‘Stop screaming at the people to get with the program and instead make a program worth getting with,’ Maher said

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Twitch has revised its Hateful Conduct policy, now including specific provisions regarding the term “Zionist.” The update, announced in a blog post on November 15, 2024, stipulates that while the term “Zionist” is not banned outright, its use could lead to punitive actions if it targets individuals or groups in a hateful or derogatory manner. According to the platform’s statement, “Starting today, using the term ‘Zionist’ to attack or demean another individual or group of people on the basis of their background or religious belief is against our rules.” However, Twitch maintains that discussing Zionism as a political movement, whether positively or negatively, does not infringe on the policy. The intention, as Twitch describes, is not to “stifle conversation about or criticism of an institution or ideology, but to prevent coded hate directed at individuals and groups of people.” The policy update follows an incident where Twitch faced accusations of antisemitism. It was revealed that users in Israel and Palestine were unable to create accounts on the platform due to an “unacceptable miss” in email verification procedures, an error Twitch says it “deeply regrets.” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has publicly stated the platform’s commitment to opposing all forms of hate and harassment, asserting, “There is no place on Twitch for racism, hatred, or harassment of any kind, including antisemitism and Islamophobia…Twitch is, and will always be, about belonging.” Twitch is a platform that gained popularity due to its gaming streams and the new policy has come at a similar time as a new report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that reignited debates over free expression and content censorship in online gaming. The ADL, an organization focused on combating antisemitism has accused Steam, the popular gaming platform operated by Valve, of harboring “extremism and antisemitism.” The ADL’s findings claim Steam’s permissive content policies have enabled the proliferation of “hate symbols” and “extremist” material. The report is based on a review of Steam’s public data, analyzing more than 458 million user profiles, 152 million avatars, and 610 million comments. According to the ADL’s Center on Extremism, this investigation uncovered millions of instances of allegedly hate-related content, including swastikas and other symbols like sonnenrads and “happy merchants.” These materials, often embedded in user-generated images and messages, were flagged as evidence of the platform’s moderation shortcomings and used to call for censorship. It’s worth noting though that a significant focus of the ADL’s findings centers on Pepe the Frog, which accounted for 54.6% of the allegedly “extremist symbols” identified on Steam. The ADL’s report does include examples of Nazi-inspired or antisemitic depictions of Pepe, but given the sheer volume of Pepes flagged, it’s likely that most of them were not hateful, extremist, or racist. Pepe’s widespread use as a general meme in gaming and internet culture means its inclusion as an “extremist symbol” may be misleading. Even the ADL acknowledges in a disclaimer that “some symbols, like the sonnenrad and Totenkopf, are explicitly extremist, while others, like Pepe, are often used by extremists, but their use alone does not signal extremist ideologies.” This caveat suggests that many of the Pepes in their dataset are innocuous, undermining the sweeping generalization of the character as a hate symbol. Similar concerns arise with the ADL’s handling of swastikas in the report. For instance, one example features a swastika posted with the caption “When communists come into your neighborhood,” a use clearly intended to criticize communism rather than promote Nazi ideology. The inclusion of such instances calls into question the criteria used to label content as extremist, suggesting that context may have been overlooked in many cases. The ADL’s demands for Steam focus on implementing stricter content censorship policies to address what they identify as hate and extremism on the platform. They are calling for the banning of “extremism” and “hate,” with explicit policies that protect characteristics such as “gender identity.” This would mean prohibiting content or interactions that question or mock someone’s gender identity. Additionally, the ADL wants censorship efforts scaled up by employing AI systems, human moderators, and partnerships with organizations like the ADL itself, along with other allegedly “trusted industry partners” and “extremism experts.” They also advocate for Steam to collaborate with civil society and researchers to develop and update moderation policies. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post New Twitch Rules Put Limits on Using Term “Zionist” as ADL Report Calls For a Crackdown on “Hateful” Speech in Gaming appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

