Steem Is Not Censoring: The Facts

Source

There was a discussion on another thread that brought up this topic.

I will cut to the chase: 8teem does not censor anyone or any content.

To state otherwise is either misleading or misinterpreting censorship.

I think the later occurs on most instances on here.

So let us see what is in question:

It's being censored on the steemit front end.. steemit is how most connect to the STEEM blockchain for now.. so if they are hiding his content they are censoring what is seen on the blockchain via their site..

How is that NOT censorship? If Steemit is part of the STEEM blockchain and it's censored how can you say that the blockchain isn't? It is 100% censored for anyone using the Steemit front end.. you know what percentage that is better than I do..

This was written by @davedickeyyall in a post on this thread.

https://steempeak.com/@taskmaster4450/3speak-going-after-heavy-hitters

A special thanks to @davedickeyyall for starting the discussion on the topic.

To start, we need to define what is mean by Steemit. The term can apply to both the front end or the company. The front end is mentioned on here so we will presume that is what is meant.

Before getting into that, let us take a look at the term "censorship".

According to wikipedia:

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient".[2][3][4] Censorship can be conducted by a government[5], private institutions, and corporations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship

Here is another definition according to Britannica:

Censorship, the changing or the suppression or prohibition of speech or writing that is deemed subversive of the common good. It occurs in all manifestations of authority to some degree, but in modern times it has been of special importance in its relation to government and the rule of law.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/censorship

Looking at these definitions, it is easy to conclude there is no censorship. There is no government, corporation, or private institution involved. Steemit Inc is not censoring anyone on their platform. As a United States corporation, there are take down notices they can be given based upon copyright infringement or security threats but that would not be the company doing it.

Thus far, from what I can see, Steemit Inc is not doing anything of this sort. Anyone is free to post whatever is desired on the blockchain and it will stay on BOTH the blockchain and Steemit Inc.

So how does something get "removed" from Steemit.com? The answer is a downvote.

I have stated repeatedly my thoughts on downvoting knowing I am in the minority on here. My views aside, people are free to downvote anyone who he or she wants. So when people say "I am censored on here" because there was a downvote(s), that is incorrect. An individual is actually exercising his or her freedom of expression in that instance. Again, there is no corporation, government, or private institution doing it.

The second part of this is the posts are there. Not only is it on the blockchain, it is still on Steemit.com. There is a part that says "reveal comment". The posts are all there albeit not featured. This can be changed with an upvote to counter out the downvote.

Either way, this is not something the corporation or any other institution is involved in.

If Steemit Inc was taking down posts or banning accounts based upon their whims, then I would agree about censorship.

There is another part of the comment I want to shine some light on:

... If Steemit is part of the STEEM blockchain and it's censored how can you say that the blockchain isn't? It is 100% censored for anyone using the Steemit front end.

Dlike does not show comments made on Dlike posts that are made through another interface. Is that censorship? The idea that because an interface does not show everything does not mean that censorship is taking place.

As for the idea that Steemit is the primary interface used is meaningless. Anyone of free to use other interfaces which, may or may not, show what is posted. There are dozens of interfaces that access the blockchain showing what is on there. Ironically, few show everything.

Pictures and videos are another issue that people need to understand. They are not posted on the blockchain since that just deals with text. For Steemit, as most other interfaces, pics and videos are posted on AWS which is owned by Amazon. There are TOS that entity puts these companies under which sometimes requires removal. Again, it will often deal with some type of illegal content.

There was the case with The Dark Overlord a while back. The problem that most people do not realize is the interfaces received one of these.

Ironically, in spite of that, not all posts were removed. Much of the information is still there. Hence, this group's content was not removed from the ecosystem even thought Steemit removed it from their interface.

https://busy.org/@thedarkoverlord

We see these with other illegal content. Child pornography often triggers one of these because it is illegal to show sexual images of anyone under the age of 18 in the United States. For an interface to remove these from their platform is not censorship.

For the Steem blockchain, this is not a problem since videos or images are not posted on there.

We need to be careful screaming censorship. Accounts being closed because their views are not welcome by companies is certainly censorship. Their content being removed for the same reason ends up with the same results.

On Steem, all text posts are there. The Steemit interface will fade out posts that are downvoted by individuals to the point of being negative but, again, they are still there.

What are your thoughts on this?

---

If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and resteem.