Censor Watch

To Kill a War Machine is a 2025 UK documentary by Hannan Majid, Richard York
Starring Huda Ammori, Richard Barnard and Shezana Hafiz

Originally uncut and BBFC 15 rated for a 2025 cinema release, but was banned a month later following the UK government ban of the campaign group Palestine Action.

Summary Notes

A documentary about the activist group Palestine Action.

Versions

banned run: 78:17s pal: 75:09s		UK: Banned by BBFC 2025 Rainbow Collective cinema release (rated 04/07/2025) The BBFC commented: To Kill a War Machine is a British documentary about the group Palestine Action, who were proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 with effect from 5 July 2025. The film was originally classified 15 uncut for cinema release on 5 June 2025, before the group was proscribed. Given the proscription of the organisation, and in accordance with legal advice, further distribution or exhibition of To Kill a War Machine is likely to constitute an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000. As such, the classification for this film was revoked on 4 July 2025. BBFC Guidelines and policy state that we will not classify material which is in breach of the criminal law. The film makers, Rainbow Collective, also took down an online release, saying in a statement: Following the vote in the House of Commons on 2nd July 2025 to proscribe Palestine Action, Rainbow Collective have taken the difficult decision to temporarily take down the online version of our film, To Kill a War Machine and authorise no further screenings of the film until further notice. As filmmakers with 20 years of experience documenting movements for social justice around the world, we produced To Kill a War Machine independently, within the law and had it certified for cinema release by the BBFC. The film itself does not become illegal, as it was produced and edited prior to proscription. However, future distribution of anything which could be interpreted as showing sympathy for or inviting support for a proscribed organisation will become illegal. It has always been Rainbow Collective's intention to tell critical and truthful stories with integrity. We never want our documentaries to expose our audiences or communities to danger from the state and, as such, the film will remain unavailable until we have absolute legal assurance that it can be distributed within the law.
uncut run: 78:17s pal: 75:09s		UK: Uncut and BBFC 15 rated for images of real dead bodies and injury, criminal behaviour: 2025 Rainbow Collective cinema release (rated 05/06/2025 but banned from 04/07/2025)

A cinema ad for the vegan charity Viva!, seen in March and April 2025, featured a woman placing her sleeping baby in a cot while a lullaby played. After switching off a lamp, she turned around to see the baby in the cot. A silhouetted figure suddenly appeared standing over the cot and the room went dark. The woman switched on a light to reveal a man in a suit running a bottle of milk across the bars of the cot, which was now empty. The woman gasped and asked, What have you done with my baby? The man smiled, revealing misshapen, discoloured teeth, and replied in a low, gravelly voice, You cant keep your baby because we want your milk. The womans scream was cut off and the screen went black. The next scene showed a calf in a pen. The voiceover stated, Almost every dairy calf is taken from their mother shortly after birth so most of her milk can be sold to us. And what do you think happens to thousands of male babies like this one? The words Dairy is Scary and the Viva! logo appeared on a black screen accompanied by a loud, metallic noise and the sound of something falling to the floor.

The ASA received 25 complaints, including one from The Dairy Council of Northern Ireland. The complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, distressing, especially to those that had lost a child, and likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

Viva! said they aimed to raise awareness of standard practices in the dairy industry, particularly the removal of calves from their mothers shortly after birth. The ad was based on factual information and was intended to inform and encourage ethical choices, not to shock. They cited a survey which found that 59% of respondents did not know that cows must give birth in order to produce milk.

Viva! said the ad used metaphor and cinematic techniques, rather than graphic imagery, to draw a symbolic comparison between human and animal separation. The character of the bogeyman was a dramatic device used to prompt empathy. They said it was not intended to trivialise human grief or cause distress to those who had experienced child loss.

ASA Assessment:  Complaints upheld

The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers, and must not cause serious or widespread offence, fear or distress without justifiable reason. The fear or distress should not be excessive, and marketers must not use a shocking claim or image merely to attract attention.

The ad, which drew on conventions of horror films, was classified as suitable for audiences aged 15+ and appeared in cinemas. The ASA acknowledged that it was surreal and stylised in tone and did not feature graphic imagery. We understood that the approach was intended to encourage viewers to draw a direct emotional parallel between the separation of calves from their mothers and the imagined loss of a human baby. We considered, however, that while viewers would understand that the ad aimed to raise awareness of animal welfare, the nature of that comparison was likely to be seen as insensitive by many and in particular by those with experience of loss or trauma around parenthood.

The domestic scene of a mother putting her baby to bed abruptly changed with the arrival of a menacing bogeyman figure standing over the babys cot, and the babys subsequent disappearance. We considered that the bogeyman character created a strong sense of unease and threat. Although the ad did not depict the baby being harmed, and it was not shown being physically removed, we considered that its disappearance was likely to be seen as shocking and unsettling. We further considered that the statement You cant keep your baby, in combination with the sudden disappearance of the baby, was likely to be particularly upsetting for viewers with experience of child loss or fertility issues, in particular because the parallel with dairy industry practices was revealed only in the latter half of the ad. We considered that the late reveal, in combination with the unsettling imagery, was likely to increase the emotional impact and amplify distress. We considered that the message of the ad did not justify the distress likely to be caused by the approach, in particular to vulnerable audiences.

For those reasons, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause unjustified distress and serious and widespread offence.

The ad must not appear again in the form complained about.

Salaam BCR is a local radio station in the Manchester area.

Ofcom has just fined the radio station owners Markaz-Al-Huda Ltd for material broadcast on Salaam BCR on 17 October 2023 at 14:00 and 16:3

The fine of £3500 was imposed for breaches of the Ofcom censorship rules:

• Rule 3.2: “Material which contains hate speech must not be included in…radio programmes…except where it is justified by the context”;

• Rule 3.3: “Material which contains abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities, must not be included in…radio services…except where it is justified by the context”; and

• Rule 2.3: “In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context…Such material may include, but is not limited to, offensive language…discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of…race, religion or belief…) ...Appropriate information should also be broadcast where it would assist in avoiding or minimising offence”.

The offending programme was broadcast on Salaam BCR featuring a 38- minute speech delivered by Mr Shujauddin Sheikh. The speech was delivered to an audience outside the Karachi Press Club in Pakistan on 12 October 2023. During the programme, Mr Shujauddin presented his views on the ongoing situation in the Middle East and, in particular, what he considered to be a lack of response by Muslim leaders around the world to the suffering of Palestinian Muslims in Gaza.

Ofcom concluded this broadcast contained antisemitic hate speech and abusive and derogatory statements, which were potentially highly offensive and not justified by the context.

Russian lawmakers have passed controversial legislation that would dramatically expand the governments ability to punish internet users -- not for sharing forbidden content but for simply looking it up.

The new measures, which sailed through the Russian parliament and will take effect in September, will introduce fines for people who deliberately searched for knowingly extremist materials and gained access to them through means such as virtual private networks, or VPNs.

VPNs are already widely used in Russia to circumvent the many blocks on websites.

Russia defines extremist materials as content officially added by a court to a government-maintained registry, currently with about 5,500 entries, or content produced by extremist organizations ranging from the LGBT movement to al-Qaeda.

Until now, Russian law stopped short of punishing individuals for seeking information online; only creating or sharing such content is prohibited. The new amendments follow remarks by high-ranking officials that censorship is justified in wartime.

Similar legislation passed recently in neighboring Belarus, Russias close ally ruled by authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and has been used to justify prosecution of government critics.

The fine for searching for banned content in Russia would be about a $65, while the penalty for advertising circumvention tools such as VPN services would be steeper -- $2,500 for individuals and up to $12,800 for companies.