Across The Border | China’s ban on foreign content on Bilibili, AcFun is not about piracy
Intensifying censorship by Beijing puts future of some popular video-sharing sites in doubt
Foreign movies and TV shows were abruptly wiped from two of China’s most popular video-sharing websites in what appeared to be part of an intensifying crackdown by Beijing on what citizens can see on the web.
Many observers believe the sudden disappearance of vast amounts of content produced overseas from Bilibili and AcFun – both particularly popular with millennials – has less to do with tackling piracy than with a desire in Beijing to tighten control of information ahead of the crucial 19th Communist Party’s national congress this autumn, at which the next generation of leaders is expected to be named.
Last week, a large number of movies, dramas and shows from the US, UK, Japan, and South Korea vanished overnight from Bilibili. Even some programmes originating in Hong Kong and Taiwan were pulled from the site.
The next day, Bilibili issued a somewhat vague statement on its Weibo account explaining that the “temporary” removal of videos was due to “a content review of the movies and TV dramas within the site”.
“After the review is finished, those in violation of the criteria will be pulled off permanently, while the others will be gradually restored,” it said, without elaborating on what the “criteria” are.
