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When civic spaces are closed and groups deleted, individuals with few or no connections outside of social media have backlogs of resources and connections taken away. In the case of WeChat specificallywhich users in China utilize for chats, payments, blog publishing, travel, and other digital record keepinga suspension or ban cuts a user off from many everyday communication and life tools.

This is not about topics. This censorship is fundamentally about the dismantling of social resources. Content takedowns not only address the shorter-term problem of text or images that government actors want to remove, they also weaken activists' ability to rebuild by isolating them and dampening their ability to create new resources. Censors can ensure that these groups stay silent. Conceptualizing censorship in a solely piecemeal way neglects the damage that destroying the foundations of organizing and civic society components can do.

Chinese censors have not operated using content- or keyword-only censorship for nearly a decade, finding early on that the social nature of social media was key to modernizing and maintaining Chinas Great Firewall. Xi Jinping himself characterized cyberspace in a 2016 speech as a spiritual garden for information innovation and cybersecurity. He claimed that this conceptual garden has a clear sky, and crisp air with a good ecology in cyberspace conforms to the peoples interests. A pestilent atmosphere with a deteriorating ecology in cyberspace, in turn, does not conform to the peoples interests. Unsaid but key to his analogy was what, and who, would have to be pruned and removed.

Communist Party internal literature also acknowledges the power of digital social networks beyond banning specific keywords. In preliminary studies of community environments on Weibo that led to increased control over social influencers, researchers identified the environment as a new frontier in civic spaces. Party scholars wrote: Because cyberspace has no systemic barriers or binding ideological constraints different classes, areas, and types of media can exchange, integrate, or confront ideas, making the public opinion environment increasingly complex.

Topic-based bans do remain an integral part of censorship, barring mention of historically taboo events like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and content published by banned media outlets like The New York Times, Washington Post, and BBC. However, after the rise of bloggers and social media influencers in the late 00s, the public opinion environment was also precisely targeted by campaigns meant to curtail influencer impact and the capacity of nongovernment thought leaders to build community.

In theory, social media users with large followings were private citizens. However, the mid-2010s handed them a choice: They could serve and support the politics of Chinese authorities, or they could face discipline by law enforcement and the dismantling of their communities. In 2013, amidst a flurry of blogger crackdowns, novelist Hao Qun summarized the trend aptly: They want to sever those relationships and make the relationship on Weibo atomized, just like relations in Chinese society, where everyone is just a solitary atom.

By the time Peng appeared in a November 2021 video call with IOC chair Thomas Bach, the Weibo and WeChat environments had virtually purged discussions with offending keywords or references to an earlier, clumsier cover-up email sent to the Womens Tennis Association.

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The Case of Tennis Star Peng Shuai Reveals the Real Purpose of China's Censorship - WIRED

This article features how AI technology works to outsmart governments internet censorship

Analysts have built an artificial intelligence or AI technology that can naturally learn and adjust to dodge internet censorship, a development that might open up hindered online substance for a huge number of individuals living in India and China. The scientists, including those from the University of Maryland (UMD) in the US, tried the AI technology in China, India, and Kazakhstan, and observed many ways of conquering oversight by taking advantage of gaps in rationale utilized by controls and finding bugs that are hard for people to find physically.

The specialists said they intend to present the AI technology called Geneva short for Genetic Evasion during a friend looked into talk at the Association for Computing Machinerys 26th Conference on Computer and Communications Security in the UK.

Geneva addresses the initial move toward a totally different weapons contest in which artificial intelligence frameworks of controls and dodgers contend with each other. At last, dominating this race implies carrying free discourse and open correspondence to a large number of clients all over the planet who as of now dont have them. The researchers said one of the common forms of internet censorship, particularly used by authoritarian regimes, monitored the pieces of information sent during an internet search called data packets.

They said censors block demands that either contain hailed watchwords -, for example, Tiananmen Square in China or restricted domain names like Wikipedia in numerous nations. At the point when a PC running Geneva conveys web demands through a blue pencil, the AI framework adjusts how the information is separated and sent, such that the control doesnt perceive it as an illegal substance.

