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By Manya Koetse
On April 13, Weibo’s Community Manager issued a notice with new guidelines for the social media platform to “create a bright and harmonious community environment.” In the notice, that received near to 20,000 comments and over 96,000 shares shortly after it was posted (see screenshot), the official Sina Weibo account writes that, in order to “fulfill the corporate responsibility,” the platform will adhere to Internet Security Laws in strictly overseeing cartoons, games, videos, and other related content published on Weibo for a 3-month-period.
The Weibo Community Notice says its “clean-up” mainly targets content related to cartoons, images, and short videos relating to pornography, “bloody violence”, and homosexuality. Violent content, such as that of the Grand Theft Auto game, will also not be allowed to appear on the social media platform. According to the account, a total of 56,243 related violations were already “cleared” at the time they published the notice.
The Weibo Community Notice says its “clean-up” mainly targets content related to cartoons, images, and short videos relating to pornography, “bloody violence”, and homosexuality.
Violent content, such as that of the Grand Theft Auto game, will also not be allowed to appear on the social media platform. According to the account, a total of 56,243 related violations were already “cleared” at the time they published the notice. Although the announcement received many comments, they were not viewable at time of writing. On their own accounts, many netizens also shared their views on the announcement: “According to China’s classification of mental disorders, being gay is not a mental illness,” one person writes: “Heterosexuals and homosexuals enjoy the same basic human rights. Publishing homosexual content is not illegal, and it should not be banned. It is my right to publish this post, and it would be wrong to delete it.” “I object to Weibo’s guidelines against homosexual content. This is 2018, why do you still want to control everything people say?” The slogan “I am Gay” (#我是同性恋#) also took off shortly after the announcement, with hundreds of netizens raising their voice against the guidelines by using this hashtag, some combining it with the hashtag “I am illegal” (Or: “I am breaking the law”) (#我违法#).
“If we don’t raise our voices now, then when will we?”, some said. “I am homosexual, and I am not proud of it, neither do I feel inferior,” one person stated. This is not the first time the regulations for online content regarding the display of sexuality on Weibo are sharpened.
In 2017, Chinese authorities also issued a statement in which they wrote that online audio-visual content on sites such as Sina Weibo would no longer be allowed to have any “display of homosexuality.” At the time, the Communist Youth League responded to the guidelines by posting: “Being gay is no disorder!” Another commenter says: “I am an adult, and I should be able to view books, cartoons, or videos targeted at an adult audience. You’re now telling me I can’t view content relating to sexuality?” “I am equal,” one Weibo user writes: “Why can’t we just respect each other?”
(WHAT`S ON WEIBO)
