News Creators Have Yet Another Reason to Abandon Facebook

Parker Davis September 1, 2021

At some point, we in the news world became largely dependent on traffic from social media sites rather than placement in google search results, especially those of us in the bottom tier of scale as far as newsing is concerned.

Twitter was once a relaible source for traffic to news websites, but, in time, it became more and more difficult for smaller scale operations to get any results worth any time that might be spent to get those results. Facebook, however, continued to be a great driver of news traffic to news websites, such as ours. And even as I write this, Facebook continues to be a major driver of traffic to this site as well, though not nearly as signficantly as it once was.

We at The Freedomist have been working on other methods of traffic generation with an awareness that Facebook should not be looked upon as a secure space to set up shop for any significant period of time. We have in our network multiple Facebook pages, some of which have well over 100k likes, but we view these almost as ghosts still able to produce a few worthwhile results for a little while longer.

WIth the news that facebook will be throttling political content, which is most news these days, since everything is political now, we can expect to have even less traffic from Facebook than we already have, and many other operations such as ours will as well, which might cause some short-term for some (some more than others), but will produce longterm gains in terms of leading more and more people to build social media sharing platforms that are more stable and more free speech rooted in their method of governance, and more fundamentally aligned with the spirit of the Bill of rights and not the CCP or DNC or even GOP for that matter.

Facebook’s continued zeal to be the moral gatekeeper of socety is leading it to conclude its poor uneducated roobs that utlize its platform are hardly smart enough to discern for themselves what they find offensive, what they find misleading, what they find good, what they find bad. For this reason, Facebook will try to hide all those flame-shooting links that might upset the poor delicates who can hardly dress themselves each morning let alone think for themselves.

This means the political links gots ta goes, and Facebook gives the primary drivers of traffic to their platform, news creators, more incentive to develop better non-Facevook ways to get traffic to their websites.

Facebook to downrank political content, hurting news publishers

From www.washingtonexaminer.com
2021-08-31 16:08:42
Nihal Krishan
Excerpt:

Facebook will reduce the amount of political content on its news feed due to negative user feedback, a move that could hurt news publishers and those that post about politics, according to reports Tuesday.

The social media giant will reduce political content by not relying so heavily on its content engagement algorithm, which focuses on the likelihood that a user will share or comment on a post based on past behavior, Axios reported .

It will also start to experiment with limits on how much political content people outside of the United States will see on their news feeds, including countries such as Costa Rica, Sweden, Spain, and Ireland.

Facebook announced in February that it would look into ways to reduce political content on the platform to better meet the needs of users, it said. According to the company, an average of 6% of a user’s feed represents political content.

“There has been this trend, I think, across society…

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GETTR, the Safe Haven for Conservatives, Has a Heavy Ban Hammer

GETTR, the Safe Haven for Conservatives, Has Censored Roger Stone

Parker Davis September 1, 2021

It appears the so-called safe space for conservstives, specifically Trump conservatives, Gettr, is having a hard time managing its content creators. From the beginning, it was promised that Donald Trump would build a social media answer to all the baddies, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. That became a blog site that Trump sometimes posts stuff on. Later, we heard about Gettr. Initially, it was thought to literally be a Trump-led project, but, in fact, it had no real affiliation with Trump at all, it was just a social media platform that marketed itself as a free speech social media platform specifically friendly to Trump supporters, especiallly those that had recently been axed from one of the baddies, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

The recent Gabs by Roger Stone, another free-speech-promising platform, this one billed as an alternative to Twitter, suggest that the site is using its power as a gatekeeper not unsimilarly to how the baddies use their position of power advantage as gatekeepers of little accountability to the ones they serve.

