YouTube auto-deletes comments with phrases critical of Chinese government [Updated]

Enlarge / Protesters in Taipei, Taiwan, demonstrate for granting political asylum to Hong Kongers in January 2020. (credit: Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

YouTube's software is automatically deleting comments with two phrases critical of the Chinese Communist Party, the Verge reported on Tuesday morning.

" means "communist bandit." It was a derogatory term used by Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War that ended in 1949. It continues to be used by Chinese-speaking critics of the Beijing regime, including in Taiwan.

" means 50-cent party." It's a derogatory term for people who are paid by the Chinese government to participate in online discussions and promote official Communist Party positions. In the early years of China's censored Internet, such commenters were allegedly paid 50 cents (in China's currency, the yuan) per post.

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