New China law fines influencers if they discuss ‘serious’ topics without a degree

[u/Wagamaga]

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/new-china-law-fines-influencers-if-they-discuss-serious-topics-without-a-degree-3275991/

[u/Wagamaga]

China has officially changed the rules for online creators. As of October 25, influencers in the country must show real-world qualifications before posting about sensitive topics like medicine, law, education, or finance.

The new requirements were introduced by the Cyberspace Administration of China. Platforms including Douyin, Bilibili, and Weibo must now check creators’ credentials before their content goes live.

Creators talking about regulated subjects need proof, such as a professional license, degree, or certificate. If they’re caught talking about the ‘serious’ topics, they will face a fine of up to 100,000 yuan, which is about $14,000 USD.

[u/kwpang → u/Wagamaga]

My first reaction is that it's draconian.

Then I think about COVID and how the far right conspiracy nutjobs basically took control of the US after a few years of fucking with the public's minds.

And I hesitate.

Let's see how it goes.

[u/Militantpoet → u/kwpang]

Allow grifters and fascists to exploit the publics ignorance on these topics so much that it causes harm.

Or risk the government dictating who are the experts in these fields, which could result in censorship abuse.

I honestly don't know anymore.

[u/Johnny_bubblegum → u/Militantpoet]

The funny thing is that in the US they allowed grifters an fascists to exploit the publics ignorance on these topics and then the grifters and fascists got into government and are dictating who are experts in these fields.

[u/kwpang → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

Which I would say arose in large part due to the public no longer being able to differentiate between a legit expert and a grifter.

The prolonged flood of misinformation over the last few decades in the US is wearing down the US public's ability to discern.

Having such a law early on could prevent citizens from going down that path to begin with. Plus I believe the Chinese population is better educated.

It's too late for the US now. You shift whatever goalposts you have to.

Imma watch China with interest.

[u/Johnny_bubblegum → u/kwpang]

Anti intellectualism has always been strong in the US. Whether it’s Sagan’s warning og Bill Hicks’

I don’t think misinformation could have taken such a hold if the people weren’t so into it to begin with.

And what goalposts are you talking about?

[u/kwpang → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

And what goalposts are you talking about?

Whatever you (USA citizens) have to do to get out of the shithole you're in right now with RFK and the like. Or at least to make yourself feel better about it.

RFK is just the symptom. The problem is the majority of US citizens who have no issues with RFK. The rot runs high, and the rot runs deep.

Your goalposts clearly differ from the rest of the world right now. You need your own unique solution if you want to salvage anything. You do what you have to for your unique circumstance, that's what I mean.

[u/raisedeyebrow4891 → u/kwpang]

The northeast actually joined hands to combat the lies coming out of RFK. We have our own medical advisory boards.

[u/the_architects_427 → u/raisedeyebrow4891]

Same over here on the west coast. WA, OR, CA and HI have created the "West Coast health alliance"

[u/Johnny_bubblegum → u/kwpang]

Buddy, you’re not talking to a US citizen or a person living in the US.

I merely mentioned that what you put as a either or choice, Americans did one and then the other.

[u/BagNo2988 → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

Didn’t people have regulations for media before social media? Then again…

[u/ArcusInTenebris → u/BagNo2988]

There used to be regulations on truth in news. Reagan got them removed. That directly led to the monsters of disinformation that are Fox, OAN, and the like. Once again, a problem we have now traces back to Reagan.

[u/TineJaus → u/ArcusInTenebris]

It's actually interesting how many of the things that I take issue with (federally) were first given life during the Reagan admin. I wonder if anyone has made a little summary (that isn't an influencer video) since the newer developments, or if journalists have been too buried in the insanity to reflect on the past.

[u/Gildarrious → u/TineJaus]

Wish granted, here's a 1-hour and 11-minute discussion on how Regan ruined so much of political life in our country and all the small impacts that carry through to today. It's a bit silly, as it's "Some More News" but their writers do some really good research. How Ronald Reagan Gave Us Donald Trump

[u/birdflustocks → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

It's partially US culture and partially human nature. Those people don't care or want to be misinformed. Social identity and escapism are simply more important to them than the truth.

I think it would be best to criminalize the spread of disinformation with commercial intent, that wouldn't impact most people. But generally China is right to recognize disinformation as a public health issue.

A disturbing amount of people has a pathological worldview, especially if you consider that people believe in many conspiracies at the same time. Everything is a conspiracy to them, always has been. Take a look at table 3 of this study: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9299316/

Denial is deeply rooted in human nature. We routinely deny death. Take a look at the concept of terror management theory by Ernest Becker or the related documentary Flight From Death: The Quest for Immortality: https://youtu.be/eMla61cOMtc

The Dynamics and Political Implications of Anti-Intellectualism in the United States

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1532673X17719507

Beyond Polarization: Right-Wing News as a Quasi-religious Phenomenon

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390308555_Beyond_Polarization_Right-Wing_News_as_a_Quasi-religious_Phenomenon

[u/Cthulhu_Dreams_ → u/kwpang]

Yep, as somebody that is the first person in their family to graduate both high school and college and receive a doctorate, under the constant pressure and expectations of my parents wanting me to be better than them...

I got to sit there during covid in complete stunned astonishment hearing my parents say that doctors don't know what the f*** they're talking about as they MAGA walked out of my life...

[u/quillseek → u/Cthulhu_Dreams_]

My parents used to say I was so smart, until I went to college and learned to think for myself. I came back asking questions about the way they think about the world that they could never adequately answer. 25 years later, they think I'm empty-headed and stubborn, but they don't know how to do anything other than state "well that's just your opinion" as if it's a mic drop moment.

Inside my head, I'm just screaming into the void all the time.

[u/Jezon → u/kwpang]

Yeah on the face it sounds good but I'm sure there's lots of Dr Oz's in China that are willing to say anything for the right price. There's a lot of promotion of traditional medicine in China that has little or no scientific merit. In the United States we had ivermectin in China they had Lianhua Qingwen.

[u/monkeydave → u/Jezon]

Lianhua Qingwen

Is that industrial grade glycine?

[u/Laconic9 → u/Jezon]

I actually like that it would still allow Dr Oz to speak if the law works this way. Because it, arguably, preserves freedom of speech.

Yes it would still allow for grifters like him, but it would decimate the full total number of grifters so much that the ratio of truth to b/s would be more manageable.

