WeChat's video platform bans underwear on head, eating socks, and hip shaking

[midian182]

WTF?! While Twitch has faced criticism recently for its stance against hot tub streamers, Chinese messaging/social media/payments platform WeChat is even more conservative when it comes to censoring content. The extensive list of activities it doesn’t allow includes nose picking, hip shaking, and wearing underwear on your head.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, WeChat owner Tencent Holdings released guidelines for performers on WeChat Channels, its new video section designed to take on short-form-content rivals such as TikTok (known in China as Douyin).

China’s government, of course, comes down hard on anyone who broadcasts anything it finds objectionable, including leaking state secrets, insulting official heroes and martyrs, promoting what it defines as terrorism, and broadcasting news without authorization. This extends to WeChat Channels, along with “predicting a nation’s fate and government policy trends” and anything that goes against “positive social values.”

Some of the more unusual bans are fortune-telling, shots inside nightclubs and foot massage lounges, guessing a baby’s pre-birth gender, coffins, tombstones, and wearing government and police uniforms, including those from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

"I predict a WeChat ban is in your future"

Eating non-food items is also prohibited, so, as per the examples, no consuming socks or instant noodles made with water left over from washing feet. Smoking, drinking, swearing, and showing tattoos, are also banned, as is broadcasting from a bed or engaging in dangerous activities such as skydiving, bungee jumping, free climbing, paragliding, parachuting, or high-rise parkour. Falling under the same category is smashing cactuses with bare hands and making popcorn in an aluminum can, which we can all agree aren’t safe.

WeChat is certainly stricter than Twitch when it comes to clothing: “Female pants or skirts [should not] be more than 2cm below the belly button” and “the hem of female pants and skirts [should not be] higher than the hip line.” It’s a lot easier for men, whose two rules in this area are no going topless and no appearing only in underwear.

“See-through clothes, flesh-coloured tights, fishnet stockings, suspenders, triangle shorts and low-rise shorts,” are also too risqué, as is repeatedly bending over to reveal cleavage or lifting skirts, simulated sex acts, repeated squatting, seductive lip licking, chest rubbing and hip-shaking. Whether fitness enthusiasts and Elvis impersonators will be penalized is unclear.

Technically not allowed on WeChat Channels

“Vulgar pornographic games,” spanking, zooming in on certain body parts, and anything that can “cause discomfort” is not allowed, either. Wearing underpants on one’s head is given as an example of the latter, which is remarkably specific for such a broad description.

Anyone violating one of this laundry list of rules will have their account suspended or receive other punishments, which in the case of political infractions, could be a lot worse than a ban.

Image credit: txking, Djelen, wavebreakmedia

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89940-wechat-video-platform-bans-underwear-head-eating-socks.html

 

[stewi0001]

So much for genealogy work.

 

[Hexic]

"We're protecting you and The Party from... Underwear on heads. Thank us."

Serve the People!

 

[terzaerian]

N.B. these are the same people that basically own Epic Games. Keep supporting them if you want to see more homespun CCCP values injected into PC gaming.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

For anyone who ignores when people predict that 1984 is becoming a reality (with double think, thought police, and so forth), this is even closer to that direction. You must be homogeneous, you cannot be anything other than what is expected of a citizen, and the government has total control over the media. The government makes every effort to keep you on the same page as them but if you do not give up your completely sane, non-radical beliefs, because they are not in line with the party they will re-educate you like what they're doing in Xinjiang. In 1984, this is called the Ministry of Love.

 

[Puiu]

They just lost 90% of their videos and fanbase

 

[wiyosaya]

OMG! No eating socks?? AAARRRGGHH!!! from Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1734135/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7 would be very disappointed.

 

[m3diapers]

I get the other two banned action in the title. But, why people get aroused by eating socks? LOL

 

[wiyosaya]

For anyone who ignores when people predict that 1984 is becoming a reality (with double think, thought police, and so forth), this is even closer to that direction. You must be homogeneous, you cannot be anything other than what is expected of a citizen, and the government has total control over the media. The government makes every effort to keep you on the same page as them but if you do not give up your completely sane, non-radical beliefs, because they are not in line with the party they will re-educate you like what they're doing in Xinjiang. In 1984, this is called the Ministry of Love.

Its China. I know, that's no excuse, however, its China.

 

[wiyosaya]

If I ever saw a video where people were wearing underwear on their heads, I think I would not waste more than a few seconds watching. I definitely have better things to do with my time.

 

[viperfl]

OMG, what's the sense of using Wechat then? Just about everything you do in real life is banned.

 

[Hexic]

With all my very critical views on china I am going to admit putting definite rules are better than so call "democratic" social network Facebook which bans anyone without any definite rule for that and later just made them up. And remember violation of human rights are really there where no one overwatch them, like it have been in Guantanamo and other parts of "great" USs... pardon me US of A.
P.S. and these behavior like using underpants and etc surely speaking how "wise" people in so call democratic states

You are justifying rules dictated by a communist government who's track record of humanitarian abuse, genocide, and alienated thought control are measured against..

..A government entity held accountable by it's individual citizens, encourages free thought & action, and who has admittedly made mistakes in the past that are widely accepted and acknowledged... Yet somehow still attempt to justify the complete lack of free thought and speech of the Communist Party?

May want to work on that logic there. The first geopolitical concept to understand in this world is that no country is clean, innocent, nor free of guilt. The key is to identify which ones are the most healthy to continue thriving.

 

[alexnode]

You are justifying rules dictated by a communist government who's track record of humanitarian abuse, genocide, and alienated thought control are measured against..

..A government entity held accountable by it's individual citizens, encourages free thought & action, and who has admittedly made mistakes in the past that are widely accepted and acknowledged... Yet somehow still attempt to justify the complete lack of free thought and speech of the Communist Party?

May want to work on that logic there. The first geopolitical concept to understand in this world is that no country is clean, innocent, nor free of guilt. The key is to identify which ones are the most healthy to continue thriving.

Well I strongly disagree with sensorship in the political field , but not unconditional, if someone is lying, incite hate or violence I am pro sensorship.

For the soft porn of we chat,tiktok,Facebook, Instagram and twitch I am pro banning it and move it to dedicated adult sites. I am totally against banning porn for adults but public broadcasting platforms should get their act together.
As for the China - US issue, my opinion is that they are both countries with a lot of faults , human right abuses, with much better freedom of speech for the US but with a stagnant electoral system that renders democracy to a waste of paper exercise.
My country is the worse of the two , the UK , the snooping capital of the world, with the tax avoiding and money laundering lobby in power will put the super powers to shame ... in terms of cronyism.