The Chinese government has ordered 120 protest songs to be removed from the Internet
Most of the songs it named – with titles including “Don’t Want to Go to School” and “All Must Die” “No Money No Friend” and “Suicide Diary” – were performed by unknown or banned musicians.
The Ministry of Culture said that the songs listed “trumpeted obscenity, violence, crime or harmed social morality.”
The ruling puts the onus on Internet platforms to remove any examples of the songs or face severe punishment. The ministry described them as “specific targets for Internet organisations’ self-censorship.” Platforms should “remove the products accurately, be aware of the bottom line and improve their service.”
China already operates one of the world’s strictest online regimes, with a tens of thousands of censors, automatic blocking of certain keyword search terms, and the banning of many foreign-operated social media companies which do not comply with Chinese censorship rules.
