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Banned in China

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Considering how many of the examples under Canada were obvious to any Canadian editor as being incorrect, all of the examples here for all countries need to be verified.


Moral panic aside, it is unusual for media to be banned outright anywhere (Except, you know, in those countries). Some governments are more likely than others to prohibit the sale of games/other media whose subject matter is not to their liking. Note that in many nations, this amounts to a general ban or censorship of most retailers and broadcasters, and that buying/possessing/selling imports from outside one's borders is perfectly legal.

A general rule of thumb is that, if the fighting/political action takes place in that country, or against its government (even when it's clearly not the actual one or even a thinly veiled substitute), they're not going to like it.

The title is a modern play on the older phrase "Banned in Boston." Back in the days when Boston, Massachusetts was a bastion of Puritan and Catholic morality, a local "benevolent" group known as the Watch and Ward Society held immense sway over what plays and films could be presented and what books could be sold or carried by libraries. Boston has been replaced by China due to the People's Republic's tendency to censor anything they find remotely "harmful for the Chinese youth" (i.e. anything that questions the authority of the government or might inspire new, possibly rebellious ways of thinking).

Compare New Media Are Evil, No Swastikas, Media Watchdog, and Moral Guardians. For when the distributor simply decides not to market it in a certain place, see No Export for You.

Examples of Banned in China include:

Works banned in more than one country[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Not even Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon (both series released in the Anglosphere) are free from this. In Saudi Arabia, the Sailor Moon franchise was banned for promoting "zionism", LGBT content and sexuality. However, in case of Saudi Arabia, this is more of a No Export for You rather than this trope. In Spain's Valencia region, Dragon Ball was officially rejected from broadcast, as A Punt deemed the anime "sexist" due to the network's new gender policy. Dragon Ball also never saw a Hungarian release until 2014 because the anime was declared to be "too violent" by the Hungarian version of BS&P.

Video games[]

Western Animation[]

  • The Animation Age Ghetto in full effect, as well as mature content, caused Family Guy to be banned from screening in several countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.

Things banned in more than one country[]

Video Games[]

  • Video game consoles were banned in Afghanistan, Albania, Belarus, China, Myanmar, North Korea, Philippines and Turkmenistan. In case of China, this is because video gaming consoles can have a negative effect on the mental and physical development of children; in North Korea, Turkmenistan and Albania, this is to curb foreign influence from entering the country; and in case of Afghanistan, this is because Western media and technology were prohibited (that includes video gaming consoles). China officially ended the ban on video gaming consoles in 2015, while Albania scrapped the ban years prior to the change of their government. It is still banned in North Korea, though.

Australia[]

Fan Works[]

  • Not entirely a specific ban, but when Australia blocked the alt.sex.stories newsgroup, the infamous Power Rangers fanfic Agony in Pink was specifically cited as one of the reasons in the press release.

Film[]

  • The Office of Film and Literature Classification is essentially Australia's version of the MPAA, but unlike its American counterpart, it is a governmental organization, and films must by law be classified by it before they can be sold or exhibited in any form in the country. The OLFC has banned a handful of explicit movies, among them Baise Moi, In a Glass Cage, Ken Park, La Blue Girl, Nekromantik, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (which was eventually passed as of 2010), Vase de Noces, the uncut version of Caligula, and Pink Flamingos.
  • They also attempted to ban Mysterious Skin; they failed on account of their gay community getting upset, as this attempt was the latest in a string of other LGBT-themed bans.

Live-Action TV[]

  • The first series of Nine Network's Underbelly was banned by judicial order within the state of Victoria and Melbourne and from the Internet due to an ongoing trial of one of the show's real-life subjects and concern of jury tampering, and even after their conviction the court forced the network to heavily edit the episodes into an unwatchable mess.

Music[]

  • Cold Chisel's "Khe Sanh" was originally banned from radio in every state except South Australia.

Video Games[]

  • Originally there was no R 18+ rating for videogames, so anything deemed to go over the MA 15+ rating would mean that the game would get no classification and be banned. This has since changed and the R 18+ rating was implemented by the end of 2011.
  • What started as a rumor turned out to be entirely true: it was originally failed to attain a 15+ rating and was thus refused to be given a rating, so Fallout 3 was banned in Australia before it even came out. It has since been rated and released with a 15+ rating. Apparently, it was the depiction of a static image of morphine as a type of buff-giving item that make the OFLC upset so much. This edit was done to all versions worldwide thus technically Australia still got the uncensored version. Kotaku Australia to elaborates. [dead link]
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude was unrated due to its strongly suggestive... everything. It's about an adorable Casanova Wannabe trying to get laid by college coeds.
  • Left 4 Dead 2 was added to the list of games refused classification for the amount of violence caused by melee weapons (zombies get dismembered or have their organs exposed after a single hit). It was eventually released, heavily censored.
    • Violence in general wasn't the only reason, it was the context in which the violence took place in, in which the people who attack the players are infected humans and not supernatural zombies. Despite common belief Australia would have allowed the riot infected, it's just that Valve used the German cut which already had them censored out (though since patched in) despite Australia would have allowed more than what was censored (e.g. disapearing bodies)
  • Manhunt and Postal are banned too.
  • Aliens vs. Predator (2010) was originally banned but through an appeal it was rerated MA 15+ uncut. Which ironically made it the most leniant rating given to the game of any country.
  • Mortal Kombat 9 was banned in Australia, and customs were ordered to seize copies. Eventually, the Komplete Edition was released in 2013 under the R-18 label; same goes to MK X and MK 11.
  • Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure was banned for supposedly glorifying graffiti.
  • The use of prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto was usually censored in some way. Though all games has had at least an uncut version of all the games released (i.e. III, Vic city and IV were uncensored with a 15+ for their PC release with IV getting a patch for consoles)
  • Here, play this game.
  • Singles: Flirt Up Your Life was banned due to being above MA 15+, with it's high sexual content.
  • Silent Hill Homecoming had to have some of the Cruel and Unusual Death scenes toned down to pass OFLC classification. The same censored version was released in Germany.
  • Omega Labyrinth Z was banned in Australia due to sexual exploitation of a person depicted in the game who is under 18. Along with the ban in the United Kingdom, this resulted in Sony banning the sale of the game outside of Japan.

Web Original[]

  • Australia's labor party is also taking a cue from the Chinese and attempting to push through a law mandating that ISPs block certain blacklisted sites entirely. Here's a particularly witty response. The Liberal Party had a similar plan when they were in government.
    • Australian ISPs in general aren't too timid to say very publically and in details what they think of attempts to push internet censorship, of lobbyists who do it, why, and where they want this to be stuffed. Like iiNet's managing director ("the worst Communications Minister we've had in the 15 years since the [internet] industry has existed") or Exetel's chief executive ("...scheme to purge the Fatherland of the filth emanating from the diseased brains of the untermenscen").

Western Animation[]

  • While Peppa Pig is popular in Australia, one episode of the show was banned in Australia as 'spiders are dangerous bugs.'

