Censor Watch

There has been significant commentary on the flaws of the Online Safety Bill, particularly the harmful impact on freedom of expression from the concept of the duty of care over adult internet users and the problematic legal but harmful category for online speech. Index on Censorship has identified another area of the Bill, far less examined, that now deserves our attention. The provisions in the Online Safety Bill that would enable state-backed surveillance of private communications contain some of the broadest and powerful surveillance powers ever proposed in any Western democracy. It is our opinion that the powers conceived in the Bill would not be lawful under our common law and existing human rights legal framework.

The legal opinion shows how the powers conceived go beyond even the controversial powers contained within the Investigatory Powers Act (2016) but critically, without the safeguards that Parliament inserted into the Act in order to ensure it protected the privacy and the fundamental rights of UK citizens. The powers in the Online Safety Bill have no such safeguards as of yet.

The Bill as currently drafted gives Ofcom the powers to impose Section 104 notices on the operators of private messaging apps and other online services. These notices give Ofcom the power to impose specific technologies (e.g. algorithmic content detection) that provide for the surveillance of the private correspondence of UK citizens. The powers allow the technology to be imposed with limited legal safeguards. It means the UK would be one of the first democracies to place a de facto ban on end-to-end encryption for private messaging apps. No communications in the UK -- whether between MPs, between whistleblowers and journalists, or between a victim and a victims support charity -- would be secure or private. In an era where Russia and China continue to work to undermine UK cybersecurity, we believe this could pose a critical threat to UK national security.

See full article from indexoncensorship.org

The BBC is shaking up its complaints process after TV censor Ofcom told it to be more open with its feedback.

The broadcaster will make its online complaints page easier to find and use. It also aims to improve how editorial teams respond to complaints. BBC director-general Tim Davie claimed:

Trust is a core value of the BBC. If audiences want to raise a complaint they must be dealt with swiftly, fairly and consistently. The process must be easy to understand.

It will be interesting to see if the BBC continues its policy of never actually publishing what is being complained about. The BBC merely acknowledges that complaints have been received about a programme, and then often provides a wishy washy response with out addressing details of the complaint.

Joyland is a 2022 Pakistan drama by Saim Sadiq
Starring Rasti Farooq, Sarwat Gilani and Ali Junejo

As the happily patriarchal Rana family craves for the birth of a baby boy, the youngest of the Rana men secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and finds himself falling for a fiercely ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story slowly illuminates the entire Rana family's...

Alina Khan, who stars in Joyland, the first major Pakistani film to feature a trans actor in a lead role, said:

I've been very sad. There's nothing against Islam and I don't understand how Islam can get endangered by mere films.

Joyland, which is Pakistan's contender at the Oscars, was set to go on national release, but was banned following pressure from hardline Islamic groups who called the film repugnant.

Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, a senator in the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, called Joyland cultural terrorism and criticised the government for the shameless act of allowing its release:

 I condemn it and will use every legal step to stop Joyland's release. Glamourising transgenders in Pakistan, as well as their love affairs, is a direct attack on our beliefs.

Cancelling the film's licence, which puts its Oscars' contention in doubt, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said:

Written complaints were received that the film contains highly objectionable material which do not conform with the social values and moral standards of our society and is clearly repugnant to the norms of 'decency and morality' as laid down in Section 9 of the Motion Picture Ordinance, 1979.

Joyland has been hailed on the festival circuit. It was the first Pakistani film to be selected as an official entry at Cannes in May, winning two festival awards and receiving a standing ovation in a packed Salle Debussy theatre.

Update: Unbanned after cuts

21st November 2022. See article from easterneye.biz

Pakistani film Joyland has been unbanned by the censor board of Pakistan after making several scenes were cut.

The full censor board has allowed the local screening of Joyland. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a cabinet committee to look into the matter after some schools of thought had objected to the movie.

Update: Re-banned in Punjab

30th November 2022. See article from hrw.org

Less than 24 hours after the national government's decision to unban Joyland, the Punjab government blocked the film's release in the province.

The Punjab Information and Culture Department explained that the Punjab government decided to re-call Joyland in the wake of persistent complaints received from different quarters.

