YouTube Suspends Account of Popular Chinese Dissident (freebeacon.com) 154
schwit1 brings news about an exiled Chinese billionaire with 500,000 followers on YouTube. The Washington Free Beacon reports:YouTube has suspended the video account of popular Chinese dissident Guo Wengui amid a mounting pressure from the Beijing government to silence one of its critics. According to a person familiar with the action, YouTube issued what the company calls a 'strike' against Guo, who since the beginning of the year has created an online sensation by posting lengthy videos in which he reveals details of corruption by senior Chinese officials. The suspension involves a 90-day block on any new live-stream postings of videos and was the result of a complaint made against a recent Guo video for alleged harassment. The identity of the person or institution who issued the complaint could not be learned... Other videos by Guo posted prior to the suspension remain accessible.
The suspension coincides with this week's once-every-five-years congress of the Chinese Communist party to reveal which top officials will serve President Xi Jinping, according to Financial Times, adding that "China's choreographed politics is not designed for public participation or questioning."
The suspension coincides with this week's once-every-five-years congress of the Chinese Communist party to reveal which top officials will serve President Xi Jinping, according to Financial Times, adding that "China's choreographed politics is not designed for public participation or questioning."
Well... (Score:5, Insightful)
...I, for one, welcome our Chinese internet overlords.
Strat
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This is the problem with (de facto) monopolies, the few alternatives were long left out to dry and don't have the content.
I hope Slashdot tracks the developments. Perhaps YouTube will reverse this darksided decision.
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Perhaps YouTube will reverse this darksided decision.
It all depends on who is appointed/gains power in China and therefor how much continued or even ramped up pressure Google receives from Chinese leadership. It's possible Google might reverse their decision after the politically-sensitive Chinese appointments are concluded, but I would not lay great odds on that occurring. Particularly if those officials revealed as corrupt in those videos gain/retain power. Google has discarded taking either the high ground or the low ground and is taking the "amoral ground
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Finally they came for me and no one said anything because the only protected victim class left are transspecies centaurs with cutie mark tattoos and surgically attached literal horse cocks.
Phew!
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Resident of Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver or Toronto are you? :(
Sigh for young people trying to afford a fucking home.
Re:Well... (Score:5, Insightful)
The dudeâ(TM)s a billionaire. Heâ(TM)s obviously not exactly suffering due to the persecution from the repressive Chinese government - sounds like heâ(TM)s more of a gadfly than a dissident.
So if you're not poor and/or personally oppressed (maybe you were lucky enough/smart enough to escape?), then you have no right to oppose corruption/oppression occurring in your own birth-country?
Can you break down the qualifiers for these various social classes and their respective rights/responsibilities/entitlements, please? We need a handy guide so we don't overstep our class privilege and speak out of turn, and thus possibly disrespect our class betters.
TIA
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You are part of the problem. By the time your kind gets through with things, there won't be anyone left to defend your rights.
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The dude’s a billionaire. He’s obviously not exactly suffering
Restrictions on free speech harm listeners as well as speakers.
For those who may analyze, it's all about the $$! (Score:2)
Enough said!
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Except for the Chinese government, then its about power.
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Money = Power.
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Re:Hint: (Score:5, Funny)
"our president.........is not equated to an emperor with the mandate of heaven"
Where were you between 2008 and 2016?
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Ha! I remember all the kingly jokes about obama back then, good fun. I did notice that while it was "royal this" and "king that", I didn't see much of the "emperor penguin" type jokes, but I'm sure there were plenty as few actually know the difference between leader-types. I guess everyone was waiting for a new prez for the "emperor has no clothes" jokes to really get going.
Simple times.
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"To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem." Douglas Adams
I'm not sure you can call him a "dissident" (Score:1)
he's a billionaire (or close to it), with questionable sources of his money, currently living in a Manhattan penthouse. I'd characterise him as someone with an ongoing dispute with the current government of China, who used to NOT have any dispute with them (hence his having a lot of money with hard to explain origins). I would not categorise him together with the people under house arrest, or dying because they were not allowed to consult doctors, or otherwise "disappeared".
Re:I'm not sure you can call him a "dissident" (Score:5, Insightful)
His videos make specific allegations against specific people. Why don't you refute the allegations instead of attacking him personally?
That he may have been corrupt himself makes his allegations more credible, not less, since it means he knows how the system works.
GOOGLE == EVIL (Score:5, Insightful)
You knew it was only a matter of time.
