Beijing moves to stifle online video content

New restrictions have been placed on China’s online video websites under which a host of material is now deemed illegal and the use of Western film and TV content is conditional on government approval, the Financial Times reported. The State Administration for Radio, Film and Television has ordered internet companies to erase or edit content that “maliciously damages the image of the People’s Liberation Army, the armed police, the police or the judiciary, or which relates to the torturing of prisoners and the questioning and torturing of criminal suspects.” Chinese authorities blocked YouTube earlier this month after users uploaded videos that appeared to show a man being tortured to death by security forces in Tibet. Measures have also been taken to crack down on the recent wave of user-generated content that pokes fun at the censors’ campaign against “vulgar” internet content. Meanwhile, online operators must obtain individual licenses before broadcastig foreign films, television series, cartoons and other TV programs.