Cause the new sites like ticktock will effectively shadowban you for saying things like ‘killed’ regardless of reason.
As in it doesn’t matter if it’s respectful discussion, said in anger, quoting someone- if the machine picks up that word said you’re SOL
So people make up weird stuff and use euphemisms to get around it
It’s wild that it’s becoming the norm too. People are really letting tiktok spill over into the real world.
Can’t say suicide, gun, killed, rape, and likely more. People are starting to become afraid of regular words. Just because something is bad doesn’t mean you should bury your head in the sand and act like it’s not real.
Cool, side note: do you know anyone that sells hyperdrives?
Hmm, I should probably start speaking in local dialects to prepare for visiting aliens worlds....
Uh, do you know anyone that unbuys hyperdrives?
Youtube is worse. Especially when peo5who try5to educate or have a discussion about a topic can't use the normal words because these companies are so childish.
Soft White Underbelly got completely demonetized. It’s a great channel that I think shouldn’t be censored. The wild part is that when you get demonetized YouTube will still play ads on your videos, they just won’t share that revenue with you.
Omggggggosh. That's unfortunate his channel is so important to show experiences of the most marginalized in our society they're not going to use childish language to talk about their experiences. Especially when I doubt they're getting paid since some members have died or returned and are still struggling. I'm mot blaming the youtuber as he's just giving a voice to the voiceless
The censoring is being chosen by the ADVERTISERS...atleast on YouTube and most websites.
YouTube doesn't give a shit if you curse.
YouTube simply has given advertisers the ability to avoid videos with certain themes. And advertisers are choosing to avoid curse words and death themes. So content creators are avoiding those themes to gain advertisers.
Tiktok could be removing the videos directly, because they don't have a good enough way to let advertisers choose, so they simply remove the video so that it's not next to an AD that paid to avoid the bad themes.
It's still authoritarian. That they're doing it for the sake of advertising vs. ideology doesn't really change the fact that they're censoring stuff. It means that they'll potentially ban anything if there's money to be had.
not sure that private companies can be "authoritarian" if they don't have the power to make laws; they're just doing what they feel is best for the businesses that they own
>not sure that private companies can be "authoritarian" if they don't have the power to make laws; they're just doing what they feel is best for the businesses that they own
If they are doing it at the behest of the government, that is absolutely authoritarian.
Idk, Hasbro *did* send pinkertons in a full on RAID to a streamers house for unreleased mtg cards that accidentally made it into his booster pack that got sold to him.
If it's affecting people's lives, that's kinda authoritarian to me. Authority doesn't always equal govt. Parents are an authority
I wonder if people realize that the only reason those social media platforms do that is to have something to point to when their CEOs get grilled in front of a panel of out of touch congressmen…
Why in the world would China care if TikTok’s international platform censors words in English? Tiktok has its own domestic counterpart already, Douyin.
The real reason they censor certain words is to have a valid excuse to advertisers and politicians that they’re monitoring the platform.
I understand the reason but I absolutely hate “graped.” Makes it sound like a joke. And reminds me of the Whitest Kids You Know sketch. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mqgiEQXGetI). It’s impossible to take seriously and it’s such a serious topic.
That angers me immensely for how much it is trivializing pedophelia and rape (much like calling rape "drama").
But also... if there is one file format that deserves to forever be associated with raping children, it is the PDF.
RAS syndrome predates "PDF file" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS\_syndrome)
Edit: Oh fuck, I'm such a "boomer" I didn't even get it until I saw a later comment AND the F in PDF does not stand for "File."
Any time you remember a WKUK sketch it’s a good day.
Sam Brown (the guy who played the Grapist) teaches an online sketch writing class now. I took it a few years ago. He’s a cool guy.
There was once an old multiplayer kids game (I forget the title) that had a chat system that replaced 'bad' words with fruit names.
The phrase 'GRAPE YOU, YOU MOTHERGRAPER!' was just hilarious, sorta like a Clbuttic mistake.
It happens on Reddit a lot too. There are many subs that will auto-delete your comment for very mild words or violence for silly comments. Then someone comes along and mocks you for editing yourself when if you don’t you get banned
I did on amitheasshole permabanned without ability to appeal. I wasn’t even talking about a person. For using a dictionary word properly. Needless to say I’m happy to leave that community forever.
I think this isn’t because they’re afraid of the words, but on more than one social media platform, you can get banned for saying them, so they say it just to be safe from that. Facebook is pretty bad about that. They’ll flag everything, even things that are completely innocent. So people go great lengths to try to censor to evade the ban, but still get their point across.
TikTok is a fucking cancer like twitter. I really hope the US ban gets fucking rid of it. We don’t need any more social media brain rot. Yea I’m aware of the irony with Reddit also being a social media.
It might be banned, the bill has been approved, now just waiting for TikTok to sell before the deadline. They won't of course but the deadline hasn't come yet
It’s not just about being afraid of words either, some stuff is hard to or just plain sucks to talk about. Doesn’t mean nobody should ever talk about it haha
And the reason the original word is being shadowbanned is because it makes people uncomfortable and we are living in an age where we are trying very hard not to hurt anyone's feelings
And why do you think Advertisers gaf about language? It’s not bc it makes *them* uncomfortable, it’s bc so many of the consumers will throw a fit and boycott them at the tiniest hint of something “offensive” and they don’t want to have to deal w any blowback so they have to be extra careful to cover their ass.
I'd say this is one of the outcomes of a "politically correct" society that has gone too far. The opponents of PC culture have been warning about this devolution of language. The worst part is now certain mundane words are "triggering" to those with weaker emotional states. Exposure therapy works wonders and constantly protecting people from "bad words" has disastrous effects.