Re:GOOGLE == EVIL (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't take long from Do No Evil to Anything for a Buck. I blame the MBA mentality that is in charge now.
Re:GOOGLE == EVIL (Score:5, Funny)
There was a transcription error. The actual motto was "Do Know Evil".
No such thing as "MBA mentality" (Score:2)
Didn't take long from Do No Evil to Anything for a Buck. I blame the MBA mentality that is in charge now.
There is no such thing as an "MBA mentality". A person who would do anything for a buck was like that before an MBA program, a person who would do good by you will still be like that after an MBA program.
An MBA program is nothing more than a series of survey courses, one to three classes in various topics. Statistics, organizational behavior, economics, accounting, operations, consumer behavior, marketing, strategy, product development, project management, business law, negotiations, information technolo
Re: No such thing as "MBA mentality" (Score:2)
Then why do pretty much all MBAs act like they would stab their own granny in the back for $5?
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It's like lawyers. Its the few rotten million that spoil it for the other eleven.
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I blame the MBA.
What does basketball have to do with it?
Re:GOOGLE == EVIL (Score:5, Insightful)
After reading the article, it's not just Google, but Facebook that's shutting him down as well. He claims he was never even contacted about this. Christ, how much influence over these tech giants does the Chinese government have? Obviously, this sort of subservience is the price you pay for access to the Chinese market.
Where the hell are the social liberals running these companies when they blindly obey orders from the Chinese government? Fucking hypocrites, all of them.
Using a Chinese security official who currently heads the international police organization Interpol, China succeeded in issuing an Interpol "red notice," or an international arrest warrant for alleged corruption.
Ah, wonderful. The head of Interpol is a Chinese security officer? I didn't know that. I sort of wish I hadn't learned that. What the hell...
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"Where the hell are the social liberals running these companies when they blindly obey orders from the Chinese government?"
Oh, social liberals outside are pissed too about shit like this. Hell, real conservatives are too. But the lack of a center party means most feel they have to pick and choose a side. One of the reasons for the uprising of nativists and populists in recent US politics is because, when push comes to shove, the elite and "globalists" act like old school business conservatives too, and t
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"Where the hell are the social liberals running these companies when they blindly obey orders from the Chinese government?"
'Social liberals' love the Chinese government, because they all dream of being dictators. Look at Turdeau, for example, talking about how he admires Chinese dictatorship.
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Insightful? The social liberals I know dislike the Chinese government and like free speech.
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They're extreme leftists. The ends justify the means. They probably fully believe that this small evil is worth all the good they could do, if they could only get the access they need to the market. "His sacrifice will be worth it."
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Christ, how much influence over these tech giants does the Chinese government have?
Was this a serious question? Because within the great firewall the answer is 100% You want access to the market you play by the rules.
Actually the same is said for most countries. The only difference in the USA is that the government is at least open to lobbying and will often make decisions favourable to the companies in question. I take it you don't recall the panic in the industry about the no encryption laws earlier this year? The USA government has the same kind of power over these tech giants, they ju
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You're aware that Guo Wengui lives in New York, not China, right?
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And that is relevant to a Chinese person living in China and having their experience mediated by the Chinese government behind the Chinese great firewall, why?
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*facepalm* I'm not disagreeing with your premise, but it's completely irrelevant to this story. No one is arguing that the Chinese government doesn't have sovereignty within China's borders.
You do at least know Guo Wengui is the "popular Chinese dissident" being discussed, right? This would be a non-story if China suppressed a Chinese dissident inside China - because that's what they do. It IS a story because the Chinese government seems to be somehow exerting influence on US-based tech companies to sil
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I've been silenced by China before. I was using a social network for sharing websites. The particular article I commented on was spuriously labeled adult content to blacklist from users who by default were shielded from content labeled as such. If you opted to view such content you also became blacklisted by default. In order to modify the labeling you would have to opt to see the content as labeled. Same kind of censorship was used on an article about a poisonous chemical that does not break down in the en
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The accusations may be true. If they are later shown to be will you then rant about how Google and Facebook let people with money harass people while normal people are shut down? Or would you even acknowledge that you were wrong?
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I'll totally admit I was wrong if it turns out that the Chinese government were the good guys all along.
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Where the hell are the social liberals running these companies when they blindly obey orders from the Chinese government? Fucking hypocrites, all of them.
The liberals are here, but we’ve got our hands full dealing with Twitler. Maybe the leader of American conservatism can send a tweet from Mar-a-Lago bashing Google.