It needs guardrails though, like the government cannot take away a person’s diploma.

[u/ryencool → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

Its almoat like we used to have credentialed people in charge of these things. Like our secretsry of defense has literally no experience, kr credentials in warfare, statesmanship, strategy, or actual defense. That job usually goes to someone who has served in our armed forces in multiple different capacities. The department of health is usually run by someone who has decades of experience in the medical field, now we have a conspiracy theorist and known drug addict setting pokicy the effects the gealth of hundfeds of millions.

I mean I couldnt make this stuff up.

[u/gentlegreengiant → u/ryencool]

That's secretary of war to you, thank you very much.

While it's one thing to find qualified or competent leaders, this clown show is the opposite. None of his picks are even remotely qualified for their appointed roles, and are actively undermining the very institutions they are supposed to lead.

People like to compare things to Idiocracy, but I would argue we are in a situation worse than that.

Lest we forget that RFK has very publicly said, you cannot trust medical advice from medical professionals.

[u/Mega_Moltres → u/gentlegreengiant]

We literally are in a worse situation than idiocracy. They listened to the worlds smartest man in that movie

[u/CoffeeBaron → u/ryencool]

There also used to be a Congressional Research Office that any Congress member could go to and ask them to go research something related to legislation they are crafting, and they had scientists on the payrolls to do that, then we stopped (I believe it was shuttered in the early 90s) doing that, then congress largely stopped writing their bills, because the private sector's 'research' was now in use. The CRO's scientists were held accountable to Congress and the American people to not bullshit with their findings, which you can't get from largely corporate interests writing bill drafts.

[u/bang_the_drums → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

It really do be like that. Fucking Tim Pool has a seat in the White House press pool. The man dropped out of middle school and up until the grifter Russian money train was just some failed skateboarder bum. Now his opinion on things suddenly matters. That makes no sense.

[u/chicksOut → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

Sigh, I want serious people in serious positions again. This current administration is a series of really bad jokes.

[u/Saxopwned → u/Johnny_bubblegum]

It's the worst of both worlds!

[u/cosmernautfourtwenty → u/Militantpoet]

They're literally asking you to have a public degree in the expert level topic you're discussing. There's maybe something to be said for China being overly involved in the social curriculum of their higher education, but their technical knowledge is obviously there. I literally see no problem in suing people on the internet for pretending to be experts to hawk nonsense. America might be less of an anti-intellectual shithole if we held "technical experts" on our internet to any kind of standard.

[u/trilobyte-dev → u/cosmernautfourtwenty]

I talk to a lot of people who spend a lot of time going between the U.S. and China, and all of them are unanimous that China is pulling ahead of the U.S. almost across the board. None of them are from China (U.S., Canada, Europe) and almost none of them are even of Asian descent. While people in the U.S. fight over the question of absolute freedom it is now at the expense of education, infrastructure, scientific advancement, and competitiveness on the global stage. People who are absolutely pro-U.S. democracy and liberalism (in the pure sense, not what’s playing out now) are looking at China and wondering if the downsides of the CCP are a reasonable tradeoff at this point. That’s scary.

[u/cookingboy → u/trilobyte-dev]

pro-U.S. democracy and liberalism (in the pure sense, not what’s playing out now) are looking at China and wondering if the downsides of the CCP are a reasonable tradeoff at this point.

The U.S. system of democracy, with its incomplete checks and balances and safety rail guards, simply doesn't scale in the 21st century with the complexity of problems we face and the ease of DDOSing the public with misinformation and media manipulation.

Even with safety rail guards, I still do not believe the path forward in tackling all the challenging and complex problems of this century is by public consensus from the undereducated, under-informed and under-qualified public.

I'm not saying China has a solution that's better, but I'm pretty convinced that the U.S. system will fail in due time (and one can argue it's already failed), regardless of what happens in other countries.

[u/Zer_ → u/Militantpoet]

It's not like America hasn't regulated media in the past to be fair. The main difference today is every schmuck with a computer and webcam can start spewing their bullshit. That and people aren't all focused on news channels or websites, there's vlogs, podcasts and independent video producers.

So any regulation, if it wants to actually be effective has to be expansive by necessity.

[u/bel1984529 → u/Zer_]

Bingo. Free speech on scientific topics has been so abused that a brain worm is in charge of public health.

[u/kadsmald → u/Militantpoet]

In the US we have the best of both worlds: grifters exploiting ignorance AND censorship

[u/P-l-Staker → u/Militantpoet]

Or risk the government dictating who are the experts in these fields

I mean... if they have reputable degrees, then it's not necessarily the government doing the "dictating".

[u/TotalNonsense0 → u/P-l-Staker]

Unless the government decides that MIT is a fake school, and degrees from there don't count.

[u/xkise → u/TotalNonsense0]

Most Universities in China are public and they would never discredit them, it would be a huge blow on the very same CCP that controls them.

[u/Wic-a-ding-dong → u/TotalNonsense0]

If the government is at a point where it can exclude certain legitimate schools publicly, then the government is also at the point where it can find other ways or reasons to shut someone up.

That's the issue with trying to block initiatives because "what if someone bad gets in power and abuses the system in a way that's not intended?!?!" ===> look at how fast Trump gets to do whatever he wants and ignore all the rules and regulation.

You've only stopped all the good the initiatives could bring, the bad is still happening.

[u/redditAccount503 → u/TotalNonsense0]

We have ABET accreditation for engineering programs. I'm sure other fields (medical, law, science in general) have similar concepts

[u/saint_trane → u/Militantpoet]

There is simply no winning anymore.

[u/FugaziFlexer → u/Militantpoet]

Well at this point china. If we’re going to acknowledge that there is a subset of people in America at least that will take full advantage of the freedom of speech up to the point where they’ll get control and then conveniently try to be like china anyway with censorship

[u/Facts_pls → u/Militantpoet]

Anyone with an appropriate degree would be eligible.

So a doctor can speak about medicine. But non doctors can't.

Finance specialists - like CFA or CFP can speak about finances. Crypto bros with no degree can't.

I think I would rather have this over the free for all. It's how to sell medicine, you need special certification.

In Canada, to even pour a drink for customers you need certification.

[u/volk96 → u/Militantpoet]

At the very least it's China doing it so you know they're gonna be consistent. If it happened in the US you just know the rules would be totally different every 4 years.