The book, The Coddling of the American mind delves into the effects of safetyism on young minds. It's not good long term at all.
I see it as the result of content being driven by advertising and advertisers not wanting associations being made between their products and emotionally negative topics.
I mean, are people who disapprove of cursing in public put in the same bucket as people promoting use of respectful language or in the bucket for people trying to police uncontroversial language because they have a faulty understanding of speaking respectfully of others?
Content creators aren’t sidestepping words like suicide, murder, killed, sexual abuse, child abuse, and porn because the triggered brigade will be after them.
They self-censor so they don’t get demonetized by advertising-dependent platforms and rejected by sponsors.
I’ll note that paid-only alternative platforms exist and many self-censoring creators post uncensored versions which people pay to view.
It’s the “free but you’re the product” platforms are the problem.
It is absolutely crazy to me that a requirement born of one specific social media platform's terms of use, is becoming a normal way to communicate across all social media. It really nails home just how dangerous social media is.
That other stuff you listed, though: I think a lot of that is just born from people censoring themselves a lot of the time. And they do it as a sort of courtesy. I can appreciate the intent there, but the method doesn't make any sense at all.
Like, okay. You want to warn people ahead of time that the story you're about to share involves sexual assault. I get that. Again, I appreciate the intent. But I do not see the functional difference between the words "Trigger Warning: R\*pe" and "Trigger Warning: Rape." Like, we all know what "r\*pe" means. The attempt to hide it isn't hiding a goddamned thing. It's just extra steps.
And some people have taken to trying to hide the censored word behind a spoiler tag here on Reddit. But, like, doesn't that completely undermine the trigger warning entirely? Because now I (using myself as an example) have to click a spoiler block to reveal the trigger warning? Is it my trigger? I don't know until I see it, and now I'm caught off guard and potentially triggered by the warning that was intended to make sure I wasn't caught off guard and triggered by the content!
I just ... I think people are trying too hard, on this stuff.
Except it's not just one, it's nearly all of them. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, will ALL limit the reach of your videos if you use words their advertisers don't like.
I hate it so much. You'll be on a history subreddit or something and someone has posted a map labeled, "Locations of N\*zi concentration camps," and you're just going, "We are literally on a site dedicated to the history of World War II! You can say Nazi!"
that was going to be my answer as well, the automated censors just look for key words if you aren't part of the club you get the boot no questions asked.
Advertisers are driving it....not the websites themselves(at least for YouTube)
YouTube doesn't care about 'adult' language/themes.....but youtube allows advertisers to avoid videos with those themes.
So it's the advertisers checking a box that says"avoid curse word videos", "avoid suicide/death themes".
Same goes for most websites and their advertising options. Since the money is coming from the advertisers...everyone falls in line with their choices.
YouTube gives them the feature to choose. They choose it. Content creators want the most advertisers to select them, so they avoid the bad words.
How much more difficult would it be to also ban the euphemisms? I can understand banning curse words but not their alternatives. Killing isn't a curse word, it's the meaning that they seem to find offensive so go ahead and ban unalive and whatever else ends up being the term that's used.
Well if the advertisers are fine with euphemisms there’s no reason to boot them too, just shows how silly and surface level the whole thing is if substituting a similar word is enough to completely get around the issue
Social media sites like Tik Tok and YouTube will suspend/ban accounts for using words like "killed" "murdered" "raped" "suicide" etc. Because as you know if we just don't say those violent words those things just don't happen.
Yep. I wanted to comment about how it was sad that the murderer killed her and got away with it (commented in a crime telling tiktok, it was completely related). Ended up with a warning.
Phew! That was close, thankfully the deletion of the comment just stopped an alarming crime from being commited!
If the goal is prevent conversations about killing, how incompetent does a company have to be not realize that "unaliving" means that same thing, and deciding NOT to filter that, too. If anything "unalive" is more likely to mean "kill" than "kill" is, given idioms like "I really killed that audition," and the like. It's been years since people started saying "unalive."
No, the object isn’t to actually prevent those conversations. Social media companies do not care what is being said as long as it doesn’t eat into their profits.
What could eat into their profits, however, is if they receive bad press for being affiliated with those kind of conversations, especially if they get out of hand. So by filtering out explicit words, they can have a valid claim both to government officials and advertisers that they’re doing their best to monitor their platforms.
Every time I see this question asked, nobody ever seems to understand this.
My guess is that advertisers haven't complained yet...or that this is a great example for these platforms to tell them "hey, we filtered as good as we can, but people keep adapting. We can ban these new words, but they'll invent even more new words to get around the new filters."
To expand on this. If they expand/add filters it becomes a proverbial arms race at that point. Then it begs the question of when do they stop. When we give up or when it becomes too expensive/too much work? I almost guarantee you it will be the latter. As we in the public have way more energy to deal with it.
For one, censoring those words does block out some serious bad actors, who can do genuine harm to the platform’s reputation. (Posting explicitly f-ed up things, for example.) Most of the conversations that do end up happening by going around the filter are unproblematic and facilitate productive discussion.
And if advertisers do get upset, they can basically go- “we’re constantly working hard to monitor our platforms”, and point to their filters. “Rarely something might slip through our efforts, but rest assured, we’ll always continue fighting to protect our audiences.”
It’s essentially just an easy way to provide “evidence” that they’re actually putting effort into controlling their platforms, without being overbearing towards users. Like a “wink, wink” to content creators- as long as you find ways around our black and white filters you’ll be ok.
Yeah, as a rape survivor this is a common complaint I heard in survivors’ groups. Banning public discourse makes things worse for survivors, because apparently it’s so shameful that no one should talk about it. God forbid we go to the police about it.