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I would be nice if the SJW's that were so eager to get James Damore fired for that memo he wrote a few months ago would apply similar pressure against Google for this offense against free speech.
I doubt it's going to happen, though.
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What you describe sounds a lot like the "deplatforming" tactic that's been employed by so many. A university will deny a student group to invite a speaker to campus. The university defends itself with the claim that it's not denying the person an ability to speak, only denying the platform on their campus.
Let me ask you something, how many times does a person have to be denied a platform before it becomes censorship? At what point is the denial of a platform a denial of the right to speak freely? You ca
Forget Google (Score:2)
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You knew it was only a matter of time.
For obeying the law in the country in which they do business? Yeah I'm sure simply cutting off a billion people from the internet and their services forcing them to go back to truly government owned services would be far better for humanity.
Suspended on a platform not available in China? (Score:2)
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An accident? First, this occured just before the big once-every-five-years meeting of the Chinese communist party. Second, this happened to ALL his social media accounts at once: YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Third, Interpol, with a Chinese national at its head, recently released an international warrant for his arrest on corruption charges.
Exactly how many "accidents" have to occur simultaneously before you can see a bigger picture developing here? The guy was a bigwig in China, so I'm not claiming h
Traitor! (Score:1)
He should fucking LOVE his country or get in line with all of the NFL assholes here in the US and get his ass kicked! Nationalism over free speech!
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In China and places like it, you say something nasty about the government, you get jailed.
See the distinction?
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But yeah, if you ignore all that context, and ignore all the "una
Capitalism vs. Democracy - no competition. (Score:1, Insightful)
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It can be, even socialism can be compatible wih democracy, the problem is that the economy is too tied to everything, money has too much power and even as society rules that there a re things that can't be bought or traded, in reality people try to do this (Life is supposed to be sacred but health insurance companies keep choosing who and when their customers will receive the needed treatment or required medicine dilating the issue near to the max).
Maybe making regions smaller and bringing the direct democr
Re: Capitalism vs. Democracy - no competition. (Score:2)
Capitalism != Free markets
Big brand thinks of making a profit in China (Score:4, Insightful)
All the best protections a nation like the USA can offer, protect and support...
What does a US big brand do?
Work extra hard to embrace and side with Communism and China.
Is this what the internet and "social media" will look like? Communist parties tracking any content globally?
US brands comply with removing free speech?
What will be banned next?
Tiananmen square? 4 June 1989?
Tank Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
No more terms like Flower of Freedom? Goddess of Democracy? Operation Yellowbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org], River elegy?
Re: Big brand thinks of making a profit in China (Score:2)
How's that bootleather taste?
Do No Evil (Score:1, Flamebait)
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"Do No Evil" has become highly subjective at Google\YouTube\Alphabet.
Yes! Google should instead not bow to the Chinese government and get themselves firewalled off from 1billion people. That would make those people much better off as they can then move to ... errr .... state run services.
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So? Mainstream media is almost exclusively owned by globalists, siding with globalism when it matters (and occasionally giving an appearance of protest when the great status quo of international treaties and bought politicians means it's all written in stone anyways).
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It's obvious (Score:2)
Google feels Guo is an extreme right-wing white nationalist who is spewing racist anti-chinese hate speech. Guo had better be on the lookout for Antifa (aka the Red Guard).
Don't Be Evil (Score:3)
Unless it threatens the bottom line.
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Unless it threatens the bottom line.
Re: Don't Be Evil (Score:2)
"Be evil" is shorter yet.
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Unless it threatens the bottom line.
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Bottom line and ... access to services for 1bn people?
What do you think the outcome of disobeying the Chinese would be? (Rhetorical question, we saw the answer a few years ago). Cut off the entire Chinese market from Google services. I'm sure all those people would be far better served by being restricted to state run and sanctioned search engines and content providers all for the sake of a single dissident.
The way I see it they took the least evil approach. At least now some content is able to slip through
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So at what point do you draw the line? You can make this argument a slippery slope conundrum. What if China decides Google needs to sacrifice 100 babies in a pit of fire to maintain access? is five babies OK? after all, we're talking billions here.
If google really cared, they'd go along in the worst possible way: Ban him but give a big speech why--making it more obvious what happened, delay the ban until right after the meetings, whatever. But I don't buy that whole get into china and reform nonsense. Never
What would Jesus do? (Score:2)
You have the EU telling Facebook to do more to prevent terrorism-related propaganda.
