Few examples lately in the news of American companies giving in to perceived pressure from China, and punishing/censoring American's for expressing opinions against communist China.
NBA
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for the protestors in Hong Kong. The NBA responded by saying it was “regrettable” that Morey’s tweet had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.” You know, the communists that kill people. Those friends.
NBA has since "clarified", saying they support their staff's right to freely express their opinions. The backlash has already begun, however. China is suspending preseason NBA broadcasts, community events are being cancelled, Chinese celebrities are boycotting NBA China games, the CBA will no longer cooperate with the Rockets, and Brands are halting their relationships with the NBA.
Tencent, the massive Chinese company with their fingers in a lot of American company pies, is blacklisting the Rockets. (Keep Tencent in mind, they're a force to be reckoned with, and a major reason that you'll see Chinese censorship in the US)
Activision Blizzard
Blizzard has punished a player for supporting Hong Kong. They banned Ng Wai Chung (known as Blitzchung) from their Grandmasters esports competition for a year and withheld his prize money he had already won. They also fired two of the esports casters that called the event.
A major movement to boycott Blizzard games (Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, etc) has erupted over their apparent siding with China. Oh, and Tencent has a 5% share in Blizzard. Imagine that.
Mark Kern, a former employee of Blizzard and developer of World of Warcraft and Diablo, has joined the movement to boycott Blizzard over their apparent fear of China, siding with money instead of human rights.
The official Blizzard subreddit was temporarily locked down, but it seems they've instead chosen to give up moderating it and let the users run rampant... with every post being a variation of "**** blizzard" with some new meme about them sucking on the Chinese teet.
Have been some good memes out of it, though...
South Park
Matt Stone and Trey Parker, in true South Park fashion, released a timely episode criticizing the censorious nature of China, oppressive communist regime, and how American companies are greedily feeding into it... willing to give up their own freedom in exchange for that sweet Chinese money.
‘South Park’ Creators Offer Fake Apology After Show Is Erased in China
So, of course, China banned South Park. The episode made no effort to hide the criticism of China... showing executions of political prisoners, organ harvesting, and highlighting the absurd "Winnie the Pooh" concept.
(You see, because Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh... and that's just too embarrassing... so they banned it.)
NBA
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for the protestors in Hong Kong. The NBA responded by saying it was “regrettable” that Morey’s tweet had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.” You know, the communists that kill people. Those friends.
NBA has since "clarified", saying they support their staff's right to freely express their opinions. The backlash has already begun, however. China is suspending preseason NBA broadcasts, community events are being cancelled, Chinese celebrities are boycotting NBA China games, the CBA will no longer cooperate with the Rockets, and Brands are halting their relationships with the NBA.
Tencent, the massive Chinese company with their fingers in a lot of American company pies, is blacklisting the Rockets. (Keep Tencent in mind, they're a force to be reckoned with, and a major reason that you'll see Chinese censorship in the US)
Activision Blizzard
Blizzard has punished a player for supporting Hong Kong. They banned Ng Wai Chung (known as Blitzchung) from their Grandmasters esports competition for a year and withheld his prize money he had already won. They also fired two of the esports casters that called the event.
A major movement to boycott Blizzard games (Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, etc) has erupted over their apparent siding with China. Oh, and Tencent has a 5% share in Blizzard. Imagine that.
Mark Kern, a former employee of Blizzard and developer of World of Warcraft and Diablo, has joined the movement to boycott Blizzard over their apparent fear of China, siding with money instead of human rights.
The official Blizzard subreddit was temporarily locked down, but it seems they've instead chosen to give up moderating it and let the users run rampant... with every post being a variation of "**** blizzard" with some new meme about them sucking on the Chinese teet.
Have been some good memes out of it, though...
South Park
Matt Stone and Trey Parker, in true South Park fashion, released a timely episode criticizing the censorious nature of China, oppressive communist regime, and how American companies are greedily feeding into it... willing to give up their own freedom in exchange for that sweet Chinese money.
‘South Park’ Creators Offer Fake Apology After Show Is Erased in China
So, of course, China banned South Park. The episode made no effort to hide the criticism of China... showing executions of political prisoners, organ harvesting, and highlighting the absurd "Winnie the Pooh" concept.
(You see, because Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh... and that's just too embarrassing... so they banned it.)