Azerbaijan[]

Film[]

  • Any film that depicts Armenians in any positive light is banned. This even includes a film by Azeri director Eldar Guliev entitled "Hostage", a film about the Nagorno-Karabakh war which depicts an Armenian hostage in a human light. This is because since losing the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the Demonization of Armenians has become state policy.

Television[]

  • Anything not in the Azeri language, including Russian and even Turkish programming, was banned from television in 2009.

Bangladesh[]

Film[]

  • Strange World was never officially released or dubbed in the country due to a homosexual plot present in the film. If Disney did promoted the film in Bangladesh, the censorship board could ban it.

Belgium[]

Literature[]

  • In 1999 a judge ordered a ban on Herman Brusselmans' novel "Guggenheimer Wast Witter" in Belgium after fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester took offense on the author's semi-satirical descriptions of her looks and profession. Brusselmans has a reputation for poking fun at Flemish celebrities in his books in a very degrading manner that hardly has anything to do with the public image of these media stars. Yet, the novel was available in the Netherlands where it was mostly bought by Flemings.

Video Games[]

  • Mario Kart Tour was never released in Belgium due to featuring loot box mechanics; the Belgian Gaming Commission branded loot boxes as online gambling and therefore illegal. Some games such as the EA FIFA games had loot box mechanics removed to comply with the Belgian law.
  • Due to Belgium's law being against in-app purchases and lootboxes, Nintendo decided to end the support of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp for that region starting from August 27, 2019. Note that this extends to the game's own playability, not just store availability, making it pretty much a true region lock for that country.

Bhutan[]

Multimedia[]

  • For many years, Bhutan prohibited the television and the internet in order to preserve the country's culture and identity. Eventually, Jigme Singye Wangchuck lifted the prohibition in 1999. This made Bhutan one of the last countries to introduce television.

Brazil[]

Film[]

  • Beyond Citizen Kane, a documentary about Globo, Brazilian's biggest and most powerful TV network, was banned by the government in 1994. The ban was kind of useless, since many universities still screened it, and the popularization of internet allowed many people to watch it.

Video Games[]

  • Before we begin with video games, it should be pointed out that many of these bans were judicial orders, which are nearly impossible to enforce, have limited jurisdiction, and were in some cases unconstitutional. As such, many of these bans were pretty much ignored.
  • In 1997 and 1998, the original Grand Theft Auto and the two Carmageddon games were banned because it glamorized car theft and vehicular homicide, respectively.
  • In 1999, a shootout at a São Paulo movie theater closely resembled the first level of Duke Nukem 3D. That game was banned for that reason. Five other games banned as well to prevent widespread violence (Doom, Mortal Kombat, Requiem, Blood, and Postal). (The movie being shown during the shooting, Fight Club, was not banned.)
  • Counter-Strike was banned from Brazil since January 2008 because of a popular map mod called “Rio.” The authorities stated that in the game "your objective is to kill the military police of Rio for points as Drug Dealers from the Favelas and keeping members of the UN hostage for execution". It's a bit blown out of proportion, since you can play either side, the drug dealers are supposed to be international terrorists, and the "military police" is a non-specific counter-terrorist initiative. This is also only one of many unofficial maps that were made by modders, and the game itself has no responsibility over it. Pretty much none of this is actually spelled out in the game. The ban has since been lifted.
  • Banned at the same time as Counter-Strike was EverQuest because "the player can make morally ambiguous decisions, and thus the game is harmful to the consumer's mental health.”
  • Bully has been banned because of depictions of school violence. Amazingly, this one is actually enforced by (of all things) Steam, where the game (and any package that contains it) is unavailable for purchase.

Web Original[]

  • Brazil also shares Canada's restriction concerning lolicon art.

Western Animation[]

  • The Simpsons season 13 episode "Blame It on Lisa" was only shown three times in Brazil before it garnered complaints and the government decided to ban it due to lots of scenes that mercilessly made fun of the country (including rats being painted beautiful colors as they run through the slum streets, Homer being distracted by an old peddler while her children pickpocket him, and Bart watching a Brazilian kids' show that features a lot of sexual innuendo and scantily-clad actresses). It would take years for FOX to be allowed to—if nothing else—let the episode be released on the season 13 DVD box set. According to DVD commentary, the writers were amazed that this episode caused that level of controversy, while the episode "Weekend At Burnsie's" (in which Homer is prescribed medicinal marijuana) — which they did expect to rile up complaints (at least in America), got little to no negative feedback (though the censors did ask for some scenes of Homer actually smoking his medicinal marijuana to be shortened or heavily implied rather than directly shown and episode writer, Jon Vitti, had to explain to his nephew that what Homer did in the episode was wrong).

Burma/Myanmar[]

Film[]

  • Burma banned Rambo (the 2008 film). Rebel factions then started watching Rambo. Funny how these things turn out. The ban was not surprising considering that the film portrays the Burmese government as an oppressive dictatorship, which, in real life, it is.
  • For starring as Aung San Suu Kyi in a biographical movie, Michelle Yeoh gets banned from entering Burma again.

Music[]

  • U2's album All That You Can't Leave Behind is banned in Burma/Myanmar because the song "Walk On" is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi.


Canada[]

Advertising[]

  • Provincial language laws regulate - not prohibit - the use of English-language advertising on billboards or similar surfaces in Quebec. French must be in a position of prominence (which in practice means first and in a larger typeface) but English (or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language) is perfectly legal if it's listed after the French.

Live-Action TV[]

  • The Doctor Who story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is banned from broadcast in Canada (though home video is fine) following the protests from Chinese groups that its Yellow Peril content provoked when it was first shown on TV.[please verify]
  • Disney's The Swamp Fox, which aired circa 1968 on 'Walt Disney Presents' was banned because the government didn't like the portrayal of the Tory/Loyalist characters as complete villains.[please verify] Ironically, Canada is the homeland of the series' star, Leslie Nielsen.

Video Games[]

Web Original[]

  • Lolicon art is illegal in Canada.
    • Not quite. Written material, visual representations or audio recordings that advocate or counsel sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years that would be an offence under the Criminal Code is illegal in Canada. If you draw a pre-teen wearing a sleeveless version of Jessica Rabbit's gown, more power to you. If you draw the same pre-teen wearing jeans and a t-shirt but following an adult into a bedroom, you're breaking the law.

Western Animation[]


Finland[]

Comic Books[]

  • There is an urban legend about Donald Duck being banned in Finland, because he does not wear pants. As pointed out by the Snopes page, this was a complete misunderstanding of a 1977 incident where Markku Huolopainen, a Helsinki councilman from the Liberal Party, proposed discontinuing the purchase of Donald Duck comics for youth centres to cope with the city's financial difficulties. So, naturally, when he ran for Parliament next year, his opponent charged Huolopainen with trying to "ban" Donald Duck, and proceeded to defeat him. A similar financial difficulties-misunderstanding incident took place later in the city of Kemi.
    • The legend is probably based on the few angry letters that the Finnish Donald Duck magazine received decades ago on the subject, and responded by publishing a picture of a ridiculous-looking duck with pants, which largely killed the issue. Many Finns find this legend amusing, in that the nudity taboo is far weaker in Finland than it ever has been in America, and there have been several comics in the country's national newspaper which have on occasion showed naked characters with visible but non-pronounced genitals, leading to no reprecussions.
    • There's also the fact that Donald Duck is the most popular fictional character of them all in Finland. That would be an even bigger achievement were he banned.

