The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance.
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The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance. When Mullvad tried to criticise this with the TV ad “And Then?”, it was banned on British television.
@mullvadnet Was a reason given why it was banned? I’m so curious how they’d rationalize that.
Good ad, BTW. -
The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance. When Mullvad tried to criticise this with the TV ad “And Then?”, it was banned on British television.
Every time a government says 'we need backdoor access for safety' what they actually mean is 'we want to break encryption for everyone including the criminals we claim to be targeting'
Because here is the thing: backdoors do not check IDs. If the UK government can use it, so can hackers, hostile states, and the exact people they say they want to stop
You cannot build a door that only opens for the good guys. That is not how doors work
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@mullvadnet
> the TV ad “And Then?” […] was banned on British television.
Source?@light@noc.social @mullvadnet@mastodon.online it doesn't seem to have been reported on yet*, but here's their actual article: https://mullvad.net/en/and-then/uk
Excerpt:When we wanted to make our voice heard and criticise mass surveillance in the UK, Mullvad was rejected by Clearcast, the organization responsible for approving all TV ads in the UK and ensuring they comply with the rules set by the authorities (“we don’t write the rules – we just make sure they’re followed”, as stated on their website). The arguments were many, but among other things they wrote:
Quick aside to Mullvad: Loading this page nearly crashes my phone, please make it less heavy!
- “The overall concept lacks clarity.”
- “It is unclear why certain examples are included, who the ‘speaker’ represents, and the role of individuals depicted in the car.”
- “Several examples (e.g., paedophiles, rapists, murderers) risk causing serious offence and could imply that the VPN facilitates criminal activity.”
- “Referencing topics such as: Paedophiles, Rapists, Murderers, Enemies of the state, Journalists, Refugees, Controversial opinions, People’s bedrooms, Police officers, Children’s headsets … is inappropriate and irrelevant to the average consumer’s experience with a VPN.”
* apart from by a single journal talking about similar troubles they had with the EU some months ago? -
The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance. When Mullvad tried to criticise this with the TV ad “And Then?”, it was banned on British television.
@mullvadnet This kind of misinformation makes me rethink resubscribing to your services in the next week. Dont try to play the bad kids your a fucking company.
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@ret @mullvadnet it wasn’t banned. A private company didn’t clear it for broadcast. Mullvad didn’t try to make it compliant because it suits their commercial interests to claim it was banned. They get more free publicity this way and get to present themselves as the underdog. https://mullvad.net/en/and-then/uk
@mullvadnet and they are not the underdog??!!
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@mullvadnet hold up! Mullvad wasn't censored. that word has a particular, specific meaning, and unlike most private organisations that might deny someone a platform, Clearcast has a judicial review ruling saying that it's a private, non-governmental body:
had Mullvad's ad been banned by the ASA, that would have been censorship - and indeed, since the ASA also monitors billboard ads, that might still happen... but what happened here was that nobody who broadcast the ads would broadcast Mullvad's, which is probably not terribly surprising given that they're all owned by companies with a vested interest in not letting VPNs get a foothold.
moreover, it was just that ad that was rejected. not Mullvad as a whole.
And then? And then Mullvad was censored in the UK.
UK ramps up censorship & surveillance. Mullvad's critical TV ad "And Then?" was banned. Watch it here.
Mullvad VPN (mullvad.net)
@mewsleah @mullvadnet disagree partially. An ad being banned by the ASA does not automatically equate to censorship unless the reason is the ad being within the rules/law but being banned solely on the message being unacceptable for "reasons".
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@mullvadnet and they are not the underdog??!!
@whatevs @mullvadnet not really the point but no, they’re no more underdog than anyone else who has to abide by the advertising rules.
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The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance. When Mullvad tried to criticise this with the TV ad “And Then?”, it was banned on British television.
@mullvadnet at the end should have added: Why don't we just monitor everybody and everything? Except the politicians, for safety reasons, of course.
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@mullvadnet This kind of misinformation makes me rethink resubscribing to your services in the next week. Dont try to play the bad kids your a fucking company.
@Gh0stlyM0use @mullvadnet Can you elaborate more on why you think this is misinformation? I'm not trying to argue or say you are wrong but I want to understand why since I also use this VPN service and I want to know more about the whole situation.
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@Gh0stlyM0use @mullvadnet Can you elaborate more on why you think this is misinformation? I'm not trying to argue or say you are wrong but I want to understand why since I also use this VPN service and I want to know more about the whole situation.
@Miren_11 @mullvadnet Basically mullvad did a uk ad which they said was banned but it just didnt meet the requitements and had nothing to do with content. This post is a reply from the main mullvad post.
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@Miren_11 @mullvadnet Basically mullvad did a uk ad which they said was banned but it just didnt meet the requitements and had nothing to do with content. This post is a reply from the main mullvad post.
@Gh0stlyM0use @mullvadnet I see, thank you for the explaination, altought it didn't meet the criteria I still think is pretty bizzare why they didn't let mullvad air their ad while in other countries it was fine. Their statements of the reason why they didn't want to air the ad makes no really sense for me. It still seems like clickbait from mullvad saying they banned it tho lol, so I get everybody's point. Mullvad should speak about this.
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@Gh0stlyM0use @mullvadnet I see, thank you for the explaination, altought it didn't meet the criteria I still think is pretty bizzare why they didn't let mullvad air their ad while in other countries it was fine. Their statements of the reason why they didn't want to air the ad makes no really sense for me. It still seems like clickbait from mullvad saying they banned it tho lol, so I get everybody's point. Mullvad should speak about this.
@Miren_11 @mullvadnet pretty much. Its a big pile of nothing but just pretty over companies generating false outrage for coverage.
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@whatevs @mullvadnet not really the point but no, they’re no more underdog than anyone else who has to abide by the advertising rules.
@spzb so they are underdog. And if it’s not the point, why did you mention it?
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The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance. When Mullvad tried to criticise this with the TV ad “And Then?”, it was banned on British television.
@mullvadnet these days it seems like it is the elite, not the masses, that needs to be surveilled ....
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The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance. When Mullvad tried to criticise this with the TV ad “And Then?”, it was banned on British television.
@mullvadnet Really good ad.
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@ret @mullvadnet Mullvad's own account is here.
And then? And then Mullvad was censored in the UK.
UK ramps up censorship & surveillance. Mullvad's critical TV ad "And Then?" was banned. Watch it here.
Mullvad VPN (mullvad.net)
there's nothing to complain to the ASA about - the ad was rejected by the TV companies' own (private, joint-owned) pre-vetting body, and mainly on grounds of quality and clarity.
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O that ordinal person shared this topic