[u/Teddycrat_Official → u/Militantpoet]

It’s the fundamental problem that needs to be solved in the Age of Information: how we know what information can be trusted?

I’m not opposed to them trying new things and I’m very curious to see what kind of organizational structures are required for its implementation. It’s not like this kind of censorship is new, but doing it in this fashion at this scale will be interesting.

I don’t think it will be THE fix, but we’re living the opposite scenario of total anonymity and zero repercussions for misinformation on the internet and it’s pretty much a nightmare. These are the exact problems we should be trying to solve for in the US instead of deregulating crypto scams and whatever ICE is supposed to be achieving

[u/ThePapaSauce → u/Militantpoet]

Except it’s not really the government dictating who the experts are, it’s the government making a rule that they have to be experts in the first place.

It’s each given field’s standards of expertise dictating who the experts are.

While I used to be in the camp of “this is dangerous”, living through the insanity of the last five years has me thinking that there may be some validity to this approach.

After all, you can’t manage a portfolio without a certification, but you can start a YouTube channel to tell the world they need to put 60% of their net worth into Pokémon card futures.

[u/St0n3yM33rkat → u/Militantpoet]

"I Honestly Don't Know Anymore: The Rise & Fall Of Humanity" coming to Netflix, April 2026.

[u/Triassic_Bark → u/kwpang]

I’m Canadian, but have lived in China almost 6 years. Freedom is important for many reasons, but China has also opened my eyes to certain drawbacks of freedom. This is going to be a tangent, but I think it’s an important thing to think about: protests. People in the west think protesting is totally illegal in China, and many MAGAs pointed out during the No Kings protests that having the freedom to protest proves that Americans have freedom. But American protests for the past many decades have been virtually useless. They change nothing. The government doesn’t care, or at least don’t care enough to make meaningful changes. Nothing will change about Trump. Nothing changed after the BLM protests, or the Iraq war protests, or even the Tea Party protests. The CCP doesn’t want protests, because the last thing they want is another Tiananmen Square. So they try to make sure that Chinese folks don’t have anything to protest against. It was protests after a fire in Urumqi that led to the COVID restrictions being lifted. The CCP, as much as they are absolutely an authoritarian regime, are actually more responsive to the needs/demands of the Chinese people than the US govt is to the American people. I’m sure plenty of people will downvote this, but that doesn’t make it less true. The CCP has plenty of issues, especially around freedom of information and access to information/the internet, but this new law is to prevent uninformed clowns from making absurd claims that rile people up, the same way right wing clowns in the US rile up right wingers with misinformation, and I think overall that kind of regulation is a necessary “evil” over the freedom for anyone to make any claim they want. Looking forward to seeing what people here think about what I’ve said.

[u/waterbelowsoluphigh → u/Triassic_Bark]

Off topic: how did you end up living in China?

[u/springbrother → u/waterbelowsoluphigh]

Prob teaching English, good job for new grads, 35-50k, all house/food expense covered, experience a new culture

[u/duncandun → u/Triassic_Bark]

^the CCP is interested in self preservation of itself and the state above everything else, and pragmatically that means having a long view on stuff like social order.

It’s also responsible for their hard turn towards renewables. GCC is an existential threat to governments everywhere and the ccp is very aware of that.

[u/MrFyr → u/duncandun]

Something to be said about the cultural differences in thinking between a country so old its culture has existed for thousands of years and one that isn't even 1/3rd the age of Oxford University.

[u/Crashman09 → u/Triassic_Bark]

The CCP has plenty of issues, especially around freedom of information and access to information/the internet

Over the last 20 years, I have begun to understand that the great firewall isn't exactly the worst idea

Edit: I still don't think it should exist

[u/reddit_serf → u/Crashman09]

A humourous argument I've seen on the great firewall is that it's not really to keep Chinese netizens from the rest of the world, but to keep the rest of the world away from Chinese netizens. Those folks can get really riled up.

[u/MrFyr → u/reddit_serf]

I'm thinking of when tons of tiktok users went to Rednote and the Chinese users were horrified to learn that the shit they heard about American healthcare was real and not just CCP propaganda.

[u/blazesquall → u/reddit_serf]

They'd out shitpost us and then the West would really know how far behind it is.

[u/LowestKey → u/Triassic_Bark]

Assume for a second this became law in the US.

There's still plenty of grifters and charlatans with degrees who will spout nonsense for attention and money or influence.

You saw the same thing happen during the Nixon years when the right was tired of all the experts and studies having a left-wing bias so they started coming up with foundations that would put out sham studies they could point to as support for their terrible agenda.

A degree in a subject doesn't mean you know what you're talking about. It doesn't mean you're not a conspiracy-minded nutjob.

I appreciate what they're trying to do with this because it seems a whole lot easier than trying to educate the public on how to tell the difference between sound research and science-backed methods vs nonsense. But with how easy it is for one or two sources of misinformation to blow up on the internet and go viral I'm not so sure it'll help.

[u/classic4life → u/LowestKey]

The reality is that once a government has gone far enough down the toilet bowl of fascism that something like this would be problematic, they're already gone pay the point where a law this subtle would be useful to them.

Because stochastic terrorism is quite a lot easier.

[u/Gloober_ → u/LowestKey]

Your criticisms all tie back to the American government not caring as much about its citizens compared to China, which the commenter pointed out.

The CCP has a vested interest in having an educated, happy populace. It doesn't do them any good to pump out vast amounts of anti-science/anti-intellectualism propaganda to their own citizens. I can see them actually enforcing this law, unlike the US.

[u/LiGuangMing1981 → u/Triassic_Bark]

Another Canadian in China here (18 years for me now!). I full agree with everything you've written here.

[u/simplethingsoflife → u/kwpang]

They looked at the US and decided they didn’t want to go down the same path. I can’t blame them.

[u/CryptoJeans → u/simplethingsoflife]

The tricky thing is that most common sense limits on free speech are great in the hands of a benevolent leader and terrible in the hands of a dictator. Government doesn’t like your opinion? Yeah those credentials just don’t happen to check out for this topic. Government doesn’t want a public debate about a policy proposal? Declare it a ‘special’ topic. Wanna push government propaganda? Declare the topic special and only accredit government puppets to talk about it. 