France[]

Anime and Manga[]

Fashion[]

  • Wearing a burqa or niqab (two different forms of face-concealing veil for women in certain forms of Islamic Dress) in public is banned in France. This has caused a great deal of controversy, as a small but significant minority of Muslims regards these items as being religiously-mandated; as a result, various EU institutions and many commentators—particularly American ones—have criticized the ban as an infringement on religious freedom.


Film[]

  • Paths of Glory (1957) by Stanley Kubrick was banned in France until the death of President Charles De Gaulle in 1970 due to its critical depiction of the French Army during World War I.
  • Baise Moi was the first film in three decades to be banned in France. It was eventually reclassified as X (generally a rating for porn), then 18 (which has this film to thank for its reintroduction as an official classification).
  • The Battle of Algiers was banned in France until 1971.


Germany[]

Film[]

  • In Nazi Germany, the Laurel and Hardy film "The Bohemian Girl" (1934) was banned because of its gypsy themes.
  • Understandably the Nazis also banned Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940). However, curiosity got the best of Hitler and had a private copy brought in from elsewhere which he viewed twice.
  • Volkswagen is sufficiently sensitive about the fact that the company was founded in part by Hitler that they still object to Volkswagens being depicted as weapons of war, hence the live-action film incarnation of Bumblebee being a Camaro, rather than a Beetle like his G1 counterpart. General Motors wrote a big check to complete the change to a Camaro. The problem also arose when Hasbro wanted to make a new version of Bumblebee for the Alternators toy line, which consisted of robots that transformed into accurate (and licensed) 1:24 scale replicas of current cars.
  • Posters for Inglourious Basterds were slightly different in Germany from the ones elsewhere because of the No Swastikas rule.
  • The only version of Evil Dead that isn't banned in Germany had 15 minutes cut.
  • All in all, about 130 movies are banned in their uncut form in Germany. This includes the usual suspects like Cannibal Holocaust, the Faces of Death series and many of Lucio Fulci's films, but also Dawn of the Dead, Halloween II and Phantasm.
    • There are essentially two tiers of banning films in Germany: banning them from being sold altogether, and allowing their sale but banning them from being advertised, displayed in shops, reviewed, or otherwise given publicity. Films in the latter category can't be sold to minors, which means, with all the other constraints, that they're only sold online...

Literature[]

  • A full list of all the books and plays banned in Nazi Germany would be rather unwieldy, but Jewish playwright Heinrich Heine's Almansor deserves special mention as the source of the quote "Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people." This quote is now engraved in the ground at the Opernplatz, which is now called the Bebelplatz for being the site of a major Nazi Book-Burning.

Live-Action TV[]

  • The Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Patterns Of Force" was banned in Germany (the only Star Trek episode from the original 1966 series to hold this honor; "Amok Time," on the other hand, wasn't banned, but was edited for content) because the plot deals with a planet heavily influenced by the Nazi Party.

Multimedia[]

Music[]

Video Games[]

  • Germany classifies all games as children's toys. Among other things, it bans the depiction of swastikas and other Nazi-related stuff in non-educational media (under a law prohibiting the use of symbols of anti-constitutional groups outside of specific historical/educational context).
    • In Hearts of Iron 2, Nazi Germany uses the Imperial Tricolour (think the Red Baron's plane), which the Nazis actually banned, instead of a swastika flag. It was easier to change it accordingly to the issues of the German than Chinese law, because Paradox would have had to completely re-balance the game for a release in China.
    • Bionic Commando Rearmed is an interesting aversion/subversion. The game is not banned in Germany because it has no Nazi imagery. However, the main villain is obviously supposed to be Adolf Hitler, even though he's never referred to as such by name. In the English version, he's known simply as "The Leader". The German translation refers to him as "Der Führer", which makes it even more obvious.
    • Wolfenstein 3D, filled with Hitler posters and Nazi symbols, was banned. For Return to Castle Wolfenstein, id Software made some changes in the German version to get released.
    • Hidden And Dangerous was censored of all blood and Nazi symbols - but the original textures are still in the installation directory. A little tweaking with WinRAR can undo the censoring.
    • The entire Nimdok section of I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream was removed in the German release due to it being set in a concentration camp, thus making the game Unwinnable, as the final part of the game requires all four characters.
  • And then there's the mass censoring of violence. A side effect of this tendency is that Austrian online shops are far more successful than German video game dealers:
    • Team Fortress Classic, the German version, was virtually unplayable: Every class model was replaced by the generic death match "Robot" model, so you couldn't tell enemy classes apart. The German version of Team Fortress 2 uses the weird organs from Party Mode permanently.
    • Let's not forget Half-Life. All blood was removed, HECU soldiers were replaced with the same robots as mentioned above, and scientists, rather than dying, sat down and shook their heads.
    • A well-known example is Turok, in which human opponents were replaced by robots that "bled" green liquid.
    • Resident Evil 4 was so badly chopped up on its German release that German gamers took to importing copies from other countries just to get around it. Ironically, at least one scene ended up with even more disturbing implications as a result of having its end replaced with a fadeout.
    • The German versions of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Command and Conquer: Red Alert had to tool tip refer to infantry units as "Cyborgs". When they died, the sound would resemble that of power going down, and there was no blood. The censorship of the German version becomes apparent in the first minutes of the game if you've played the English-language version. Some shots from the cut scenes were also cut, leaving bits with gruesome deaths (such as Stavros killing Stalin) somewhat disjointed. However, under EA things have changed for the better. Tiberium Wars had two versions for the European market, one with censorship and one uncut, 16+ version.
    • Generals was hit even harder. It was originally released uncensored (which would later turn into the favour of uncensor mods) but that version was later censored. Zero Hour only came out censored. The changes in Generals are removing all references to the actual countries the game names, turning all infantry into "cyborgs" including photoshoping every single picture for the same purpose, making the audio sound overly robotic and overriding various voice overs with neutral ones (copy paste), removing a mission of the GLA campaign, removing all video of the campaigns and turning the Terrorist unit into a toy car with a bomb strapped to it (would ALSO later turn into the favour of modders). Zero Hour kept its videos but only censored and all other changes still applied.
    • In Wing Commander IV, the scene where Seether slits Captain Paulson's throat has two versions, with and without gushing blood. The latter is the one found on the German release of the game.
    • The German version of Left 4 Dead 2 is censored, similar to the above-mentioned Australian version. However, the German version also features four extra weapons ported from Counter-Strike: Source, which don't normally spawn in other versions of the game.
  • Madworld is banned in Germany, despite being showcased at the Games Convention before its launch.
  • There is a small but loud group of German politicians who are advocating a ban of "killer games" (there is no actual definition of the term and few are willing to attempt giving one) for years, so this list could get a lot longer in the future.
  • Carmageddon also had to be censored in Germany. However, the German version used robots as targets instead of humans or zombies. The uncensored version was never released. This could, however, be fixed of sorts by swapping the names of two files in the install folder, thereby restoring some of the original content.
  • Germany flat-out refused to rate Dead Rising. Microsoft won't release games unless they are properly rated by a country's review board, so no Dead Rising .
  • The first Unreal Tournament is the only game of the Unreal series to be forbidden in Germany, to the point that the local editions of the Compilation Rereleases (such as Unreal Anthology) don't feature it.
  • An incredibly surprising aversion to this is Shadows of the Damned, which was allowed to be released uncut. UN-CUT.
    • And even more surprising Gears of War 3 and Space Marine will be uncut. Made even more surprising by the fact that the first two GOW games weren't rated due to violence and thus not released in Germany.