Known as a genetic algorithm, Geneva is a biologically propelled type of AI that Levin and his group created to work behind the scenes as a client peruses the web from a standard Internet program. Like natural frameworks, Geneva structures sets of guidelines from hereditary structure blocks. But instead of utilizing DNA as building blocks, Geneva utilizes little bits of code.

Individually, the bits of code do very little, however, when formed into directions, they can perform modern avoidance systems for separating, organizing, or sending information bundles. The device develops its hereditary code through progressive endeavors (or ages). With every age, Geneva keeps the guidelines that work best at dodging control and kicks out the rest. Geneva transforms and crosses varieties of its methodologies by arbitrarily eliminating directions, adding new guidelines, or consolidating effective directions, and testing the methodology once more.

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AI Technology to Outsmart Governments' Internet Censorship - Analytics Insight

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake County Library System Librarian Wanda Mae Huffaker holds four of nine books that have been removed from schools in the Canyons School District and placed under review, Nov. 23, 2021.

| Dec. 2, 2021, 8:54 p.m.

Nine books are removed from libraries in one school district prompting accusations of censorship. Scientists work to better understand the omicron variant of the coronavirus, and to better predict its impacts on the pandemic. And a look at how discriminatory housing practices from Utahs past carry through to the present day.

At 9 a.m. on Friday, Salt Lake Tribune data reporting fellow Shane Burke, reporters Andy Larsen and Courtney Tanner, and news columnist Robert Gehrke join KCPWs Roger McDonough to talk about the weeks top stories.

Every Friday at 9 a.m., stream Behind the Headlines atkcpw.org, or tune in to KCPW 88.3 FM or Utah Public Radio for the broadcast. Join the live conversation by calling 801-355-TALK.

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A new variant, censorship accusations, Utah's redlining consequences and more on 'Behind the Headlines' - Salt Lake Tribune

Vox Cinemas, the Middle Easts largest exhibition chain, has unveiled an ambitious plan to produce 25 Arabic movies in the next five years. The announcement was made at the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, where Vox Cinemas is the exclusive cinema partner.

Vox Cinemas, which is owned by Emirati businessman and retail mogul Majid Al Futtaim, says the move is part of the companys wider commitment to boost homegrown film production and aligns with Saudi Arabias Film Commissions recently launched strategy to develop the countrys burgeoning cinema sector.

As part of the initiative, Vox Cinemas will continue to support the next generation of homegrown content developers and provide resources for emerging filmmakers to bring their scripts to screen. Vox previously provided mentorship to Saudi production company Myrkott, which saw local and regional success with its recent animated release Masameer.

Ignace Lahoud, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment and Cinemas told Deadline that budgets for the projects will likely be in the $1M to $10M range, with a possibility to go higher if the project called for it.

We want to do it in a small way, in a financially responsible way, Lahoud said, saying that statistical analysis at the company revealed this was the budget sweet spotin generating a success in the region.

We want to leverage local talent ranging from actors to writers to producers to directors, he said. The region is also actively now pursuing attractive packages from an incentives perspective. We know the Saudi authorities are looking at tax incentives and rebates for production. Other countries in the region offer those already so were also really encouraged by that perspective.

He added: The Middle East has a long history steeped in storytelling and a wealth of emerging talent that has been gaining international promise in recent years. Given its theme of metamorphosis, the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival is the ideal platform to announce our ambitious plan to illuminate the untold and compelling stories from our region on the big screen.

Lahoud also touched on the recent news of a ban on Steven Spielbergs upcoming title West Side Story in various Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He said, while exhibitors naturally want to attract as many audience members as possible, they have to be respectful of eachs countrys regulations.

Censorship is a reality in this industry, Lahoud told Deadline. When the commission decides to do something, we have to abide by that. There are different countries that have censorships for different regions, whether its political sensitivities or other issues, thats the reality of the marketplace.

