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submitted 15 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Update: After this article was published, Bluesky restored Kabas' post and told 404 Media the following: "This was a case of our moderators applying the policy for non-consensual AI content strictly. After re-evaluating the newsworthy context, the moderation team is reinstating those posts."

Bluesky deleted a viral, AI-generated protest video in which Donald Trump is sucking on Elon Musk’s toes because its moderators said it was “non-consensual explicit material.” The video was broadcast on televisions inside the office Housing and Urban Development earlier this week, and quickly went viral on Bluesky and Twitter.

Independent journalist Marisa Kabas obtained a video from a government employee and posted it on Bluesky, where it went viral. Tuesday night, Bluesky moderators deleted the video because they said it was “non-consensual explicit material.”

Other Bluesky users said that versions of the video they uploaded were also deleted, though it is still possible to find the video on the platform.

Technically speaking, the AI video of Trump sucking Musk’s toes, which had the words “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING” shown on top of it, is a nonconsensual AI-generated video, because Trump and Musk did not agree to it. But social media platform content moderation policies have always had carve outs that allow for the criticism of powerful people, especially the world’s richest man and the literal president of the United States.

For example, we once obtained Facebook’s internal rules about sexual content for content moderators, which included broad carveouts to allow for sexual content that criticized public figures and politicians. The First Amendment, which does not apply to social media companies but is relevant considering that Bluesky told Kabas she could not use the platform to “break the law,” has essentially unlimited protection for criticizing public figures in the way this video is doing.

Content moderation has been one of Bluesky’s growing pains over the last few months. The platform has millions of users but only a few dozen employees, meaning that perfect content moderation is impossible, and a lot of it necessarily needs to be automated. This is going to lead to mistakes. But the video Kabas posted was one of the most popular posts on the platform earlier this week and resulted in a national conversation about the protest. Deleting it—whether accidentally or because its moderation rules are so strict as to not allow for this type of reporting on a protest against the President of the United States—is a problem.

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[-] sighofannoyance@lemmy.world 33 points 14 hours ago

Simple solution to all this crap:

MASTODON.

[-] Hack3900@lemy.lol 11 points 12 hours ago

I do not understand why people use BlueSky We already had the alternative!!!!! It was here first and many had already created accounts.. Then just went back to Twitter

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

Same discussion in every single post on either Mastodon or Bluesky.

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[-] cupcakezealot 6 points 10 hours ago

That's because Aaron Rodericks is Jesse Singal loving garbage.

[-] ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world 23 points 15 hours ago

Hopefully this amplifies the videos exposure. Is it because it is considered explicit that it's not tolerated like other forms of parody?

[-] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 10 points 14 hours ago

yeah it's basically deepfake porn.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 6 points 14 hours ago

Yeah. I think it was hilarious to "hack" government displays to show this in protest.

I am REALLY uncomfortable with sharing it on a wider basis. Because, at the risk of sounding like DNC leadership, it is opening a huge can of worms. Imagine if instead this was musk posting a deepfake of him and AOC similar to how he offered to rape taylor swift a while back?

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

If it's actual satire, it should be allowed, but to be satire, it needs to criticize something instead of just being offensive. Satire is free speech, the latter is defamation or libel (not a lawyer, so not sure which it is).

[-] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

oh it WILL happen on both sides. it's just going to be part of our lives now, and social media is fully justified in removing it from their platforms.

[-] drzoidberg@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago

It's probably not AI, and could be considered revenge porn.

[-] puppinstuff@lemmy.ca 17 points 14 hours ago

Explicit? Hardly. Just two good pals suckin’ toe.

[-] motor_spirit@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

just a lil evolution of the brojob

[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 14 points 14 hours ago

Once again proving it isn't really decentralised.

[-] Katana314@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

I don't think anyone claims BlueSky is decentralized, just more fair about moderation. I'd probably be fine with using Twitter if Elon Musk hadn't completely corrupted it.

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[-] imvii@lemmy.ca 11 points 14 hours ago
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[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 10 points 14 hours ago
[-] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago

At least in the US, protest falls under protected speech and has additional legal protections beyond ordinary speech similar to satire. IANAL but this is not a legal matter. It's clearly an internal policy issue.

This is the problem with any social media being centralized.

BlueSky is just as centralized as Twitter or Facebook.

[-] motor_spirit@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago

If this was AOC and MTG would the video still be up

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago

That doesn't sound like satire, so probably not.

[-] AmidFuror@fedia.io 4 points 14 hours ago
[-] motor_spirit@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

double dutch rudder of toe suck, everybody - every digit gettin some love. equal opportunity

[-] mkwt@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago

Cue up Pulp Fiction conversation about foot massage.

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this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
587 points (100.0% liked)

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