Censor Watch

Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact is a 2025 Japan 3 on 3 tage team fighting game by Eighting

Banned by the Australian Censorship Board in November 2024. The reasons have not yet been published. The Game was submitted to the censors for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5.

 

 

British counter-terror police have blocked a video game that allows players to recreate Hamas's Oct 7 attacks on Israel.

The police have ordered Steam, an online video game marketplace, to remove Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque from its UK store.

The game drew the attention of terror police because it included scenes of players paragliding into an Israeli army base and killing soldiers. Although the game does not refer to Hamas directly, a trailer displays Israeli soldiers being shot in the head by terrorists wearing green Hamas-style headbands.

Nidal Nijm, the game's Brazilian-Palestinian creator, said in a statement on Steam's website:

The request to block my game in the UK came from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). So this is clear that UK authorities consider my game as 'terrorist' propaganda.

Despite being blocked in Austria, Germany and the UK, the video game remains on sale in the US for $14.99 (£12).

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) is a national Counter Terrorism Policing unit based within the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, which is dedicated to the assessment of potential terrorist and extremist material found online by the public.

Gladiator II is a 2024 US/UK/Morocco/Canada action adventure drama by Ridley Scott
Starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal

There are no censorship issues with this release in the US and UK. The film was pre-cut in Australia for a distributor applied M rated cinema release. The Classification Board later overruled this, and the cut version was uprated to MA15+.

Summary Notes

After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.

Versions

uncut run: 147:43s pal: 141:48s		UK: Uncut and BBFC 15 rated for strong bloody violence, injury detail: 2024 Paramount Pictures UK cinema release (rated 09/10/2024) Ireland: Uncut and IFCO 15A rated for strong action violence throughout with gory scenes and graphic injury detail, scenes of severed bodies and body parts: 2024 Paramount cinema release (2024 rated 27/09/2024) titled Gladiator 2 US: Uncut and MPA R rated for for strong bloody violence.: 2024 release (rated 28/08/2024) titled Gladiator Ii
cut run: 148m pal: 142m		Australia: Pre-cut and ACB MA15+ (15A) rated for strong themes and violence: 2024 Paramount Pictures cinema release (rated 22/11/2024) titled Gladiator II Australia: Pre-cut and distributor M (PG-15) rated for animal cruelty, blood and gore, injury detail and violence: 2024 Paramount Pictures Australia cinema release (rated 16/10/2024) titled Gladiator II See article from refused-classification.com : On 16 October 2024, a 148-minute version of GLADIATOR II received an M (Animal cruelty, blood and gore, injury detail and violence). Paramount Pictures Australia rated the film themselves as an Accredited Classifier Decision. It was identified as precut, to avoid an MA15+, after opening on 14 November. What was censored in the M-rated version? Tom S. reports the cuts he spotted. There may be other, less obvious trims: Cut No. 1 203 Lucius (Paul Mescal) beheads his opponent at the first Roman games. The beginning is trimmed to remove the swords connecting with the head. It cuts into the shot midway to show the stump and a bit of blood spray. Cut No. 2 203 Macrinus (Denzel Washington) slashing at the neck of Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn). The initial long shot of the neck cutting and blood spray is missing. The following close-up is zoomed to the left to remove the continued neck slashing and blood spray on the right. Cut No. 3 203 Macrinus puts a spike into the ear of Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). The red blood flowing from his ear is now green/yellow. M to MA15+ after one week On 22 November, cinemas were informed that the Classification Board had increased it to MA15+ (Strong themes and violence). Advertising was updated to reflect the new rating. An Accredited Classifier Decision can be reviewed by the Board to ensure the guidelines are followed. It is unclear if this was a random check or triggered by complaints.

 

A paid-for ad for comedian Fern Brady, seen on the Sky News website on 18 August. The ad contained an image with the text FERN BRADY at the top and I GAVE YOU MILK TO DRINK overlayed on a stained-glass window. The image contained a woman with Fern Brady's face, holding a baby, and spraying milk directly from her partially obscured breast into the mouth of a kneeling holy figure.

A complainant challenged whether the ad was offensive, because they believed it mocked the Christian faith.

Fern Brady explained that the image in the ad was a direct recreation of the religious painting titled The Lactation of St. Bernard. That artwork, created in the 17th century by Spanish painter Alonso Cano, depicted the Virgin Mary nursing St. Bernard of Clairvaux by spraying milk from her breast into his mouth. The painting was well known within Christian art and had been widely accepted and respected within religious contexts for centuries.

The ad creatively referenced that image, by using satire and humour as part of Fern Brady's comedic brand. The intention was not to mock or belittle the original religious significance, but to offer a contemporary interpretation that aligned with her public persona as a comedian known for her irreverent style and her religious up-bringing. The text I GAVE YOU MILK TO DRINK overlayed a stained-glass window, which emphasised the artistic and cultural reference rather than aiming to offend. Efforts had been made to avoid any unintentional offence, in particular by covering Fern's breast with a beam of light, which differed from the original painting.

Fern Brady acknowledged that religious imagery was a sensitive area, and had approached the ad with the knowledge that the original painting was a respected piece of Christian art. However, humour was also subjective, and she believed while some may have found the portrayal distasteful, that did not necessarily mean it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Fern Brady believed that in the context of satire and artistic reenactment, the ad instead reflected a long tradition of artistic reinterpretation.

