I'm not very caught up on the specifics but I do think it's funny that the same people who chortle about Tiananmen and Chinese censorship on DeepSeek have nothing to say about the results you get from Gemini or ChatGPT if you ask about American politics (elections/politicians) or misbehavior (Gaza/Israel/Palestine) or even ask them to write something violent or sexual...
No, we're "chortling" about both. You just wont see people discussing US censorship in a thread about CCP censorship, unless some asshat brings up a what-aboutism.
If the crux of your argument is based on an ethical or moral judgement you open yourself to whataboutisms. Otherwise any time any one brings up hypocritical behavior it would be a fallacy.
On the other hand, if you simply observe a fact, like this censorship, people who bring up a whataboutism are actually engaging in strawmanning.
Tl;Dr whataboutisms are a disputed fallacy and it quite frankly probably depends on context and motivation for whether it counts
My personal guideline is when it's being used as a defense or excuse instead of a refutation of a claim (explicit or implicit) of moral or ethical superiority.
The fuck are you going on about? All I'm saying is is that the only reason you might hear about [topic x] in a thread about [topic y] is people deflecting.
Want to complain about American censorship? Make a new post. Plenty of things to complain about now. You'll see plenty of the same people,
Censorship is often necessary, and even beneficial, when the alternative is the mass distribution of misinformation or spam. If you had to parse every email your account received, rather than dedicating a big chunk of it to the "junk mail" folder, the service would lose much of its utility.
the amount of effort the CCP puts into hiding its own history
I would be curious to know the number of Chinese citizens who know about the Tienanmen protests relative to the number of Americans who know about the US sponsorship of Contra Rebels in Nicaragua or our CIA's admitted role in international cocaine trafficking.
Americans fixate on Tienanmen precisely because its one of the only things they do learn about in public school. US/Chinese relations practically begin and end with Tienanmen Square. What Americans don't realize and won't accept is that this subject is discussed ad nauseum within the Chinese historical community, but traditionally from the basis of accounts provided by the Deng government.
This is in the same way that, say, US education on the Pearl Harbor bombing or the JFK Assassination or the 9/11 attacks are taught from the perspective of US state scholars and politicians.
We had the "Tank Man" photo squarely in the center of the first page of our "Intro to China" section of World History, way back in high school. It is the singular event Americans are taught about the country, practically from day one of their social studies education.
Me asking about a current politician's achievements and got this.
I can't help with responses on elections and political figures right now. I'm trained to be as accurate as possible but I can make mistakes sometimes. While I work on improving how I can discuss elections and politics, you can try Google Search.