Roger Stone is complaining about the free speech platform, Gettr, silencing him, censoring him, because, he alleges, he said something bad about the Gettr founder, Jason Miller, as well as Steve Bannon. Given what Trump has said about Bannon in the past (he essentially called him an amateur, he threw Bannon under the bus hard), one is doubtful that even Trump would have that much of a problem with anyone talking smack about Bannon. This appears to be about protecting a certain faction’s particular useful narrative, and that faction might just be a Bannon faction. Regardless of what Jason Miller represents, making factional gatekeeping decisions makes you one of the baddies, sir.

Of course, all of this suppses Stone is being totally truthful and transparent in what he relates as his version for why Gettr has censored him. The story itself though is telling in that one member of a larger faction, the Trump faction, seems willing to cast into doubt the legitimate credentials of Gettr as a bastion for conservative safe-spacism. This would not be done lightly, even by Stone, so that leads me to believe there was some degree of real throttling of this man’s voice on Gettr because he broke a factional narrative, this one being, at the very leas,t the Jason Miller faction, which might just be Jason Miller alone, given factional power, so to speak, by share weight of his controlling of the filter on the Gettr platform.

Gettr, to me, is yet another example of a good idea for a group of people, say, a faction, to get behind, the idea of building a people-reaching free speech platform to counter the controlling social media platforms we now have, and a few people with deep pockets or relationships with networks of people with deep pockets, slap together some stuff to co-opt the idea and turn it into a quick money maker and/or prestige builder that ends up being an unprofessional cringe fest that implodes within a couple or so years (if not sooner) leaving everyone highly discouraged at ever trying the actually good idea ever again.

Let’s hope Gettr doesn’t discourage others for finding way to build such social media platforms, but don’t let’s make them just safe spaces for conservatives, make them actually as extremely free speech as human to human contact on a digital platform can be.

Trumpist Gettr Social Network Continues To Speed Run Content Moderation Learning Curve: Bans, Then Unbans, Roger Stone

From www.techdirt.com
2021-08-26 16:45:00

Excerpt:

Remember Gettr? That’s the Trumpist social network run by former Trump spokesperson (and vexatious lawsuit filer) Jason Miller that promised to be supportive of “free speech.” As we point out what happens with every new social network that jumps into the space with promises to “support free speech!” and “not censor!” before long they will begin to realize content moderation is required to keep your site running — and soon they discover that content moderation will involve difficult choices. And, sometimes, it involves making mistakes.

Of course, whenever Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or whoever else note that they made a “mistake” with a content moderation decision and reverse it, there are always some people who insist it couldn’t possibly be a mistake and must be [insert conspiratorial reason here]. So I find it hilarious that on Wednesday, Gettr got to experience all this as well. First, Trump buddy and admitted “dirty trickster” Roger Stone went on Gab — another such social network — to whine about how he was “censored” by Gettr, claiming it was because he had made what he believed were disparaging remarks about Miller (and Steve Bannon).

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DNC House Targets CCP Corps on US Exchanges

Paul Collier September 1, 2021

In the complicated relationship that is the DNC and the CCP, the frenemies that have, until recently, been more friend than enemy, the methods of shifting the balance of power to favor this or that side when it comes to the hardball negotiating can become ultimately sabotaging to the ability of two camps that, at least for now and the near-foreseeable future, kind of both need each other to make the others’ dreams come true.

The US Hoouuse, led by the Democrats, in the case, the direct party that finds itself in that frenemy space with the CCP, is seeking to perhaps either clip some of the wings of their CCP counterparts, or maybe only bluster just to show that, if they wanted, they could clip those wings. They are conducting investigations into the listing of some Chinese companies on their US exchanges, which follows the announcement by China that many American “data-driven” mega-corps might find themselves de-listed on their exchanges, or more, facing draconian regulations that mgiht all-but cut off that fat Chinese markets from the corporations in America that desperately need that Chinese revenue if they are to continue to use their platforms to adviance ideology and not serve diverse pluralistic cultures and beliefs that we Americans represent.

