Google bans Podcast Addict app over non-approved Covid-19 content

This actually feels like an intentional move by Google to NOT get split up. Don’t worry government, we got your back! We’ll ban things that aren’t approved by you!

Yes Google wants to do this via a Podcast app. The lengths people here go to to rationalize their bias is shocking. Have fun in your bubble.

No they are doing this via Section 8.3 of the Developer Distribution Agreement. Sadly the Podcast app is collateral damage.

No, it's a service to public health to take down crap. People spreading "covid19 is fake" propaganda are literally getting themselves, their parents and friends killed. Freedom of speech also comes with responsibility - the responsibility of not endangering others with your speech. Similar as inciting hatred and screaming "fire" in a crowded restaurant will earn you jail time, people should be happy it's only their YT channel killed and not their sorry asses landing in jail!

I would have no problem if covid19 was taking out only those propaganda spouting idiots from the gene pool, but unlike let's say people ignoring gun safety laws and pointing a loaded shotgun at their feet which then goes off and blasts their feet away but like as with antivaxxers, anything involving infectious diseases also endangers innocent people. Mothers, fathers, children, the weakest of societies.

I am incredibly lucky to not have lost someone close to me to the 'rona, but other people I know have not been that lucky. So every time I hear someone "we gotta open up for the economy!!!" I'd like to throw these idiots in a jail cell and let the keys sink to the bottom of the Mariana Trench out of empathy for those affected by the reality.

first

>the 'rona

Please just don't.

Second, this is an index of all podcasts. If you are going to ban index searches google should also ban their own search engine because right now I can search for plenty of corona propaganda using it.

You do realize that google's policy isn't just targeting the "corona is fake news" crowd, right? The wording says any app "referencing COVID-19" not published/endorsed by the government or a public health organization got to go.

If google applied this consistently it should have to ban the following apps: Google Chrome[1], Firefox[1], Opera[1], Google[2], Google News[3], Google Podcast[2], Netflix[4], Youtube[3], Play Store[2, 3], any news/journalism organization (including CNN, PBS, NYTimes, BBC (uk), ARD/ZDF (de)), reddit[3], twitter[3], facebook[3], and plenty plenty more.

But at least Jair Bolsonaro is still free to put out fake news apps if he wants because he is head of the government...

[1] Allows access to sites such as google[2].

[2] Allows access to "fake news". And it has a covid warning section linking to (thereby endorsing) non-approved sources such as wikipedia.

[3] Displays/Links to a lot of non-government approved journalism and "journalism".

[3] e.g. https://www.netflix.com/de-en/title/81273378

> and since you're inciting hatred yourself, with wanting innocent people to die or throw them in jail

I have explicitly stated that I am against innocent people to die as a consequence of people spouting propaganda. As for those to be thrown into jail for spouting propaganda, these are not innocent.

> I hope you live in a country that has free speech laws

I do, I'm German and we strike a sensible balance between freedom of speech and protecting people from deadly propaganda, although I'd like a bit more strict regulations especially forcing social networks to hire actual German people for moderation who understand cultural context and have enough time for a reasonable informed moderation decision.

The yelling fire example is especially nonsensical because that's not a thing that ever actually happens. Maybe this idiom made sense 100 years ago, before automated fire alarms, but today it's an anachronism. The only time it comes up is when someone is arguing against free speech.

If we interpret this expression metaphorically rather than literally, then curiously it would most directly apply to people claiming COVID is dangerous and everyone needs to run out of the building (economy) and then wait for government assistance. If there is in fact no fire, as more and more data implies, then it's the people claiming there's a killer virus on the loose who are crying fire and should - by this logic - be suppressed, with people saying "it's all clear" being the ones who get amplified.

If some speech is against the law, you do not have free speech at all.

> You have an undying, oft-repeated support for Israel's bloodthirsty apartheid.

I have literally no idea how you're digging up Israel in this story, and while you are correct that I lean towards the Zionist side I'm not a fan of either Netanyahu or Trump's "peace plan" idea.

> Might that be related to the raw, barely-disguised authoritarian hatred displayed in your post?

Authoritarian hatred? I only dislike people who refuse to accept hard scientific truth, and especially people who willingly and knowingly endanger others with a deadly disease. Murder is punished in almost all countries of this world, and people who are trying to deny the dangers of the inarguably worst pandemic in a hundred years are not much short of accessories to murder IMO.