Web Original[]

  • Germany is now a proud member of the countries whose parliament passed a law for censoring websites. The Law hasn't come in effect until now.
    • Well yes... websites featuring child pornography, that is. Pedophilia and child labour are illegal in Germany, especially when it's a combination of both. So it may be justified.
      • the problem is that the list would have been secret, not governed by a elected body, would have had no supervision and no mechanism to remove sites that were put on it in error. And, you know, it would be awesome for a fledgling dictatorship with nary a change. We're kind of touchy about that kind of thing.
    • The law is currently[when?] under revision and will likely never be enforced. Bigger problem for German internet users: The feud between Youtube and GEMA (a performance rights organisation), leaving German users unable to watch a great many official videos on Youtube unless they're adapt getting arrogant with VPN. Details here.
      • Or they use a proxy.

Western Animation[]

  • The Mickey Mouse short "The Barnyard Battle" (1929) was Banned for depicting soldiers using pickelhauben, the helmets used by German soldiers in World War I.
  • The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare" (regarded by fans to be one of the best in the show's history) was banned in Germany for years because the scene at the beginning (with Bart and Lisa watching Rainer Wolfcastle's new show) had Nazi references and homophobic jokes. Apparently, nobody considered simply deleting 20 seconds off the start of the episode, which would not have affected the plot of the episode at all.

Greece[]

Video Games[]

  • The infamous Greek Electronic Gaming Ban prohibited gaming in public in an attempt to fight gambling. This ended up killing arcades in Greece.


India[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • The show Crayon Shin-chan was banned in India on the account of 'heavy nudity.' A bowdlerised version was allowed in the country in the 2010s.

Computers[]

  • India threatened to ban the Microsoft Windows operating system because their time zone showed the India/Pakistan border according to the U.N. maps instead of their own maps.

Film[]

  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo won't be released in India at least for the time being due to director David Fincher not allowing Sony to cut material from the film that would be deemed offensive to the local censorship boards; if and when it finally does get released there, it'll be Direct to Video at best, like The Human Centipede II was in the UK due to its horrific content.
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is set in India. However, a storm of controversy came from the false portrayal of Hinduism, especially since the scarier aspects of the cult in the movie were borrowed from Aztec and European cultures and had nothing to do with India. (See the page for details.)
    • To explain a little, our heroes in that movie face off against the notorious Thuggee cult (from which the word 'thug' derives) a real cult that did, in fact, worship the goddess Kali, were responsible for thousands of ritual murders and were finally crushed by the British army. That was about as much as the movie is accurate about, everything else is pure theater. Kali, for example, demanded all blood for herself, her adherents were forbidden to spill any of it. Their sacrificial devotion was expressed with strangulation and not, in fact, ripping beating hearts out of victims over a raging inferno while shrieking.
      • Also the magical 'Sankara Stones' have absolutely zero bearing on any form of Hinduism or any religion, for that matter, that has ever emerged from the nation that produced both Siddhartha Gautama and Guru Nanak, who created two of the most level-headed and mysticism-free religions on the planet, Buddhism and Sihkism, respectively. (well, as mysticism-free as any religion can be, anyway)
  • Contrary to popular belief, the lesbian romance Fire was never banned; instead, it was withdrawn from theaters for a short period for re-examination by the censor board. The main backlash came from fundamentalist religious groups who claimed it to be "culturally offensive". Some even went so far as to attack the theaters that were screening the movie; showings were canceled because of this. However, the next time there was an attack, the audience who'd come to see the film, along with the theater ushers, beat up the attackers and chased them off. Business then continued as usual. After the subsequent withdrawal and re-examination by the the censor board, it was re-released with no additional cuts with a normal "Adult" (R) rating and went on to become a decent financial success with no further incidents.

Web Original[]

Western Animation[]

  • Cow and Chicken is outright banned in India, because cows are sacred creatures in Hinduism. The ban also applies to other cartoons featuring cows.

Indonesia[]

Film[]

  • The Australian film "Balibo", which depicts the killing of Australian journalists by Indonesian soldiers during the 1975 invasion of East Timor, is banned in Indonesia. The Indonesian government's version of the story stated that they died in crossfire. A local journalists’ association conducted a screening, attended by about 500 people.
  • The government considered banning 2012 due to an extremely influential Islamic organization complaining about the film affecting superstitious people.

Video Games[]

  • Mortal Kombat 11 was banned in Indonesia because of excessive violence, bloody carnage and gore as well as depiction of communist symbolism, imagery, and reference which is strictly banned in the country.

Web Original[]

  • Oddly enough, TV Tropes is banned 90% of the time—attempting to access the site will result in a 403 Forbidden error.
  • An ISP specializing in providing internet service for smartphones, banned The Imageboard That Must Not Be Named, complete with a "Sorry, but you are forbidden to access 4chan.org" page with a smiley face on a light blue background.


Iran[]

  • Any form of media in Iran needs the permission of the Ministry of Islamic Culture for distribution, which sets an arbitrary array of rules subject to change at any time by the government. These rules include any form of pornography or sexual imagery, political material not in agreement with the government's goals and any form of communication criticizing Islam. These restrictions are often circumvented by physical and internet piracy, use of satellite dishes and illegal used book markets.

Film[]

  • The film 300, where the Persians are portrayed as slavering, inhuman monsters, if by an Unreliable Narrator, was banned in Iran.
  • The Lifetime Movie of the Week Not Without My Daughter, where the Persian men are portrayed as slavering, inhuman monsters, was also banned in Iran.
  • The Wrestler was considered Western propaganda just like the above two, likely because of The Ram's in-ring nemesis being named The Ayatollah.

Video Games[]

  • Battlefield 3 has been banned in Iran due to the game portraying Iran as one of the primary antagonists.

Multimedia[]

  • Pretty much anything created by members of the Baha'i Faith is inevitably banned in Iran. One newspaper was closed down in 2009 because it had an advertisement featuring a photo of a Baha'i temple.

Ireland[]

Film[]

  • Until recently[when?], it was virtually impossible to film a horror movie in Ireland.
  • Monty Python's Life of Brian was banned in Ireland from 1979 until 1987, while The Meaning of Life was banned from 1983 untill 1990.
  • A Clockwork Orange was also banned.
  • Prior to 1960 or so, many films were recut to remove reference to adultery, divorce, homosexuality, contraception or sex.

