Social Media and Racism etc.

[98elise]

I've just watched a footballer on the news speaking about racism etc on social media (specifically about monkey and banana emoji's). I know social media companies say they are acting, but why is it even possible to post racist (or other abusive) messages?

I worked in IT for a couple of decades and the code to flag, or even immediately delete phrases, emojis or words is simple. You don't even need exact matches. It needs no human checking or validation, it will simply work for every post made when added or ammended. It's fundamental to how databases work.

They are private companies and you agree to their T&C's so freedom of speach doesn't come into it.

Is there any reason they are not doing simple stuff like this now?

[Pastor Of Muppets]

Well the SNP are top of the tree when it comes to bigotry, racism, and sectarianism, they do what they want, say what they want, and are accountable to nobody. Might be worth starting with them, but where to begin.

[Japveesix]

How would it recognise the difference between a single monkey emoji posted in a random footballers, or whoever's, thread that was meant racistly and the single monkey emoji posted to your mate about going to the zoo, or just because you think he's an idiot etc?

Many racist posts are very obvious if you know the context but really subtle and simple if you don't. Even my parents wouldn't immediately recognise that a load of bananas posted in a Rashford thread had any racist intent.

[bigandclever]

98elise said:

Is there any reason they are not doing simple stuff like this now?

Coding isn’t the issue. Semantics and context and linguistics and so on are the issues.

[Donbot]

The total censorship of information is more problematic than a few people being scum.

You have to accept some of this st will slip through the net.

Hopefully it gets dealt with appropriately.

[JeffreyD]

Donbot said:

The total censorship of information is more problematic than a few people being scum.

You have to accept some of this st will slip through the net.

Hopefully it gets dealt with appropriately.

Can you give us an example of this "total censorship"?

[Donbot]

JeffreyD said:

Donbot said:

The total censorship of information is more problematic than a few people being scum.

You have to accept some of this st will slip through the net.

Hopefully it gets dealt with appropriately.

Can you give us an example of this "total censorship"?

China are trying it. Isn't working too well though.

[JeffreyD]

Donbot said:

China are trying it. Isn't working too well though.

Understood.

It's not really a problem here though, is it?

[Donbot]

JeffreyD said:

Donbot said:

China are trying it. Isn't working too well though.

Understood.

It's not really a problem here though, is it?

Hahahahahahaha

[JeffreyD]

Donbot said:

JeffreyD said:

Donbot said:

China are trying it. Isn't working too well though.

Understood.

It's not really a problem here though, is it?

Hahahahahahaha

So to go back to my original question can you explain what you mean?

[Donbot]

JeffreyD said:

Donbot said:

JeffreyD said:

Donbot said:

China are trying it. Isn't working too well though.

Understood.

It's not really a problem here though, is it?

Hahahahahahaha

So to go back to my original question can you explain what you mean?

this users reply has been fact checked and deemed inappropriate

[Donbot]

Or more sensibly . . . . I play a lot of Age of Empires 2.

When the game launched, Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom decided no one is to be offended in chat.

The result . . .

1. ## ########## ### ########## ## #########

Fantastic.

[98elise]

Donbot said:

The total censorship of information is more problematic than a few people being scum.

You have to accept some of this st will slip through the net.

Hopefully it gets dealt with appropriately.

It's not total censorship, it's a private company having a few house rules. You are free to post monkey and banana emoji's to footballers somewhere else.

PH has a swear filter, it's no different. Play by the rules or go somewhere else.

Edited by 98elise on Thursday 9th September 20:14

[98elise]

Japveesix said:

How would it recognise the difference between a single monkey emoji posted in a random footballers, or whoever's, thread that was meant racistly and the single monkey emoji posted to your mate about going to the zoo, or just because you think he's an idiot etc?

Many racist posts are very obvious if you know the context but really subtle and simple if you don't. Even my parents wouldn't immediately recognise that a load of bananas posted in a Rashford thread had any racist intent.

Simply disable the monkey and banana emoji's. No matter how well I know you, PH would not let me swear at you their forums. It's no different.

[Donbot]

98elise said:

Donbot said:

The total censorship of information is more problematic than a few people being scum.

You have to accept some of this st will slip through the net.

Hopefully it gets dealt with appropriately.

It's not total censorship, it's a private company having a few house rules. You are free to post monkey and banana emoji's to footballers somewhere else.

PH has a sweat filter, it's no different. Play by the rules or go somewhere else.

The end game is that you can't communicate.

People are smarter than the algorithm.

People break the law despite what is put in place.

Language evolves faster. is censored but I can call someone , or .

What do you make of that?

Mod edit. No you cannot call someone those things!

[Donbot]

Don't get me wrong. I think these people are sts.

Making people aware of it is better than a load of

???? ????
??? ????? ????

[98elise]

Donbot said:

98elise said:

Donbot said:

The total censorship of information is more problematic than a few people being scum.

You have to accept some of this st will slip through the net.

Hopefully it gets dealt with appropriately.

It's not total censorship, it's a private company having a few house rules. You are free to post monkey and banana emoji's to footballers somewhere else.

PH has a sweat filter, it's no different. Play by the rules or go somewhere else.

The end game is that you can't communicate.

People are smarter than the algorithm.

People break the law despite what is put in place.

Language evolves faster. is censored but I can call someone , or .

What do you make of that?

It would take seconds to add those to a blacklist, and I don't think the average racist is particularly smart.

Edited by 98elise on Friday 10th September 09:00

[fat80b]

98elise said:

It would take seconds to add those to a blacklist, and I don't think the average rasict is particularly smart.

Interesting choice of wording. Many companies are removing terms and phrases where there is a negative association with colour as it can be seen as racist

In that way I think “denylist” is now the appropriate term……

See how easy it is to offend with words…..

[Donbot]

98elise said:

Donbot said:

98elise said:

Donbot said:

The total censorship of information is more problematic than a few people being scum.

You have to accept some of this st will slip through the net.

Hopefully it gets dealt with appropriately.

It's not total censorship, it's a private company having a few house rules. You are free to post monkey and banana emoji's to footballers somewhere else.

PH has a sweat filter, it's no different. Play by the rules or go somewhere else.

The end game is that you can't communicate.

People are smarter than the algorithm.

People break the law despite what is put in place.

Language evolves faster. is censored but I can call someone , or .

What do you make of that?

It would take seconds to add those to a blacklist, and I don't think the average rasict is particularly smart.

It has taken plenty of seconds.

You know what I mean. You aren't stupid. The more this is hidden away the less is done about it.

If I kept using those words it would be added to the blacklist, but to what effect?

Something new comes along. And you want to hide it. What does censorship achieve?

I'm sure you would rather be called a to your face than behind your back.

[aparna]

Weirdly, most people don’t care about having theirs right to be accidentally offensive to minorities curtailed on the internet. Most don’t even notice.