Steem Community Accuses Justin Sun of Removing Hive Hard Fork Content On Steemit

STEEM Community calls out censorship on Steemit

The Medium-like decentralized platform, Steemit Inc. is being accused by parts of the STEEM community for censoring content related to the planned hard fork, Hive. Well according to one crypto trader and educator, Girl Gone Crypto, Steemit took down her neutral explanatory video on the planned hard fork on Mar. 20. She explained on Twitter,

Well, it finally happened. I had my content censored. I just always figured it would happen on Youtube… not Steemit. 😳

Hear how my neutral explainer video about the new #hive blockchain just got removed by Justin Sun on https://t.co/qyTNoW5Xp7. #steem #hiveisalive pic.twitter.com/IZHSynCi4v

— Girl Gone Crypto (@girlgone_crypto) March 19, 2020

The post which has now garnered over 400 social engagements on Twitter seems to have rattled the Hive community. Jon Olson, a Steem community member wrote,

“This is a pretty big deal. And if you ask me, the ENTIRE reason why this community is forking to $HIVE. There should be no doubt now, this is the right move.”

Exchanges in support of the hard fork?

As the community awaits the hard fork, set to happen in some hours, the exchanges are yet to give a unanimous decision on the way forward for the blockchain –similar to the Bitcoin Cash / Bitcoin SV split. Bittrex exchange is expected to take a snapshot of the balances in Steem Dollars (SBD) and Steem (STEEM) and credit holders Hive (HIVE) and Hive dollars (HBD) in a ratio of 1:1. Binance and Huobi will also join in supporting the hard fork to HIVE.

Statement on the Steem network ($STEEM, $SBD) and the proposed Hive ($HIVE, $HBD) hard fork:
https://t.co/yDKGNmXLVz pic.twitter.com/Icq82N3PGf

— Bittrex (@BittrexExchange) March 19, 2020

Over the past week, the price SBD has shot up over 150% as users anticipate the hard fork, which will airdrop new tokens to their wallets

Image: Coinstats

Is the community in support of the Hive hard fork?

According to the founder of the second-largest dApp platform on STEEM, Steempeak’s Scott Jarvie, a large part of the community is increasingly showing signs of moving to the new fork, Hive. In a poll conducted between staying on STEEM and moving to Hive, Jarvie explained that a majority of the users showed interest in moving. With over 200 participants commenting on the post, Jarvie deduced that the “community wants out.” He wrote,

“I have read through every post and am hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't want to move to Hive. We asked them to be honest and we would make sure they wouldn't get attacked on comments if they were firm in their resolution to stay on Steem.”

However, there remain Steem supporters who see the current planned hard fork – excluding Sun’s tokens – as a move to steal “hard-earned cash” from investors and violation of the private sanctity of users’ assets. Justin Sun, who has remained rather mum during the hard fork planning, threw a dig at the STEEM community planning the hard fork on Twitter.

“When #Bitcoin invented, the beauty of the cryptos is that no one can take them from you,” Sun wrote “The sanctity of private property is guaranteed by the math and code behind it. Freezing people's funds violates the basic foundation of cryptocurrency.”

I am watching closely if @eth_classic overtakes @ethereum it would be a strong demonstration that decentralization and immutable quality of the blockchain really matters. 😍

— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) March 19, 2020