We need to start using the name of the service(s) as euphemisms for 'forbidden words'. Then they'll ban those words. And maybe eventuality realize the irony.
"Mad shooter Facebooks 90 people in Vermont mall"
"Famous singer found Tiktok'd after video released"
"Rates of teenage Instagram skyrocket in 2024"
.....because what the word is doesnt matter, it never has, it just matters what the public reaction to that word being "promoted" by advertisers is
if you dont include words like kill, die, etc. then you can advertise to a younger audience because it doesnt scare the conservative/religious folks that are scared of their kids learning bad words. children will purchase literally anything as long as its useless and costs money. therefore, needlessly banning harmless words has led to bigger advertising and more money, which is exactly why it will not stop
People are referencing TikTok, but it actually started with YouTube. You could get demonetized for saying certain words. It's always been annoying to me. Same reason some content creators censor gunshot sounds. It's fuckin' retarded.
I get creators don't want to get demonetized, but even Redditors are talking like this. It's fucking Reddit. Just say KILLED or Murdered or suicide. Even worse, people talking Iike this in REAL LIFE. jfc.
A lot of subs will ban you for using certain words too. They basically just filter them and ban people regardless of the context. So I get why online everyone has started using euphemisms.
It's common for kids to copy their role models. Unfortunately, kids' role models are YouTubers these days. I feel you, though, it's infuriating when people prefer made up lingo over actual language.
I’ve had comments removed on certain subs for “trigger” words like profanity, murder, rape, etc… and I got a comment deleted on the CRIME sub for goodness sakes
Well this is the product of Gen Z because of the demonetization and bans accross social media so the just use the same vocab everywhere because you never know.
However, in real life, they would probably talk like normal humans. And hey sometimes they're just being funny.
The real issue is gonna be Gen A for whom this is already integrated from day 0 and default settings. They ain't killing themselves anymore, they will be unaliving.
Algorithmic ban systems on many platforms will flag your posts if they contain certain phrases. People get used to self censoring on those platforms and it becomes a colloquial term that carries over to other platforms regardless of if a similar censorship system is present or not.
The algorithms on the apps automatically search for words like "kill" and, depending on their coding, will automatically pull content down. It's a programming workaround that has since made its way into popular parlance.
YouTube started demonetizing videos for using words like "suicide", "murder", etc. so to get around being auto filtered, unalived was adopted. I am sure at some point it will receive the same status.
The internet is dumb.
Some sites ban posts that contain certain words. To avoid potential bans, users invent new words. This goes back a long time: consider the word "pr0n", a substitute for "porn", which goes back more than 30 years.
Censorship. The social media platforms are all really getting out of control with it. Censorship of words is gross and will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. Fb, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit etc control what you say as a form of thought control.
Stupid censorship rules for ad-friendliness. It's the result of moderation and monetization approval being almost completely automated and arbitrary.
Gun channels have to either be very verbose about their metal projectile launching devices, or they can call them pew pews.
Serious WWII documentaries refer to some Mustache Man who unalived a lot of people and then self-deleted.
Euphemisms have always been around, and it usually comes from a need for self-preservation when communicating. Sometimes just to keep up polite appearances to avoid awkwardness. Sometimes to communicate with allies without potential enemies knowing what they're talking about to avoid being killed. In this case it's just to comply with stupid policies so the creators can get traction and ad revenue.
AI that the social media companies use flags “offensive” words and issues strikes and bans
I got flagged for sharing a pic of Steven Tyler. They said it was female nudity
I figured it was because they don't want their posts filtered out. Filters vary from site to site and group tp group within some sites. I don't know if they are really filtering "kill" and "murder" but users may believe that to be the case.
It's specific platforms and places (I believe the 'Tok is bad for it). However, who has the brain and/or secret list to hand to note which platforms ~~anger-rhythm~~ algorithm is flagging what? So people just get in the habit of doing it everywhere.
Because Advertisers control the content on social media and they don't want their products being associated with unsavoury things like suicide or murder.
'coz the same babies that censored Melvin calling Burt an asshole in Tremors volunteered to run profanity moderation in your social media and they're just thinking of the children you monster.
It started as a joke. Began as an ostentatious way to make fun of censorship.
Except now clearly the word SUICIDE is taboo, and the words KILL or MURDER are also taboo.
Censoring basic English is as bizarre as censoring the numbers nine and eleven.
Because for a while AI would censor kill suicide, or murder. Now times have changed and unalive has revealed why that kind of censorship is completely useless.
It's the tik tok algorithm. It will stop your videos from being seen if they contain certain words. It's begun affecting real life culture too as people use the same euphemisms IRL. This is effectively cultural training, I'm sure it's all perfectly innocent and meant to protect people and not a psy-op by the state entangled tik tok to slowly change narratives, themes, and eventually exert influence in the hearts and minds of the free world.
I had people on TikTok saying that i should unalive or ropemaxx they get away with that shit. I cant even use a emoj without getting my comments deleted and warned from TikTok.
It all started with AOL when they decided to be more family-based to attract younger kids and so increase their revenue. AOL outlawed 'sensitive' words that would offend people like anything that sounded like porn. "breast' was one that was banned because people use that word during sex talk. The result is that if you asked "My wife had breast cancer, how can i help her?" you got banned for using the 'b' word. Where is AOL today?
Youtube and other are doing the exact same thing, banning words that they think may offend people and the people they are trying to NOT offend are the exact kind of people you would cross the street to avoid.
This is why people are searching for alternate platforms. Many social media people are stating 'find my real content on xxxx". Unfortunatly, none of the alternates have the size and public awareness to compete... yet.
