Steem Is Not Censoring: The Facts
Source
There was a discussion on another thread that brought up this topic.
I will cut to the chase: 8teem does not censor anyone or any content.
To state otherwise is either misleading or misinterpreting censorship.
I think the later occurs on most instances on here.
So let us see what is in question:
It's being censored on the steemit front end.. steemit is how most connect to the STEEM blockchain for now.. so if they are hiding his content they are censoring what is seen on the blockchain via their site..
How is that NOT censorship? If Steemit is part of the STEEM blockchain and it's censored how can you say that the blockchain isn't? It is 100% censored for anyone using the Steemit front end.. you know what percentage that is better than I do..
This was written by @davedickeyyall in a post on this thread.
https://steempeak.com/@taskmaster4450/3speak-going-after-heavy-hitters
A special thanks to @davedickeyyall for starting the discussion on the topic.
To start, we need to define what is mean by Steemit. The term can apply to both the front end or the company. The front end is mentioned on here so we will presume that is what is meant.
Before getting into that, let us take a look at the term "censorship".
According to wikipedia:
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient".[2][3][4] Censorship can be conducted by a government[5], private institutions, and corporations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
Here is another definition according to Britannica:
Censorship, the changing or the suppression or prohibition of speech or writing that is deemed subversive of the common good. It occurs in all manifestations of authority to some degree, but in modern times it has been of special importance in its relation to government and the rule of law.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/censorship
Looking at these definitions, it is easy to conclude there is no censorship. There is no government, corporation, or private institution involved. Steemit Inc is not censoring anyone on their platform. As a United States corporation, there are take down notices they can be given based upon copyright infringement or security threats but that would not be the company doing it.
Thus far, from what I can see, Steemit Inc is not doing anything of this sort. Anyone is free to post whatever is desired on the blockchain and it will stay on BOTH the blockchain and Steemit Inc.
So how does something get "removed" from Steemit.com? The answer is a downvote.
I have stated repeatedly my thoughts on downvoting knowing I am in the minority on here. My views aside, people are free to downvote anyone who he or she wants. So when people say "I am censored on here" because there was a downvote(s), that is incorrect. An individual is actually exercising his or her freedom of expression in that instance. Again, there is no corporation, government, or private institution doing it.
The second part of this is the posts are there. Not only is it on the blockchain, it is still on Steemit.com. There is a part that says "reveal comment". The posts are all there albeit not featured. This can be changed with an upvote to counter out the downvote.
Either way, this is not something the corporation or any other institution is involved in.
If Steemit Inc was taking down posts or banning accounts based upon their whims, then I would agree about censorship.
There is another part of the comment I want to shine some light on:
... If Steemit is part of the STEEM blockchain and it's censored how can you say that the blockchain isn't? It is 100% censored for anyone using the Steemit front end.
Dlike does not show comments made on Dlike posts that are made through another interface. Is that censorship? The idea that because an interface does not show everything does not mean that censorship is taking place.
As for the idea that Steemit is the primary interface used is meaningless. Anyone of free to use other interfaces which, may or may not, show what is posted. There are dozens of interfaces that access the blockchain showing what is on there. Ironically, few show everything.
Pictures and videos are another issue that people need to understand. They are not posted on the blockchain since that just deals with text. For Steemit, as most other interfaces, pics and videos are posted on AWS which is owned by Amazon. There are TOS that entity puts these companies under which sometimes requires removal. Again, it will often deal with some type of illegal content.
There was the case with The Dark Overlord a while back. The problem that most people do not realize is the interfaces received one of these.
Ironically, in spite of that, not all posts were removed. Much of the information is still there. Hence, this group's content was not removed from the ecosystem even thought Steemit removed it from their interface.
https://busy.org/@thedarkoverlord
We see these with other illegal content. Child pornography often triggers one of these because it is illegal to show sexual images of anyone under the age of 18 in the United States. For an interface to remove these from their platform is not censorship.
For the Steem blockchain, this is not a problem since videos or images are not posted on there.
We need to be careful screaming censorship. Accounts being closed because their views are not welcome by companies is certainly censorship. Their content being removed for the same reason ends up with the same results.
