Removing misinformation isn’t censorship, for example. Similar with removing off-topic threads or comments.
Removing illegal content is censorship if the law is unjust (eg. political dissent restrictions) but not if the law is just (eg. CSAM removal).
Removing immoral content is way dicier, because morality is not fully mapped, and what one person thinks is immoral might seem perfectly moral to another (eg. blasphemy or profane language). I personally would not removed content I found immoral unless it violated community standards, and would consider such removals an overreach but not censorship unless it was selectively targeted at an individual or group.
I guess by my lights to be censorship it has to be:
subjective
unjust
systematic
Removing something objectively incorrect or in the wrong place is not censorship. Removing something justly proscribed is not censorship.
Removing a thread when one viewpoint or group posts about it but not when another posts about it IS censorship.
I did consider it in that light. This analysis is from the perspective of an observer, not the presiding body. Since the presiding body’s reasoning cannot be known, we observers just look for patterns of removal to determine whether censorship is occurring. These are the pattern-markers I look for.
“Wrong” can mean so many things.
Removing misinformation isn’t censorship, for example. Similar with removing off-topic threads or comments.
Removing illegal content is censorship if the law is unjust (eg. political dissent restrictions) but not if the law is just (eg. CSAM removal).
Removing immoral content is way dicier, because morality is not fully mapped, and what one person thinks is immoral might seem perfectly moral to another (eg. blasphemy or profane language). I personally would not removed content I found immoral unless it violated community standards, and would consider such removals an overreach but not censorship unless it was selectively targeted at an individual or group.
I guess by my lights to be censorship it has to be:
subjective
unjust
systematic
Removing something objectively incorrect or in the wrong place is not censorship. Removing something justly proscribed is not censorship.
Removing a thread when one viewpoint or group posts about it but not when another posts about it IS censorship.
We’re talking about removing stuff at the judgment of the presiding authority.
Rationale is infinitely flexible. It will never be science. So it cannot be relied upon.
So, ideals aside, consider it in that light. Be realistic.
I did consider it in that light. This analysis is from the perspective of an observer, not the presiding body. Since the presiding body’s reasoning cannot be known, we observers just look for patterns of removal to determine whether censorship is occurring. These are the pattern-markers I look for.
Ha ha. What is the plan of this invisible deity?
Invisible deity? The observers are you and me.