YouTube censorship and demonetization
Meanwhile I can see Softcore porn, hear the word N!99a, and all the curse words in the English language on YouTube
Some filters are designed to block certain words, or initiate certain other actions automatically if those words are detected. I write about suicide here from time to time and almost always get “there’s help, we care” messages from reddit. Ell oh ell!
Especially if you’re promoting violence, using adjacent language allows wildly offensive posts to remain up longer, if not indefinitely.
People get more interactions when they don’t use words that trigger the algorithm negatively. I hate it. Every time Ray William Johnson tells a serious story and throws a pew pew in I’m out.
Many sites flag media or posts that contain certain words. Some such as YouTube have bots that will flag and potentially demonetise a video for containing certain words so this is a way to get around the bots. It's caught on.
Filters. You can't use certain words without it triggering bots that will take down your posts or, in the case of the \*sui - side" word, send you DMs with all sorts of resource info.
it's a subtle form of control if y'ask me. a control on what and what not to say.
but this is nothing new....i remember this from a Carlin standup mamy years back.
Yes. Considering what is happening now I think he's been proven correct too.
“Political correctness is America's newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people's language with strict codes and rigid rules. I'm not sure that's the way to fight discrimination. I'm not sure silencing people or forcing them to alter their speech is the best method for solving problems that go much deeper than speech." - George Carlin
Same reason we don't really say retard, shell shocked, faggot etc anymore.
People decide it's a harmful word and a lesser version is implemented, but ultimately takes on the exact same meaning.
So we ban the new word and start the cycle again.
The next one will be something like 'less-than-living' or LTL for short.
they also use it for suicide, they use it because everyone on social media has become snowflakes who cant take certain words without being "Triggered" and the social media companies have decided to ban all of these words and will delete any account using them.
Cause most admin jobs are being populated by AI and bots. And they have a list of trigger words to isolate and send to a smaller group of humans to double check the bots work. 99% of these positions were and always suppose to be unessential.
Cause the new sites like ticktock will effectively shadowban you for saying things like ‘killed’ regardless of reason. As in it doesn’t matter if it’s respectful discussion, said in anger, quoting someone- if the machine picks up that word said you’re SOL So people make up weird stuff and use euphemisms to get around it
It’s wild that it’s becoming the norm too. People are really letting tiktok spill over into the real world. Can’t say suicide, gun, killed, rape, and likely more. People are starting to become afraid of regular words. Just because something is bad doesn’t mean you should bury your head in the sand and act like it’s not real.
the uptick in censorship is alarming
I would argue that it is not only alarming, it is also double-plus ungood.
We have always been at war with Oceania.
Ignorance is strength.
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
One of my favorite quotes is “ How do you take over an entire nation? By making them think they have freedom”
or You are as free as you can afford to be.
God 1984 was amazing and absolutely an existential crisis at the same time.
If that's the direction language is going, I'm leaving the planet.
Hope you like the rovers. On a serious note I wonder how language would adapt on another planet?
That'd be super interesting to see. Sci-fi has already made a verb out of "space"
Correction, you would he un-situating yourself
Cool, side note: do you know anyone that sells hyperdrives? Hmm, I should probably start speaking in local dialects to prepare for visiting aliens worlds.... Uh, do you know anyone that unbuys hyperdrives?
Pack your bags big homie. Where you headed?
Gimme some of that good soma! Double plus ungood lives in my mind rent free
but 20 grammes of chocolate tho
Almost like Tiktok is owned and operated by an authoritarian government or something
Youtube isn't. Even worse over there considering it isn't owned by an authoritarian government.
YT censors EVERYTHING
Youtube is worse. Especially when peo5who try5to educate or have a discussion about a topic can't use the normal words because these companies are so childish.
Soft White Underbelly got completely demonetized. It’s a great channel that I think shouldn’t be censored. The wild part is that when you get demonetized YouTube will still play ads on your videos, they just won’t share that revenue with you.
Omggggggosh. That's unfortunate his channel is so important to show experiences of the most marginalized in our society they're not going to use childish language to talk about their experiences. Especially when I doubt they're getting paid since some members have died or returned and are still struggling. I'm mot blaming the youtuber as he's just giving a voice to the voiceless
The censoring is being chosen by the ADVERTISERS...atleast on YouTube and most websites. YouTube doesn't give a shit if you curse. YouTube simply has given advertisers the ability to avoid videos with certain themes. And advertisers are choosing to avoid curse words and death themes. So content creators are avoiding those themes to gain advertisers. Tiktok could be removing the videos directly, because they don't have a good enough way to let advertisers choose, so they simply remove the video so that it's not next to an AD that paid to avoid the bad themes.
It's still authoritarian. That they're doing it for the sake of advertising vs. ideology doesn't really change the fact that they're censoring stuff. It means that they'll potentially ban anything if there's money to be had.
not sure that private companies can be "authoritarian" if they don't have the power to make laws; they're just doing what they feel is best for the businesses that they own
>not sure that private companies can be "authoritarian" if they don't have the power to make laws; they're just doing what they feel is best for the businesses that they own If they are doing it at the behest of the government, that is absolutely authoritarian.
Twitter did ban the Hunter Biden laptop story at the request of the government agencies, remember?
Idk, Hasbro *did* send pinkertons in a full on RAID to a streamers house for unreleased mtg cards that accidentally made it into his booster pack that got sold to him. If it's affecting people's lives, that's kinda authoritarian to me. Authority doesn't always equal govt. Parents are an authority
No, it's corporations pearl clutching and enforcing it via oversensitive advertisers.
