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Questions tagged [censorship]

Questions about the suppression of information for various reasons at a government level

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9 votes
3 answers
2k views

How can this new ban on drag possibly be considered constitutional?

This seems impossibly ridiculous. How do they define, specifically, what it means to be dressed in drag? Let's say we are clear on whether someone is male or not; now, what does it mean, specifically, ...
robert bristow-johnson's user avatar
34 votes
4 answers
7k views

How do Western democracies justify censorship of foreign media outlets?

One of the features of a democracy is freedom of speech and media, but in the last few months Russian media outlets were closed and blocked online. Such censorship happened for example in the EU and ...
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
359 views

What are the legal implications of all vk.com servers being in Russia? [closed]

vk.com is the most used social media site in Russia. According to its Wikipedia page it is majority-owned by Sogaz, a Russian energy company. When I tried to connect to it from the US, it connected ...
wrod's user avatar
  • 6,660
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Has Google removed RT.com from web searches (in the EU)? [closed]

If I search (from an EU IP) seemingly for anything on Google with the site:rt.com restriction, I get no results, but funny pages like "476 results removed". Did Google announce removing RT ...
Fizz's user avatar
  • 131k
8 votes
3 answers
858 views

Which statements about the War in Ukraine are now criminal in Russia?

I read that the Duma in Russia has passed a law that provides for penalties of up to 15 years in prison for making certain statements about the war, for example using terms such as “attack,” “invasion,...
Trilarion's user avatar
  • 9,490
3 votes
3 answers
476 views

Can Twitter/Facebook actions on NYP article really be called "censorship"? [duplicate]

Recently, after New York Post placed an article about Hunter Biden ties with Ukraine business, Twitter and Facebook started to restrict spreading of it. Trump immediately called this a censorship: So ...
user2501323's user avatar
  • 11.8k
6 votes
2 answers
339 views

Are there precedents in other countries for Australia's mass newspaper protest today?

Many newspapers in Australia self-censored their front pages today to protest against what they see as government censorship or at least intimidation. According to the BBC: The protest is aimed at ...
Fizz's user avatar
  • 131k
2 votes
1 answer
202 views

Is there systematic self-censorship of images of violence in U.S. media?

The media have an effect on the direction of politics through the intensity and frequency of their coverage. Likewise omissions, self-censorship, and neglect have effects. The internet has an image ...
H2ONaCl's user avatar
  • 1,460
3 votes
4 answers
880 views

Can Twitter actions be treated as a political censorship? [closed]

As I heard some time ago, Twitter blocked about 200k accounts of HongKong protests unsupporters (source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-twitter/twitter-facebook-accuse-china-of-...
user2501323's user avatar
  • 11.8k
-4 votes
3 answers
180 views

Is there any regulation meant to limit coverage of mass shootings? Are any politicians pushing for such ideas?

The recent mass shootings in the United States were widely covered by the media. It isn't a new observation that the extensive coverage of such events aid in the popularization of the killer and also ...
firearms's user avatar
  • 403
2 votes
1 answer
155 views

How can a state (or a union) deter a company from developing technology related to censorship / human rights violation?

Background I have recently heard about a project that was developed by Google (Dragonfly search engine) and eventually shut down. This article provides more information about the main issues of this ...
Alexei's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
1k views

What reasoning did the South Korean government provide for blocking HTTPS?

Continuing from my previous question Why are South Korean content laws so strict?, a very intense case of excess internet censorship had recently occurred in South Korea. Now, the government plans on ...
user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
512 views

Do any democracies besides the UK have a ban on broadcasting legislative footage for comedic purposes?

When I first heard this on John Oliver's show, I thought it was a joke, but apparently there is a real ban in the UK on broadcasting parliamentary footage for the purpose of comedy. Do any other ...
Fizz's user avatar
  • 131k
21 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why are South Korean content laws so strict?

I am from South Korea, and in my country, graphic content laws are extremely strict - so strictly enforced that the following events had happened: 19+ filter on Google and YouTube Government blocked ...
user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
368 views

Why was Google grilled by congress for prototyping a censored search engine?

Sudar Pichai was summoned and grilled by Congress regarding numerous topics: among them was the Dragonfly censored search engine for China. What exactly is the problem with Google creating a state ...
gatorback's user avatar
  • 2,992
2 votes
0 answers
162 views

Chinese government internet censorship - statistics on evasion?

This may belong better somewhere else but I see this as relevant. China extensively censors what its internet users can see. However, users can circumvent this by using a VPN. Are there any ...
Gramatik's user avatar
  • 10.5k
2 votes
2 answers
319 views

Which form of censorship is more harmful: through suppression vs. through flooding? [closed]

Yuval Noah Harari in one of his books argues about the a newer form of censorship: In the past, censorship worked by blocking the flow of information. In the 21st century, censorship works by ...
Alexei's user avatar
  • 52.2k
2 votes
1 answer
552 views

Is there some kind of conglomerate ("family") which runs the majority of the US media sources?

One thing I have noticed while comparing our "Russian" news to the ones in the US is that both countries can be biased on certain events (while some don't get media attention if its not profitable). ...
crab.power's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
663 views

What laws and regulations were violated by John Oliver's critique of Chinese President Xi Jinping?

The Associated Press reports that John Oliver hosted a segment on his show Last Week Tonight in which he criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping. In particular, he said that he looked like Winnie the ...
Thunderforge's user avatar
  • 7,617
0 votes
2 answers
409 views

Do flag and symbol bans mostly disfavor the locally ancestral and historic?

Nebr comments: In other countries like the USA, that weren't responsible for the Nazi crimes, Nazi symbols are not banned as well, but there they are talking about banning the southern states flag. No ...
agc's user avatar
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