If the corporations must actually produce products the plurality of Americans, across our diverse divides, likes, then they cannot continue to advance their current chosen vehicle of power to hopefully cut off competition from the poors for generations to come. But, to make that transition, to end the Bill of Rights constructs of the land and to replace it with a return to a sort of priest-king model of the Bronze Age, the mega-corps, the corpo-nations, maybe, nations into themselves, with budgets that many actual nation-states would love to have, must have a source for revenue

That’s where China comes in. But China herself still needs America, the America the DNC offers, and still needs the DNC to finish off the Bill of Rights constructs of the land, to end the more fundamental threat to their plans, not the people in this land, but the ideas in the Bill of Rights that many poors, including their own, would quickly recognize as giving them protection against the tyranny of the majority, be it the numerical or by measures of power.

My bet is China will have to walk back some of their restrictions newly placed on America to gain access to her fatty markets and the DNC will produce a little pony show to send a message to the Chinese that they have teeth as well, and also to keep people off their trail when it comes to their alliance with the CCP itself. How can you say they are allied with the CCP when they are investigating their companies that are listed on our exchanges?

Of course, at least in this article, I think I’ve already explained how I can say that. This type of working for and against other parties is not even new, nor unique to our current age, when we can just look at the relationship betwen Russia and Turkey to see how it is that two “allies” can also be enemies in other spheres. There are times when some Turkish military assets are being assisted by Russian military assets while in another part of the world Russian drones and Turkish drones are battling each other over another poor nation that finds itself being used as a war games proving ground for the world powers’ new toys, especially those drones.

And so it is with the DNC and the CCP, frenemies, and the DNC is sending a message to its frenemy, we can do this to your companies as well, so back off.

U.S. House panel targets Chinese listings on U.S. exchanges

From finance.yahoo.com
2021-08-31 15:22:40

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) – A U.S. House of Representatives panel focused on protecting investors will hold a hearing on Sept. 22 about risks related to Chinese stock market listings on American exchanges.

The Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets hearing will take place among growing concerns about recent Chinese government actions that spurred sudden and unexpected swings in share prices of Chinese shares listed on U.S. exchanges.

Earlier this week, for example, China forbade under-18s from playing video games https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-rolls-out-new-rules-minors-online-gaming-xinhua-2021-08-30 for more than three hours a week, hitting shares of some Chinese gaming companies traded in the United States.

U.S. lawmakers have also complained about Chinese corporate accounting practices and alleged ties between some Chinese companies and the military. (Reporting by Chris Sanders; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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The Corpostate Press Try To Rehabilitate The Taliban

Bill Collier September 1, 2021

Perhaps it is owing to their desire to prop up President Biden, perhaps they have members being held hostage, and perhaps any enemy of America is their friend, but the corpostate press are propping up the Taliban as reasonable, changed, and professional.

Below is a screenshot of one example:

A “businesslike” group of anti-American terrorists who treat women like property, kill Christians and gays, and conduct a reign of terror? The old mob line, before they murder an old friend, “it’s not personal, it’s just business” seems to be the idea here.

But transport the Taliban to the US and make them not Muslim but Christians or agnostics even and the corpostate press would rightly condemn them every day, all day, and vociferously, unelss of course they voted for Democrats and/or were high paying customers. The camera only points in the direction that benefits the ruling class and the tone of coverage is all about coralling people, definitely not informing them.

The Taliban may have “helped” in some show fashion to let some Americans leave, but we didn’t need them in any way. The proper operational plan would be to have increased our military strength prior to leaving, remove all our people and allies, and depart one area at a time. Keeping Bagram as a permanent base could have also been on the table to support the Afghan government.

The truth is, the US, from Trump until now, was all too willing to rehabilitate the Taliban just to get out, consequences be damned to everyone left behind. But when Biden, darling of the ruling class (because he’s such a shill to them), walked that same line, suddenly the “new” Taliban was “businesslike.” It isn’t an issue of their bias, it is an issue of their dishonesty: they don’t for a minute believe the things they are saying.

