Shadowbanning – TikTok blocks LGBTQ content in some regions.
Although TikTok actually has a very large LGBTQ community, the popular social media platform apparently blocks numerous hashtags from this area in certain countries, such as Russia and the Arabic-speaking world. Through so-called shadowbanning, you can no longer find any LGBTQ content in these regions.
Although the content is not deleted, it is invisible - even with a targeted search. Shadowbanning is difficult for the user to detect. TikTok removes hashtags from the LGBTQ community as well as some political topics from the service. This is the result of a study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) .
In total, the platform is said to have blocked content in eight languages. The music video platform adheres to local laws. For example, there has been a ban on “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relationships” in Russia since 2013. According to t3n so far that even Russians living in Germany do not see the blocked hashtags, even though there is no ban on displaying such topics in this country.
“rigid censorship course”
The ASPI investigation comes to the conclusion that TikTok is pursuing a rigid course of censorship despite “professions to the contrary.” For the global “Pride Month” in June, the Chinese video portal celebrated its LGBTQ community, called for donations and placed rainbow flags and effects over the videos.
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On the other hand, TikTok sometimes goes well beyond national laws when it comes to content moderation, and the allegations are not entirely new: Last year, it became known from insider circles that TikTok also blocks content that deals with homosexuality in those countries had same-sex relationships and their depiction was not illegal.
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Source: t3n
Article image: Shutterstock / By Angyalosi Beata
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )