Both Chinese/Soviet censors and Working-At-Big-Tech Censors are both communist.
The difference is - Working-At-Big-Tech-Censors actually believe the communist bullshit so are FAR more dangerous*
Chinese censors are probably like “calm down- we don’t need to take it so seriously. These guys are honest citizens.”
Big Tech Censors : “THEY MUST BE CRUSHED AND PURGED OF ALL IMPURE THOUGHTS”.
(* Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C. S. Lewis )
The Chinese and Soviet censors had LITERAL swords of damocles over their head (especially Soviet under Stalin given that a lot of the higher ups were the kind of scum that were extremely happy to follow all his orders and execute them effectively as they got to do THEIR evil uninterrupted under him)
The big tech censors WANT to be the ones that hold the swords and have people terrified of them.
So their answer is 'to catch a murderer, we hired a murderer. Ignore the murdering he's still doing, he's here to catch the REALLY bad murderers'
Both Chinese/Soviet censors and Working-At-Big-Tech Censors are both communist.
The difference is - Working-At-Big-Tech-Censors actually believe the communist bullshit so are FAR more dangerous*
Chinese censors are probably like “calm down- we don’t need to take it so seriously. These guys are honest citizens.”
Big Tech Censors : “THEY MUST BE CRUSHED AND PURGED OF ALL IMPURE THOUGHTS”.
(* Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. C. S. Lewis )
The Chinese and Soviet censors had LITERAL swords of damocles over their head (especially Soviet under Stalin given that a lot of the higher ups were the kind of scum that were extremely happy to follow all his orders and execute them effectively as they got to do THEIR evil uninterrupted under him)
The big tech censors WANT to be the ones that hold the swords and have people terrified of them.
I can sort of see the argument, bad as it is, but there's still a basic question to ask: why do we need anyone to counter "disinformation"?
Our murderers are good. Their murders are bad.