The Power of Big Social to Control Your Religious Beliefs

Paul Collier August 31, 2021

Christian groups around the world are beginning to wonder if the international monopolies on social media might just be used as filters to prevent their worldviews from gaining access to the public stage, which is, de facto, social media overwhelmingly.

They’re not the only groups complaining or worrying about this type of control being placed in the hands of a few billionaires. Other groups are also finding it difficult to get through the filters imposed from on high, and this experience only promises to repeat itself for an increasing range of groups that hold beliefs outside the accepted orthodoxy of the state and the corporation (and where the one begins and the other hands, who knows, the lines at this time are very blurred, if they exist at all).

The question is, what can be done about this? Should we use the state to resuce us from corporate tyranny, and thus empower the state to control the de facto public square, social media? That’s already happpening in many countries, with others also choosing to attempt to build their own nationalist social media platforms safe from the prying filters and promotions of the corpostates within them that are increasingly being thought of as being de facto states that maybe, at some point, should be dealt with as such.

Big Tech might very well find itself hoisted on its own success, and its willingness to spend that success so recklessly to serve the agenda of a petty party, the DNC, because orange man bad or conservatives are evil or whatever other cartoon villain narrative you’d like to choose. But it pushed too far, and now, people are starting to realize how much power it is, and some of those people have real power, government gun power, and they will soon be using it, even as some already have.

‘Big Tech’ censorship of religion is real and deserves an effective response, critics say

From angelusnews.com
2021-08-31 16:40:37

Excerpt:

The power of major internet companies like Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, and Twitter over public life is a particular threat to religious groups that focus on controversial issues like abortion, marriage, and sexuality, several commentators said at a roundtable last week. These groups should prepare for the possibility of censorship and organize effective countermeasures, they said.

“You might not know the hour nor the day you will be censored,” Joshua D. Holdenreid, vice president and executive director of the California-based Napa Legal Institute, said at a roundtable on internet censorship.

Holdenreid said those involved in public debates “need to plan ahead and assume that if they are a religious organization or faith-based organization operating in the public square and focused on an issue that’s related to pro-life (topics), marriage, sexuality, Christian anthropology, they should just assume that they will eventually run afoul of these vague and arbitrary terms and…

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China Youth Only Get 3 Hours a Week for Gaming, CCP Uncle Tells Them

Freedomist Editor August 31, 2021

The CCP is going to attempt to make sure its kids don’t fall prey to the evils of excessive video gaming by making sure its youth cannot play video games more than 3 hours a week, and even then, only on fridays, saturdays, and sundays.

The CCP can enforce this because their big tech walks closely beside them in censoring, filtering, controlling, monitoring the users on their social media platforms. As a matter of fact, you can’t even get on the internet without a face scan, and that face scan better be attached to a good social credit score or no video game time for you. Who knows, maybe Uncle will visit you in the middle of the night and question your choice of using a darker red to color the communist flag the other day at school. Who knows?

There is another significant tradeoff the Chinese have made here that could be very telling. The Chinese are throwing away a massively huge potential low-invest high-reward mobile game market not just for its own developer but for foreign ones as well, and that removes a LOT of incentive for a LOT of American companies to suddenly be less intersted in buidling within the CCP-correctness code of video gaming in pursuit of the massive youth gaming market that is still mostly untapped.

China video game ban for children raises questions

From fortune.com
2021-08-30 22:53:26

Excerpt:

Chinese children will soon be restricted from playing video games more than three hours weekly, the country’s regulators said Monday. National playtime, the Communist Party kids you not, is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time.

Weekday gaming? Banned, for youths, starting Wednesday.

China is framing its heavy-handed nannying as being for its people’s own good—an antidote to “spiritual opium,” the since-stricken label a state media outlet used to criticize video games some weeks ago. In an article announcing and justifying the government’s rationale, the Chinese state-sponsored media outlet Xinhua, cited by Reuters, quoted a spokesperson as saying that “protecting the physical and mental health of minors is related to the people’s vital interests, and relates to the cultivation of the younger generation in the era of national rejuvenation.”