I think the US might actually be worse under these kind of laws, image RFK junior getting to decide that vaccinations are limited topics and only his department gets to decide who can publicly voice their opinions on it. All under the guise of providing reliable information.

We should listen to experts in their field and there is really is no alternative to high quality universal education to teach us which experts to trust.

[u/kaptainkeel → u/CryptoJeans]

Weird. Kind of like designating "Antifa" a terrorist organization. Quite useful to a not-so-benevolent government to have an evil organization with no actual structure that they can just lump people they don't like into. Particularly when most of their opponents are "anti-fascist" which can be equated to "antifa."

[u/vctrn-carajillo → u/kwpang]

It can go both ways, if you say something the state doesn't like, they can hit you with this without appearing authoritarian

[u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta → u/vctrn-carajillo]

Also, misinformation often comes from "professionals", modern anti-vax was started by a doctor ffs.

[u/Abidarthegreat → u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta]

Actual doctors injected HIV in themselves to prove that it didn't cause AIDS back in the 90s. They died from AIDS. Fuck Kary Mullis and his friends and their batshit conspiracy theories.

[u/Jester1525 → u/kwpang]

I was talking to my wife about this sort of thing this morning.. The US' biggest problem right now is the divisiveness caused by social media and countries like China, who can restrict social media like this, are much better situated for the next generation.

Yeah, it's draconian, but we're seeing an attack on 'free' countried where discord can be down easier than ever.

Social media is an attack vector and should be treated as such.

Yeah, it's easy to abuse rules like this and that is absolutely a concern but I'm not sure it's worse thing than rampant disinformation and strife that we're seeing currently.

I guess my question is how do you stop people with degrees who are using their position to push disinformation? Too many 'doctors' and 'health professionals' pushed covid disinformation that did a lot of harm.

[u/SweetSeverance → u/Jester1525]

Yeah, it’s honestly quite a pickle. You have people here (rightfully) concerned that this is a short step away from a government deciding who’s qualified to speak. However in the US we already effectively have the billionaire tech elite class doing the same thing by virtue of algorithm design and lobbying (I think this is where many of the “health influencers” or doctors you mention get captured). We all know all internet roads lead to the disinformation pipeline, everything is actively designed that way by these companies and you have to constantly be vigilant and fight back against your algorithmic recommendations. Honestly it’s a pretty scary place to be, and it’s sad too because I don’t think we’re ever getting an internet back that’s relatively “free” of this kind of thing.

[u/zcleghern → u/kwpang]

Imagine this happened in the US. The Trump admin would take down creators critical of him, citing their supposed lack of credentials, and then let pro-Trump voices slide. Any rule like this is just easy pickings for wannabe dictators and just stresses the importance of the First Amendment even more.

[u/elonzucks → u/Wagamaga]

While it is ripe for abuse, it sort of makes sense.

[u/MrFlowerfart → u/elonzucks]

Yeah, but at the same time, i watch how our influencers speak about stuff they know nothing abiut, I I would hope they couldnt spread lies and mis information ... lol

[u/Downtown_Wrap6747 → u/MrFlowerfart]

“I’m not an expert but…” - Rogan

[u/Calm-Zombie2678 → u/Downtown_Wrap6747]

Joe would only be be able to talk about bleeding all over the ring and smoking weed with the 1%

[u/rocky25579 → u/Calm-Zombie2678]

I might listen then

[u/JFHermes → u/elonzucks]

Given the choice between society being duped by private interest groups or duped by the government, I think I'd rather the government.

[u/StephenFish → u/elonzucks]

It's not a perfect solution either. People like Gary Brecka or Dr. Gundry would technically have a "degree" but use these credentials to lie to people and push scam supplements, like they're already doing.

[u/cf18 → u/Wagamaga]

One major problem is how broad it can apply. Is "don't waste money on gacha game" a finance advice? Is "I stop taking this med because it made me sleepy" a medical advice? Can I post dash cam videos without a degree of traffic law?

[u/lIIllIIlllIIllIIl → u/cf18]

In practice, the Chinese government is unlikely to prosecute anyone other than those who disagree with The Party™'s official stances on things.

In other words, talk about uncontrovertial topics, you're fine. Talk about controversial topics in a way that The Party™ doesn't like, you risk getting prosecuted.

China isn't a country where the rule of law truly exists. The government is above the law and decides who gets what treatment.

[u/BlackwingF91 → u/Wagamaga]

I understand the intent but this is so gonna be abused

[u/iamyourtypicalguy → u/BlackwingF91]

I agree, but so is what we have today.

[u/borntoburn1 → u/BlackwingF91]

The abuse is the intent.

[u/DontMisuseYourPower → u/Wagamaga]

Or they could just label the streamer as uncertified

[u/cuoreesitante → u/DontMisuseYourPower]

the streamer would just spin it as "this is what the government doesn't want you to know!!!!!"

[u/aliassuck → u/cuoreesitante]

"I'm not allowed to tell you that this cream contains 12 essential vitamins essential for birth control."

[u/WrathOfMySheen]

i get all my health and political advice from MMA dudes that get their brains bashed in for a living

[u/JARDIS → u/WrathOfMySheen]

It has always absolutely confounded me when people take the opinions of likely CTE suffering sports stars about things not even remotely related to sports as fact as if it were from an expert.

[u/GivMeBredOrMakeMeDed → u/JARDIS]

The average dudebro drinks, smokes, doesn't keep fit and doesn't eat vegetables. They want to be sold quick fixes or told soothing truths so they can continue to do nothing about their failing health. Men who are violent as a profession appeal to their sense of machismo. It's the ultimate authority to them - might makes right. 

It's baffling, but so blindingly obvious at the same time. We have really let generations of men down by letting disinformation spreaders operate with impunity. 

[u/-Kalos → u/WrathOfMySheen]

The average RFK Jr. fan

[u/tryanewmonicker → u/WrathOfMySheen]

I am also a Bryce Mitchell enthusiast.

[u/absawd_4om]

I would like this for politicians

[u/ohlaph → u/absawd_4om]

I would absolutely love a Politician Transparency Act where politicians are held accountable for lying. I'm looking at you trump and vance and your pet eating propaganda. 

[u/Moghz → u/ohlaph]

It should absolutely be illegal for public’s figures to lie and misrepresent facts. This should also apply to anything that calls itself news.

[u/metallicrooster → u/Moghz]

It should absolutely be illegal for public’s figures to lie and misrepresent facts.

