Anti-communism and fascism are historically in lock-step. No one is going to use the services if you basically create web4 stormfront.

> so fascism would be firmly out

This goes to prove my point, that there's a gross misunderstanding of history in the general population.

Fascism doesn't use force to get political power, it gains political power through reactionary ideas based on false assumptions that leads to a fascist regime where the violence then occurs on the "other".

It comes through ideas such as "protecting your family", "returning to tradition", and other feel good sayings that mean almost nothing. Think of the phrase "Woke", taken from black community vernacular and twisted to mean almost nothing at all. It describes everything and anything that can make a conservative person upset, from queer people to mental health professionals.

Despite meaning nothing, oh boy has it taken root. Beer is woke, tv is woke, the black guy in star wars is woke for existing. And oh man look how easy it is to take root and now millions of people live their life by the "anti-woke" lifestyle. What does that lifestyle mean? idk, buying shes just to light them on fire, i guess.

This is why communist regimes had gulags. Fascism takes root through reactionary(meaning feelz over realz) ideas, typically against change. A revolution is something hard fought, why would they allow it to be derided by some idiots who miss when they owned all their neighbors land?

What I'm trying to say is one end of the spectrum is at a huge advantage when it comes to free speech environments, for the fascist does not need to argue in good faith. Going by "philosophies that support the use of force..." will get you a lot of a certain group.

“What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale.” Network, 1976

Further, free speech must be defended despite the modern liberal tendency to cut off the majority’s noses to spite nazi faces. If you’re gonna fight nazis, fight nazis, don’t throw out fundamental human rights. They know they can taint principles, signs, and symbols with their stench. Don’t give up essential freedoms out of guilt by association. These charlatans have no political theory, no examined ideology. It’s a power struggle and we’ve already ceded too much power.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how they were being anti-communist or fascist in your eyes.

Consider the phrase "tankie", what was once a term used by communists to describe a militaristic member who supported the USSR sending tanks into Hungary, has become a general phrase for anyone showing critical support to any socialist project.

Socialists are essentially told they are not allowed to support any previously or currently existing project because bad things were done, are told they're doing whataboutism if they compare the actions to western actions, and are called a tankie if they decide to stop caring about what liberals and right wing people say.

China IS a socialist project, are they strictly a socialist country? No. Did they perform the most thorough and equitable land reforms in the history of Humanity? Yes. Do they wield central power for central planning economic activities? Sometimes. Are they operating on a 100% worker ownership of industry? no, but they have a non-insignificant public ownership of industry, co-opting privately owned industry to steer activities with greater control and hold certain business leaders accountable.

I'm sorry to say, but "current day CCP conforms to the definition of fascism" just isn't correct and goes to prove the point that the meaning of words is mostly ignored. Fascism != Authoritarianism. There was a massive effort post WWII through the cold war to create anti-communist propaganda that simply wasn't true. You had actual ex members of the Nazi party leading anti-communist endeavors. The black book of communism counts Nazis as deaths from communism. The Victims of Communism memorial foundation is literally a mask on far-right thinktanks such as the heritage foundation.

That being said, the West is grossly lied to about China day to day. It is in various interests to have an enemy. To the point where one man can write a report identifying a "future cultural genocide" which was simply a reduction in growth of a population due to 1 and 2 child laws being imposed on a group that was exempt prior, as an actual, in-progress genocide. If you point this out, people call you a genocide denier.

That same man is a director of China Studies, at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

I apologize for this long winded rant, but yes, if you found an internet presence on being "anti-ccp", you're starting off on a literal fascist foot. The community will deride any left leaning voice, call any voice that says "hey china did a good thing here", as a "tankie", and it will become an echo chamber for right-wing hate speech.