Many of us know that the Internet and social media censorship laws in China know no bounds. China has become known for just how strict and sensitive their censorship laws and algorithms are. Now that all of the classes in China have shifted from in-person to online because of the deadly coronavirus, it has become even more apparent just how strict the censorship laws and policies are. Because of this, it has been hard for some professors and teachers to teach their students online. Not only do teachers and professors have to worry about putting all of their lectures and materials online, they also have to worry about whether or not the content they teach is going to be censored by the Chinese government.
Internet pornography is an area of the Internet that faces a lot of censorship in China. While this may seem appropriate, many now online medical and science classes in China are beginning to face censorship as they become dubbed as “internet pornography”. For example, according to this article, an online nursing class depicting childbirth in a video and a biology class depicting meiosis, the division of sex cells, can both be subject to censorship for being “internet pornography”.
While I completely understand that the Chinese government wants to actively censor any online content that involves pornography, I do not agree with the Chinese government censoring any material that professors and teachers are using to educate students. Professors and teachers should not have to worry about the content they teach being censored or removed. I think the idea that the Chinese government has about what constitutes “pornography” needs some work. If the Chinese government would go as far as to dub meiosis “pornography”, then I can only imagine just how much unreasonable the Internet censorship is there.
LIS 4022 Spring 2020 