When it comes to certain terms and phrases, the Chinese Communist Party has a list that they come down hard on. To the point where Chinese game developers must adhere to this list or face dire consequences. This includes Chinese developer and publisher NetEast Games which has banned the use of Winnie the Pooh from Marvel Rivals’ game chat. Any attempt to type the character’s name into the chat is blocked with an accompanying message that reads, “Text contains inappropriate content.”
The reason why the name of the beloved children’s character is banned in China is because, for over a decade, Winnie the Pooh has been used to mock President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. Its use originated from a photoshoot with then-President Barack Obama and Xi Jinping with the caption of “Tigger and Pooh.” For which many memes of Xi Jinping looking like Pooh began to circulate online.
Since 2017, such memes and the name of the anthropomorphic teddy bear has been banned in China and their usage could get citizens and businesses in trouble with the Chinese government. The ban goes so far that China prevented the release of the film Christopher Robin from being shown in Chinese theaters.
It is not surprising that NetEast Games has banned Winnie the Pooh from Marvel Rivals, which joins a growing list of terms that includes “Free Taiwan,” “Free Tibet,” “Tiananmen Square,” “1989,” and “Wuhan Viirus” which was tested by streamer Asmongold. It wouldn’t be surprising if “Free Hong Kong” were on that same list as China has pushed hard on the phrase which resulted in western studios such as Activision Blizzard censoring the speech of American citizens in order to appease China.
We continue to warn and advise western gamers not to purchase Chinese-owned and developed video games, such as Black Myth: Wukong which had its own list of banned talking points, for a number of reasons that includes censorship, the support of a fascist government, and the potential threat such games pose to your privacy.
Unfortunately, many media outlets and content creators continue to promote Chinese video games.
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