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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Chinese Social Media Site Reverses Gay Content Ban After Uproar [nytimes.com]

Bowing to intense pressure from millions of internet users, a Chinese social media site said on Monday that it would scrap plans to censor cartoons and video games with gay themes. The site, Sina Weibo, had announced on Friday that it would target gay content as part of a campaign to remove pornographic and violent material from its site. But its efforts were almost immediately criticized as discriminatory and repressive, spawning an outpouring [nytimes.com] of #Iamgay hashtags and slogans like "gays aren't scary."

On Monday, Weibo said in a post that it would scale back its "cleanup" effort and focus on "pornographic, violent and bloody content" instead of gay material. In a nod to the intense backlash, it thanked internet users for their "discussion and suggestions." [...] Ma Baoli, the founder of Blued, a popular gay dating app [nytimes.com], called the uproar a "historic event" in China. He said Weibo's response showed a gradual change in attitudes toward gay people.

[...] Weibo's "cleanup" campaign highlighted the intense pressure that media companies in China face to purge sites of content that the authorities deem offensive. Experts said the government's vague definition of improper content often results in companies' going to extremes to show compliance.

Weibo [wikipedia.org] is China's Twitter.

See also: Weibo to ban gay, violent content from platform [reuters.com]
'I Am Gay, Not a Pervert': Furor in China as Sina Weibo Bans Gay Content [nytimes.com]

Related: Chinese Lesbian Dating App Rela Shuts Down [soylentnews.org]

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