Call to ban online games that distort China history

SHANGHAI • Chinese regulators should strengthen the vetting of online games and have "zero tolerance" towards those that distort history, state broadcaster China National Radio (CNR) said in commentary on its website.

The remarks - the latest in a series of critical articles in Chinese state media - are likely to exacerbate fears that the video-game industry will be next in line to face regulatory action from the domestic authorities.

One article which went viral this month called online games "spiritual opium", adding that children were becoming addicted and urging greater curbs. It sent shares in Tencent Holdings and other video game companies skidding.

Tencent soon after announced that it was introducing new limits on kids' time spent on Honour Of Kings, its most popular game.

A separate article said tax breaks for the industry should be scrapped.

CNR added that games that distort history could misguide young people and cited one example of a game in which Yue Fei, a Chinese general and national hero during the Song Dynasty, was depicted as a capitulator.

The Chinese government enforces rigorous regulations on its media and has in recent times punished platforms for hosting content that was in "low taste".

Just a year after it banned 100 songs deemed to have "promoted violence", the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said last week that it would start banning a list of karaoke songs containing "illegal content" from venues across the country starting from Oct 1.

It said the karaoke songs with illegal content include those that endanger national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity, violate state religious policies by propagating cults or superstitions and encourage illegal activities such as gambling and drugs.

The ministry has, instead, encouraged providers to supply "healthy and uplifting" music to karaoke venues.

In April this year, Chinese TV channels began blurring out Western brand logos in their programmes after the companies expressed concerns over the allegation of Uighur minorities being used as forced labour in cotton production.

Media regulators had previously banned TV stations from featuring any actors with tattoos and airing any kind of content that shows any "admiration for the Western lifestyle or jokes about Chinese traditions".

In 2016, the Chinese authorities also released guidelines to keep homosexual content off any platform, saying it is "unfit for Chinese television".

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE