#wattpad

We’ve all seen them by now and we have heard of them. If you haven’t, look at this link before reading my take on this huge change.The question I want to ask is: When did people start to think that literature should be “safe”?

With these new guidelines on Wattpad I’m convinced they want everything to be baby smooth, without a wrinkle, and free of any lesson, consequence, action, freedom of speech, and genuine story.

I want to be very clear and say that Wattpad isn’t trying to ban JUST SMUT. No, this isn’t about them banning smut at all. They are trying to ban anything on the website that isn’t meticulously chosen by them.

It’s a form of big censorship they are trying to mask as saying it’s “safe” when in reality they want to filter anything they don’t like.

So you could be asking- what does that mean? It means they can censor whatever they like and they don’t have to play by the rules. They are basically giving themself a whole open world where they don’t have to give a reason to nuke stories or their authors from their platform.

Why is this so serious? Because it shows other websites and also big groups, companies, or even big people in power that you can call something censorship for “safety” when it reality it’s not safe, it’s just control. Suddenly you can’t write about a touching story losing her child because it’s too “mentally stressful”. Suddenly you can’t mention politics in a book because it’s “promoting violence or hate speech”. Suddenly writing about the everyday struggles of a black woman is considered too “taboo” because it might not be “safe”.

There will never be anything in this world known as a “safe” book.

Books are meant for lessons, entertainment, consequences, fun, hatred, sadness, etc. BOOKS ARE VOICES. Sometimes it’s just a silly crack fic, sometimes it’s a deep story about a mother who lost her kid and who wants revenge. And Wattpad, as cringe as it is, is a way for MANY people to have a voice. Just like AO3, Tumblr, Quotev, etc. Writers are valid on every platform.

It’s because of platforms like this that people get a chance to share wonderful stories but monitoring anything that’s graphic, whether it be a smidge of blood or violence, or lessons on hate speech or war.

wattpad essentially banned smut, triggering a lot of users to flood AO3 seeking a new place to enjoy free and uncensored fanfictions

only for some of them to report fics they deem "unethical" and "inappropriate"

am I