Literature[]

  • The 1926 Committee on Evil Literature forbade the likes of News of the World, The People, Sunday Chronicle, Daily Mail, Vogue, Woman's Weekly, Woman's World, Illustrated Police News—the tabloids mostly for descriptions of violence, the women's magazines mostly for discussing "women's issues" (including an ad for depilatory cream...)

Live-Action TV[]

  • Starting in the 1970s, the Irish government instituted a broadcasting ban on the IRA. In 1988, they added a similar ban which applied to all terrorist organizations in the UK. Both were lifted in 1994, but during this period, some material mentioning The Troubles was not broadcast.
    • For example, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The High Ground" had Data mention that Ireland was reunited in 2024 after a successful "terrorist" campaign. This comment would have seemed so controversial to both sides in The Troubles that it wasn't until 2006 that the full version was broadcast.

Music[]

  • REM's "Losing My Religion" was banned at the time of its release as Irish censors believed it contained depictions of homo-eroticism among biblical-style characters. It wasn't until two years after "Losing My Religion" that homosexuality was decriminalized in the Irish Republic.


Israel[]

Film[]

  • Goldfinger was temporarily banned because Gert Fröbe, the man who played the eponymous character, was a member of the Nazi party during World War II. The ban was lifted after it was discovered that he actually used that position to help Jews escape Germany.

Music[]


Italy[]

Live-Action TV[]

  • Amanda Knox's family managed to get Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial in Italy banned in Italy on the belief that it had the potential to taint Knox's appeals. It certainly might have helped Knox get back home to Seattle several months after the ban was imposed.


Japan[]

Japan is somewhat a protectionist country when it comes to everything. This resulted in a lot of girl franchises from America and Europe being No Export for You in the country, replacing it with homegrown franchises like Pretty Cure, Jewelpet, Hello Kitty and Sailor Moon (but there are a few exceptions). An overseas franchise that is successful in Japan, like Disney Princess, will have their own locally-made products instead of imported products.

Anime and Manga[]

  • Not a ban per se, but the controversial Bill 156 expands the "harmful publications" list, a list of materials sold within Tokyo which are to be made available for adults only. While the worst repercussions of this was the presence of more titles in the adults only sections of bookstores city-wide, many saw the bill to be the end of anime and manga altogether, if not an order for all publishing companies within the city to water down the content of all their titles, and those that saw it as a restriction instead of a ban still overreacted and claimed that certrain titles would now fall under the What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids? trope. There was even a rumor at one point that the bill would cause Blair from Soul Eater to be Killed Off for Real just to save the series from obscurity!
  • The Series Finale of Excel Saga, which was ironically titled, "Going too Far", has never been aired in Japan. The series was controversial enough, the final episode was ruled too risque, too violent, too obscene... Just too much, and that was clearly what the writers intended. It can only be viewed on DVD collections.

Film[]

  • Some films are banned in Japan, and those that are banned are banned by the studio that made them. For example:
    • Prophecies of Nostradamus/Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen was banned in Japan by Toho, even though that is where it was made. It received the ban for its depiction of irradiated humans becoming cannibalistic mutants in New Guinea. Given that there were some irradiated people living in Japan at the time already suffering from discrimination, you can see the rationale behind the ban.
    • Hereafter is banned because of the recent tsunami[when?]. It is unknown when Warner will lift the ban.
    • Films that include any type of nudity are subject to censorship of some form, but only the most obscene materials are banned outright.

Video Games[]

  • Call of Duty: World At War is banned in Japan for "gory violence against Japanese soldiers". This is presumably because of the "gory" part, given the popularity of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and the 194X series (which is even made in Japan), which all consist primarily of violence against the Japanese military.
  • While it escaped a total ban, the Japanese version of Fallout 3 cut an evil option from 'The power of the atom' quest, and renamed the Fat Man(named after a real nuke detonated over Nagasaki, Japan during World War II) to Nuclear Mortar Launcher.
  • AliceSoft has banned the sale of Daiteikoku outside of Japan due to its political(ly incorrect) nature.
  • While Mortal Kombat was always unpopular in Japan, the new games are banned due to its ultra-detailed and graphic violence. Still, it seems one can purchase the game overseas but not in JPN itself.
  • Sony has banned the sale of Omega Labyrinth Z outside of Japan due to the game being refused classification by two countries of the Anglosphere: Australia and the United Kingdom.

Western Animation[]

  • The Simpsons season ten finale "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo," is banned in Japan for its stereotypical depictions of the country, including the family going into an epileptic fit while watching an anime called "Battling Seizure Robots" and the sequence of Homer and Bart wreaking havoc at a sumo wrestling match (Bart nailing a sumo wrestler with a folding chair and Homer throwing the Emperor of Japan into a "Sumo Thongs" Dumpster and declaring himself "Emperor Clobbersaurus" before getting arrested)
  • South Park's "Chinpokomon" episode was not shown on Japanese television for similar (if not more justified) reasons. There's Japanese fansubs for it, though. Nintendo of Japan was reportedly incensed at the parody of Pokémon too, which also might have played a part. "A Ladder To Heaven" was also banned in the Japanese dub, along with the season 4 two-parter "Do The Handicapped Go To Hell?"/"Probably". The latter was reportedly due to the depiction of Hell and the overtly Western religious views presented in it ticking some nerves.


Kenya[]

Western Animation[]

Lebanon[]

Music[]

  • Lady Gaga's album Born This Way is banned in Lebanon because, officials say, it is "offensive to Christianity" (mostly due to "Judas").


Malaysia[]

Film[]

  • Any family film featuring pigs as a protagonist would raise an outcry and debates between Muslims and Non-Muslims in Malaysia. In the past, this has caused temporary or partial bans (i.e. a film may be delayed for months, or will be forced to bypass theater release and go straight to VHS and later, DVD). Both movies in the Babe franchise got months-long bans while a debate was fought out (the first movie was delayed 9 months, the second got a shorter 4 months). Charlotte's Web nearly got the axe as well, but it was released on time.
  • Most Christian movies featuring prophets in them was banned in the 90s, Malaysia being a mainly Muslim country. However, the ban was lifted since the release of The Passion of the Christ, though screening of these movies are limited to non-Muslims only (with ID checks performed at both the ticket counter and at the entry point of the hall).
  • Zoolander was banned because one of the main plot points is the assassination of the country's fictional prime minister (which is ultimately what they were trying to prevent) and its depiction of Malaysia in overall (impoverished, and whose economy is fueled by sweatshops). Also banned in Singapore, but was lifted 5 years later.
  • Steven Spielberg famously refused to let Malaysia screen the edited version of his movie Schindler's List since its Zionist theme is the main plot point. The movie was only released on DVD recently[when?]. Munich suffered the same fate.
  • Borat, Brokeback Mountain and the last few Saw movies never saw the light of day in the country due to crude humor (Borat), strong sexual themes (Brokeback Mountain), and gory violence (the Saw movies).
  • Bruce Almighty was nearly banned due to the movie's plot about a guy (Jim Carrey) given God-like powers by an Almighty Janitor (Morgan Freeman). While most Muslim sectors considered this movie offensive, non-Muslims stated that the movie is not offensive to any religion whatsoever. The movie was finally screened unedited. Evan Almighty, the spin-off featuring Steve Carrell's character from Bruce Almighty meeting the God-like janitor and becoming a modern-day Moses, suffered the same problem, although it too was eventually screened.
  • Sin City.
  • Daredevil was banned. but was released on home video recently[when?].
  • The second Austin Powers movie, though it was eventually allowed on satellite TV and later home video.
  • The American Pie trilogy - also finally to be released direct to DVD.
  • The 40-Year Old Virgin.
  • The Singaporean film Homerun was banned for obvious reasons.