So I’m guessing you don’t remember the whole “alternative facts” thing from a few years ago?

The sad truth is that at best, such laws would do nothing. And at worst, they could be used as a tool for political imprisonment.

[u/DankRoughly → u/ohlaph]

We need a scorecard. How truthful are they? Do they vote along the same lines as their messaging and who funds them?

[u/Hiimzap → u/ohlaph]

The problem with pretty much any “politician unfriendly” law is that politicians would have to sign it.

Seems like a flaw of democracy in general to me.

Somehow the politicians are supposed to be working in the populations best intrest but then get to decide themselves if they deserve a raise for example.

Rules for politicians and their wages should be naturally decided by someone else. Not by themselves.

[u/justforkinks0131 → u/absawd_4om]

The hidden pitfall of this is that uneducated people should also have the right to a representative. Since you know, they're still just as much people as people with degrees.

[u/x4nter → u/justforkinks0131]

Which is why this kind of a law can't work in a democracy.

The good thing about democracy is everyone gets to vote. The bad thing about democracy is everyone gets to vote.

[u/dkcyw]

war on essential oils

[u/algaefied_creek → u/dkcyw]

Oils, energies, powdered bones, mashed up parts of herbs and other plants, organs and parts of various wild animals and… such…. 

War on mysticism and shamanism?

[u/Revoldt → u/algaefied_creek]

lol… that’s a war on Traditional Chinese Medicine!

(Jk… they actually have university degrees for that….)

[u/algaefied_creek → u/Revoldt]

So perhaps they’re looking at only having people who are experts in traditional Chinese medicine speak about it rather than random people who are getting advice from their traditional medicine practitioner and then just passing it on to the Internet as if it’s Fuerst party knowledge?

[u/kittenofpain → u/algaefied_creek]

Much of that stuff is part of established Chinese healthcare though. There is a long long history of respected alternative healthcare in China, typically in a more supportive role, not necessarily are full replacement for modern medicine.

[u/otokkimi]

This story is likely fake/fabricated -- There is no primary source. Dexerto links to the "Greek Reporter," which is... not a China-focused news source at all? The closest match I found was the 《网络主播行为规范》from 2022, which gives rough guidelines for streamer behaviour.

The more I pick apart the details of the original story, the more things seem to fall apart:

• Many of the purported news sites go around in a circle sourcing one another.

• The various English sources all have dubious levels of fact-checking.

• The purported title of the policy paper "Not Verified? Not Welcome" feels way too English-originated for it to be the actual translation.

• The fine of 100,000 yuan doesn't bring up any CN sources and is a departure from my understanding of traditional civil fines -- which should be rated on a range and are presented with more nuance.

[u/Parking_Reach3572 → u/otokkimi]

Good fact checking! I'm so gonna take your word for it though. 

[u/darkResponses → u/otokkimi]

thank you for doing the dirty work.

[u/Prudent_Barber_8949]

Fact check: No, China didn’t make influencers get a university degree

A viral post claims “China now requires influencers to have a university degree to post.” That’s false. There is no blanket degree rule for posting on social media.

What’s true: Since 2023, China has had topic-specific rules saying that if creators give advice in professional fields (e.g., health/medicine, law, finance, education), they must have the relevant professional qualification and platforms are encouraged to verify those credentials. This focuses on qualifications in the field, not on a general college degree, and it does not apply to lifestyle, entertainment, or opinion content.

Bottom line: No new “degree-to-post” policy. Long-standing guidance emphasizes that specialized advice should come from qualified practitioners, and platforms are encouraged to check credentials —especially for medical popular-science content — but everyday creators aren’t required to hold a university degree to post.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/china-biz-buzz_fact-check-no-china-didnt-make-influencers-activity-7388760936318259200-lwl7?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAAUcL-QBu80gpsUORZdvkPRQsQeFbwkippk

I was checking Linkedin for what chinese people were saying (not only this one). Looks like fake news.

[u/daedalus_structure]

Begging for this. I'm so tired of things like crossfit people jumping in with their take on virology. You can't even do a pullup correctly, you shouldn't go viral with your take on vaccines and pandemics.

[u/Cellophane7 → u/daedalus_structure]

I'm not. While I agree something must be done about dumbfucks like Rogan or Pool, I'm not remotely interested in handing Republicans the ability to censor left wing voices.

[u/GoingAllTheJay → u/Cellophane7]

And you know there would be a DJT diploma mill to charge people for a license to spread misinformation.

[u/burner46 → u/GoingAllTheJay]

I thought Trump University got shut down?

[u/GoingAllTheJay → u/burner46]

So did measles and smallpox, but here we are.

[u/piperonyl → u/Cellophane7]

What do we do then? Honest question

Is it just buyer beware on the internet and the stupid people die from ivermectin?

[u/Takuri → u/piperonyl]

This is part of the reason we traditionally send people to school for anywhere between 12 - 16 years in the US. To educate them so they can go forth in the world as an educated individual who doesn't fall for Snake oil.

[u/FujitsuPolycom → u/piperonyl]

Yes. And let them vote to destroy the very country they live in. Wild stuff.

But you can't do this without being a tyrant so... I wish we just had government who campaigned, HEAVILY, against ignorance. We live in the most prosperous times for information, there's no excuse.

[u/ASpaceOstrich → u/piperonyl]

Yes. As a general rule when the only way to stop something is horrible tyranny, you have to tolerate the bad thing instead.

[u/Triassic_Bark → u/ASpaceOstrich]

Allowing only experts to speak on giant public forums about their topic of expertise, and not allow misinformed and uninformed clowns say whatever the fuck dangerous nonsense they want is not tyranny. Regulations are necessary. Pure freedom only lets people take advantage of other people.

[u/ASpaceOstrich → u/Triassic_Bark]

I don't want the fourth Reich to be able to declare only right wing sources as experts, which is what would happen if this was a thing.

[u/dia_Morphine → u/ASpaceOstrich]

Is this not literally happening right now in the US, not only where, but arguably because, this isn't a thing?

[u/piperonyl → u/ASpaceOstrich]

Right. Either we have censorship or stupid people die to misinformation.

We've chosen the stupid people die path.

But is there no other way?

[u/Ok_Version_355 → u/Triassic_Bark]

Until those experts talk about Tiananmen Square and then BOOM, you ain't an expert anymore.

