Harry Wu on Human Rights Day. Image via Wikimedia Commons
Eating a banana “seductively” has been deemed inappropriate content for the internet in China. Credit: YouTube
Eating a banana in an “erotic” manner while being broadcast on live-streams has been banned in China as part of the government’s attempts to crack down on “inappropriate” content on the internet.
Hosts of the live-streaming sites are now required to monitor all their output every minute of the day, but it is not clear how they will be able to enforce the ban.
Wearing stockings and suspenders during a live-stream is also now prohibited.
The move comes a month after the Ministry of Culture announced it was investigating several live-streaming sites, including Douyu, Panda.tv, YY, Zhanqi TV, and Huya, for allegedly hosting pornographic or violent content that “harms social morality”.
A recent survey revealed 30-40 percent of the subjects in live-streams are students, and 77 percent of the viewers were male users, CCTV News reported. According to the New Express Daily, 26 percent of the viewers are under 18, while 60 percent of those being broadcast are younger than 22.
The move has bemused many social media users, with some wondering how authorities decide what is “seductive”.
“How do they decide what’s provocative when eating a banana?” one person asked, according to the BBC. Another wondered: “Can male live-streamers still eat them?”
Others suggested the people in live-streams would simply choose another fruit or vegetable. “They will all start eating cucumbers, and if that’s no good, yams,” one user said.
China has been clamping down on internet freedoms under Xi Jinping, closing down social media accounts of government critics and targeting opponents who it claims peddle in “on-line rumours”.
Internet censors have also shut down the website of foreign media organisations, including the New York Times.
Last year, China’s government threatened to shut down Sina, one of the country’s most popular news websites unless it “improves censorship”, state media reported.