…

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After Afghanistan, America needs real investment to stave off Russia

Freedomist Editor August 31, 2021

By Brian Darling- Vladimir Putin must be laughing his way to the bank. As his nation makes inroads across Europe, America is in full, embarrassing retreat from Afghanistan.

I’ve supported leaving Afghanistan for years, yet President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan departure been shameful in its execution. Chaos and danger dominate the nation, even though Biden was presented with a number of less bad options to prevent American soldiers from spending another 20 years in Afghanistan. Our mission creep into a goal of training the Afghan military on defending freedom and the political class on how to run a country turned out to be a failed nation-building experiment…but Biden still chose the worst option. It is sad to see that country taking a big step backwards.

Part of our problem in Afghanistan was that we and our allies provided all of the infrastructure. But just as you can’t put lipstick on a pig, and no Shark Tank investor can make a company with bad financials succeed, America couldn’t force success on Afghanistan. And, so, we must learn the real lesson of our retreat: any foreign engagements must become investments which benefit all parties – America and the nations in which we are engaged.

I mentioned Putin earlier for a reason. America has spent billions supporting Ukraine’s military against Russia since 2014. But that’s the same military approach we took in Afghanistan. What America must help Ukraine do is actually stand on its own two feet, or once again we’ll have wasted billions to end up back at zero.

Ukraine, long been known as the ‘Breadbasket of Europe’ because of vast farmlands, should be a successful post-Soviet nation. Yet its GDP ranks at the bottom of Europe and, according to the World Bank, “Ukrainians continue to feel that more needs to be done to improve governance. Lack of trust in public institutions remains a fundamental concern for most people.” Corruption is a huge part of this problem – as The Heritage Foundation’s 2021 Index of Economic Freedom found, Ukraine’s government “will need to boost investor confidence by continuing to upgrade the investment code and by undertaking deep and comprehensive reforms to strengthen rule-of-law institutions and improve the protection of property rights, judicial effectiveness, and government integrity.” The economy of Ukraine should not be last in all of Europe with the natural resources it has available, yet corruptive interference in the economy and no respect for the rule of law has made Ukraine vulnerable to Russian interference.

Trade is an important element to put a wedge between Ukraine and Russia, and to build the kind of infrastructure that was never in place in Afghanistan, but why would anyone invest in such a corrupt nation? One case study shows what happened to one private-sector investor, TIU Canada. Michael Yurkovich, CEO of TIU Canada, was recently on Bloomberg where he pointed out that a Russian backed oligarch effectively shut down a solar plant because it competed against the oligarch’s business. Yurkovich alleged that the competitor, “directed one of his companies to violate the laws of Ukraine and he physically disconnected us” from the national power grid. The goal of TIU Canada was a diversification strategy that helped Ukraine to produce renewable energy that would forward the goal of energy independence from Russia. Instead, Yurkovich and other potential and actual investors in Ukraine are watching to see if the case will be resolved fairly – or if Ukraine is simply unable and unwilling to help its people by seeking positive foreign investment.

TIU Canada’s case has less to do with the specifics of this company and more to do with the way Ukraine will be viewed by free nations and foreign investors. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has pledged to restore the rule of law and crackdown on corruption, yet situations like the TIU controversy persist. As Afghanistan falls apart thanks to the Taliban and our lack of proper investment, the Ukraine court system is being tested by the solar plant’s closure as the rest of the country is being tested Russia’s economic warfare via Nord Stream II and other actions. Government statements might be a good sign, but it’s useless without real action – action that must be prompted by the U.S. in a way which we never did in Afghanistan.

