YouTube automatically deleted comments critical of China's ruling Communist Party (CCP), raising questions about censorship and the tech company's commitment to free speech.

The phrases that triggered the deletions included "communist bandit" and "50-cent party" (五毛 or "wumao dang"), a term referring to China's online censorship efforts. 

The issue came to light after reports that comments containing these phrases were being removed almost instantly, even if they were positive. YouTube founder Palmer Luckey drew attention to the phenomenon, noting that every comment he made about the "Wumao" had been deleted.

In response, YouTube acknowledged it made the error, stating that it was not the result of outside interference or user reports, but rather an issue with its automated enforcement systems. The company said it would roll out a fix for the problem.

Nonetheless some users remained skeptical of YouTube's explanation, arguing that the platform's comment moderation had become increasingly restrictive over time and that YouTube may have been enabling national censorship and appeasing China, given the country's ban on the platform.

The company did not provided details on how the specific phrases came to be flagged by its automated moderation.

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/26/youtube-china-comments-wumao-dang/

• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-26/youtube-deletes-comments-critical-of-china-s-communist-party

• https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/27/youtube-china-communisty-party-comments.html

• https://reason.com/2020/06/02/what-should-we-do-if-youtube-censors-on-behalf-of-the-chinese-communist-party/

• https://uk.pcmag.com/video-streaming-services/127113/youtube-is-removing-chinese-phrases-critical-of-chinas-communist-party

• https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/26/21270290/youtube-deleting-comments-censorship-chinese-communist-party-ccp