He added, however, that he wanted to focus on positives as well in the region, highlighting the fact that Vox Cinemas didnt even exist in Saudi Arabia a few years ago.

How fast has the [Saudi Arabian] film industry evolved in a few years?, he opined. And look at where it is today. I think its an evolution process. Yes, some things are not as youd expect but its moving and if you think of the history of cinema, thats how the world evolves.

Vox operates more than 600 screens in the Middle East, with 15 cinemas in Saudi Arabia. In addition to its new foray into production, it operates a large regional distribution division. Most recently, it distributed Al Kameen (The Ambush), the largest-ever Arabic feature film production in the GCC and which became the highest-grossing Arabic language movie to date in the UAE.

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Vox Cinemas To Produce 25 Arabic Features In Next Five Years; CEO Talks West Side Story Ban: Censorship Is A Reality In This Industry - Deadline

One of the more pathologically fascinating parts of the current pandemic is the hue and cry in the mainstream media over disinformation. Why is it fascinating? Because mostly this label is used to attack people whose beliefs dont line up with your own. But then if one protests about that belief, a straw man is inevitably hauled out saying you also must want unrestricted pedophilia, or other societally objectionable material, to be propagated.

Let me give a little insight into how all this works and why making a decision to censor views on any of the social media platforms is actually a huge deal, not simple, and absolutely not in the interest of a free society.

Lets start with the universally objectionable content terrible crimes against individuals and children. Though this is a changing landscape with advances in artificial intelligence, most of this type of content moderation is done overseas in countries like the Philippines. Wired magazine has written about it, and the effects on the minds of the censors is tragic, and often ruinous for peoples lives. Watching terrible sexual crimes and beheadings on loops creates trauma for the censors, and anyone who signs up can only watch so much before they are forced to quit.

Others are paying for your clean feed, and while Im not advocating for a change here, the least we can do is realize that people far away are paying for our own ability to use social media modestly shock-free.

The label for political and scientific disinformation is far less clear-cut. Many issues in play in the public are not clearly resolved, or can only be resolved over time. Eighteen months ago, if you had asked me do masks work? I would have said potentially. But the data came in, and I changed my mind. For voicing that opinion, I was accused of disinformation locally. Now that the various randomized controlled trial papers have, or are about to be, published, its becoming increasingly clear that I was right masks dont work. And finally, more and more experts are lining up behind my position. Disinformation indeed.

Often, fights in our own media are spurred on by forces the majority of people in our own country have no idea even exists. The whole lockdown paradigm for COVID-19 had never been attempted in public health until the recent COVID-19 crisis.

Yet communist China championed this early on, and it fit into the brains of control-oriented leadership across the world. Local advocates and government officials sprung up, and many countries followed this path.

But if you think that the responsibility for these disastrous policies, many that continue today, is totally on our elected leadership, youre wrong. Ever heard of the 50 Cent Party? Funded by the Chinese Communist Party, they constantly flood social media with support for extremely repressive COVID-19 policy in posts numbering almost a half a billion.

Why no extensive coverage of the likely source of COVID-19 as coming from a lab leak from the Wuhan lab? Media voices investigating this on Youtube and other channels attempting to get the word out get flooded by complaints by members of the 50 Cent Party for sexual content, when there is none. This causes Youtube to pull the counter-narrative against the CCP and its responsibility for COVID-19.

There is no reservoir in Youtube of absolute truth that is used to make censorship decisions. Instead, it is a true information war. And just because we as a country are unaware of most of it, doesnt mean it has no effect. For those interested in all this, go to Wikipedia and look up Little Pink.

Everyone can agree that there has to be some content moderation on social media. But we can at least be aware that it comes at a price, and absolutely should not be used against people debating the current issues of the day. Because just because you cant see those political forces dont mean they arent in play.

Pezeshki is a professor in mechanicaland materials engineering at WashingtonState University.

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His View: Understanding disinformation, censorship on the internet - Moscow-Pullman Daily News