Tag: censorship

Twitter Will Enforce a ‘Strike System’ Against Coronavirus Vaccine ‘Misinformation’

Social media giant Twitter announced this week that it will begin labeling tweets that share “misleading information” about the coronavirus vaccine and will implement a strike system for repeat offenders of the “misinformation policy.”

The Verge reports that Twitter announced on Monday that it will begin labeling tweets that share what the company decides is misleading information about coronavirus vaccines. The labels will link to relevant information from government bodies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a system allowing for five strikes will be implemented for users that repeatedly violate its misinformation policies.

Repeated violations of the policies could lead to Twitter locking or permanently suspending accounts. The new labels are similar to Facebook’s anti-misinformation banners which were launched as part of Facebook’s attempts to curb what it considers coronavirus misinformation last December.

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Dr. Seuss Enterprises to Stop Publishing Six Books Due to Racist Imagery

Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which oversees the work of the late children’s book author, said it will stop publishing and licensing six books because they contain racist and insensitive images.

The decision was announced on the official Dr. Seuss website Tuesday, March 2nd, which also marks the author’s birthday. The six books are And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises said it came to this decision last year after reviewing its catalog with the help of a panel of experts, including educators. “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the statement reads. “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families.”

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‘Mein Kampf’ and Other ‘Hate Speech’ Products You Can Still Buy on Amazon

Amazon, the popular online retailer, is under fire after conservative author Ryan T. Anderson announced on Sunday that his 2018 bestseller, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, had been scrubbed from the Amazon website.

The decision to ban the book from its platform came several months after Amazon quietly altered its content guidelines to prohibit the sale of “content that we determine is hate speech … or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive,” which includes content that “promotes the abuse or sexual exploitation of children, contains pornography, glorifies rape or pedophilia, [or] advocates terrorism.”

As recently as August 2020, Amazon’s content guidelines for books were significantly vaguer, asserting the company’s right to prohibit the sale of “certain content, such as pornography or other inappropriate content.” Amazon has yet to offer a sufficient explanation of the updated guidelines.

In the meantime, Amazon continues to permit the sale of numerous books that most casual observers might reasonably classify as “hate speech” or are otherwise incompatible with its updated content guidelines. The company also continues to sell other products that would appear to run afoul of contemporary standards of wokeness, as outlined in its prohibition on selling items (excluding books) that “promote, incite, or glorify hatred.”

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