China’s Twitter reverses decision to ban LGBTI content after backlash
Image: Photo: Facebook / Shanghai Pride.
Chinese social media site Sina Weibo has reversed its decision to ban LGBTI content.
The site yesterday announced it would no longer include LGBTI material in its ban of violent and pornographic content, CNET has reported.
Users flooded the site with the hashtag #IAmGay over the weekend in protest.
“I am gay and I’m proud. Even if I get taken down, there are tens of millions like me,” wrote one person, in a post that was shared more than 100,000 times.
The protest has gained plenty of attention, with state-run newspaper People’s Daily calling for tolerance of gay people while still supporting the removal of explicit content from online platforms.
Sina Weibo is China’s equivalent of Twitter, with almost 400 million users.
It had announced on Friday that it would clean up content to comply with China’s new online security laws.
While homosexuality is not illegal in China, activists say conservative attitudes sometimes prompt government crackdowns.
Sina Weibo has already cleared more than 50,000 posts from the platform as part of the content purge.
Call Me By Your Name was also dropped from a Chinese film festival last month amid the cleanup of ‘pornographic’ material.
You May Also Like
Support the Star Observer… while you still can
LGBTQIA+ media is under threat. Queer content is censored by tech conglomerates who amplify bigotry and push out AI slop — so we receive less financial support than ever.
When our community is muzzled and intolerance intensifies, we need queer media more than ever. Your donation means we can continue paying queer journalists to write queer news.
Don’t rely on the straight lies of big tech – support Star Observer instead and donate now.
