The Censorship Cabal: Meta, Snap, and TikTok Team Up to Silence Suicidal Thoughts
The tech giants are at it again, this time attempting to dictate what we can and can’t discuss online. Meta, Snap, and TikTok have collaborated on a new program called Thrive, which will allegedly help "stop the spread of graphic content" depicting or encouraging self-harm and suicide. But is this just a veiled attempt to stifle open conversations about mental health?
Thrive, backed by the Mental Health Coalition, claims to use secure signal sharing technology to identify and remove violating content. But what exactly does "violating content" mean? Will they be targeting more than just explicit self-harm and suicide content, or will they also crack down on discussions about mental health, suicide, and self-harm? And what about the chilling effect this will have on free speech?
The same signal sharing technology used in the Lantern program, designed to combat child abuse online, will now be used to monitor and censor mental health content. This raises more questions than answers. Who decides what content is violating? Will they be working with governments and law enforcement agencies to monitor and enforce their censorship?
Meta boasts that it’s already made it harder to find explicit self-harm and suicide content on its platform. But at what cost? Are they really leaving room for open discussions about mental health, or are they just paying lip service to the idea while quietly silencing those who dare to speak out?
According to Meta’s own charts, they take action on millions of pieces of suicide and self-harm content every quarter. But what happens to those who are censored? Are they truly protected, or are they simply being silenced? Last quarter, Meta restored an estimated 25,000 of those posts, mostly after a user appealed. But what about the ones who don’t have a voice?
The real question is: what’s behind this sudden interest in censorship? Is it a genuine attempt to protect users, or is it just another way for the tech giants to exert control over the narrative and silence dissenting voices?