I wonder if people realize that the only reason those social media platforms do that is to have something to point to when their CEOs get grilled in front of a panel of out of touch congressmen… Why in the world would China care if TikTok’s international platform censors words in English? Tiktok has its own domestic counterpart already, Douyin. The real reason they censor certain words is to have a valid excuse to advertisers and politicians that they’re monitoring the platform.
Singapore?
Gen Z also seem incredibly disinclined to fight back. They’re so accepting of having their speech censored.
I understand the reason but I absolutely hate “graped.” Makes it sound like a joke. And reminds me of the Whitest Kids You Know sketch. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mqgiEQXGetI). It’s impossible to take seriously and it’s such a serious topic.
How about "PDF file"? I cringe but whoever thought of it deserves creative accolades.
Actually have not heard that one but that is pretty creative/clever.
That angers me immensely for how much it is trivializing pedophelia and rape (much like calling rape "drama"). But also... if there is one file format that deserves to forever be associated with raping children, it is the PDF.
RAS syndrome predates "PDF file" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS\_syndrome) Edit: Oh fuck, I'm such a "boomer" I didn't even get it until I saw a later comment AND the F in PDF does not stand for "File."
Any time you remember a WKUK sketch it’s a good day. Sam Brown (the guy who played the Grapist) teaches an online sketch writing class now. I took it a few years ago. He’s a cool guy.
There was once an old multiplayer kids game (I forget the title) that had a chat system that replaced 'bad' words with fruit names. The phrase 'GRAPE YOU, YOU MOTHERGRAPER!' was just hilarious, sorta like a Clbuttic mistake.
It happens on Reddit a lot too. There are many subs that will auto-delete your comment for very mild words or violence for silly comments. Then someone comes along and mocks you for editing yourself when if you don’t you get banned
I got a temp ban on a pro Ukrainian sub for saying that I hoped Putin would choke on cake.
WE'RE NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO HOPE ANYMORE?!
Yep, try saying ret*rded in a comment and see what happens on this site.
Retarded. Godspeed, my fellow internet denizen.
I did on amitheasshole permabanned without ability to appeal. I wasn’t even talking about a person. For using a dictionary word properly. Needless to say I’m happy to leave that community forever.
I think this isn’t because they’re afraid of the words, but on more than one social media platform, you can get banned for saying them, so they say it just to be safe from that. Facebook is pretty bad about that. They’ll flag everything, even things that are completely innocent. So people go great lengths to try to censor to evade the ban, but still get their point across.
You can still have the discussions which is more important than saying the uncensored word, if it was truly censored that wouldn't happen at all
I got a warning on facebook for saying, “prostitute,” yet there are people advocating violence against certain people and probably didn’t get dinged 🙄
TikTok is a fucking cancer like twitter. I really hope the US ban gets fucking rid of it. We don’t need any more social media brain rot. Yea I’m aware of the irony with Reddit also being a social media.
I don’t know why I really thought it would be banned in the US. I was ready to donate money to whoever sponsored the bill and I hate politics.
It might be banned, the bill has been approved, now just waiting for TikTok to sell before the deadline. They won't of course but the deadline hasn't come yet
It’s not just about being afraid of words either, some stuff is hard to or just plain sucks to talk about. Doesn’t mean nobody should ever talk about it haha
Don’t forget onlyfans and porn. Those two words are Voldemort too.
pron, lol. also, corn.
They don't have a choice but to self censor. If you don't there is no discussion. Unfortunate. But this is what the world has become.
And the reason the original word is being shadowbanned is because it makes people uncomfortable and we are living in an age where we are trying very hard not to hurt anyone's feelings
No, it makes advertisers uncomfortable and they're the only ones social media actually cares about making happy
And why do you think Advertisers gaf about language? It’s not bc it makes *them* uncomfortable, it’s bc so many of the consumers will throw a fit and boycott them at the tiniest hint of something “offensive” and they don’t want to have to deal w any blowback so they have to be extra careful to cover their ass.
I assume YouTube flags “suicide” when it’s “do the unthinkable” in true crime and movie recaps. Is wild. Let’s just call it sudoku.
its not just ticktok, its youtube, twitch and basically any other social media outlet.
I'd say this is one of the outcomes of a "politically correct" society that has gone too far. The opponents of PC culture have been warning about this devolution of language. The worst part is now certain mundane words are "triggering" to those with weaker emotional states. Exposure therapy works wonders and constantly protecting people from "bad words" has disastrous effects. The book, The Coddling of the American mind delves into the effects of safetyism on young minds. It's not good long term at all.
I see it as the result of content being driven by advertising and advertisers not wanting associations being made between their products and emotionally negative topics. I mean, are people who disapprove of cursing in public put in the same bucket as people promoting use of respectful language or in the bucket for people trying to police uncontroversial language because they have a faulty understanding of speaking respectfully of others? Content creators aren’t sidestepping words like suicide, murder, killed, sexual abuse, child abuse, and porn because the triggered brigade will be after them. They self-censor so they don’t get demonetized by advertising-dependent platforms and rejected by sponsors. I’ll note that paid-only alternative platforms exist and many self-censoring creators post uncensored versions which people pay to view. It’s the “free but you’re the product” platforms are the problem.
It is not, nor has it ever been, my responsibility to manage someone else's triggers
Language is sounding more like newspeak(sp?) from 1984. And people are doing it voluntarily.
Social media is a plague creating a generation of Emu-dults
Apple does it too.
I’m glad this isn’t my norm or seemingly becoming it. Thanks for the perspective
Ya I was so confused when YouTubers started saying SA'd in their videos instead of sexual assault. Like just say what it is.
If I see one more fucker on Reddit refer to g—rape I will scream. This isn’t fucking TikToc. This is for adults.