The Sunday Times featured an interview with the new president of the BBFC alongside CEO David Austin. The article ran with the headline:

Natasha Kaplinsky, chief censor: where I'll draw the line on sex and gore The shining star of Noughties news and Strictly talks about her new job

Of course if you want to know where she'll draw the line you'll have to pay up. Thankfully other news sites have reported on BBFC utterances but haven't detailed any actual quotes answering the headline question of where lines will be drawn. MSN reported on the interview:

Kaplinsky told The Sunday Times Magazine that her background as a journalist will make her stronger when watching the tougher stuff she will have to view in her job.

She is an ambassador for Save the Children and president of Barnado's, and sees the BBFC role as a logical extension of her charity work. Shifting societal attitudes

As its president, Kaplinsky will be a member of the board of directors and will chair the Board of Classification, which meets monthly and oversees all matters relating to classification, including the most complex and controversial of cases.

Kaplinsky also told the magazine that being a child at the moment is very tricky due to the nature of online activity:

I definitely wouldn't want to grow up again. I'm fully aware of the influences that our children are under -- they're bombarded by this content constantly -- and yet we're able to provide a safe space for them. We've always relied on the classification system to do that.

She cautioned how online is largely unpoliced, and that's a worrying situation as a parent: you see how it influences their behaviour.

When she took on the role in September she said it was crucial that children's welfare is at the forefront of policy decision-making and this is central to the BBFC's efforts in the online safety space. She added:

The challenges that young people face now in the UK are greater than ever before -- and I am committed to giving voice to their needs.

The Times is reporting that the government's Online Censorship Bill will return to the House of Commons on December 5th with a few amendments re 'harmful but legal' content.

Rishi Sunak is to introduce a compromise over the Online Safety Bill that will involve users being able to filter out legal but harmful content without it being removed by tech platforms.

The bill  has been paused while the government takes out provisions that alarmed free speech advocates. Of particular concern were sections that would have led to tech platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Google removing content that was deemed to be legal, but harmful to adults.

The government will also detail a new offence about sharing deep fake porm. Those who share pornographic deepfakes,explicit images or videos that have been manipulated to look like someone without their consent, could be jailed under the proposed changes. It is not clear how the government will take on the international porn websites where faked porn of celebrities is commonplace. Perhaps the government will have to block them all.

Meanwhile the censorship bill is causing further criticisms over governments powers to degrade encryption. This is used to keep British people safe from hackers, blackmailers  and thieves, not to mention snooping by malicious governments most notably China and Russia.

The Open Rights Group explains in an article from openrightsgroup.org :

The Online Safety Bill requires ALL online speech to be monitored for harmful content, including the private conversations you have on your phone with friends and family. Companies like Whatsapp and Signal will be required by law to break end-to-end encryption, so the Government can automatically scan your messages.

They say encryption is dangerous, but the opposite is true. Encryption keeps your information and transactions safe from criminals. It ensures your private messages stay private. If the UK Government can break encryption to read your messages, that means scammers, hackers and foreign governments can too. Save encryption, Protect the security of your phone

If they get their way, your phone will be turned into a spy in your pocket. Billions of personal messages will be ready to be hacked, sold and exploited. The Government's plan to access your private messages will help criminals and make us less safe.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and Ofcom have set out how we will work together to ensure coherence between the data protection and the new online safety regimes.

Our joint statement builds on our existing cooperative approach to regulation - and on our close working relationship established as co-founders of the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum.

In anticipation of Ofcom taking on new duties in 2023 under the Online Safety Bill, the statement sets out our shared regulatory aims. We want:

• people who use online services to have confidence that their safety and privacy will be upheld and that we will take prompt and effective action when providers fail in their obligations; and

• providers of online services of all sizes to comply with their obligations and to continue to innovate and grow, supported by regulatory clarity and free from undue burden.

