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NEWS: Sina Weibo Reverses Decision Regarding Gay-Content Ban




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Admiral Pizzaman



Joined: 08 Apr 2014
Posts: 504
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:38 am Reply with quote
That's awesome news to hear! It was really bad idea to ban gay content in the first place and I guess the fear of losing profits are much more effective than anything else.
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John Hayabusa



Joined: 30 May 2012
Posts: 1270
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:51 am Reply with quote
Well that was pretty quick. They should have known better in this modern time and it is good for them to reverse their decision
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Яeverse



Joined: 16 Jun 2014
Posts: 1135
Location: Indianapolis
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:14 am Reply with quote
They must have had an immediate and noticeable drop in users in the day immediately after the announcement.
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Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 752
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:42 am Reply with quote
Good to know that, even in China, Public Outcry can get the job done... or was it the subtle hints of the Communist Party instead? Well... Whatever. Good to know they're not moving forward with this nonsense.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
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Joined: 29 Dec 2001
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:02 am Reply with quote
Hellsoldier wrote:
or was it the subtle hints of the Communist Party instead?


LOL, no. The CPC would not have told them ease the rules. They probably had to beg for permission and show that it was having a serious effect on their business. I'm very surprised by the outcome actually.

There's a federal ban in China banning the depiction of LGBT+ relationships (and any other "vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content") in TV shows and web-dramas.

-t
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:48 am Reply with quote
It will be interesting to see if they have really changed their mind or if they will simply continue with their original plans. After all it isn't like the censors have to explain why they removed something.
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Engineering Nerd



Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:26 pm Reply with quote
Tempest wrote:


LOL, no. The CPC would not have told them ease the rules. They probably had to beg for permission and show that it was having a serious effect on their business. I'm very surprised by the outcome actually.

There's a federal ban in China banning the depiction of LGBT+ relationships (and any other "vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content") in TV shows and web-dramas.

-t


I think I will add some perspective as a Chinese native, since there was a huge storm in Chinese networks yesterday regarding this incident.


According to the official announcement and how quick the weibo acted, many speculate it was all thanks to Global Times and People's Dailies (Newspaper sponsored by the federal Chinese government) highly criticized Weibo's decision via social platform for being "too lazy and backwards" and "2D manga is guilt-free and harmless in this particular situation".


Weibo did the cleaning and deleting themselves without government told them to (oh lord) since they are gaining the reputation globally for hosting LGBT+ comics, apparently they don't like that. But...What Chinese government said is not encouraging LGBT+ creations but rather an act of apathy: We are too busy to deal with trade wars and international affairs, ain't got no time for 2D stuff.

Actually, Chinese government's current stance on LGBT+ is basically a state of apathy: You are free to exist, free to live as normal, but don't be vocal (aka any form of media promotion or attention) about it, if you don't like it, move abroad. (I know that sounds really cringyworthy, but with my life experiences in China and a few of my LGBT Chinese buddies, that IS the realty they have to deal with)


It's long and slow process for social progression and reform, but at least things are moving to the right direction (albeit sometimes a few backwards on the way)
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:41 pm Reply with quote
Engineering Nerd wrote:
It's long and slow process for social progression and reform, but at least things are moving to the right direction (albeit sometimes a few backwards on the way)


One step forward and ten steps back. It is sickening to see that some places still treat homosexuality like it's some evil disease that can be cured by trying to turn gay people straight or kept out of public sight by sweeping its very existence under the carpet.
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Nacirema



Joined: 21 Mar 2015
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:49 pm Reply with quote
They can still censor stuff by saying it "vulgar" instead of saying it got gay content. So any Chinese yaoi/BL can get automatically classify as sexual and removed. Also it interesting there a component where they go after violent video games and there not really a response to that. What happen to all the video games defenders?

Really hope that people not going to turn this into a opportunity to do PR for the Chinese regime. The situation is bad and they still going on a campaign on vulgar/violent content which also include a lot of gay content. A lot of people seem cognizant of this but on some websites it seem they like to spin this into how enlightened the government is.
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ultimatehaki



Joined: 27 Oct 2012
Posts: 1090
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:24 pm Reply with quote
I'm surprised they reversed it. Did they really ban gay content and expect there to be no backlash? Are they really so brain dead?
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wohdin



Joined: 10 Jun 2011
Posts: 352
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:18 pm Reply with quote
China.exe has stopped working.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 7:05 am Reply with quote
This makes some of the views of some ultra-conservative Americans seem liberal.
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