically deleted comments that contain certain Chinese-language phrases related to criticism of the country’s ruling Communist Party (CCP). Youtube confirmed to The Verge this was happening. But it was just an error and they are working to fix the issue.
“Upon review by our teams, we have confirmed this was an error in our enforcement systems and we are working to fix it as quickly as possible,” said a YouTube spokesperson.
It’s an error and they are investigating.
Just a mistake! Those phrases happened to pop into the filter. We’ve heard that before. It’s also a mistake they made for six months.
The Verge found evidence that comments were being deleted as early as October 2019, when the issue was raised on YouTube’s official help pages and multiple users confirmed that they had experienced the same problem.
THE OFFENSIVE PHRASES
Comments left under videos or in live streams that contain the words “共匪” (“communist bandit”) or “五毛” (“50-cent party”) are automatically deleted in around 15 seconds, though their English language translations and Romanized Pinyin equivalents are not.
The term “共匪” is an insult that dates back to China’s Nationalist government, while “五毛,” (or “wu mao”) is a derogatory slang term for internet users paid to direct online discussion away from criticism of the CCP. The name comes from claims that such commenters are paid 50 Chinese cents per post.
They just accidentally showed up in their filters. Not suspicious at all.
Youtube is banned in China but that didn’t stop this.
Doesn’t surprise me, YouTube has been demonetising videos that call out China and unsubscribing people…
This is how freedom of speech is eroded, bit by bit so people don’t notice, kind of like the frog in slowly boiling water!
— Stephen Nagiello (@StephenNagiello) May 13, 2020
THEY DEMONETIZED THE OPPOSITION TO THE CCP
Youtube’s excuses are very suspect. Ms. Zeng’s youtube channel was demonetized after she discussed the origins of the coronavirus.
A good piece:
YouTube strips human rights activist Jennifer Zeng of income
Suggesting the origin of the #coronavirus was China seems to be problematic for @Google @YouTube is executing its newly acquired, or rather, augmented censorship powers…https://t.co/IhjlZ0bxoC— Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 (@jenniferatntd) May 9, 2020
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