Asia Pacific Censorship News

Following a recent national edict requiring Chinese TV to be kept free from sissy boys, a sneering term for men with styles unbound by traditional conceptions of masculinity, the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau ordered stations to exercise tighter control over their actors' aesthetics, and to foster mainstream values and positive energy in the capital's audiovisual spaces.

A subsequent episode of Weibo censorship suggested widespread dissent against this move to protect mainstream television aesthetics.

 

 

Malaysia's Film Censorship Board (LPF) had sent a notice to two local TV stations instructing them that undergarments should not be shown regardless of it being worn by a model or a mannequin. The reason given was that any indecent visual displays, including advertising 'undergarments' will still offend the community.

A letter from the censors said:

The home ministry is of the view that the aforementioned content advertising innerwear is inappropriate to be shown for general viewing... and all broadcasts similar like this should be discontinued immediately.

Anna Har, co-founder of the Freedom Film Network, said the decision was unfortunate and yet another example of needless censorship in Malaysia. She said:

Since when are undergarments such an offensive item? They've been sold in pasar malams and supermarkets for years, this isn't pornography we're talking about.

A museum commemorating the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has been raided by Hong Kong police.

Four members of the group that ran the museum, the Hong Kong Alliance, were detained.

The museum was already closed down by officials in June.

The national security unit had earlier requested that the group, The Hong Kong Alliance hand over information, reportedly including personal details of all members since the group's founding and financial records. The alliance members responded in a letter explaining their refusal to co-operate. The next morning, police officers arrested members of the alliance's standing committee at their homes or offices.

Singapore is testing the use of patrol robots as the new addition to its mass surveillance infrastructure and the pair of machines, named "Xavier," will have the task of making sure the country's residents behave themselves in public spaces.

Singapore's Home Team Science and Technology Agency announced a 3 week trial of the technology before it is handed over to the local police. The intent is to use the robots as supplementary workforce to help out Singapore's public officers.

The "Xaviers" are fitted with cameras and networked with a command and control center, and report back on people's "bad behavior" in real time.

And what qualifies for bad social behavior in Singapore right now is falling afoul of COVID restrictions, but also things like parking your bike where you're not supposed to, or smoking in public areas.

There is also a re-educational element, as the robots will show messages instructing humans on what the expected, "proper" social behavior should be.

Two French campaign groups are suing the main ISPs in France, demanding the total block of several adult sites that they consider too accessible to minors.

The groups suing top French ISPs SFR, Orange, Bouygues Télécom, Free, Colt Technologies Services and Outre mer Télécomare are called e-Enfance (e-Infancy) and La Voix de l'Enfant (The Voice of the Child).

The ISPs were asked to appear next Thursday, September 9 in front of the Paris Judicial Court.

The lawsuit is proof that the French anti-porn groups intend to restrict access to adult content in that European market. Earlier this year, supporters of France's controversial age-verification law had claimed that they knew it was impractical and considered the passage of the measure as "symbolic."

ISP Orange told Le Figaro that they will "abide by the decision of the court and would shut down these sites speedily if that's what we are asked to do. But in the absence of a judicial decision, we apply the rules of net neutrality and freedom of expression"

Thailand's military backed government has been forced by a court injunction to rescind a recent order banning news that causes public fear, as it faces growing protests over its handling of the Covid pandemic.

The government, which had sought to restrict news that causes public fear, even if it is true, had been accused by journalists and human rights groups of trying to prevent negative reporting and silence critics. The civil court issued an injunction against the regulation last week and it was revoked on Tuesday.

Thai officials are facing increasing public anger over their response to a recent wave of Covid-19, including over the country's slow vaccination campaign. Protesters took to the streets over the weekend and again on Tuesday, with police firing rubber bullets, teargas and water cannon to disperse them.

 

Indonesian artist Dinar Candy has held a protest action over the extension of Indonesia's covid lockdown laws (Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities, PPKM) by wearing a bikini on the side of a road in Jakarta.

During the action, Candy also dsiplayed a banner with the message: I'm stressed out because the PPKM has been extended.

Candy was arrested by police who confiscated her mobile phone which is alleged to have been used to record the protest.

After being questioned by police, who sought advice from an 'expert witness on morality and culture', presumably a cleric, she was declared a suspect of an alleged act of pornography. Candy was charged under Article 36 of Law Number 44/2008 on Pornography.

While Minecraft is generally considered a child-friendly game throughout the worl, a law in South Korea has resulted in the game being blocked to all players under the age of 19.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Microsoft recently informed South Korean players that they would need an Xbox Live account to continue playing Minecraft, with local restrictions requiring that such accounts are only made available by Microsoft to over 19s.

The age restriction is due to a controversial South Korean shutdown law, which prohibits children from playing games between midnight and 6 AM. The law has been in place since 2011. While some game providers have implemented technical solutions to prevent minors from playing their games between these hours, Microsoft instead chose to restrict all Xbox Live accounts for people under the age of 19. Until now, users have been able to sidestep that restriction by logging into Minecraft with a Mojang account instead.

The Minecraft restrictions have caused South Korean users to start a petition against the law, reading: Korea's game market is at the risk of being the world's only place where Minecraft is labeled as an adult game. The petition had over 67,000 signatures as of July 6.

Thailand's The Standard news website has reported that it could soon be possible to be fined 500,000 baht (£11,400) just for posting a picture of a glass of beer or wine. And 60-80% of that fine could go into the pocket of the police or authority that brought the prosecution.

Up to now private individuals can be fined 50,000 baht (£1150) for promoting or advertising alcohol. Now a draft amendment from the authorities is proposing this is increased to half a million baht.

Commercial entities are liable to larger fines, currently at 500,000 baht, but the proposals would see this rise to a full one million baht.

There is also a proposal to stop a kind of loophole that allows big firms to promote their products by referring to soda rather than beer. Eg the beer maker Singha advertises its bottled water brand with a logo that is also used for its beer.

In future just using the soda/water logo could be illegal and subject to the alcohol fines by association.

The new proposals are currently on public consultation until 9th July, although it is a little offputting that ID cards are required from those wishing to comment.