r/technology • u/longiner • Jan 18 '25

Social Media As US TikTok users move to RedNote, some are encountering Chinese-style censorship for the first time

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/16/tech/tiktok-refugees-rednote-china-censorship-intl-hnk/index.html
22.5k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

4.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

106

u/Tombot3000 Jan 18 '25 edited Jan 18 '25

China's recent round of LGBT bans started in 2015 not 2019 with them banning LGBT relationships being depicted in TV and movies. Before that there were longstanding restrictions and police violence against underground gay bars, drag clubs, etc. throughout living memory. So it's really not accurate at all to say they only recently started banning LGBT stuff.

And while one could argue there is a "healthy" LGBT community, that is very much in spite of government opposition, which on the regular bans, censors, and cuts parts of media for being "too gay" and suppresses prominent individuals who act as such or voice support for the LGBT community. The fact that there are shows like The Untamed 陈情令 and a substantial danmei "boys love" book industry is again in spite of government attempts to suppress the genres without inflaming the population by doing too much too fast.

You are right that Americans barging in and being loud and proud is probably going to bring more scrutiny to XHS, though, which is unfortunate for users who build a small, supportive community there.

24

u/BlatantConservative Jan 18 '25

Oh I was using the big Weibo ban in 2019 as a start date. But you definitely have better background than I do.

1

u/Arcane_Bullet Jan 19 '25

This is just me asking a genuine question and also thinking out loud.

So realistically it is a cultural exchange between the two countries that's happening. I don't know if it is something similar to here in the US where there is just a staunch opposition in government despite it being a growing supported position to have lgbtqia+ protections, or if genuinely there is just a low support group.

I am curious if just us talking with them and people sharing their stories would grow that support group over in China and we see a shift in the CCP's handling of the lgbtqia+

Don't know, just me talking out loud a little, but also curious as world relations and/or logic or tolerance of certain stances over in other countries is not something I actively engage in.

3

u/Tombot3000 Jan 19 '25

I'm a little confused by your comment, but I'm pretty sure what you're thinking about - cultural exchange leading to relaxed restrictions and increased social acceptance - already happened in the PRC, and then the CCP went against that and imposed harsher restrictions anyway.

Again, the latest round of bans and harassment started around 2015. Before that was the current high point for LGBT people in China where they didn't have rights but also weren't being attacked by the government so much. Xi, as part of his "family values" politics and also his increased focus on resistance to foreign culture and resentment towards the US in particular, pushed for a harsher policy as part of the changes he has been making since he took over in 2012/13

1

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Tombot3000 Jan 19 '25

That's a pretty weird way to put it and also just not true. There are specific bans against LGBT representation in media, gay bars get shut down to "prevent HIV" not COVID, LGBT NGOs and organizations are being specifically targeted, etc. it's not simply wrapped up in a chaotic and random ban on anything.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Tombot3000 Jan 20 '25 edited Jan 20 '25

Why shouldn't there be bans on showing in the media?

People have a right to express themselves and acknowledge the mere existence of others, for one.

Also, you've pivoted from just making up wrong things about censorship existing to arguing about the merits of censorship and phrased it as though you are responding to me. I get the impression English isn't your first language so I'm going to give you some leeway on that, but it comes off as a bad faith tactic.

China has much stricter censorship, in relation to more harmless things.

That isn't a good counterpoint since those censorship rules are also bad.

-1

u/Critical-Fortune-533 Jan 19 '25

It should be banned here in the US

5

u/Tombot3000 Jan 19 '25

No. If you want to live in that kind of repressive regime without a freedom of expression that includes acknowledging the existence of millions of people, go move to a place that is already like that instead of trying to strip away our rights to bring the US down to that level.