[Lazare]

There is a uniquely annoying feeling you get when you see someone powerful being utterly obtuse and wrong in a way that is damaging to others, but can't readily be challenged.

Everything about this story is just so fundamentally wrongheaded. They're enforcing a deeply misguided policy in a way which is both inconsistent and unfair, yet also inept. There's just so much wrong here, it's hard to even know where to start. They're looking for stuff they shouldn't, in the wrong places, and doing a horrible job of it. There's no reason they should be cracking down on the scourge of random cartoon nipples, but even if there were, they should give content providers who are making good faith efforts to flag content the benefit of the doubt, which clearly they did not for ArtStation. Meanwhile they're incorrectly flagging content, but even worse, they're not applying this policy to, you know, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram or, you know, Google themselves. Even if we needed to protect people from occasional nudity (and again, we don't), this isn't even achieving that. It's like deciding you need to do something drastic to prevent yourself from starving, so you set your couch on fire, while having a fridge full of food.

It's all downside; it makes the world a worse place, helps no one, and Google will pay (effectively) no penalty for it.

Merry Christmas to us all.

[abvdasker]

When something can't be fixed directly I naturally tend to think about how it could have been avoided in the first place.

> There is a uniquely annoying feeling you get when you see someone powerful being utterly obtuse and wrong in a way that is damaging to others, but can't readily be challenged.

I think it comes back to the power structure in place. The enormous money machine that is Google has so few competitors that there is no incentive to treat its customers well. What is Teo going to do? They're already in the App Store. Their appeal was denied.

The part of this that makes me angriest is that Artstation will now have to start paying Google to use their Vision API to implement the censorship requirements Google has imposed on them. My more conspiratorial instincts suggest that this is no more a coincidence than an old school protection racket would be a coincidence.

[washadjeffmad]

Google is unable to scale its ability to moderate its platforms with its level of growth, and we're seeing the effects of its implementation of "zero tolerance" in this uncontestable, absolutist decision making that customers can only have addressed by stirring up a potential PR stink.

Just like in many governments, it's significantly easier to address the immediate concerns of a few powerful entities and just the outcome of elections of the masses, except when they organize.

Google, for good or I'll, has truly become a model virtual nation.

[benologist]

Pretty funny how their cash hoarding can scale to $100b+ but they can't provide any level of support or recourse to Play Store developers at all.

[mooman219]

Let's be realistic, this applies to all walled gardens, including Apple's store.

[Lazare]

Oh, absolutely. The story was about Google, but it's at least as true (and has been true for longer) about Apple.

Similar comments could be made about Tumblr, which has implemented similarly wrong headed policies in a similarly incompetent way, and has also done a ton of damage, although it's less frustrating watching a single site do it. Ultimately Verizon owns Tumblr, and they can ruin it if they like, and the damage will be somewhat limited because it can't really spread beyond Tumblr.

Google and Apple have vastly more power over vastly more of our digital lives.

As a libertarian, I reflexively resist suggestions of regulation, but actions like this (or on a somewhat different vein, Facebook's) make that position harder and harder to support. It's hard to overstate the power that running the dominant Android app store gives Google, and thus the responsibility they have to use that power wisely.

Unfortunately, even if we wanted to try the regulation option, the current political climate makes that a non-starter; the neo-Victorian sexual panic is firmly entrenched in Congress (see, eg, SESTA/FOSTA). We're screwed.

[odessacubbage]

if there's any bright side to this, there's the hope that the more absurd, restrictive & clearly unfair google's actions become, the more incentive there will be for businesses to move away from these walled gardens entirely. users will only deal with so much inconvenience from centralized providers before they trade it for the inconvenience of uncensorable alternatives. for the free and open internet, this is probably the best thing in the long run.