America can’t afford to lose to Russia as we lost to the Taliban. We must have a better, more comprehensive strategy for success that precludes nation-building and involves real, long-term strategic thinking. The neocons would say we should support Ukraine as we did Afghanistan; but our investment is only worthwhile if we learn the lessons of Afghanistan to create a stronger Ukraine to create a better America.

Brian Darling is former Sr. Communications Director for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

CCP Does Cancel Culture On Its own Entertainment Industry

CCP Cancel Culture Is The Envy Of The DNC

Freedomist Editor August 30, 2021

The Chinese are about to show the Americans how you do Cancel Culture like a house on fire like only China can, given the fact that it is a lot further along in the “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” evolutionary timeline than the American DNC currently is (though they are hoping to catch up as soon as possible and China is their model).

In America, for instance, the police are not called Uncle and Chairman Xi cannot on a whim decide to totally revamp the state education curriculum to reflect his socio-cultural will. We have pesky Constitutional restrictions that, while never fully stopping the state from abusing our rights, slows it down and forces it to do so more covertly than China needs to worry about.

Chairman Xi is working to cut off the power from all of his potential rivals from within, and that means making sure all centers of power in his land gravitate around his specifical regulatory will. The entertainment industry is seeing some of its stars now randomly disappear, and even less visibly, so too are its fans disappearing as Chairman Xi attempts to reconfigure the power of entertinament to gravitate around his very immediately felt power.

How envious must be the DNC to see their inspiration, the CCP, working so efficiently to sanitize life to fit within the dreams of one central head? How ambitious must be the most powerful in that group imagining maybe someday THEY will be the last head floating in the Game of Thrones Highlander Series known as American politics in current year?

The only thing missing from the DNC operation to transform the US into a China is a strong leader who isn’t distracted by sniffing the hair of young people.

See below for the “model” soon to be used here if the DNC totalitarians get their way…

Celebrity Culture “Clean Up” Campaign Targets Stars and Fans Alike

From chinadigitaltimes.net
2021-08-28 05:52:57
Joseph Brouwer
Excerpt:

One of China’s most famous actresses has been summarily wiped from the internet as part of a “clean up” campaign aimed at celebrity culture. Zhao Wei, who starred in the über-popular TV drama “My Fair Princess,” became a billionaire through investing in Alibaba, and was the face of Italian high fashion brand Fendi in China, was digitally disappeared overnight without explanation. Her erasure happened in the middle of a Cyberspace Administration of China “special operation” against celebrity worship, which has both targeted celebrity misbehavior and imposed strict new controls on fan interaction with “idols”:

In June the office of the central cyberspace affairs commission announced a two-month special operation targeting fanclub culture, known as fan quan, which it said negatively affected the mental health of children.

[…] The 10-point list “to rectify chaos in the fan community” also included an order to “strictly regulate” celebrity managers and firms…

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Now Taliban Will Let Afghanis Leave, US, Uk Claim

Western Powers Justify Stranding People In Afghanistan With Empty Taliban Promises

Paul Collier August 30, 2021

After declaring they would not let any more Afghanis leave Afghanistan, after threatening America for encouraging Afghanis to leave, the Taliban have reversed course and announced they WILL let the Afghanis leave that want to leave. This announcement came in the form of a joint statement by multiple nations, including the United States and the UK. The veracity thereof, in terms of its fulfillment, remains uncertain and, frankly, is a weak hook upon which to hang your hat.

Basically, those invoking this guarantee to justify the cut-and-run strategy that has stranded thousands are likely whistling past the graveyard of their own political fortunes. The likelihood the Taliban will genuinely fulfill this is just not great and the politicos invoking this empty promise know that full well.

Taliban Will Let Afghans Leave, Say US, UK, Other Countries In Statement

From www.ndtv.com
2021-08-29 18:18:31

Excerpt:

“We have received assurances from the Taliban,” the joint statement said

aLondon:

The Taliban will allow all foreign nationals and Afghan citizens with travel authorisation from another country to leave Afghanistan, according to a joint statement issued by Britain, the United States and other countries.

