News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads i... by toxik on Monday July 19, 2021 @03:27PM (#27886382)
This sort of thing is so sad to hear about, because it’s hard evidence that people won’t stop using a platform even when it’s literally exercising censorship to sway their opinions.

We harp on about Chinese having no freedom of press, yet we let these corporations do these things?

Re:Nvidia Shield TV Owners Are Pissed About the Banner Ads i... by dahart on Monday July 19, 2021 @04:17PM (#27886834)
Do we have a free press? ;)

One thing to remember here is that reviews on an App Store are not public speech, they are always subject to censorship rules and always have been, because they are using a private for-profit service under a license agreement. It would be a different thing for the corporations you’re talking about to be able to censor criticism in the newspaper or on other people’s websites, but that’s not what’s happening here.

There’s also a legitimately difficult question here too. It has in fact happened that apps have gotten unfairly review-bombed, in response to public opinion, for third party reasons outside the seller’s control (Nvidia shield?), and also because of businesses playing dirty (look at Amazon and Chinese sellers for many examples of nasty review shenanigans). It is fair, and I would even say necessary, for the hosting company of a marketplace to be able to exercise discretion and editorial powers. It will always depend on the specifics of each case.