To achieve this, the ICO and Ofcom will work closely together to achieve maximum alignment and consistency between the data protection and online safety regimes. We will:

• maximise coherence by ensuring our policies are consistent with each other's regulatory requirements -- and consult closely when preparing codes and guidance. We will seek solutions that enhance users' safety and preserve their privacy. Where there are tensions between privacy and safety objectives, we will provide clarity on how compliance can be achieved with both regimes; and

• promote compliance by setting clear expectations for industry on what they must do to meet both their online safety and data protection requirements. That includes particular support through the transition for small and emerging firms to help them thrive and grow. We will take action against services that don't meet their obligations, sharing information and intelligence as appropriate and coordinating approaches to enforcement.

Meta's oversight board has told Instagram to reinstate a clip of drill music originally removed from Instagram at the request of the Metropolitan police.

The clip, a short excerpt of the song Secrets Not Safe by Chinx (OS) , was removed after the Met flagged the track to Meta, arguing that it could lead to retaliatory violence in the context of the London gang scene.

The force told Meta it contained a veiled threat, referencing a shooting in 2017, and as a result the company manually removed 52 posts containing the track and automated systems removed it a further 112 times.

Now, the oversight board says those removals were a mistake. The track does not break Facebook or Instagram's rules, it argues, and basic principles of free speech, equality and transparency were breached in allowing a police operation to censor a musician in secret.

As part of its investigation into the removal of the track, the oversight board filed multiple freedom of information requests with the Met police, finding that the force had filed 286 requests to take down or review posts about drill music in the 12 months from June 2021, and that 255 of those had resulted in the removal of content.

New Twitter owner Elon Musk has said President Donald Trump's account has been reinstated after running a poll in which users backed the decision.

The people have spoken, Musk tweeted, after the results of a poll showed Twitter users' narrow support for Trump to be reinstated.

Over 15 million users participated in the poll, with 52% voting in favor of bringing Trump back to the platform.

While the account is now active, it's not known if President Trump will return to the platform, as he has previously said: I don't see any reason for it, and has since launched his own social media platform, Truth Social.

The Telegraph is reporting on significant changes being considered by the government to its Online Censorship Bill.

The government is considering backing off from the government defined censorship of 'legal but harmful' content on most websites available in the UK. The government has rightfully been taking stick for these free speech curtailing measures, particularly as the censorship is expected to be implemented mostly by mostly woke US internet giants who clearly don't care about free speech, and will over censor to ensure that they don't get caught up in the expense of getting it wrong by under censoring.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan is said to be considering the option for adults to be able to self censor 'legal but harmful' content by clicking a filter button that will order websites to block such content. Of course children will not be able to opt out of that choice. And of course this will men that age and identity verification has to be in place to esnsure that only adults can opt out.

A Culture Department spokesman said:

The Secretary of State has committed to strengthen protections for free speech and children in the Online Safety Bill and bring the bill back to the Commons as soon as possible. It remains the Government's intention to pass the bill this session.

Prescription Gin offers the service to customise labels with a jokey prescription label with a customer specified name and dosage.

One example came to the attention of the trade organisation, the Portman Group, who act as drink label censors. The customer specified dosage read:

Take ONE swig before each exam. GOOD LUCK!

The Portman Group went on to ban the label under two counts of its censorship rules:

• A drink, its packaging and any promotional material or activity should not in any direct or indirect way encourage illegal, irresponsible or immoderate consumption, such as drink-driving, binge-drinking or drunkenness.

• A drink, its packaging and any promotional material or activity should not in any direct or indirect way suggest that the product has therapeutic qualities, can enhance mental or physical capabilities, or change mood or behaviour.

The drinks company, MixPixie, commented:

The company addressed the concern raised by the complainant that one of the bottles featured on its website included the front label text take one swig before each exam. Good luck!. The company explained that the product was personalised and that this particular product had been ordered by a customer. The company explained that when a customer bought the product, they had to confirm that they were over 18 years of age. Additionally, the company pointed out that when Royal Mail delivered its products, they could not hand it to anyone under-18. The company then stated that the complainant had presumed that this particular bottle was for a young person doing exams, but that in reality, it was most likely that this order was for a mature student.

The company stated that to resolve this particular issue with the complaint, it had removed this photo from its product page.

