Vitalik Buterin and CZ Want to Have Censorship-Resistant Platform for Crypto Community

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Teuta Franjkovic
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A few days ago we reported about the YouTube crypto ban. It has turned out that the biggest video sharing platform moved, deleted or banned some videos related to crypto. Hell, it deleted the whole groups connected to it, as well as the users’ profiles.

However, the force is strong in the crypto community and it has been proven once again. Just a day after it was reported YouTube removed what it said was “harmful or dangerous content”, the crypto community went wild. And, as we already predicted it will happen: all videos have been restored.

CZ Binance and Vitalik Buterin Coming to Rescue

Of course, to expect any kind of explanation from the parent company Google would be too much, so none was given nevertheless. In fact, YouTube responded to some media with a lousy “it was taken down by accident” apology. Nobody believes that anymore, especially when it happens perfectly on time for Christmas.

One of the first mega-influencers who responded was CZ, the Binance’s CEO.

It may be time the #crypto community take a stab at its own blockchain-enabled sensorship-resistent social media platform.

Lots of challenges though, spam, scam, trolls, incentives, copyright, token economics, governance, stickiness, privacy… But

It’s about time!

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) December 25, 2019

He immediately got a back-up from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

I would also really welcome experimentation in this area. https://t.co/8tvezlO96H

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 25, 2019

Yes, CZ and Buterin are quite excited about their idea. But haven’t they forgotten about EOS-based Voice that will be here soon in its beta? Some Twitter users tried to remind Buterin and CZ about it.

Keep an eye on @block_one_ and Voice: https://t.co/rRot2aZuR2
In a "many platforms, few apps" universe, platforms with capital use warchests to build that hoped-for Killer App.

— Jeff Garzik (@jgarzik) December 25, 2019

Nevertheless, now it seems that more people are still worried about the situation with Youtube.

Founder of the P2P crypto trading platform WazirX, Nishcal Shetty, commented:

“Wow! YouTube censoring crypto-related news content. It looks like a direct attack on free speech. How do you tackle such threats from monopolistic platforms? You work hard on creating content using which @YouTube and others grow. Once they are big enough, they put you under the bus if you don’t do what they like. One of the major reasons why I am a believer of decentralization.”

However, let’s not put all the blame on YouTube. There are so many other social media platforms that have put out some internal policies against crypto-related content.

Let’s take Twitter for example. In the times when its CEO Jack Dorsey is revealing his plans to move the platform onto the blockchain, the same company says that the crypto ads or tweets violate the company’s Restricted Financial Products and Services Policy.

Facebook ‘Listens to Its Users’ – Yeah Right

Also, there is a Facebook that is assembling to launch its own cryptocurrency Libra by the end of 2020. This social media behemoth was the first who banned crypto-related ads in January last year. The explanation was given by saying that the company was seriously concerned that users might be scammed by initial coin offerings offered by some crypto start-ups.

It kind of released its brakes in June this year (do you remember June 27 and Bitcoin going high as hell?) and allowed more businesses working on those technologies to promote their efforts on the social network. Be it as it may, it still allows political parties to have ads on its platform, even though they may have been fake or misguided.

But, from Facebook, they said that they have been listening to the community’s feedback and “assessed the policy’s effectiveness”. They stated:

“While we will still require people to apply to run ads promoting cryptocurrency, starting today, we will narrow this policy to no longer require pre-approval for ads related to blockchain technology, industry news, education or events related to cryptocurrency.”

But, those are not the only social platforms that have banned everything crypto-related. Earlier this month Dovey Wan of Primite Ventures commented that the official account of the Tron Foundation has been banned on Weibo, the biggest social media network in China with more than 400 mln active monthly users. This came after Binance, the number one exchange in the world, suffered the same fate.

Author: Teuta Franjkovic

Experienced creative professional focusing on financial and political analysis, editing daily newspapers and news sites, economical and political journalism, consulting, PR and Marketing. Teuta’s passion is to create new opportunities and bring people together.

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