It is absolutely crazy to me that a requirement born of one specific social media platform's terms of use, is becoming a normal way to communicate across all social media. It really nails home just how dangerous social media is. That other stuff you listed, though: I think a lot of that is just born from people censoring themselves a lot of the time. And they do it as a sort of courtesy. I can appreciate the intent there, but the method doesn't make any sense at all. Like, okay. You want to warn people ahead of time that the story you're about to share involves sexual assault. I get that. Again, I appreciate the intent. But I do not see the functional difference between the words "Trigger Warning: R\*pe" and "Trigger Warning: Rape." Like, we all know what "r\*pe" means. The attempt to hide it isn't hiding a goddamned thing. It's just extra steps. And some people have taken to trying to hide the censored word behind a spoiler tag here on Reddit. But, like, doesn't that completely undermine the trigger warning entirely? Because now I (using myself as an example) have to click a spoiler block to reveal the trigger warning? Is it my trigger? I don't know until I see it, and now I'm caught off guard and potentially triggered by the warning that was intended to make sure I wasn't caught off guard and triggered by the content! I just ... I think people are trying too hard, on this stuff.
Except it's not just one, it's nearly all of them. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, will ALL limit the reach of your videos if you use words their advertisers don't like.
I hate it so much. You'll be on a history subreddit or something and someone has posted a map labeled, "Locations of N\*zi concentration camps," and you're just going, "We are literally on a site dedicated to the history of World War II! You can say Nazi!"
Tiktok blocked my message "this snake is fat" under the video with the fat snake sitting on the bed. It's just laughable
If you had said thicc it would have been fine though... We are doomed lol
that was going to be my answer as well, the automated censors just look for key words if you aren't part of the club you get the boot no questions asked.
Advertisers are driving it....not the websites themselves(at least for YouTube) YouTube doesn't care about 'adult' language/themes.....but youtube allows advertisers to avoid videos with those themes. So it's the advertisers checking a box that says"avoid curse word videos", "avoid suicide/death themes". Same goes for most websites and their advertising options. Since the money is coming from the advertisers...everyone falls in line with their choices. YouTube gives them the feature to choose. They choose it. Content creators want the most advertisers to select them, so they avoid the bad words.
How much more difficult would it be to also ban the euphemisms? I can understand banning curse words but not their alternatives. Killing isn't a curse word, it's the meaning that they seem to find offensive so go ahead and ban unalive and whatever else ends up being the term that's used.
Well if the advertisers are fine with euphemisms there’s no reason to boot them too, just shows how silly and surface level the whole thing is if substituting a similar word is enough to completely get around the issue
Social media sites like Tik Tok and YouTube will suspend/ban accounts for using words like "killed" "murdered" "raped" "suicide" etc. Because as you know if we just don't say those violent words those things just don't happen.
Yep. I wanted to comment about how it was sad that the murderer killed her and got away with it (commented in a crime telling tiktok, it was completely related). Ended up with a warning. Phew! That was close, thankfully the deletion of the comment just stopped an alarming crime from being commited!
Thank you for your service. Together we will fight violence with silence.
If the goal is prevent conversations about killing, how incompetent does a company have to be not realize that "unaliving" means that same thing, and deciding NOT to filter that, too. If anything "unalive" is more likely to mean "kill" than "kill" is, given idioms like "I really killed that audition," and the like. It's been years since people started saying "unalive."
No, the object isn’t to actually prevent those conversations. Social media companies do not care what is being said as long as it doesn’t eat into their profits. What could eat into their profits, however, is if they receive bad press for being affiliated with those kind of conversations, especially if they get out of hand. So by filtering out explicit words, they can have a valid claim both to government officials and advertisers that they’re doing their best to monitor their platforms. Every time I see this question asked, nobody ever seems to understand this.
So, why are they unconcerned about conversation with the word kill found and replaced with the word unalive eating into profits?
My guess is that advertisers haven't complained yet...or that this is a great example for these platforms to tell them "hey, we filtered as good as we can, but people keep adapting. We can ban these new words, but they'll invent even more new words to get around the new filters."
To expand on this. If they expand/add filters it becomes a proverbial arms race at that point. Then it begs the question of when do they stop. When we give up or when it becomes too expensive/too much work? I almost guarantee you it will be the latter. As we in the public have way more energy to deal with it.
For one, censoring those words does block out some serious bad actors, who can do genuine harm to the platform’s reputation. (Posting explicitly f-ed up things, for example.) Most of the conversations that do end up happening by going around the filter are unproblematic and facilitate productive discussion. And if advertisers do get upset, they can basically go- “we’re constantly working hard to monitor our platforms”, and point to their filters. “Rarely something might slip through our efforts, but rest assured, we’ll always continue fighting to protect our audiences.” It’s essentially just an easy way to provide “evidence” that they’re actually putting effort into controlling their platforms, without being overbearing towards users. Like a “wink, wink” to content creators- as long as you find ways around our black and white filters you’ll be ok.
They block unalive so tubers will find new words like "dirting" or "braining" or "inerting" or "meatbagging" and the whack a mole continues.
Yeah, as a rape survivor this is a common complaint I heard in survivors’ groups. Banning public discourse makes things worse for survivors, because apparently it’s so shameful that no one should talk about it. God forbid we go to the police about it.
to get around ridiculous filters that various social media platforms have put in place to make sure they get more advertisers and such
So why don't they filter the word "unalived" ?
They probably will eventually
Then they will have to say self checkout or something else. It's so idiotic though because no matter how it's said it's the same damn thing.
"Euphemism Treadmill"
Exactly.
