Censorship on Social Media
!! WARNING: This will contain non-in-depth mentions of sensitive topics, and they will not be censored or watered down. Read at your own risk and stay safe. !!
Censorship is a big issue. Social media, especially TikTok and YouTube, have made free speech difficult despite it being a basic right (a legal human right in the U.S. where I'm from). Sensitive topics aren't talked about seriously enough, because these platforms normalize censorship so much. People who post videos attempting to spread awareness are often demonetized, age restricted, or even just completely banned from platforms. This causes people to walk on eggshells when it comes to discussing these topics, and the more that people walk on eggshells, the more others will do the same.
People often censor rape as grape, sexual assault as SA, pedophile as PDFile, among many others. One excuse I see is that the real words make people uncomfortable. If it makes people uncomfortable, that is a good thing. These are uncomfortable topics and should be treated as such while still being respectfully acknowledged. Using these censored terms makes the things being discussed seem less serious, even if people don't realize it. These are extremely serious, uncomfortable topics that should still be talked about, because they are real serious, uncomfortable topics that are a genuine societal issue.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are things that should be censored and censored from certain groups. One example is censoring children's faces and identities online due to the extreme danger it poses. Certain sexual topics are also inappropriate to discuss with children, but at the right age or when they start asking questions, talking about it is something that should occur, because it is a natural thing despite being seen as "taboo" or "inappropriate".
Overall, I am very anti-censorship due to the fact that it waters down serious topics and is genuinely rude to survivors of such things. It also makes it less likely that people will open up because talking about them in serious ways is shunned.