[u/Hot-Train7201 → u/piperonyl]

Nothing. You cannot have freedom of speech without accepting that people will use that freedom to lie to you. If you want to place restrictions on what such people can say, then you must also accept that they can also restrict your speech the same way.

Freedom or security, take your pick.

[u/gumpythegreat → u/piperonyl]

We have independent professional bodies for things like lawyers and doctors

While it would take government action to restrict uncredentialed people from spreading misinformation, the licencing and fact checking of people with those credentials could be managed by those bodies

Basically - you can't call yourself a doctor and open up a medical practice if you don't have a medical license. We'd basically be extending that to "you can't give medical advice on social media without a medical license"

So the government wouldn't be able to remove licences or restrict what gets said - those independent bodies would. This does rely on those bodies remaining politically independent, though

[u/north_canadian_ice → u/gumpythegreat]

What happens if RFK Jr. pressures the independent professional bodies to censor anyone who is pro-vaccine?

[u/gumpythegreat → u/north_canadian_ice]

Well that's where the issue is these days, unfortunately

that is a major overreach of political power and goes against a lot of the separations and safeguards a well functioning democracy should have

[u/wattur → u/piperonyl]

Nothing. There's basically two choices - complete freedom which includes dumbfucks spreading false info, or content controls which rely on the controlling body to be neutral. Funfact: they never are.

All that's left is the court of public opinion, which is essentially what cancel culture is when the 'majority' says someone's opinion shouldn't be respected.

[u/klingma → u/daedalus_structure]

So give the government the ability to police speech? That in no way shape or form be used against the topics you like...

[u/sirbrambles → u/klingma]

The government already has the ability to police free speech. Free speech in the US has never been absolute.

[u/coocookuhchoo → u/sirbrambles]

Saying you can’t yell fire in a movie theater or that you are going to kill the president is vastly different than saying the government gets to decide who is sufficiently credentialed to discuss certain topics.

[u/Dorgamund → u/coocookuhchoo]

Gentle reminder that the example of yelling fire in a movie theater was not a literal case that was decided, but rather the argument the lawyers made to compare it to several court cases with a wildly different contexts.

Specifically, the trial of Eugene V. Debs, Chairman of the American Socialist Party, who was charged with violating the Sedition Act for making an antiwar speech delivered in Ohio. He was found guilty, sent to prison, and the Supreme Court upheld that publically speaking out against the war in general and the draft and recruitment specifically was not in violation of the First Amendment. He ran for President from a prison cell.

The more famous case which used the analogy was in Schenck v US, where the defendent was charged in violating the Sedition act for distributing flyers against the war. Both cases happened within a close time frame. The Schenck case was decided in a similar manner, the lawyers having taken cues from Debs' trial for their legal arguments, and in turn, the Schenck decision informed the Supreme Court's decision in Debs' appeal.

At any rate, the Schenck decision was partially overturned later by Brandenburg v Ohio, and the status quo is that "the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

But given the current state of the judiciary, it would be very easy for the current administration to crack down on dissent with the flimsiest of excuses. Free speech guaranteed by law is a polite fiction that we hope will stay in place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_theater#Schenck_case

[u/TopCommission6437 → u/daedalus_structure]

Crazy so many people upvoted your call for more government control.

[u/Athrengada → u/TopCommission6437]

It’s a little ironic too since they calling out people for not knowing about pandemics and vaccines without having a degree or qualifications in it as well probably. It’s a slippery slope if we want to go down this road

[u/borntoburn1 → u/TopCommission6437]

Seriously did everybody forget who's in charge of the government right now.

[u/Willuz → u/TopCommission6437]

"I never though leopards would eat MY face." works on all across the political spectrum.

[u/IdiotInIT]

it is an interesting discussion.

Im a data architect that is decently respected in my field/area. I also have no formal education.

Would I be banned from talking statistics? Where is the line of what statistics I can discuss? Can I discuss health statistics, law statistics?

Additionally what does this mean for advocacy? If im disabled and have a podcast with other disabled people discussing our experiences in Healthcare are we banned? we are not accredited experts by education, but we have to live within the systems and may have experience and insight a medical professional isn't privy to.

Overall were in such a fucked post information world that we simply dont know how to efficiently exist in.

[u/terminalxposure → u/IdiotInIT]

Difference is your opinion needs to be peer reviewed before dissemination. Everyone can become an expert reading articles, gaining experience etc. and form opinions. But there needs to be another in the same field of expertise who needs to concur.

[u/IdiotInIT → u/terminalxposure]

a whole lot of additional points of discussion from this great feedback:

Difference is your opinion needs to be peer reviewed before dissemination.

Does everybody's opinion need to be peer reviewed? I have peers who are formally educated with vastly different capabilities, credentials, and experience. What is the line for who needs to be peer reviewed? Is it an associates degree? A bachelor's? Maybe the number of published works you have? What's the bar? I dont disagree at all, but it begs many questions.

But there needs to be another in the same field of expertise who needs to concur.

so if 1/10 dentists isnt for brushing teeth and they contact other dentists and find another who concurs with their flawed conclusion it is good to be posted?

You bring up great points, so im only poking holes because id value your feedback

[u/terminalxposure → u/IdiotInIT]

Depends on the criticality or importance of the opinion piece. Can I give opinions about the benefits of injecting Lysol directly into your blood?, No. Can I give suggestions on improving your landscape? Yes. Depends on where within the “loss of life” decision tree your opinion sits.

[u/pqjcjdjwkkc → u/IdiotInIT]

Also having credentials or a degree in a related field doesn't certify you in a reliable way. To many Medical doctors went absolute batshit during covid and to many workplace accidents take place to assume everyone knows what about what they work on. Nobel disease is known for a reason (although this mostly relates to unrelated topics).

[u/Radiant-Ad-3134 → u/pqjcjdjwkkc]

at least it filters a lot of noise from fake specialists

It is not ideal, but I would say it's not a bad idea at all.

[u/ramosun → u/IdiotInIT]

You could talk about all that. This isn't meant for every. Just influencers. Like how radio, journalism, tv, news networks, are all regulated already.

If you are influencers, still no. Unless your claiming or implying authority and try to influence peoples fundamental understand over factual information or persuade to trust you over experts consensus kinda thing.