“We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country,” they said in the statement.

The statement said the countries, which also included Australia, Japan, France, Spain and many others, would continue to issue travel documents to designated Afghans.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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China Wants US Out of Its Data, and Algorithms to Be Socialist in Value

Mark Clouse August 30, 2021

China is looking to reign in its new oligarchs, its tech giants, who, in the span of about a decade ended up with vast empires that dwarved the sizes of some of the biggest government departments in the Chinese Communist Party state.

In the process, its also looking to make sure no American Big Techers get their data mining noses in their proverbial business by setting standards that are targeted at preventing non-government agents, be they foreign or domestic, from collecting data of any substance about their chattel, that is, citizens.

China has woken up to the reality that data is the new power that leads to all other power and right now, their own newly billionaired tech princes and princesses have more access to data about these citizens than the government itself does. Well, that’s about to change, and what happens in China will be noticed by all, with nation-states that have similar levels of control over their citizens doing similar things to protect themselves from being usurped in real power in their own lands by tech moguls.

The plans will be approved by Xi or they won’t happen at all. There is no debate. Xi will decide specifically what the new social media landscape is for his country.

The data restrictions include assuring the algorithms do not violate the principles of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Just like America, which has its own monopolistically imposed commitment to assuring algorthms reflect a specifical morality over all other moralities, even if the one morality violates the liberties of the other moralities that might not agree with it., China means to keep dissenting values out of the public square, for the safety and welfare of the whole.

China ‘plans to ban’ US IPOs for data-heavy tech firms, and proposes algorithm controls – business live | Business

From www.theguardian.com
2021-08-27 12:55:49

Excerpt:

China’s tech bosses are among its wealthiest citizens, and they are very much in Xi’s sights. The boss of social and gaming giant Tencent, Pony Ma, is estimated by Forbes to be worth $43bn (£31bn). His peer Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, is not far behind at $41bn.

With money have come power at home and influence abroad, both of which pose a threat to the Communist party, analysts say. China’s technologies increasingly shape the western world, from Alibaba in global trade, linking western buyers with exporters of goods made in China, to TikTok in popular culture, to online gaming, where Tencent has an interest in some of the most successful European developers.

“The recent regulatory crackdowns also send a chilling message to enterprising Chinese business people, whose contributions to the economy are far bigger than many state-owned firms,” said Dexter Roberts, senior fellow at Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

“Chinese economists…

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China ‘plans to ban’ US IPOs for data-heavy tech firms, and proposes algorithm controls – business live | Business

From www.theguardian.com
2021-08-27 12:55:49

Excerpt:

The Cyberspace Administration of China has issued a swathe of draft proposals to more rightly regulate how companies use algorithms.

The proposed guidelines say they must comply with laws and regulations, respect social ethics and ethics, abide by business ethics and professional ethics, and follow principles of (among others) fairness, openness and transparency.

The wide-ranging regulations would bar companies from using algorithms to hit consumers with higher prices based on their known preferences and trading habits, or influence online public opinion, or excessively manipulate search results in a way that harms competition.

Practices which violate public order, or encourage addiction or “high consumption” would also be curbed…….

China’s tech bosses are among its wealthiest citizens, and they are very much in Xi’s sights. The boss of social and gaming giant Tencent, Pony Ma, is estimated by Forbes to be worth $43bn (£31bn). His peer Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, is not far behind at $41bn.

With money have come power at home and influence abroad, both of which pose a threat to the Communist party, analysts say. China’s technologies increasingly shape the western world, from Alibaba in global trade, linking western buyers with exporters of goods made in China, to TikTok in popular culture, to online gaming, where Tencent has an interest in some of the most successful European developers.

“The recent regulatory crackdowns also send a chilling message to enterprising Chinese business people, whose contributions to the economy are far bigger than many state-owned firms,” said Dexter Roberts, senior fellow at Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.