Hong-Kong:
An episode of “The Simpsons” referring to “forced labor camps” in China is nowhere to be found on the Disney+ streaming service in Hong Kong amid growing concerns about censorship in the city.
Hong Kong once had significant artistic and cultural freedoms compared to mainland China, but authorities have cracked down on dissent following democracy protests in 2019, including ramping up film censorship.
Episode 2 of the 34th season of the American animated hits featured the line, “Behold the wonders of China. Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where kids make smartphones, and romance.”
“One Angry Lisa,” which first aired last October, was not accessible on Disney+ via a Hong Kong connection, but is available elsewhere, AFP confirmed.
It is the second time in three years that the Hong Kong version of the streaming service has dropped a Simpsons episode that satirized China.
The previously hit episode showed the Simpsons visiting Beijing’s Tiananmen Square – the site of a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters – and finding a sign there that read, “Nothing happened at this place in 1989.”
The Hong Kong government and Disney did not immediately comment.
In 2021, Hong Kong passed censorship laws banning broadcasts that could violate a broad national security law that China has imposed on the city.
Censors have since ordered directors to shorten their films and refused permission to show other films.
While these rules do not apply to streaming services, authorities have warned that online platforms are still subject to the national security law, which criminalizes the broadly defined crimes of subversion, assassination, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
In recent years, Hollywood has been accused of bowing to China’s censorship regime to leverage its massive consumer base and billions of box office dollars.
Beijing has long denied allegations of torture and forced labor in the far western region of Xinjiang, even though a recent United Nations report found the allegations credible.
Human rights groups say more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are being held captive in what the US State Department and others say amounts to genocide.
In 2020, Disney came under fire for filming the live-action Mulan remake in Xinjiang, crediting local government agencies in the credits.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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