Literature[]

  • Nudity in non-sexual contexts in magazines like National Geographic are censored with black markers. For example, a recent issue[when?] about King David had a picture of Michaelangelo's famous statue with the crotch region blotted out. This only applies to materials that are printed locally however (National Geographic also prints a Malaysian edition of their magazine). Imported materials with nudity are usually either outright barred from entry, or allowed through untouched if it's justified (i.e. Michelangelo's David constitutes for fine art and is a statue).

Live-Action TV[]

Music[]

  • Concerts from Gwen Stefani nearly got banned due to, ahem, "sexy outfits".
  • Avril Lavigne nearly got banned for her "bad influence on the youth".
  • Linkin Park was not allowed to wear short pants, spit, curse, throw things into the crowd, jump around, or "scream excessively" during their concert. Their live routine typically involves all of the above, except the shorts.
  • Madonna, due to her really risque resume, was banned from performing in the country, period.
  • In his autobiography, Meat Loaf lamented how hard it was to perform his "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" number in Muslim countries, since he was not allowed to touch any of his female back up singers on stage. Also, the female back up singers had to cover their shoulders and midriffs. (I'm sure Meat loved telling his daughter that.)
  • Why the Pussycat Dolls managed to be allowed to perform in the country is beyond our imaginations. The organizers paid the fine and the Cats wore less sexy outfits when they returned to the country for the 2008 MTV Asia Awards.
  • On the topic of skimpy outfits, Beyonce switched her concert venue from Kuala Lumpur to the Indonesian capital Jakarta due to this rule, despite the fact that Indonesia has more Muslims than Malaysia. It's justified since Indonesia entertainment is more secular than Malaysia.
  • Michael Jackson's first concert in the country was almost unable to take place due to his crotch-grabbing dance moves. The decision was overturned within days once MJ promised that he would refrain from performing those.
  • In 2009, the Malaysian government declared that Muslim citizens would be prohibited from attending the Black Eyed Peas' concert there on the grounds that it was being sponsored by Guinness, a beer company. The government later rescinded the ban and allowed Muslims to buy tickets.
  • In 2012, Erykah Badu was banned from performing in Malaysia due to accidental publication of an image of her wearing, of all things, a temporary tattoo with the name of the Muslim god on it. If there is any proof that the MCMC is Too Dumb to Live, this is it.[1]

Video Games[]

  • As Malaysia is officially recognized as a Islamic country but in reality is a multicultural melting pot, slots and other forms of electronic gambling are only available to "licensed" premises. This typically means they're only available in one place: Genting Highlands. The police have power to and would typically raid arcades and revoke business licenses as well as confiscate all machines in the premise if so much as one gambling game is found in the premise. However, in reality, this has only resulted in arcades disguising their one armed bandits as legal video game machines. Yeah, you're right when you noticed that something's strange with the The King of Fighters machine in the back corner of an arcade. Although to be fair, they are still regularly found out and shut down from time to time. This only applies to machines that pay out cash. Machines that pay out tokens and tickets are generally treated much more leniently.

Web Original[]

  • Initially subverted with the unveiling of the MSC Bill of Guarantees and the Multimedia Act. But the MCMC recently[when?] took back their words and ordered the blocking 19 filesharing sites.
  • The entire Steam store was blocked in Malaysia following the discovery of a banned controversial religious video game, Fight of Gods. The block was later lifted after Valve and the MCMC agreed to block the video game in Malaysia.

Western Animation[]

  • South Park never made it to Malaysian television, but was released on home video.
  • Regarding the "family films with pigs as the protagonist" rule, all scenes with pigs were cut out of the Rugrats episode "Zoo Story". This, along with other cuts led to it being Screwed by the Network.

Mexico[]

Film[]

  • The Last Temptation of Christ premiered in the USA in 1988 and was banned in Mexico until 2005. The ruling government back then had a huge influence on media content, though the contributing factor to the ban were the fundamentalist Christian Media Watchdogs who were afraid of what "superstitious viewers" would do after watching a film that depicted Jesus Christ as a flawed human being.

Video Games[]

  • Several right-wing groups have tried to ban Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 in some parts of Mexico because the bad guys depicted are Mexican even though they are rebels against the Mexican government and the players end up teaming with Mexican loyalists. Ditto goes for the Russian ultra-nationalists in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.


The Netherlands[]

Film[]

  • The Laurel and Hardy film Scram (1932) was banned back in 1932, because moral crusaders thought that the scene where Laurel & Hardy lie on a bed with a woman was indecent.


New Zealand[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Puni Puni Poemy was deemed to have the tendency of being sexually exploitative to minors and thus was banned.

Live-Action TV[]

  • In a bit of irony, Power Rangers was banned from TV in New Zealand ever since its first season, due to the injuries caused by young fans imitating the show's fights at home and school. Why is this ironic? Because, from Power Rangers Ninja Storm onward, the series was filmed in New Zealand, using mostly New Zealand actors.
    • This ban must have been lifted, because Power Rangers has been advertised on some kids channels recently[when?]...


Nigeria[]

Film[]

  • District 9 was banned from theaters in Nigeria thanks to its unflattering depictions of Nigerian gangsters and scammers.


North Korea[]

  • In North Korea, you can't get most things taken for granted in other countries. Foreign radio, television and newspapers are banned. They don't have Internet.
    • Even getting caught listening to South Korean music gets you hauled off to "reeducation camps".


Norway[]

Film[]

  • Monty Python's Life of Brian was originally banned in Norway. As a result, the movie was marketed in Sweden with the weird Tagline "The film that is so funny it was banned in Norway!"

Portugal[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Majokko Megu-chan was the first magical girl anime to air in Portugal but was pulled out from Portuguese broadcast in the late 1970s due to sexual content. The popularity of magical girl genre in Portugal only came in with Sailor Moon.

Philippines[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Ojamajo Doremi was officially pulled from broadcast in the Philippines after the second season due to lots of sexual content featured in the show. Yes, the Catholic Church of the Philippines did not like the sexuality described in the anime.
  • Ferdinand Marcos' KBL regime banned the Super Robot show Voltes V (and many, many others), officially because of horror violence, but really because the heroes were rebels fighting against a brutal dictator. This resulted in Voltes V being adopted as a mascot by rebel factions.

Literature[]

  • Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo were novels released during the Spanish occupation of the country. Since they spoke about nation-wide corruption in the government and church, you can imagine the ruling Spanish and archbishops weren't going to let something like that getting printed in the country.