The Portman Group censor panel commented:

The Panel discussed the producer's formal response to the complaint and noted that the producer had stated that it could not be held responsible for what a customer chose to include but that it had the ability to vet what had been written before sending the label to be printed and could contact the customer to change it or issue a refund if the proposed text was inappropriate for an alcoholic product. The Panel sought to remind the producer that it did have responsibility for the entirety of the product, including the customisable element, as ultimately the producer could regulate the customisable content. The Panel noted that once the producer chose to incorporate the customer's personalisation on the product, the product in its entirety became the responsibility of the producer as it had willingly, and knowingly, printed the label onto its branded product.

The Panel discussed whether the product suggested that it had therapeutic qualities, could enhance mental or physical capabilities, or change mood or behaviour. The Panel considered that the product was deliberately, and overtly, designed to look like a prescription medicine and that such medicines were synonymous with being used to cure and relieve physical and/or mental ailments. The Panel reiterated the points made during discussion under other Code rules and noted the usage of the exact replica of a pharmacy cross, small medicinal bottle shape and medicinal liquid colour which, when combined, suggested that the product had therapeutic qualities. The Panel also noted that the front of the bottle stated, POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS: MAY INCLUDE EXTREME RELAXATION, GIDDINESS AND HAPPINESS. The Panel considered that this directly suggested that the product could help a consumer to relax and that it would also result in happiness after consumption. The Panel considered that these phrases also suggested that the product had a therapeutic effect and that it could change someone's mood. The Panel therefore concluded that the product breached rule 3.2(j).

The French government has announced a global initiative for online child safety.

The purpose of the Children Online Protection Laboratory is to incentivize researchers, campaigners, and tech giants to come up with measures to best protect children online.

Tech giants Google , Amazon, Meta, and TikTok , as well as Dailymotion said they will sign a charter.

In the first year, the participants of the Child Protection Laboratory will focus on developing systems for detecting sexual predators posing as minors and a shared database to detect and remove explicit images shared non-consensually. However, the other aspects of the proposal include looking into online age verification, a move that could restrict online privacy for all users.

In the past few years, Macron's government has pushed for reforms in online child safety. However, some of the efforts have not been successful. For instance, the legislation requiring adult websites to verify age has not been enforced, yet it was passed over two years ago. The highest court in the country, the Cour de Cassation has until January to rule on whether the Constitutional Council should review if the age verification rules violate the Constitution and if they are a major threat to privacy in the country.

Our Father is a 2022 US crime documentary by Lucie Jourdan
Starring Donald Cline, (archive footage), Jacoba Ballard and Debbie Pierce

Jacoba Ballard decided to take a DNA test one day, in hopes of finding one or two half-siblings with the same sperm donor. "Growing up, I felt different," she says in the documentary's trailer. But when she found seven matches, she realized that she had stumbled across a major discovery. Jacoba discovers a shocking scheme involving donor sperm and a popular fertility doctor.

The BBFC database reveals that Our Father is rated 18 for its 'sexual violence theme', but according to minutes of a recent board meeting it seems that the 'sexual violence' doesn't actually involve any violence, and both Netflix & the BBFC board think that the film should actually be rated 15. The meeting minutes read:

A Compliance Officer shared three clips from Our Father, a Netflix true crime documentary about the case of Donald Cline, a fertility doctor who fathered over 50 children by replacing donor sperm with his own. The film was viewed by the BBFC as part of its monthly audit of Netflix's self-rating decisions. The clips presented  featured reconstructions in which it is implied that the actor playing Cline is masturbating below frame before inseminating his patients using a syringe containing his own semen. The Board agreed that the reconstruction sequences constituted strong scenes of sexual violence, but that they were neither detailed nor protracted enough to require an 18 classification. The Board concurred with the 15 self-applied by Netflix, which was confirmed by the BBFC during the audit.

Channel 4 has been having fun with a naked performance from the transgender Jordan Gray on Friday Night Live.

The comedian appeared on the Channel 4 celebration special. Gray finished the  performance by stripping off entirely and playing the piano with a flaccid penis.

Some loved the performance as right on but others fired off 1,400 complaints to Ofcom .

Meanwhile Spiked asks why a transgender penis is considered right think but that of a straight male comedian Jerry Sadowitz is considered totally reprehensible.