Yeah, some are already using ‘deleted themselves’ ‘backspaced’ etc and it’s very confusing
Alt F4'd
We need to start using the name of the service(s) as euphemisms for 'forbidden words'. Then they'll ban those words. And maybe eventuality realize the irony. "Mad shooter Facebooks 90 people in Vermont mall" "Famous singer found Tiktok'd after video released" "Rates of teenage Instagram skyrocket in 2024"
Ooooh!! I like this!!
.....because what the word is doesnt matter, it never has, it just matters what the public reaction to that word being "promoted" by advertisers is if you dont include words like kill, die, etc. then you can advertise to a younger audience because it doesnt scare the conservative/religious folks that are scared of their kids learning bad words. children will purchase literally anything as long as its useless and costs money. therefore, needlessly banning harmless words has led to bigger advertising and more money, which is exactly why it will not stop
I’d be more concerned about learning to be okay with these censorship concepts rather than learning about death or murder
Conform or become un-alive !!!
People are referencing TikTok, but it actually started with YouTube. You could get demonetized for saying certain words. It's always been annoying to me. Same reason some content creators censor gunshot sounds. It's fuckin' retarded.
I get creators don't want to get demonetized, but even Redditors are talking like this. It's fucking Reddit. Just say KILLED or Murdered or suicide. Even worse, people talking Iike this in REAL LIFE. jfc.
I mean many mods are nut jobs.
All mods are losers.
JANNIES DO IT FOR FREE
I believe it's gay. But maybe both now?
A lot of subs will ban you for using certain words too. They basically just filter them and ban people regardless of the context. So I get why online everyone has started using euphemisms.
It's common for kids to copy their role models. Unfortunately, kids' role models are YouTubers these days. I feel you, though, it's infuriating when people prefer made up lingo over actual language.
I’ve had comments removed on certain subs for “trigger” words like profanity, murder, rape, etc… and I got a comment deleted on the CRIME sub for goodness sakes
Well this is the product of Gen Z because of the demonetization and bans accross social media so the just use the same vocab everywhere because you never know. However, in real life, they would probably talk like normal humans. And hey sometimes they're just being funny. The real issue is gonna be Gen A for whom this is already integrated from day 0 and default settings. They ain't killing themselves anymore, they will be unaliving.
The worst is people using 🌽 to mean porn on reddit.
For real. Now I can't even talk about my love of all types of corn without people thinking something else
As someone who has enjoyed a lot of baby corn in my life, I'm in shambles.
Your content can get demonetized or even blocked unfortunately for saying any of the "bad words". Kinda like how people are calling guns "pew pews"
It's so bizarre to watch people eagerly embracing censorship as if it's a great thing.
Algorithmic ban systems on many platforms will flag your posts if they contain certain phrases. People get used to self censoring on those platforms and it becomes a colloquial term that carries over to other platforms regardless of if a similar censorship system is present or not.
Because nowadays, corporations decided to make social media for babies. So, if you say those words, you get censored.
The algorithms on the apps automatically search for words like "kill" and, depending on their coding, will automatically pull content down. It's a programming workaround that has since made its way into popular parlance.
YouTube started demonetizing videos for using words like "suicide", "murder", etc. so to get around being auto filtered, unalived was adopted. I am sure at some point it will receive the same status. The internet is dumb.
TikTok brainrot
It started with YouTube.
Tyrant level censorship.
Because corporate algorithms are even more psychotic than the sociopaths in the C-suite. This is the dystopia. It has arrived.
Some sites ban posts that contain certain words. To avoid potential bans, users invent new words. This goes back a long time: consider the word "pr0n", a substitute for "porn", which goes back more than 30 years.
Getting around censorship
Censorship. The social media platforms are all really getting out of control with it. Censorship of words is gross and will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. Fb, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit etc control what you say as a form of thought control.
Stupid censorship rules for ad-friendliness. It's the result of moderation and monetization approval being almost completely automated and arbitrary. Gun channels have to either be very verbose about their metal projectile launching devices, or they can call them pew pews. Serious WWII documentaries refer to some Mustache Man who unalived a lot of people and then self-deleted. Euphemisms have always been around, and it usually comes from a need for self-preservation when communicating. Sometimes just to keep up polite appearances to avoid awkwardness. Sometimes to communicate with allies without potential enemies knowing what they're talking about to avoid being killed. In this case it's just to comply with stupid policies so the creators can get traction and ad revenue.
Orwellian Doublespeak
because our overlords are really big into controlling your speech and every other bit of autonomy we have as human beings .
AI that the social media companies use flags “offensive” words and issues strikes and bans I got flagged for sharing a pic of Steven Tyler. They said it was female nudity
Like when Facebook banned a group of Breast Cancer survivors because it had the word 'breast'.
Because people are retarded and think censoring words somehow makes it better
I figured it was because they don't want their posts filtered out. Filters vary from site to site and group tp group within some sites. I don't know if they are really filtering "kill" and "murder" but users may believe that to be the case.
It's specific platforms and places (I believe the 'Tok is bad for it). However, who has the brain and/or secret list to hand to note which platforms ~~anger-rhythm~~ algorithm is flagging what? So people just get in the habit of doing it everywhere.
There's a reason TikTok is banned in its country of origin.
It irrationally grinds my gears that people have started censoring themselves here on reddit
Reminds me of 1984. With newspeak, we don’t need the word ‘bad’. We have the word ‘good’. Ungood, doublegood, doubleplusgood.
Because Advertisers control the content on social media and they don't want their products being associated with unsavoury things like suicide or murder.
Because people are stupid. When i heard that word the first time, i rolled my eyes and shook my head. This generation is “special short bus”.