Russia[]

Film[]

  • Russia doesn’t technically ban movies, but the Ministry of Culture did officially recommend that Borat not be shown in theatres. The weirdness of the Kazakh jokes was the American audience being so ignorant they didn't know anything about this huge country - even extremely basic stuff like Kazakh people looking more like this - in other words, ethnically Asian instead of like the Jewish Sasha Baron-Cohen. This was bound to be lost on Russians who don't have to deal with American ignorance every day, but do have to deal with Central Asians being a growing ethnic minority with all of the problems with stereotypes and media portrayals that entails.

Theater[]

  • The only Shakespeare play to be banned in Russia was Hamlet, under Stalin. Some sources claim this was because Hamlet was viewed as a tyrant (despite the fact that another character, like Hamlet's father, or another play, like Macbeth, would be a better target), while others claim that this was due to Hamlet’s indecisiveness

Video Games[]

  • Modern Warfare 2 was released in Russia without its infamous airport level.

Web Animation[]

Web Original[]

  • Access to YouTube used to be denied, as the website was used for hosting extremist videos and writings by Adolf Hitler.

Saudi Arabia[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Many anime shows featuring a girl are banned in Saudi Arabia, such as Ojamajo Doremi and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, due to sexual scenes and Zionism prevalent in these shows.

Comic Books[]

Toys[]

  • In another truly bizarre move (although perhaps related to Saudi Arabia's censorship of the female form), Barbie dolls are banned. They are referred to by the government as "Jewish Dolls" or "Zionist Dolls" and are seen as "symbols of the perversion and decadence of the West." Instead, they came out with a replacement named Fulla. It's mostly the same, except she promotes Muslim values.

Video Games[]

  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was banned for obvious reasons.
  • Pokemon is also banned there too. They denounced it as "promoting gambling and zionism". However, that hasn't stopped some of the media from being obtained, according to Bulbapedia, the Pokemon wiki. The main victim was the Trading Card Game.


Singapore[]

Anime and Manga[]

Film[]

  • The Chinese example of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was subverted in Singapore with huge posters of Sao Feng with the slogan "Welcome to Singapore" being put up around some of the country's more touristy districts.
  • As mentioned before, Zoolander was initially banned as a move of goodwill towards neighbor Malaysia. However, the ban was lifted 5 years later, when political ties between Malaysia and Singapore suffered a strain due to some careless words. The ties have been mended, but since the movie has already been unbanned, re-banning it would be like trying to put a genie back into a bottle.

Foodstuff[]

  • Chewing gum and bubble gum are banned in Singapore, with the exception of therapeutic gum for medicinal uses.

Multimedia[]

  • Material promoting socialism is prohibited in Singapore.

Music[]

  • The song "Bi" from the Living Colour album Stain was banned.
  • The song "Puff the Magic Dragon" was apparently banned back in 1963, probably due to the urban legend about it being about pot, since Singapore has a heavy stance against drugs.

Video Games[]

  • During the time period of the Hot Coffee debacle, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was banned in Singapore, probably one of the first few video games to be banned on this sunny island.
  • Mass Effect was banned because of a brief lesbian sex scene. The game was banned for somewhere around 2 days before being unbanned and given an M18 rating. This news story also brought us this video by the Media Development Authority, the people who banned it in the first place.

Web Original[]

  • The website of Chick Publications, home to the infamous Chick tracts, is blocked. Recently[when?], a Christian couple was convicted of sedition and fined for distributing Chick tracts that portrayed Islam in a negative light.
  • Like in China, many websites are blocked in Singapore by the Media Development Authority. The official websites of publications like Playboy and Penthouse are blocked, as well as "lifestyle sites" that condone homosexuality. Many pornographic video streaming tube sites are blocked as well. As of late, though, the government has been considering lifting the ban (at least partially) in favour of end-user or service-provider based web filters.

Western Animation[]

  • There were initially some difficulties with releasing The Owl House into the country on Disney+. However, the LGBT content present in the show is prohibited according to the anti-LGBT law. The removal of the LGBT content in the show allowed the release of the show in Singapore.

South Africa[]

Film[]

  • Being There had its final scene cut for its original release due to concern that the Twist Ending ( which reveals Chance can walk on water) would offend Christians.
  • To Sir, With Love, a 1967 film about a black Guyanese teacher (Sidney Poitier) living in England and dealing with white students, was banned during The Apartheid Era. Since then, it's been given an A (for "all ages") rating; it's gone from being a movie no one was allowed to see to a movie anyone is allowed to see.
  • Cry Freedom was banned during the aprtheid era for obvious reasons.[context?]

Literature[]

  • Black Beauty was formerly banned in South Africa. Having the words "black" and "beauty" in the title was evidently a no-no during apartheid; the censors apparently believed that it was a black rights book. Clearly they didn't bother to read it, since the title refers to a black horse.

Music[]

  • The Pink Floyd album The Wall was banned during the apartheid era due to the fact that the song "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" was used in a student uprising against propaganda in the education system.

South Korea[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Axis Powers Hetalia, due to being about personified countries, caused a little bit of outrage due to its “Korea” character, for reasons ranging from him claiming to have invented everything under the sun, to his incestuous/pseudo-incestuous obsession with China and Japan, to his hanbok being drawn incorrectly. They managed to not only get it banned outright in South Korea, but also had the character removed from the anime version entirely.
  • According to Bulbapedia several episodes of Pokémon are banned. Not just the infamous Electric Soldier Porygon episode either. This might have more to do with the unusual trait of the show being adapted from the 4Kids! Entertainment version instead of the Japanese original, though.

Live-Action TV[]

  • In the mid-1990s, Korea banned smoking in Korean dramas. Later the ban was extended to all smoking on TV. If a character smokes in a movie shown on TV the cigarette will be pixellated.
  • South Korea doesn't really like Mash, because South Koreans are depicted as living in poverty.

Multimedia[]

  • For many years, South Korea had a ban on all cultural products from Japan. This began to be lifted in the 1990s.

Music[]

  • In an attempt to protect family values, South Korea usually bans any song or music video that depicts sex or drug use. Examples of this include:
    • TVXQ's "Mirotic" was banned because of its "explicit lyrics". Said explicit lyrics consisted of "I got you under my skin". Subsequently, all albums featuring the song were deemed with an "inappropriate for minors" sign, and a clean version of the song was released, with its lyrics changed to "I got you under my sky".
    • Rain's song "Rainism" was banned soon after the Rainism album release due to the lyrics "make you scream with my magic stick".
    • Seung Ri's "Strong Baby" was banned from KBS for the use of the word "crack", which was later changed to "clap".
    • G-Dragon's album Heartbreaker was declared unsuitable for minors for its "inappropriate" lyrics. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, three songs suggested sex, drug use, and promoted an inappropriate vision of Korea.
      • During his first concert, G-Dragon unfortunately dry humped one of his female back dancers. Problem is, there were minors in the audience. An investigation ensued, a fine was paid, and two versions of the concert DVD were released: one uncensored for adults only and one edited out for minors. See the detailed article here.
    • The boy band 2PM's song "Hands Up" used the line "Put your hands up and get your drinks up now", which was changed to "get your dreams up now" to avoid having the song banned from music programs.
  • South Korea also censors any music video that features a violation of traffic regulations laws. Basically, this means that every video where you see a guy running wildly across the streets gets banned. Examples of this include Rain's Love Song.

