批評聲浪下,微博取消審查同性戀題材計劃

BEIJING — Bowing to intense pressure from millions of internet users, a Chinese social media site said on Monday that it would scrap plans to censor cartoons and video games with gay themes.

北京——迫於數百萬網民的巨大壓力，中國一家社交媒體網站週一表示，將取消對同性戀題材的漫畫和視頻遊戲的審查計劃。

The site, Sina Weibo, had announced on Friday that it would target gay content as part of a campaign to remove pornographic and violent material from its site.

新浪微博曾在上週五宣佈，針對其網站上色情和暴力內容的清理行動，也會針對同性戀題材。

But its efforts were almost immediately criticized as discriminatory and repressive, spawning an outpouring of #Iamgay hashtags and slogans like “gays aren’t scary.”

但這一努力幾乎立即受到了批評，人們指責其具有歧視性和壓制性，還引發了大量的#Iamgay（我是同性戀）標籤，以及諸如“同性戀並不可怕”等口號的使用。

On Monday, Weibo said in a post that it would scale back its “cleanup” effort and focus on “pornographic, violent and bloody content” instead of gay material. In a nod to the intense backlash, it thanked internet users for their “discussion and suggestions.”

週一，新浪微博在一篇帖子中表示，將縮小“清理”工作的範圍，把重點放在“色情、暴力和血腥內容”上，而不是同性戀的題材上。新浪微博還對強烈的反彈有所表示，它感謝了互聯網用戶的“討論和建議”。

The company did not say whether it would continue to delete texts, photos and videos with gay themes, which were also listed as targets in the original announcement. Weibo did not respond to a request for comment.

新浪微博未表示是否會繼續刪除同性戀主題的文本、照片和視頻，這些題材也被最初的聲明列爲目標。新浪微博沒有回覆記者的置評請求。

Internet users welcomed the change on Monday. Still, some said the company owed gays an apology.

互聯網用戶對週一的變化表示歡迎。儘管如此，一些人說，新浪微博應該向同性戀者道歉。

“It is totally insincere,” Bai Fei, a feminist activist in Shanghai, said of the announcement. “They have already harmed us. I want them to stand up and make a public apology.”

“這完全是不真誠的，”上海女權活動人士白飛（音）說。“他們已經傷害了我們。我希望他們站出來公開道歉。”

Others called on the company to restore content that it had already deleted in the campaign, including a popular Weibo account called the Gay Voice, which published cultural news and podcasts for its more than 230,000 followers.

有些人則呼籲新浪微博恢復已被清理行動刪除的內容，包括一個名爲“同志之聲”(Gay Voice)的熱門微博帳號，該帳號發佈文化新聞和播客，有逾23萬名粉絲。

Weibo’s vow to cut gay material prompted an unusually fierce backlash from internet users, who said the campaign would worsen discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in China. Still, some said they saw signs of progress in the company’s decision to change course.

新浪微博要減少同性戀題材內容的表態，引發了網民的強烈反對。他們表示，這種努力將加劇中國對同性戀、雙性戀和變性者的歧視。不過，一些人說，他們在公司改變方向的決定上看到了進步的跡象。

Ma Baoli, the founder of Blued, a popular gay dating app, called the uproar a “historic event” in China. He said Weibo’s response showed a gradual change in attitudes toward gay people.

受歡迎的同性戀交友應用Blued的創始人馬保利稱，此次軒然大波是中國的一次“歷史性事件”。他說，新浪微博的迴應顯示，人們對同性戀者的態度正在逐漸改變。

“This is a nice outcome and a very valuable chance for the public to discuss homosexuality and to eliminate discrimination,” he said.

“這是一個很好的結果，也是一次公衆討論同性戀、消除歧視的非常寶貴的機會，”他說。

Weibo’s “cleanup” campaign highlighted the intense pressure that media companies in China face to purge sites of content that the authorities deem offensive. Experts said the government’s vague definition of improper content often results in companies’ going to extremes to show compliance.

新浪微博的“清理”活動，凸顯了媒體公司在中國面臨的巨大壓力，它們被要求清除當局認爲是冒犯的內容。專家表示，政府對不適當內容的定義模糊，常常導致公司爲表示服從而走極端。

“The precise contours of what is ‘vulgar’ are always very blurry,” said Severine Arsene, managing editor of AsiaGlobal Online, a digital journal at the University of Hong Kong. “This campaign is following the same pattern of public space becoming more narrow and subject to conservative norms.”

“什麼算‘粗俗’的準確劃分總是很模糊的，”香港大學的電子期刊AsiaGlobal Online的執行主編塞維日尼·阿森尼(Severine Arsene)說。“這次運動按照同樣的模式，讓公共空間正在變得更狹窄、更受保守規範的限制。”