Algospeak - thank you Chicken for not bowing to mob

I noticed a trend recently on different social media platforms on reels, shorts, or just regular posts where generally harmless, or at least non-curse words were being censored or changed. After a bit of Googling, I discovered it’s an actual thing; Algospeak. And no, it's not these middle school slang terms that come and go every year like skibidi, rizz, gyat, and bet.

Social media platforms have recently moved to content moderation "bots" to identify content that goes against their community standards, moving away from human moderators that are subject to personal bias. Much like when emojis became popular and were often used as euphemisms to conceal the actual meaning (eggplant, peach, etc.), Algospeak is the attempt to trick the bots to ensure a post doesn't get removed or the user banned. Unfortunately, these bots are utilizing algorithms that accommodate the least common denominator and today’s ultra-woke society has created an environment where the goal is such that no one gets offended or triggered.

Some examples of Algospeak are are understandable (i.e.- s3x, f#ck, etc.) and have generally been used to censor curse words in the past and mostly applies to either text or closed captions on videos. Now, you can’t even have words such as kill, kidnap, or assault without possibly getting flagged or even banned. You have to censor them and use k*ll, k*dnap, and as*ault in their place. Other replacements are also commonplace. One that is particularly annoying to me is “unalive” in place of any death-related word.

Just a few more examples that make me shake my head:

Seggs = sex
Leg booty = lgbtq+ community member
Opposite of love = hate
Pew pew = gun

What I find most concerning is that it also uses common words to disguise otherwise negative context.

Accountant = sex worker/prostitute
Corn = porn
Cheese Pizza = child porn
Grape = rape

Content moderation bots have also recently begun to utilize Ai to analyze audio on posts. As a result, content creators have become wise to this and began using the same substitutions in their speech as well. As this practice expands, and as more consumers of content are influenced by it, this alternate language (and by extension, the meaning behind it) is making its way into real life. Recently, Julia Fox (an actress in Uncut Gems) made a Tik Tok post using “mascara” in a benign context, and people lost their ever-loving minds. Turns out, mascara is now code word for sexual assault.

We can’t go camping anymore because that means we are getting an abortion. We can’t say we are going to a dance party because that means we are part of an anti-vax group. Now we have to say Panda Express because people get triggered talking about the pandemic.



What happens when words lose all meaning? We lose the ability to communicate effectively.



Thank you, Chicken , for providing a platform with reasonable content moderation where we are free to share ideas and call people idiots without fear of retribution.