According to HBO’s Bill Maher, election denial is something Republicans do. Fortunately, Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham was also present on Friday’s edition of Real Time to point out Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is doing that right now. An unhappy Maher could only rant that “no one gives a fuck” about Casey because he is just a senator. Maher lamented, “What I'm asking is you know that if Trump had lost the election, right now we would be talking about the votes that are still coming in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and he’d be in the courts, and we would be all in a tither. One side accepts election losses and one side doesn't. This asymmetry cannot continue.”     As Maher was doing his spiel, Ham tried to get a word in, “Wait, wait. Hold on,” but Maher rolled along, “And the people who are defending him cannot just look past it like ‘well, we won the election, that's it.’” Ham tried to correct the record, “Currently, hold on, Bob Casey, Democratic senator in Pennsylvania, is doing exactly what you're saying where he's looking for all these votes in trying to—in Bucks County commissioners are saying we need fake ones, we need to get all the ones that are unregistered—” Maher interrupted to voice his displeasure, “No, they’re just counting them,” to which Ham replied, “No, that's not actually true.” After the duo repeated their respective stances, Ham got back on track, “And if you dismiss that and you don’t recognize the mote in your own eye, then that is a problem.” Maher interrupted again, “So, you're saying Bob Casey in this— that's equivalent to Trump in 2020—” Ham tried to argue that’s not the point, “No, I don’t say they’re equivalent, I say that you have to recognize these things happen, for instance, in 2016, in 2000.” An upset Maher replied, “No, they didn't. No, they didn't.” Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia had the viral quote when she declared her intention to thumb her nose at the Democratic-controlled state supreme court, “I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country, and people violate laws anytime they want. So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it.”     If a Republican commissioner did that, it’d be a national news story. With that in mind, Ham told Maher, “I do not think it's as asymmetrical as you say, and I also –” Cutting her off, Maher ranted, “Well, on the presidential level it is. Okay, Bob Casey, no one gives a fuck or even knows who he is.“ As the audience laughed, Ham chuckled, “I mean, that was part of the problem.” Maher, however, continued, “It's a ridiculous argument. It doesn't matter to anything, we're talking about the United States of America and who gets to run it and who gets to appoint everybody. Let's go on to that because I know I'm never going to make any progress here.” Before that, Ham insisted on getting the last word, “I do want to say I have some standing because a family member of mine, my husband, was at the Capitol escorting people back in to make the vote, like, he did the dangerous thing he put himself on the line. I feel like our family had a stake in this, and it was a terrible day and a scary day, and also we put it to the voters and had that conversation.” Ironically, Maher wanted to move on and talk about appointments, but those nominees are voted on by the Senate, the exact kind of people Maher just claimed nobody cares about. Here is a transcript for the November 15 show: HBO Real Time with Bill Maher 11/15/2024 10:20 PM ET BILL MAHER: What I'm asking is you know that if Trump had lost the election, right now we would be talking about the votes that are still coming in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and he’d be in the courts, and we would be all in a tither. One side accepts election losses and one side doesn't. This asymmetry cannot continue.  MARY KATHARINE HAM: Wait, wait. Hold on. MAHER: And the people who are defending him cannot just look past it like “well, we won the election, that's it.” HAM: Currently, hold on, Bob Casey, Democratic senator in Pennsylvania, is doing exactly what you're saying where he's looking for all these votes in trying to—in Bucks County commissioners are saying we need fake ones, we need to get all the ones that are unregistered— MAHER: No, they’re just counting them. HAM: No, that's not actually true.  MAHER: They’re just counting them HAM: That's not actually true— MAHER: It is. HAM: And if you dismiss that and you don’t recognize the mote in your own eye, then that is a problem. MAHER: So, you're saying Bob Casey in this— that's equivalent to Trump in 2020— HAM: No, I don’t say they’re equivalent, I say that you have to recognize these things happen, for instance, in 2016, in 2000. MAHER: No, they didn't. No, they didn't. … HAM: I do not think it's as asymmetrical as you say, and I also – MAHER: Well, on the presidential level it is. Okay, Bob Casey, no one gives a fuck or even knows who he is.  HAM: I mean, that was part of the problem. MAHER: It's a ridiculous argument. It doesn't matter to anything, we're talking about the United States of America and who gets to run it and who gets to appoint everybody. Let's go on to that because I know I'm never going to make any progress here. HAM: Well, I do want to say I have some standing because a family member of mine, my husband, was at the Capitol escorting people back in to make the vote, like, he did the dangerous thing he put himself on the line. I feel like our family had a stake in this, and it was a terrible day and a scary day, and also we put it to the voters and had that conversation.

When a videogame series has so many mainline entries and spinoffs, it can be difficult to choose where to start. Individual numbered Final Fantasy games aren't linked, so they're easy enough to recommend, but tackling a decades-old series can be a daunting task. This is where the brand new Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake comes in, as not only is it the start of an incredible trilogy, but it's also a beloved RPG. Now, 36 years after the original DQ3 launched, a new Square Enix remake is here and soaring on Steam. Continue reading Three decades later, JRPG Dragon Quest 3 soars on Steam with gorgeous new remake MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best fantasy games, Best RPGs, Best old games

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