Offsite Comment: Sexist comedy is back

26th October 2022. See article from spiked-online.com by Brendan O'Neill

Update:Ofcom decides not to address viewer complaints

8th November 2022. See article from huffingtonpost.co.uk

Ofcom Rejects Complaints Over Comic Jordan Gray's Naked Performance On Friday Night Live

A total of 1,538 people complained to Ofcom about the live broadcast, which saw the performer stripping completely nude.

Ofcom said it in latest Complaints Bulletin that it will not be taking the matter any further.

Infinity Pool is a 2022 Canada/Hungary/France Sci-Fi horror by Brandon Cronenberg
Starring Mia Goth, Alexander Skarsgård and Amanda Brugel

Originally the movie was MPA NC-17 rated, but the producers decided to appeal for an R rating.

The Classification and Rating Administration's (CARA) Appeals Board tied in a vote to change the NC-17 rating to R but a two thirds majority is required to change the rating and so the NC-17 rating was maintained.

The producers then decided to cut the movie for an MPA R rating.

It is not yet clear if the cuts will affect international releases.

Summary Notes

James and Em Foster are enjoying an all-inclusive beach vacation in the fictional island of La Tolqa, when a fatal accident exposes the resort's perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism, reckless violence and surreal horrors.

Versions

cut		US: Cut and MPA R rated for graphic violence, disturbing material, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and some language.
uncut		US: Uncut and MPA NC-17 rated for some graphic violence and sexual content

China has banned all celebrities from endorsing a range of products and banned those with 'lapsed morals' from endorsing anything.

The regulations, announced by state censors this week, bar Chinese celebrities from publicly endorsing or advertising health, education and financial commodities, including e-cigarettes and baby formula. The new regulations read:

Celebrities should consciously practice socialist core values in their advertising endorsement activities, and endorsement activities should conform to social morals and traditional virtues.

The rules also banned companies from hiring celebrities found to have lapsed morals or engaged in illegal behavior including tax evasion, drunkenness, drug addiction and fraud, and from using images of Communist party leaders, revolutionary leaders and heroes in their advertising.

The Online Censorship Bill is due to be brought back to Parliament later this month when  Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan will present an amended version of the Online Safety Bill to MPs.

It is reported that controversial 'legal but harmful rules' are set to be watered down. She is scrapping sweeping legal but harmful rules which required social media companies to address content that is not illegal but is deemed dangerous.

The rules would have meant social media sites, such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, were responsible for dealing with this content for both adults and children. But, amid criticism that it would have led to a widespread attack on freedom of speech by companies hoping to avoid hefty fines, it seems that the new laws will only apply to material targeted at children.

Tumblr's death knell sounded back in 2018, when the site infamously banned its popular adult content.

The site's popularity quickly tanked: in the three months following the platform lost 30% of its page views. In 2019, the site was sold to WordPress owner Automattic for less than $3 million, a seismic drop compared to the $1.1 billion Yahoo paid for it in 2013.

Now, it appears that Tumblr is hoping to turn back the clock. The platform first announced a new community labels feature back in September which allowed users to tag their own posts that feature depictions of drug and alcohol addiction, violence and sexual content.

Then a staff member reblogged the community labels announcement, writing

 OK, didn't everyone want 'females presenting nipples' back on Tumblr? Here you are. This is it.

The Tumblr blog post reads:

We recently introduced Community Labels to give everyone more control over their dashboard experience. With this new feature, you can adjust your feed to your preferred comfort level by setting the types of content you want to see. It was our first step toward a more open Tumblr.

Today, we're taking the next step: We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form).

So, even if your creations contain nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes, you can now share them on Tumblr using the appropriate Community Label so that everyone remains in control of the types of content they see on their dash.

We have updated our Community Guidelines to reflect these changes; the rest of our content policies remain the same: We still don't allow hate, spam, violent threats, or anything illegal, and visual depictions of sexually explicit acts remain off-limits on Tumblr.

We hope this shift creates more room for artistic expression to flourish on Tumblr while empowering each of you to craft your own experience and safely explore and discover the things you love.