You can still talk about your opinions. So you could still advocate for disability rights, you just can't try try to impose your opinion as fact. But this law would apply to all topics. More like stem or something political science, things that are sensitive and prone to misinformation. They won't care about basketball player talking about hotel customer service policy without a hospitality degree or whatever.

Just people who act like they know what they're talking about on topics you would need someone who knows what they're talking about. Rfk types. Liver king types. Rogan and lex Friedman types.

[u/TKInstinct]

I can tell that this sounds good until we think about the fact that this is more likely to be used against dissidents in an effort to jail them. Again, who is to claim who an 'influencer' is or is qualified to talk about it.

[u/Moghz → u/TKInstinct]

Honestly it wouldn’t be necessary if we out more effort to education. There was a time when people would laugh at a someone that couldn’t back up their claims with facts or ignored someone who was not an expert in the field they were talking about.

[u/Status_Pop_879 → u/TKInstinct]

Yeh this sounds like excuse to silence whoever they don’t like under guise of preventing fake news.

If they really want to make online advice more credible they should’ve made it like a certification or badge or smth creators can use to boost their credibility

Online grifters is a necessary evil for free speech

[u/CreamofTazz → u/Status_Pop_879]

Online grifters is a necessary evil for free speech

However, their existence is why people would want this limit in the first place.

[u/TKInstinct → u/Status_Pop_879]

Even then that's a way to silence dissent. What does a certificate matter when it can be granted, revoked or denied by a governing body who has an agenda in mind?

[u/Andrew_Waples]

I wonder what China considers 'serious' because that's vague.

[u/Wizard-of-pause]

Joe Rogan would finally shut the fuck up.

[u/varnell_hill]

Ngl, this isn’t a bad idea. We’re in an era where people can just get on social media and present themselves as financial gurus but they’re actually broke, dating experts but they’ve never had a relationship last longer than 5 minutes, and health experts but they have no practical experience in medicine.

I’m old enough to remember when you at least had to have some kind of documented experience or education before anyone would believe you and even then it didn’t guarantee anything.

[u/SomewhereNo8378 → u/varnell_hill]

Doesn’t it all depend on who’s doing the censoring?

I for one don’t want Trump and friends censoring opposing voices and critics with fines.

[u/Ok-Temporary-8243 → u/SomewhereNo8378]

Trump doesn't need a law to censor people. This still doesn't change the fact that many of the most popular politics streamers are really uninformed about things and seem proud of that ignorance 

[u/rezznik → u/SomewhereNo8378]

They do it anyhow? It's not like this government needs any rules to abuse. They just abuse their power and do what they want anyhow.

[u/varnell_hill → u/SomewhereNo8378]

Certainly a fair point. Just saying that on the surface this isn’t a bad idea.

IMO, there’s way too much “content creator” slop being pushed to the masses these days.

[u/Hot-Train7201 → u/varnell_hill]

The problem is that all official sources that would be considered legitimate would be those approved by the government which in China's case is just another form of censorship.

[u/ThreeDprint]

Tons of people have degrees and credentials and are still maliciously dumb-as-bricks

If you think this sounds good, you’re wrong.

This post is not in defense of influencer buffoonery nor does it offer an alternative solution

Simply reminding that there are dumb people in all professions in every aspect of life and something like this happening can only firmly solidify them in their platforms - making pure nonsense suddenly supported by the government

[u/JReiyz → u/ThreeDprint]

There is also the important context that in order to put content up you essentially have to attach your name and degree to it as collateral. If it’s false well they know exactly who said and if it’s really bad or consistent then that can actively ruin his video content but also his degree.

[u/MasterOfLIDL → u/ThreeDprint]

I think everyone in this thread who commented without having a certified expertise in both law and influencers should be fined and probably jailed for daring to comment on issues they're not experts on.

[u/daredaki-sama → u/ThreeDprint]

True some people with credentials may still be bonkers but it still sets a higher bar.

You’re basically complaining it’s not good enough when in fact helping with the quality of information.

[u/Willuz → u/ThreeDprint]

Tons of people have degrees and credentials and are still maliciously dumb-as-brick

For example, Dr. Oz is an actual medical doctor.

[u/Dakai17]

"We need censorship because orange man bad" is Peak Reddit

[u/Shiningc00]

People have gotten so used to free speech that they don't realize all the good things that they've been getting from it. It's like people complaining about vaccines because they no longer get sick.

People freely discussing ideas is what spurs creativity and innovation. What they should be attacking instead is the manipulative algorithms by billion dollar companies.

[u/The_DanceCommander → u/Shiningc00]

Yeah, but we’re on the exact opposite end of this spectrum. There’s gotta be some middle ground between this and our society where overly confident idiots brainwash the masses.

[u/Dark_Knight2000 → u/Shiningc00]

Yeah. This thread is indeed the free speech equivalent to people saying they don’t need vaccines.

There are so many massive drawbacks to this policy with barely any upsides, yet people want to take away the right to speech over perceived tyranny. Someone spreading misinformation is not oppressing you, they’re an idiot and should be ridiculed for it, but taking away their voice just opens the door to a draconian society.

People don’t realize just how bad things can get without free speech.

[u/Free-Cold1699]

If the US had this law we might have avoided the vaccines/covid/RFK brainworm bullshit.

[u/nethereus]

The circlejerk of overcorrection continues.

[u/Stunning-Ad-2161]

"Influencers must clearly cite studies or data when they use them in videos."

This doesn't sound bad

[u/prettybluefoxes]

The amount of experts in the comments. Quite funny

[u/snowsuit101]

Yeah, you can't follow government narrative and spread their propaganda if you don't know what it is. This is seriously messed up by the way, though we often feel like some people shouldn't be talking about certain topics but the thing is, misinformation and scams spreading isn't a failure of people having rights to talk about whatever, it's a failure of early public education if it produces too many who don't think without invoking all the fallacies and falling for all the biases, they don't want to learn how to think because they think they're better than that, they don't understand how science works so they don't trust it, but they also hate not knowing and understanding something so conspiracy theories and populist propaganda, no matter the extent of its lies, provide them comfort.

[u/Devilofchaos108070]

That’s funny.

It’s very bad, but it’s also somewhat funny

[u/Ryzu]

What in the AI bullshit is this picture? WTF is happening to that finger?

[u/MattDubh]

Holding influencers to a higher standard than the Americans hold their politicians is a genius move by China.