You have paid entities flooding the web with news outlets that are biased, bespoke or even blind zealots working with ficticious or manipulated facts.
You have social web and big data companies getting dividends to publicize politicaly loaded interests or from selling unfair, unregulated demographic info, from every and any political wing.
You have state and corporate interests undermining individuality, basically nullifying d
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Would he? Isn't science Chatolicism enemy no.1? Weren't his last words dedicated to putting up a good word with Big G because we didn't know what we were doing?
Granted, we are a bigger audience than back in 33 DC. I would love to share your opinion, but a real saviour would not have asked to neglect our ignorance, he would have requested for us to be illuminated universally. Yet the wisest man around himself admits the only thing larger than our universe is our own stupidity (a synonim for ignorance).
2 thou
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Damn right!
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To stay way from the digital versions of a charmer, the spirit of Python?
A warning about the golden microphone and golden camera connected to evil 24/7?
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Someone get some papyrus. This needs to be made to scripture, stat.
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The Catholic Church has normally been favorable to scientific inquiry. There have been exceptions. Science is far from being its #1 enemy.
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Let's just forget the inquisition ever took place. Should I even mention Galileo? Creationism?
The church has "embraced" science so as to cope with it, since, you know, killing people is no longer that easy.
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The Inquisition was not anti-science. Galileo was put under house arrest after publicly mocking the Pope Creationism was something of an exception, but the Catholic Church accepted it fairly quickly. Currently, it's more of a fundamentalist Protestant idiocy (I don't know about non-Christian religions here).
I'm certainly not excusing a lot of what the Church has done, but it's been fairly pro-science.
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Well the argument kinda got out of hand but I admit to agreeing with you to a level. Not only because I am a (non-practising) Roman Catholic myself, but especially by contrast: you can, lightheartedly, indeed say Catholicism is "pro-science" when comparing to most other religions. Do note most of my rant was tongue in cheek - I am pragmatic above all and my initial comment was never meant to be about religion, but a mild attempt at attention with the Big J word.
And about the Inquisition, the feeling around
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The internet as a house of freedom not a den of communism.
Support freedom of speech, freedom after speech.
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I have to admit I laughed hard on "jesus years".
I never hear of them singling out any specific teaching other than the fact they like to keep their churches very "patriotic" (not only Catholicism/Christianity but all their sanctioned religions), and they will go big lengths to make people renounce the authority of external Pontifs or whatever religious leaders are called for each religion. I guess the invasion of Tibet and/or the big Dalai Lama issue might be their most obvious attempt at that.
In any case,
Don't host your copies in one or two places. (Score:2)
I think this should be looked at as a problem that modern Internet use was designed to create for non-technical users: instead of making videos available in many places (so when some are in some way disabled, even temporarily, other copies remain), people are encouraged to think that it's right and proper to host everything in one spot. This makes censorship easy and effective for the admins of that one service.
Metaphorically speaking, don't put all your eggs in one basket. License your work to share, and h
They often change their minds. (Score:2)
Sometimes you get community strikes on 5 year old videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Quid Pro Quo (Score:2)
OK, China. Now you sit on Kim Jong Un.
China regulating US companies (Score:2)
It is high time that google search, Facebook, YouTube and the other mega corporations that have a de-facto monopoly get regulated by the US government as the monopoly utilities that they are. Then YouTube can say sorry China, the US government won't allow us to block that content. Within China you can block what you manage to block, outside you can sit and spin because YouTube is based in a country that values freedom and transparency. (Alt left facist America haters of the US and around the world, plea
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Shit will get done when a member of congress Youtube channel gets censored by China or some other country, or when mobs show up on the national mall with torches and pitchforks. I suspect the former will happen first, but it could be the latter.
YouTube not the first to close his account (Score:1)
First it was Facebook, then it was Twitter and finally YouTube.
Guess the guy's not going to have much of an on-line life...
Corporations in a Nutshell (Score:1)
People pretend like corporations like Google, Apple, Facebook are more (i.e. moral entities) than what they are -simply a business arrangement between a group of people to maximize the profit on their investment. The problem here is not that Google and Facebook cave in to China, the problem is people assuming that Google and Facebook have any sort of moral underpinning.
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It's possible to make moral underpinnings profitable under some circumstances.
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Given that that Jordan B. Peterson was locked out completely without notification and it included his Gmail account I suspect it was a triggered insider abusing its access rights. If it was a management decision they'd just have given him an official strike like they did here.