The problem is more that they're holding several large bona fide communities hostage this way. For example !linux@lemmy.ml is by far the most active Linux community on Lemmy, and because of network effect it's not easy to get people to move to another instance.
It would take something huge to get people to move, for example some of the larger instances like lemmy.world defederating lemmy.ml.
Yeah the modlog is where you can normally see them. Mind you they seem to selectively purge the modlog too, presumably to hide their obvious censorship bias.
I didn't react to any of the "but the West also..." comments. I replied directly to the top level of the post, linking to an article that goes in depth on what actually happened as most people in the West nowadays only know about the iconic tank man image.
Living in the bubble of "CCP did nothing wrong (and we will ban you from all your favorite communities if you dare to disagree)" isn't exactly a great alternative.
So it seems they do indeed clean up the modlog... my bans are still in there, but all mod actions where they removed China critical comments are no longer there.
Network effect is a thing.
So just so I know, if I took your advice and blocked lemmy.ml, does that mean I'm also blocking comments from all lemmy.ml users on communities on other instances?
Yeah, but for example !linux@lemmy.ml is the only reasonably active community on Linux, and one of the communities I frequent the most.
Getting downvoted is one thing. There is definitely a certain bias in the wider fediverse community on this topic, so it's normal that your comments aren't received well. It isn't manipulative and probably an accurate reflection of what the community thinks.
What lemmy.ml is doing is more insidious though. They are manipulating the discussion by actively muzzling users with dissenting opinions.
Maybe your instance has defederated from it?
Also I think the activity level is measured as activity from your instance, not globally.
What is that?
No they don't. I received a two week ban in the wake of the API protests, never got an explanation why or what comment triggered it.