China restricts online videos -- again

Jake Widman
Friday, 03 April 2009 01:29

Your IT - Home IT

The Chinese media regulatory agency has issued new rules banning "harmful" videos online.

The move comes a little over a week after the Chinese government blocked YouTube -- not for the first time -- after videos released by the Tibetan government in exile showed the apparent beatings of Tibetan protesters by Chinese security forces. At the time, Chinese officials claimed the video was fake.

Now the government's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television has issued new, explicit rules about what videos will be allowed. The rules, posted on the government's website, ban videos that harm national stability, "instigate hatred between ethnic groups," or "maliciously disparage" the nation's police and military. They also forbid videos that "advocate evil cults and superstitions," often a code phrase for the banned Falun Gong sect, and restricted sexual content.

The Administration also asserted its control over commercial material found on the Web. The agency is already in charge of approving what can be shown in theaters and on television and only allows 20 foreign films a year, often only after scenes it doesn't like have been removed. That process can take over a year, so Chinese consumers have embraced the Internet as a means of distributing foreign entertainment in a more timely manner. The new rules insist that all media disseminated via the Internet or mobile phones be subject to the same censorship process as that available through traditional channels.