China issued new regulations on Friday regarding online video content, directing streaming platforms to eliminate a range of programs in yet another tightening of controls on the Chinese internet.
Among the films, dramas and cartoons targeted by the China Netcasting Services Assocation’s (CNSA) rules are those “demonstrating ‘abnormal’ sexual relations or acts, such as…homosexuality.” Online video platforms must hire at least three “professional censors” to watch every program from beginning to end and remove those that do not adhere to “correct political and aesthetic standards,” as published in a report.
New censorship in China
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Providers are asked to produce programs that “center on the people and promote socialist values and Chinese culture.” The new rules have been issued just one week after China ordered a halt to video streaming on three major websites.
According to the report, the platforms including the massively popular Sina Weibo microblogging platform, iFeng.com and ACFUN, did not possess the permits required for providing their audio-visual streams.
Authorities were directed to shut down offending audio-visual services “so as to create a cleaner cyberspace,” China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television revealed in a statement last Thursday. Earlier this month, dozens of celebrity gossip blogs which were described as “catering to the public’s vulgar taste”, were also shut down.
As per the new regulations, videos that “damage national image, derogate revolutionary leaders, propagate military conquests of ancient emperors or spread religious extremism”, have to be cut or removed.
