ไธŠๆตทโ€œๆ‰ซ้ป„ๆ‰“้žโ€้ƒจ้—จ็บฆ่ฐˆใ€Šๆˆ‘็š„ไธ–็•Œใ€‹ๆธธๆˆ่ฟ่ฅๅ…ฌๅธ โ€“ NOAPIP

What happened: The Shanghai office of the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications (NOAPIP) summoned the publisher of Minecraft, NetEase, on Wednesday after China Central Television Station (CCTV) said the game was spreading vulgar and pornographic content to minors. The NOAPIP announcement does not specify the details of the ban, but according to the CCTV report, some users have been naming their โ€œroomsโ€โ€”servers where users play each otherโ€”using sexually explicit descriptions. NetEase disabled the ability to name โ€œroomsโ€ on Apr. 12, moved the reporting function to a more conspicuous spot in the game, and pledged to step up content monitoring.

Why itโ€™s important: NOAPIPโ€™s censure of the game Minecraft, which features a pixelated art style and gameplay that revolves around discovering and building, highlights the intensity of the new wave of content crackdown that began earlier this month. Although NetEase already has a number of filters in place that detect sensitive phrases, they donโ€™t seem to be sufficient for NOAPIP. The next few months could potentially bring more game publishers summoned by the NOAPIP for non-compliant content related to in-game text.

Tony Xu is Shanghai-based tech reporter. Connect with him via e-mail: tony.xu@ka.550650.xyz

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