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As online defamation cases grow, cartoonists face self-censorship and rejection Frontier Myanmar Cartoonists, who have long played an important role in Myanmar's society, say that an infamous defamation law is curbing their ability to do their job. By EI CHERRY AUNG | MYANMAR NOW. TERRORISM, armed conflict, drug trafficking and child soldiers.

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As online defamation cases grow, cartoonists face self-censorship and rejection - Frontier Myanmar

Japanese games developer discusses his own experience of being asked to remove 'boob slider' which made female characters' breasts get bigger

A JAPANESE game developer has spoken out to provide a rare insight into Nintendos alleged censorship of games deemed too raunchy or shocking for Western audiences.

Nintendo is famed for producing child-friendly video games, whilst publishers in Britain and the US focus on big, bloody affairs like Fallout and DOOM.

But some of the games it originally releases into the the Japanesemarket are very different from the ones which see the light of day in North America and the rest of the world.

Nintendo follows a strategy of localisation in which parts of games are re-written to make more sense to players outside of Japan.

Gamers are worried that this process could allow progressive and censorious social justice warriors (the name for a very vocal group of censorious activists) to dictate a games story and character designs, overriding its original creators intentions.

NowTetsuya Takahashi, CEO of the Japanese developer Monolith Soft, has revealed his own experience with Nintendos shadowy localisation division.

He was the executive director of Xenoblade Chronicles X, which originally featured a shocking depiction of a 13-year-old character Lin Lee wearing a bikini as well as a ridiculous boob slider that allowed players to choose the size of their characters breasts.

Both were removed from the game which was released in North America.

As a developer, I do feel like itd be ideal to be able to adjust the content so that its culturally acceptable, whether its in the US or in the EU, he told Kotaku.

For example, there was a discussion about the breast slider.

Jokingly, I said: well, would it help if we had a crotch slider for the male? Obviously it was a joke, but they responded obviously its not gonna work out. I do realise theres a cultural difference between what Japanese people think and what the rest of the world thinks.

In recent years, several of Nintendos products have come under heavy criticism from the gaming community for being badly localised for American audiences.

This process is led by a wing of Nintendo called Treehouse,which is alleged to have been involved in the censorship of popular video games like Fire Emblem: Fates, which saw significant chunks of the game alteredand in some casesremoved.

A petting minigame, where players could spend personal time with characters as they tap the screen with the stylus, was removed. But the romantic dialogue remained intact.

Another change involved the removal of a controversial scene social justice warriors claimed was support for gay conversion therapy.

It was intended as a lighthearted moment where a man-hating character perceives everyone around her as female after consuming a magic powder.

To nip potential controversies in the bud, Nintendo devised a new strategy to have its staff form professional relationships with Japanese developers to tell them how best to make their games and inform them of any content with cultural relevance.

Also speaking to Kotaku, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that the creators are always involved during localisation in this new strategy and explained how the process worked.

He said: In terms of what gets localised, theres a simple collection of words that we use to define how we think about this: its cultural relevance and understanding of the ratings and ratings implications.

Fils-Aime provided adding a few years onto a characters listed age as an example of such a change to avoid a mature rating, but didnt list any games in particular.

The significance of Nintendo of Americas localizers participating during development cant be overstated.

Gamers fear it means that progressive and censorious social justice warriors can now dictate a games story and character designs, overriding its original creators intentions.

Critics fear the rise of political correctness in the United States and especially among video game industry professionals mean such a collaboration will only lead to further censorship of Nintendos games.

And this time, gamers may not even know about it.

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Nintendo's alleged 'censorship' of games deemed too sexy or shocking for politically correct Western audiences revealed - The Sun

Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron at a joint press conference in Paris in June. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

The terrorism legislation watchdog has likened Theresa Mays proposals to punish companies such as Facebook and Google for failing to tackle extremist propaganda to Chinas strict regime of internet censorship.

Max Hill QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said internet companies should be brought firmly onside rather than threatened with fines.

In a speech delivered at the Terrorism and Social Media conference in Swansea, reported in the Times, he said: I struggle to see how it would help if our parliament were to criminalise tech company bosses who dont do enough. How do we measure enough? What is the appropriate sanction?

We do not live in China, where the internet simply goes dark for millions when government so decides. Our democratic society cannot be treated that way.

May outlined the idea of punishing companies such as Facebook, YouTube and Google if they fail to remove extremist propaganda and terrorist material from their platforms in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing.

After a meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in June, May said they were both determined to ensure the internet could not be used as a safe space for terrorists and criminals.

The UK and France are to develop plans to create a new legal liability for tech companies that fail to take action against unacceptable content.

Speaking at the time, May said: The counter-terrorism cooperation between British and French intelligence agencies is already strong, but President Macron and I agree that more should be done to tackle the terrorist threat online.

In the UK we are already working with social media companies to halt the spread of extremist material and poisonous propaganda that is warping young minds. I can announce that the UK and France will work together to encourage corporations to do more and abide by their social responsibility to step up their efforts to remove harmful content from their networks, including exploring the possibility of creating a new legal liability for tech companies if they fail to remove unacceptable content.

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Watchdog likens May's internet fines threat to Chinese censorship - The Guardian

I recently sat down to play a game of NBA 2K as I assume most people do on a Friday night when theyre losing yet another battle with writers block. Before I even got into an actual game (where I eventually demolished the Pistons with the Raptors by the way), I heard a familiar voice on the start menu.

Mans never been in Marquee when its shutdown, eh. Trusss mi daddi

The Vine loop that swept the culture. I hadnt even heard Shutdown in 2K17 before this. Being from London, I proceeded to rap Skeptas verse out loud but something was different. The absence of p*ssy in the chorus made me realise that Id never heard the clean version before, a fact Im both disappointed and proud of. Oh well, it made no difference to me, hence the carefree performance that followed in my living room.