Video Games[]

  • South Korea is said to ban the sale of any game depicting fictional wars between North and South Korea. This includes Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. It has since lifted its ban on the Ghost Recon series as a way of promoting freedom of speech.
  • While a united Korea has been desired by South Korea for decades (so long as it's under their government) Homefront presents a united Korea as genocidal enemies of the United States; for obvious reasons, it is not welcome in South Korea.

Web Original[]

Spain[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Mazinger Z was aired in 1978 and it was pulled out off the air at January 1979 due to the violent content prevalent in the show. Only thirty-three random episodes had been dubbed -one of which never emitted- and it was not until 1993 Spanish fans were able to watch the whole dubbed series.

Film[]

  • Saw VI was the first mainstream film to be rated X in Spain due to "violence apology", and therefore can't be showed in normal commercial theaters, only in approved X-rated cinemas. Disney (the ironic distributor) appealed against this decision but ultimately was forced to edit several violent scenes before a wide release could be allowed, ultimately pitting it against its own 3D sequel when it was released just weeks later.

Sweden[]

Anime and Manga[]

  • Sweden bans advertising directed to children, which wouldn't normally fall into this trope. However, there were initially some difficulties with importing Pokémon due to the show's Merchandise-Driven nature (apparently, the show eventually passed muster).

Syria[]

Web Original[]

Taiwan[]

Web Original[]

  • The Taiwanese government prohibits Chinese streaming service iQIYI from operating in the country due to national security concerns.

Thailand[]

That rhymes too!!

Film[]

  • The Thai government has banned nearly every rendition of The King and I ever made because it dislikes the depiction of the King of Siam, who is culturally seen as a divine being, not as a flawed human.

Multimedia[]

  • Depictions of smoking are censored on TV, such as on The Simpsons [1]. Strangely, bubble pipes are inappropriate, but opium pipes are OK.
  • The Economist is banned due to one of its writers insulting the royal family and accusing it of abusing its power.

Music[]

  • The video for Christina Aguilera's "Drrty" was censored in Thailand due to Thai-language posters that read "Thailand's Sex Tourism" and "Young Underage Girls".

Theater[]

Literature[]

  • Thailand actively bans written works that criticize the Thai royal family, and under Thai law, authors that attack the Thai king are subject to imprisonment; this is evident in the jailing of an Australian novelist in 2008.


Turkey[]

Film[]

  • Any film depicting the Armenian genocide (which, according to the government, never happened), anything critical of the military, and any newspaper, book, or film made by an ethnic Kurd or Armenian can have its authors charged under the article 301 of the penal code for insulting the Turkish identity. This is what happened to Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist based in Istanbul. He was murdered in 2007 for his views, and major uproar ensued.
    • They might be getting ever so slightly better about this, as Atom Egoyan's Ararat was screened there, albeit heavily edited.

Web Original[]

  • Various websites, such as Blogger.com, WordPress, Richard Dawkins' website, Little Green Footballs, and The Jawa Report have all been banned in Turkey at one time or another, all for pretty much the same reasons. Dawkins has a banner on his site marking this as a point of pride.
  • YouTube has been banned in Turkey for quite a while, due to a lot of videos insulting Ataturk. This is why Turkey appears as "No YouTube Land" on one popular satirical map of Europe.
  • According to a report from Reporters Without Borders, more than 5,000 websites are censored in Turkey.
  • Turkey's mass censorship of internet sites they don't like has reportedly been taken to the next level, threatening online journalists and imposing a system that will monitor it's peoples internet activity. Anonymous is launching one of its "hacktivism" attacks in response.
    • And now the internet filtration system is officially in place. The government says it's in place to protect children from viewing pornography, but it can (and probably will, as many protesting Turkish citizens fear) be used to censor anything the government doesn't want it's citizens viewing.

Western Animation[]

  • Some episodes of many American animated series were banned in Turkey because they contain a forbidden holiday, in accordance with the Muslim conservative standards. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an example of this with eight episodes banned. "Heart's Warming Eve" was banned in Turkey because it contains references to a Christian holiday.

Uzbekistan[]

Multimedia[]

  • Media distribution in Uzbekistan is challenging. One of the most sensitive subject matters is the appearance of forbidden holidays in media. Like China, Uzbekistan bans a number of Western holidays including Christmas. Unlike China, Chinese holidays (like Chinese New Year) are also banned in Uzbekistan. The only holidays to appear in media are Islamic holidays like Ramadan. Also, Uzbekistan typically is more concerned over violence than sex, meaning that sexual content is cut out before being approved for release.

Ukraine[]


Venezuela[]

Live Action TV[]

  • Under Hugo Chavez's administration (and on his successor Nicolás Maduro's one), TV shows that got under the government scope are quickly banned. A notorious case was 2010's Colombian soap opera Chepe Fortuna, who only lasted about a week on venezuelan channel Televen because of the subplot between two middle-aged sisters, Colombia and Venezuela, and their ongoing rivalry. Colombia is portrayed as a hard working, long suffering, all around moral woman. Venezuela, on the other side, was a obese, egotistical and supremely entitled lady with a propensity to fall into Get Rich Quick Schemes and who has only love for her teeny tiny dog named Hugo. It was Actually Pretty Funny, but the Venezuelan government didn't approve of the perceived Stealth Insult.
    • Venezuelan government has forbidden all open broadcast channels to air Narconovelas (a controversial soap opera genre about the life of drug traffickers and the people around them) on the grounds of that it can give on young people the idea that being a drug dealer is cool. Granted, Colombia, the country who produces most of these, also has the same moral worries, but they merely air these shows after the Watershed (as Venezuela used to do until 2010, the year the prohibition was put in place).
    • A very hilarious one was when in 2015 Maduro's government managed to get off air the TV adaptation of Arturo Perez Reverte's novel La Reina del Sur, a story about a woman who becomes the head of a drug cartel. Why hilarious? Because first, the soap wasn't even aired on local broadcast TV, but in a basic cable network whose headquarters were in the USA (the network still retired it from the grid under fears of legal action); second, the soap in question has been aired on another cable channel two years before, to great reception and high ratings, without the Venezuelan government's objection; and third and last, because less than one week after the banning of the soap two nephews of the Venezuelan First Lady were detained in Haiti under drug trafficking charges.
  • For reasons that should be blatantly obvious, most Spanish-language 24-Hour News Networks have been banned from every cable operator in the county, the only exceptions being networks from countries politically affiliated to the Chavista regime. At some point, even non-Spanish news networks have been banned if they happened to broadcast unflattering reporting about Venezuela and its government.

Video Games[]

  • All video games that include any killer violence had been banned since 2009.
    • Averted with the sequel to Mercenaries, who managed to get into stores even though it came under fire from the Venezuelan government, which apparently considers it a propaganda piece directed against the Hugo Chavez administration.
  1. ↑ Firstly, it was a temporary tattoo. Secondly, the picture wasn't even meant for publication in Malaysia, the reporter stole the image off the Internets via a random Google images search
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