Cancel culture invited to PlayStation: Sony enables RECORDING of game chats & lets players TATTLE on each other for hate speech

A software update launched this week for the PlayStation 4 video-game system included an alert, warning users that “voice chats may be recorded for moderation” and that “by joining, you agree to being recorded.” A separate “safety” notice explained that gamers would be able to send recordings of chat conversations to Sony when alleged violations of the “community code of conduct” occur.

“When behaviors that violate the community code of conduct are reported, PlayStation Safety will review the reports to check if there have been genuine violations,” the notice said. “These recordings will be used only for safety and moderation purposes.” The company added that the code of conduct is meant to ensure that the game network is “fun for everyone.”

The new tattling feature also will be included on Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5 console when it’s released next month. The PlayStation network’s code of conduct bans such behavior as using “hate speech,” bullying, stalking or failing to “be inclusive” regardless of “gender identity, sexual orientation, race” and other characteristics “that people use to label others or divide communities.”

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The potential consequences of being banned from the network are catastrophic from a gamer’s perspective, including losing the ability to play multi-player games with friends and losing access to the games and applications they have saved on the system. One gaming enthusiast said the threat of being banned is a powerful means of control: “losing your entire game library as a means to keep you in line.”

The software update was rolled out just a few months after Sony made PlayStation the first video-game platform to join with the Anti-Defamation League in a boycott campaign to pressure Facebook to ramp up its censorship of allegedly hateful speech. PlayStation’s advertising and other activity on Facebook and Instagram was suspended throughout July.

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Twitter commenters said the new feature will have a chilling effect on their gaming experience and diminish the system’s value to them. “Welcome to the politically correct, cancel-culture society,” one observer said. Another tweeted, “This is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. RIP PS4 party chats.”

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