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

Really disturbing that I had to scroll right to the bottom of the page to find someone questioning the source of this.

While obviously Podcast Addict does not deserve a ban, the sheer number of people in this thread advocating unrestricted speech around COVID-19 is thoroughly disturbing. This despite the carnage that the disease is wreaking in the US and UK right now, and the fact that conspiracy theories spread on Google and Facebook platforms have certainly added significant fuel to the fire of COVID-19.

Even down here in NZ we're dealing with cell towers being set alight due to batshit conspiracy theories spread on Facebook and Youtube. I'm generally very much pro-free speech, but this is one thing that needs to be stamped down on fast, mainly due to more and more americans gathering in large protests and spreading the virus.

> While obviously Podcast Addict does not deserve a ban, the sheer number of people in this thread advocating unrestricted speech around COVID-19 is thoroughly disturbing.

Are you sure that advocating a "stamp down" won't throw away the baby with the bathwater? In my country, a lot of now very legitimate theories (thrombosis and treatment with heparin, convalescent plasma therapy) were slammed by certain very prominent experts at first ("baloney", "colossal idiocy"). What would've happened if Twitter or Google decided to remove the "controversial" theories?

Also, Twitter now is blocking an URL of a legitimate university promoting a trial with hydroxychloroquine. As you can see, to remove the "batshit conspiracy theories" we are also removing good science.

>Also, Twitter now is blocking an URL of a legitimate university promoting a trial with hydroxychloroquine.

What university? What sources do you have on that?

McGill University in Canada.

Source: https://twitter.com/DrToddLee/status/1261442201369939968

Works fine for me. Sounds like automated filter kicking in, which is a double-edged sword, but in itself doesn't say anything abt Twitter's stance here.

> While obviously Podcast Addict does not deserve a ban, the sheer number of people in this thread advocating unrestricted speech around COVID-19 is thoroughly disturbing. This despite the carnage that the disease is wreaking in the US and UK right now, and the fact that conspiracy theories spread on Google and Facebook platforms have certainly added significant fuel to the fire of COVID-19.

There's no other solution to this problem. If they suspend Podcast Addict, realistically, they need to suspend every other podcast app on the store. Then they need to start filtering out all podcasts with episodes about coronavirus on their own podcast app, or their need to suspend that too.

And that's before considering that there's a lot of valuable discussion about the virus happening that isn't coming out of the CDC or whatever other official source you're adamant about following. I'm not talking Joe Rogan. I'm talking PBS, NPR, 538, JAMA, etc. At some point all you're doing is suppressing legitimate journalism (and yes, there's a fuckload of legitimate journalism on podcasts) or even academic sources (yes, they exist as podcasts too).

I don't see what benefit you're getting from suppressing freedom of speech in such a draconian way when there's so much unnecessary collateral damage. All you're doing is making it harder for legitimate coverage to reach people ... which seems like shooting yourself in the foot.

Even beyond journalism, there's a lot of "slice of life" episodes talking about how people are affected by the virus day-to-day. How people's lives have changed. How they're coping. Why would you be in favour of suppressing that?