YouTube's censorship has become worse than cable TV's (in the US). I have a feeling that BiliBili will only further normalize the aggressive censorship, like TikTok did.
this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2026
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thats good news youtube was mainstream so looong that it becomes to eat itself slowly seeing some competitions maybe lead the long form video market better
Okay peertube, now's your time to shine! Become the default for the Fediverse by stepping in during this power struggle
Happy for the competition, sad that it came from a place that will probably censor things even harder.
Given how China just took all the money away from and sent to prison the CEO of evergrande, I'm starting to trust their apps more than american ones.
The only reason that happened was because that CEO's decisions lead to massive negative results in China's real-estate sectors, which in turn cost the Chinese government a lot of money, and THAT is why that criminal actually saw consequences.
Don't take that as proof that China judges everyone fairly regardless of wealth/status. As long as you keep your crimes to an extent that it doesn't cause a massive backlash on large swaths of the country, it's a different ballgame.
As others have said, you'd be wise to distrust both.
As long as you keep your crimes to an extent that it doesn’t cause a massive backlash on large swaths of the country, it’s a different ballgame.
actually that does sound kinda reasonable. what is a crime, if not defined by its negative consequences for the rest of the population?
No one said you have to trust either.
Because the problems aren't with the businesses like it is in the US.
They are with the government. Which can get much worse since there is no one to govern those.
And in China, the government is in every app. It is by law.
lol, same here
I trust (and distrust) both equally.
I'm all for it, America needs to be reminded of what capitalism actually is.
the way i imagine it:
- as long as it's american companies running everything, it's "fair" and "free market".
- as long as some company from abroad manages to do things better and more efficient, and american companies come under pressure, we'll suddenly erect trade barriers and market hurdles to "protect american values", "for our national security" or sth else. i've seen this soo many times. people who "just follow the rules" as long as the rules benefit them. as soon as the same rules start biting them in their own ass, suddenly for some reason they say that we need to change the rules.
Knowing our govt, Google will lobby them to ban BiliBili so they can enjoy classic american protectionism. Can't make it in a free market so just ban / tariff the competition to hell.
what would the equivalent action under communism be?
I'm all for letting America make itself irelevent.
Tbh, i hope it doesn't take off since chinese companies are forced to hand their user data to the chinese government
Edit: i am NOT saying that USA services are better, fuck both
I'd rather it go to the Chinese government since they're not the ones actively lording over me.
I'd rather not go with any of the 2 tbh
US companies hand it to the US government and every advertiser in the world....
They are both shitty... But maybe two shitty competitors we can at least get something good...
YouTube Google's monopoly has ruined the internet, android, web browsers and more
I know that USA companies hand their data to their government but it's is not the only other country that exist, i'd rather use an European (Union) service than Chinese or from USA. Eg: Fairplay Video which is from France
I've heard of Billibilli. It's great for pirated films and TV shows that you can't get anywhere else.
I don't really trust it to be much better at respecting privacy than YouTube, but at this point, I'd be surprised if it was any worse, and YouTube has been getting worse for lack of competition for over a decade now
I feel like we’re entering a world where you have competing surveillance states, and citizens from either would be behooved to use technology from the other. For the simple fact that these two states don’t cooperate, using the other sides technology is inherently safer. They have far fewer manners of or financial interests in fucking you.
Yeah. At this point as an American I'm way less worried about in the Chinese government tracking me than I am with the US government. The Chinese government is evil, but I don't live in China.
Yes but never forget they aren't above building profiles on people and selling them. The US government regularly buys these sort of data packages as a loophole to bypass constitutional protections against search and seizures.
Yep, this is why my security cameras are all from Chinese companies. Though I guess the NSA still owns the Wifi lol
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I’ve been using an account with a translator. They have some unique niche videos I can’t find anywhere else.
Any fun trends? Do things spill over between west and east?
I just downloaded it. No sign up necessary but it asks for a birthdate. (I just picked June 4 1989 randomly, ofc.)
It uses AI to translate from Chinese to your selected language. The image below shows available languages.
You don't need to login to upvote videos. However, you not be able to comment or reply. Also, viewing comments is limited.
To create your account, you have to provide your phone number, which is an automatic "not happening" for me.
Once your phone number is "bound", you can link your Google account for your login. This will make it easier for East-West cooperation in data mining and mass surveillance.
You can also use an email and password of your own choosing.
Overall, I can't see me actually binding my phone number to make an account.
Anyway, here's what my feed looked like when I opened the app and skipped account creation/login:
Some AI looking slop, of course.
Of the first dozen or so, only two seemed interesting - the Rick Roll meme history and a Brazilian explaining how to use "lá ele" in conversation. (I speak Brazilian Portuguese so this was actually very cool to see.)
Have you started uploading Tienenmen Square videos yet?
Gotta have an account for that. So no.
(I just picked June 4 1989 randomly, ofc.) 🤣
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I mean. This is… Not worse than now, I guess?
Any entity that can take a chunk out of YouTube’s dominance is a good thing.
But I’m not going to celebrate another corp making a shamelessly monetized video site. They’re independent-ish now, yes, but for how long? It’s just a different flavor of attention gaming and enshittification in the long run.
And I’m skeptical they have the muscle to significantly displace YouTube’s iron grip on everything, even with Google tightening the screws.
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