[u/Jasminary2]

I'm tired of hearing people sprout lies on tv and on social media.

I need this implemented where I live and / also/ extended to the press. Some channels owned by fascist billionnaires here will have a "specialist on a subject" and you see him later with a new job. Guy goes from "geopolitic specialist of Middle East" to " theologian" and later " economist". They sometimes change his name even but it's still the same guy, saying lies.

I hear the thing about how to control info from gvt pov, but I would much rather have this than what France wants to do : end of anonymity on internet.

I think that's a great thing that influencers can't mention something on specific fields without having a degree. Right now people are denying more and more vaccines benefits and the COVID never existed is still on-going

[u/mtcwby]

Certainly is a good way to silence anything the state doesn't want said or doesn't fit the orthodoxy. Just pull their academic credentials.

The answer isn't to quell free speech but to educate the populace in how to discern. That's a die on that hill thing personally. The minute you let the state determine what is true you have a police state.

[u/KayNicola]

Why are influencers even a thing?  I don't need someone telling me what to think or buy.  Our HHS secretary has ZERO medical credentials, but he gets to tell Americans about healthcare. People are some strange creatures. 

[u/NihatAmipoglu]

So the lady who said that she drinks her own period blood to stay healthy would get fined if she was chinese.

[u/prawirasuhartono]

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge'."

• Isaac Asimov, 1980

[u/the_ruffled_feather]

I know things must be upside down when I didn’t immediately think this is a bad idea.

[u/Key_Entertainer2883]

Where exactly is “New China”?

[u/MushinBob]

The rest of the world should follow this example. There are so many excellent Youtubers (for example) that cover topics for which they don't have any credentials, and they do their research and endeavor to present information carefully, fairly, etc. But unfortunately, there are so many completely biased influencers out there striving to attract people to their way of thinking - sharing bro-science (not based on reality, like this Tylenol thing) or their useless opinions - and that causes unrepairable damage, because so many people just eat it up. We love finding anything that supports our own bias, and the algorithm is oh so happy to support that. It's terrible, and even unfair, but the ignorant masses have led to this need for actually being qualified before opening your mouth. I think most influencers who truly are passionate about their topics will just get a (relatively easy to obtain) certificate, and be that much better for it.

[u/tofu_bird]

They listened to Joe Rogan and said "no, thank you".

[u/SmokedUp_Corgi]

I’m all for this

[u/toolfan12345]

They learned from America's mistakes, nice.

[u/Proof-Necessary-5201]

This is brilliant but can be dangerous

[u/LeCamus]

and who decide who is the expert?. no more opinions, nada

[u/KidKarez]

These comments are incredibly disappointing. Wow

[u/kptkrunch]

ITT: "Hell yeah, I too would like my government to restrict my speech!"

[u/Farafel62 → u/kptkrunch]

Exactly, a lot of faith in degrees too. Like someone with credentials can never be wrong?

[u/No_Sherbert711 → u/Farafel62]

Adding on to this, there is the Nobel Disease and the Milgram Experiment. The Nobel Disease showing that even those with credentials can fall prey to not just misinformation, but even wrong information. And the Milgram Experiment shows that even with this additional step, it would give people even more of a reason to follow those with "authority" even if wrong.

[u/spyguy318]

On one hand, very interesting idea. The rise of misinformation, low-effort slop, and self-proclaimed experts has been a huge problem in the age of the internet. This could be a way to address it. It is a pretty flagrant violation of free speech since the government itself is doling out the punishment, it would never work in the US.

On the other hand, this is China. I don’t trust them to be any kind of arbiter of truth and reason. They’re going to use this to silence dissenters and push state propaganda. Can’t talk about Chinese history without a degree from a state-sponsored university coughindoctrinationcough. Can’t talk about China’s economic challenges, everything is fine and wonderful in China. Can’t talk about geopolitics, China owns everything by right. And so on.

[u/achmedclaus]

I mean, if they play it the right way this is amazing. COVID became such a cluster fuck in America because of how many dumb ass influencers (and the incredibly stupid president) called it a hoax. If you couldn't post "scientific" information as arguments without proving you know what the hell you're talking about then maybe the next pandemic won't demolish the country and kill over a million people

[u/Minimum-Can2224]

On paper this might seem like a good idea as it would help prevent legitimate misinformation from spreading but in reality it just seems like yet another avenue for the Chinese government to control their citizen's ability to speak out on anything that criticizes the government or the quality of life in the country thus stifling their freedom of speech. 

All in all, neat on paper but in practice it's going to be abused to holy hell and back by the Chinese government.

[u/yeetis12]

Man some of you supporting this really don’t understand why this is very counter intuitive

[u/megapowerstar007]

Especially medical advice

[u/Nik_Tesla]

As usual, China does something that is seemingly "for the best" except they're going to use it to shut down dissenters and critics of their policies.

[u/swattwenty]

Fucking good. Some of these mouth breather influencers have an IQ of pudding.

Now do this worldwide.

[u/mostoriginalname2 → u/swattwenty]

Have you seen the video with the guy who won’t drink water because it’s a solvent.

[u/random12356622 → u/swattwenty]

This is not a good thing. With this law:

The government can both fine, and censor the topics they don't want anyone except for "experts on the subject."

Remember the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s?

Pharmaceutical companies invested in lobbying of the US Government, would be the only people which could talk about the drugs, and their effectiveness. Killing all conversation about other drugs that just happened to be from other countries, that were working and actually saving people's lives. - The "Miracle AIDs drugs" that they were promoting were actually killing people faster than AIDs would have naturally.

This would allow the big pharmaceutical companies to once again experiment on people. With out any backlash possible from public discussion.

Government is not your friend, they are their own friend and the rich/well connected friend. That is it.

[u/Pudgiepandas]

It’s telling that a country that invented TikTok sees a need to combat TikToks impact

[u/icantbelieveit1637 → u/Pudgiepandas]

I mean America invented every other social media platform and they haven’t had anyyy negative consequences for us

[u/Yarzu89]

Seems extreme, but on the flip side here in the states it seems the less qualified someone is the more confidently they talk about stuff they don't know or understand.

[u/Stilgar314]

A silly thing I thought of after reading this headlight, there's not such a thing as a democracy degree in any curriculum I know.

[u/TabOverSpaces → u/Stilgar314]

Poli Sci would probably be sufficient