But some of the censorship in the first verse caught my attention again, albeit for a different reason. Perplexingly, prison and Gs were both excluded from the vocals.

It reminded me of an infamous Kanye West interview from almost twelve years ago. During a visit to Canadas Flow 93.5, Ye voiced his opinion on the phrase white girl being censored on Gold Digger. He argued that the line when he get on, he leave yo ass for a white girl was less of an insult and more social commentary. An intelligent observation more than a stereotype. The conversation about the video ended up revolving around Ye walking out of the room after being constantly interrupted by DJ Hollywood Rich but the point should not be diminished.

Censorship and Hip-Hop have always had a bizarre relationship. Perhaps its a stigma, perhaps we bring it on ourselves. Perhaps its both. I wholeheartedly comprehend leaving words like n*gga, b*tch and f*ck (and specifically for this song, rolling and smoking) off the radio and other public forums like video games but its also mandatory to look at the context in which they are utilised.

On Shutdown, Skepta raps God knows I dont wanna go prison. Skepta is arguably the biggest rapper from London and despite his success in the US being only recent, he, along with the rest of BBK, has had a dedicated legion of fans for about a decade now. A substantial amount of those fans are impressionable youth who I can guarantee you would benefit infinitely more from hearing him say that he doesnt want to end up in prison than hearing nothing at all.

In the next bar of the song he says me and my Gs aint scared of police. A line that I can understand there being some level of contention about, but also a line that is still relatively harmless when you genuinely try to understand it. Although I think its safe to say that the police situation in America is vastly worse than here in the UK, we do face our own issues and empathise greatly with our brothers and sisters in the States. The line essentially reinforces confidence in the communities that need it and is a positive message well worth spreading.

However, both Gs and police are withheld in the game. Ill start with Gs.

This is one of a few examples of slang getting lost in translation over time. When it first started being used in Hip-Hop, calling someone a G was actually short for calling them a God, not a gangsta. Its one of the many bits of terminology that Hip-Hop adopted directly from the Five-Percent Nation via Wu-Tang, Nas and numerous others. JAY-Z is wearing a Five-Percent chain in the image above. Its a legitimate term of endearment. Come to think of it, the word police getting censored regardless of the context has some comical irony to it.

We have to re-evaluate what were trying to do with censorship. Are we dismissing negative words and messages or are we fearfully cleaning things up to an extent that we oversimplify and are ignorant of the rebellious roots which have been so fundamental in Hip-Hop? When dealing with such complex material, we cannot afford to look through such a narrow scope. Surface level analysation of songs invites surface level songs and vice versa. A vicious cycle. Context is pivotal.

by Akaash Sharma

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The Necessity Of Context In Hip-Hop Censorship - HipHop-N-More (blog)

All Photos Courtesy Ryan Estrada

The Russian-owned blog community LiveJournal previously banned political solicitation, part of a decade-long effort to censor Russians who were using the platform to criticize the government. Now, LiveJournals former comic artist has returned from an eight-year absence... bringing back LiveJournals Frank the Goat one more time to protest the sites abuses from the inside.

Back in 2006, indie comic artist (and LiveJournal user) Ryan Estrada really wanted to make a series about Frank the Goat, LiveJournals longstanding mascot. So, he worked out a deal with the sites owners: Hed make a commissioned comic about the goat with full creative control over the character and story, and in exchange they wouldnt have to pay him for it. For three years, Estrada charmed LiveJournal fans with a variety of stories about Frank and his friends.

It was a weird experimental series, where each chapter was a different genre. I did a musical, a rom-com, a murder mystery, a kids book, a horror story and others, Estrada told me. It was a fun way to try new things with a character that had a built-in fanbase.

This was right around when the Russian government was really starting to take interest in the site, as it had grown in popularity among journalists and citizens who were trying to circumvent Putins censorship of the media. One year later, everything came to a head. A Russian business bought LiveJournal and began the process of moving it over to Russian servers... meaning everybody who used the service (Americans like George R.R. Martin included) were subject to Russian censorship laws. Estrada ended the comic in 2009.

LiveJournal, a blog community thats hosted a lot of science fiction authors and fans (including

Estrada recently learned about just how bad Russian control of the site has gotten, primarily from a recent episode of the Reply All podcast. He told me he was appalled to learn how the Russian government was actively censoring anti-government and pro-LGBTQ content, which reportedly included a governor hiring thugs to assault a Russian who was using LiveJournal to spread his message, breaking his fingers so he couldnt type.

They were doing all this under the flag of a mascot that I may not have created, but that I had given personality to, Estrada said. The Frank the Goat I know didnt stand for that. I didnt want an outdated comic praising the company under my name to be this sad time capsule that might lead people to believe I support any of it.

When Estrada realized he still had administrative access to his Frank the Goat LiveJournal account, and the contract was never technically canceled, he decided to use his platform to create one final Frank the Goat comic. One that speaks out against what hate and fear turned a beloved site into.

As of now, the comic is still up on LiveJournal. It technically violates the sites rules against political solicitation, particularly involving LGBTQ representation but, since Estrada lives in South Korea, he wouldnt face actual prosecution for it. However, he can be kicked off LiveJournal for posting the comic, and the Frank the Goat account can be shut down. In the meantime, it serves as an homage to a community that was once treasured by scifi fans, and later used as a tool to fight for freedom.

If something isnt right, you should speak up. Use what little scrap of power and privilege you have to raise your voice, even if it is super dumb and involves drawing pictures of goats singing and kissing sheep, Estrada said.

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LiveJournal's Goat Mascot Is Back to Protest the Site's Russian Censorship - Gizmodo