On Steem, all text posts are there. The Steemit interface will fade out posts that are downvoted by individuals to the point of being negative but, again, they are still there.
What are your thoughts on this?
If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and resteem.
I am glad to see you bringing this topic up. Recently additional censorship mechanisms have come to my attention that you did not address in the OP. Steemit and Steempeak, at least, are censoring certain accounts so completely that votes those accounts cast are 'mystery votes' which the front ends do not ascribe to the voting account. I am assured by @a-non-e-moose that the blockchain still registers the votes, and egregious spam comments are indeed conserved on Steem itself, but these front ends completely censor the post, comments, and even the source of votes cast by these accounts.
Have a look at this post and you will see what I have learned regarding this practice.
It is blatant, unmitigated censorship - but only of the front ends. Steem, the blockchain, is itself not censoring these posts, comments, or votes. I may have poorly linked the post above, but scrolling up to the original post will reveal the entirety of the matter. I strongly disagree with this practice, and believe that empowering individual accounts to block such spam on their blogs is a vastly preferable solution to allowing front ends to prevent individuals from making those decisions for themselves.
Thanks!
The Blockchain is completely open. There is no way for a central authority to censor anything, other than by individual platforms using that chain Imagine Facebook having an open database displaying everything ever published there, including edits and censored posts? FB could censor all they want, but anyone could make a FB tool to expose everything they're trying to hide.
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Great clarification@taskmaster4450 💪👌👌
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Well explained, couldn’t add more.
Good morning.
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This is always brought up! I agree good post .
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It is super easy to spin up another front end by copying the open source repository of Steemit and show whichever posts you want. We saw it quite a bit with Steemit copies like Steenit and Steem1t who were after Steemians keys to grab their wallet. You could totally create a Darkoverload version of Steemit if you wanted and only show those posts, and the Steem blockchain would totally work perfectly.
I don't think the argument that Steemit.com as the main interface and therefore the Steem blockchain is censored really holds up in my eyes. It's the main interface at the moment, but I'd guess that's only because it's been around the longest. Once the others are significantly better then those numbers will drop quickly.
Really interesting idea about child pornography... images and videos can be banned at multiple stages of the technology (image host, front end, etc) but if someone was posting terrible images using ascii or something text-based, there's not much anyone could do by mute the author.
I also have no problem with platforms like Facebook and Twitter removing content they deem dangerous... it's not only their prerogative but their duty. If I want to see something that isn't family-friendly then I can always go to a more adult site. If I'm on these advertiser-friendly sites, then I'd be pretty upset to see 'dangerous' or 'adult' content amidst my family's birthday posts, etc.
I think this confusion mostly because people have different definition on what constitute as censorship. But if we are using the dictionary definition, there is no censorship on Steemit (front end).
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People only complain about downvotes because they lose money. If an abusive whale is flagging you just make another account and say whatever you want. I am not of the opinion that a grayed out post has stopped your freedom of speech, i mean someone just has to click it twice. Having your words deleted by regular social media sites is not the same as what happens here.
The way steemit was set up, requiring users to use their own vote power to flag spam, was a mistake. Someone with a ton of SP can spam at will and there isn't enough voting power to stop them like with what is happening with https://steemit.com/@animalcontrol which is also being shadow banned. I don't think Steemit planned to deal with bad actors on it's system. They did ban all those fake accounts that were trying to pretend to be well known accounts like blocktrade or builderwhale made by noganoo, every so often they ban shit and no one really talks about it.
I am of the opinion that allowing those 9-11 cyber extortionists on the platform sets a bad precedent. Should we allow people to post stolen credit card info, or other personal info? How far does free speech go?
A few years ago a post was made here that contravenes UK law by outing the current identity of the one of the killers of James Buldger, it went unnoticed but it puts the site in a bad spot. Leaving up information that violates a court publication ban could result in every UK Steemit user being denied access to the site.
There is more to consider on this topic than Murican chest thumping free speech. There are hate speech laws in the EU and every other English speaking nation. If this place becomes white supremist haven we could become inaccessible to lots of potential investors. The free speech crowd rarely invests....