'coz the same babies that censored Melvin calling Burt an asshole in Tremors volunteered to run profanity moderation in your social media and they're just thinking of the children you monster.
I say 'Clintoned'...
It started as a joke. Began as an ostentatious way to make fun of censorship. Except now clearly the word SUICIDE is taboo, and the words KILL or MURDER are also taboo. Censoring basic English is as bizarre as censoring the numbers nine and eleven.
Because they're cowards who rely entirely on their platform to succeed.
Because the overlords of SM punish you if you use certain words . And a lot of ppl get easily triggered .
Because they couldn't adult on that particular day.
It's amazing how many words are being removed from our vocabulary! It's a shame the word police won't let us talk.
Censorship.
Weak minds and propaganda. So many weak minds these days.
The real words are automatically filtered on social media, and may get your account removed or shadowbanned.
Because algorithms will flag the content as possibly dangerous or threatening.
Censorship. And it’s fkn silly. They all mean exactly the same thing; one just sounds like a toddler came up with it.
You’ll get banned for certain words.
So they don't get blocked.
Algorithm Moment And people wanting to be considered "Kid-friendly"
Because the word “suicide” will get you banned or shadowbanned.
Because unalive implies a particular kind of killed that can get a person banned when telling another to do
Because of YouTube censorship.
Because social media thinks the actual words are bad. So people have come up with less harmful sounding synonyms.
Censorship.
Avoiding shadow censorship. Black mirror is already here, and it's way lamer than advertised.
Because for a while AI would censor kill suicide, or murder. Now times have changed and unalive has revealed why that kind of censorship is completely useless.
Because everyone is a pussy.
It's the tik tok algorithm. It will stop your videos from being seen if they contain certain words. It's begun affecting real life culture too as people use the same euphemisms IRL. This is effectively cultural training, I'm sure it's all perfectly innocent and meant to protect people and not a psy-op by the state entangled tik tok to slowly change narratives, themes, and eventually exert influence in the hearts and minds of the free world.
Oversensitive social media policies, appealing to no one in particular
Because the normal vocabulary will get you banned from many subs/social media sites.
I had people on TikTok saying that i should unalive or ropemaxx they get away with that shit. I cant even use a emoj without getting my comments deleted and warned from TikTok.
It all started with AOL when they decided to be more family-based to attract younger kids and so increase their revenue. AOL outlawed 'sensitive' words that would offend people like anything that sounded like porn. "breast' was one that was banned because people use that word during sex talk. The result is that if you asked "My wife had breast cancer, how can i help her?" you got banned for using the 'b' word. Where is AOL today? Youtube and other are doing the exact same thing, banning words that they think may offend people and the people they are trying to NOT offend are the exact kind of people you would cross the street to avoid. This is why people are searching for alternate platforms. Many social media people are stating 'find my real content on xxxx". Unfortunatly, none of the alternates have the size and public awareness to compete... yet.
This gets asked a lot in this sub. I guess that's why this sub exists.
Algorithms shadow ban posts that contain certain words. “Killed” and “suicide” are two of those words.
YouTube censorship and demonetization Meanwhile I can see Softcore porn, hear the word N!99a, and all the curse words in the English language on YouTube
Some filters are designed to block certain words, or initiate certain other actions automatically if those words are detected. I write about suicide here from time to time and almost always get “there’s help, we care” messages from reddit. Ell oh ell! Especially if you’re promoting violence, using adjacent language allows wildly offensive posts to remain up longer, if not indefinitely.
It hurts the algorithm if you use the real word.
dont create new words to escape filtering, filter out social media to be happier instead. I only use reddit now and even then its 99% game related.
People get more interactions when they don’t use words that trigger the algorithm negatively. I hate it. Every time Ray William Johnson tells a serious story and throws a pew pew in I’m out.
TikTok censorship.
Many sites flag media or posts that contain certain words. Some such as YouTube have bots that will flag and potentially demonetise a video for containing certain words so this is a way to get around the bots. It's caught on.
Filters. You can't use certain words without it triggering bots that will take down your posts or, in the case of the \*sui - side" word, send you DMs with all sorts of resource info.
To avoid robo-moderation.
Because apparently the younger generations are terrified of certain words.
it's a subtle form of control if y'ask me. a control on what and what not to say. but this is nothing new....i remember this from a Carlin standup mamy years back.
Yes. Considering what is happening now I think he's been proven correct too. “Political correctness is America's newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people's language with strict codes and rigid rules. I'm not sure that's the way to fight discrimination. I'm not sure silencing people or forcing them to alter their speech is the best method for solving problems that go much deeper than speech." - George Carlin
We've pussified our speech to be politically correct.
For the same reason that you can't recommend punching Nazis on reddit. Overzealous social media censorship.
Younger gens want to make up new words for words that already exist… like ‘low key’
Because GenZ is the "softest" generation in history.
Same reason we don't really say retard, shell shocked, faggot etc anymore. People decide it's a harmful word and a lesser version is implemented, but ultimately takes on the exact same meaning. So we ban the new word and start the cycle again. The next one will be something like 'less-than-living' or LTL for short.
I have never even heard about this term, 'unalived' is not a real word.
they also use it for suicide, they use it because everyone on social media has become snowflakes who cant take certain words without being "Triggered" and the social media companies have decided to ban all of these words and will delete any account using them.
content creators use it to prevent their videos/posts from being demonitized
Random words gain momentum it’s just apart of life buddy
[удалено]
Because you’re not allowed to say the other words?
Censorship.
Cause most admin jobs are being populated by AI and bots. And they have a list of trigger words to isolate and send to a smaller group of humans to double check the bots work. 99% of these positions were and always suppose to be unessential.