The Chinese social media network Sina Weibo has received a backlash from a very controversial gay content ban after a massive uproar from netizens.
"clean-up campaign".
It happened last Friday when the microblogging platform released a statement saying that posts related to homosexuality would be taken down.
Given the fact that the statement came so sudden, it immediately prompted a flood of posts from outraged netizens protesting against the decision. As a result, On Monday, April 16, 2018 Sina Weibo said it would reverse the ban.
It said that for the next three months, the platform would remove content including images, videos, text and cartoons that were related to pornography, violence, or homosexuality.
"This is to further ensure a clear and harmonious society and environment," the network said in its statement, adding that it had already scrubbed more than 50,000 posts by then.
Sina Weibo said it was initiating the clean-up because of stricter internet laws put in place last year, but it did not explain why it was only acting now.
Often described as China's answer to Twitter, Sina Weibo is one of the most popular social networks in the country.
Chinese authorities have embarked on a campaign in recent years aimed at purging internet content that it deems inappropriate.
MASSIVE BACKLASH
Over the weekend a number of people from the LGBT community took to the network to protest against the decision, using hashtags such as #IAmGay# and #ScumbagSinaHelloIAmGay#.
Some tried testing the ban and uploaded pictures of themselves with partners or gay friends or relatives.
Among them was LGBT rights activist Pu Chunmei, whose impassioned post accompanied with pictures of her with her gay son quickly went viral.
"My son and I love our country... we are proud to be Chinese!" she said. "But today I saw the announcement by Sina Weibo...as a source of news, it is discriminating and attacking minorities, and this is violence!"
HOMOSEXUALITY IN CHINA
Homosexuality was decriminalized more than two decades ago. Conservative attitudes still prevail in many parts of the country, but that has not stopped the LGBT community and activists from having a strong and vibrant presence.
But in recent months, some began to fear that this presence was starting to be curtailed by conservative forces.
Some saw the Sina Weibo ban as part of a larger trend of sidelining the LGBT community, including a move last year by an official media watchdog that deemed homosexual content as "pornographic and vulgar".
The official Chinese government response has always been "neither supportive nor against" homosexuality, where it "does not promote" LGBT rights, activist Li Tingting told BBC Chinese.
There was no official reaction from the Chinese government to Sina Weibo's initial ban, nor to the subsequent reversal.
microblogging platform released a statement saying that posts related to homosexuality would be taken down.
Given the fact that the statement came so sudden, it immediately prompted a flood of posts from outraged netizens protesting against the decision. As a result, On Monday, April 16, 2018 Sina Weibo said it would reverse the ban.
It said that for the next three months, the platform would remove content including images, videos, text and cartoons that were related to pornography, violence, or homosexuality.
"This is to further ensure a clear and harmonious society and environment," the network said in its statement, adding that it had already scrubbed more than 50,000 posts by then.
Sina Weibo said it was initiating the clean-up because of stricter internet laws put in place last year, but it did not explain why it was only acting now.
Often described as China's answer to Twitter, Sina Weibo is one of the most popular social networks in the country.
Chinese authorities have embarked on a campaign in recent years aimed at purging internet content that it deems inappropriate.
MASSIVE BACKLASH
Over the weekend a number of people from the LGBT community took to the network to protest against the decision, using hashtags such as #IAmGay# and #ScumbagSinaHelloIAmGay#.
Some tried testing the ban and uploaded pictures of themselves with partners or gay friends or relatives.
Among them was LGBT rights activist Pu Chunmei, whose impassioned post accompanied with pictures of her with her gay son quickly went viral.
"My son and I love our country... we are proud to be Chinese!" she said. "But today I saw the announcement by Sina Weibo...as a source of news, it is discriminating and attacking minorities, and this is violence!"
HOMOSEXUALITY IN CHINA
Homosexuality was decriminalized more than two decades ago. Conservative attitudes still prevail in many parts of the country, but that has not stopped the LGBT community and activists from having a strong and vibrant presence.
But in recent months, some began to fear that this presence was starting to be curtailed by conservative forces.
Some saw the Sina Weibo ban as part of a larger trend of sidelining the LGBT community, including a move last year by an official media watchdog that deemed homosexual content as "pornographic and vulgar".
The official Chinese government response has always been "neither supportive nor against" homosexuality, where it "does not promote" LGBT rights, activist Li Tingting told BBC Chinese.
There was no official reaction from the Chinese government to Sina Weibo's initial ban, nor to the subsequent reversal.