ASA Assessment: complaint upheld

The CAP Code stated that ads must not contain anything that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on certain grounds, including religion or belief.

We acknowledged Fern Brady's comment that the ad was based on the religious painting titled The Lactation of St. Bernard, which we understood showed the miracle of Chatillon-sur-Seine, in which St. Bernard received divine grace from the Virgin Mary.

We understood that the painting on which the image was based had been selected for comic effect. Because of the subject matter of Fern Brady's material, the effect had been compounded by deviations from the original painting, such as her knowing the text I GAVE YOU MILK TO DRINK, a ray of light shining through a stained glass window and across her breast, and the more exaggerated presentation of the milk. Regardless of consumers' familiarity with the painting, or the content of Fern Brady's work, we considered the ad, which appeared on a general news website, was likely to be seen as depicting the Virgin Mary, a highly revered individual in the Christian tradition, breastfeeding an adult holy figure in a church setting, for the purposes of humour. In that context, we considered that the ad was likely to be seen as mocking the religious figures shown. We therefore concluded that it was likely to cause serious offence to some within the Christian faith who saw the ad on the site.

The ad must not appear again in the form complained of, in media in which it was likely to cause serious offence. We told Fern Brady to take care to not cause offence on the grounds of religion in future ads.

The British Board of Classification (BBFC) has published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2023, revealing unique insights into the UK's film and cinema industry. The latest report reveals an uplift in overall content submitted for cinema classification, marking a ten-year record number of submissions in the two most popular age rating categories.

2023 saw 1,114 cinema submissions to the BBFC, representing a 14% increase from submissions recorded in 2013. The 15 category remained the BBFC's most frequently issued age rating in 2023, totalling nearly 500 submissions 203 another record for the decade. Films classified 15 in 2023 include Oppenheimer, Saltburn, How To Have Sex, Cocaine Bear and Talk To Me . The 12A category also saw a ten-year record, with over 380 cinema films classified at the category in 2023, including Barbie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Polite Society and The Boy and the Heron .

Last summer, the BBFC announced new advancements in exploring the power of AI to enhance content classification to further its core mission of helping audiences to make informed viewing decisions. Building on its extensive expertise, the BBFC is developing two new tools that utilise AI technology to help the industry adapt to evolving audience viewing habits while improving the efficiency of the human aspect of compliance, which will always remain imperative to the process.

The first of these tools will enable access to locally sensitive age ratings for use in over 100 territories globally, removing the cost and resource barriers currently limiting VoD services' adoption of BBFC ratings in the UK and other established rating systems worldwide. The second tool, currently in development, will use generative AI to identify and tag online content issues, offering large-scale efficiencies to content providers' compliance requirements.

In 2023, as part of its increasing collaboration with streaming platforms operating in the UK, the BBFC announced plans to strengthen its partnership with Prime Video. With a view to establishing a self-rating system similar to the BBFC's existing successful agreement with Netflix, the BBFC worked closely with Prime Video to refine the platform's internal rating processes ahead of the wider adoption of BBFC age ratings and content advice across the service, ultimately making it even easier for Prime Video customers to choose the right content for themselves and their families.

Tajikistan has enacted a ban on the distribution of the video games Counter-Strike and Grand Theft Auto (GTA), citing concerns about the games containing violent and immoral content.

The country's interior ministry announced that police in the capital, Dushanbe, will conduct raids and inspections of computer gaming centers suspected of selling these games. The ministry said,

Young people and teenagers who regularly play these games come under their negative influence and commit various crimes.

The ministry urged parents to monitor their children's activities and discourage them from playing games that promote killing, theft, and violence.

A man who shared horrific videos of baby monkeys being tortured has been jailed. He posted three Facebook videos showing long-tailed macaques being abused.The videos were spotted by an animal welfare group..

The man admitted three counts of publishing obscene material, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to 20 months in prison.

His arrest came after a BBC documentary, The Monkey Haters , uncovered the streaming of videos showing the torture of baby monkeys. Merseyside Police said the BBC documentary had helped officers identify suspects from around the UK.

Smile is a 2022 US horror mystery thriller by Parker Finn
Starring Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher and Kyle Gallner

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, a psychiatrist becomes increasingly convinced she is being threatened by an uncanny entity.

Thanks to Daniel who comments:

Channel 4's screening of Smile on the 19th October was censored.

Despite the fact that the screening started twenty minutes after the watershed and detailed warnings about the content were given just prior, the opening suicide scene was edited to remove a shot of Caitlin Stasey's character impassively cutting her throat with a shard of broken vase. The scene is crucial in establishing the film's tone early on.

There may have been more cuts but I turned it off. I always understood that Channel 4 policy was to screen films intact after the watershed...guess that's no longer the case.

It is worth noting that the subsequent repeat broadcast on 4seven after 10:00pm was uncut. I did query Channel 4 as to why the film's initial broadcast was censored, and they cited Ofcom guidelines as the reason for the 16 second edit. As the film was shown after the watershed and has an 18 certificate, an uncut screening should have been possible.

As Film4 also cut the late night screening of Lords Of Chaos some time back for images relating to suicide despite the fact that it was also classified uncut at 18, I get the feeling that the cut made to Smile is part of a pattern in which images of suicide are being singled out specifically.

All that said, Channel 4 do deserve a bit of credit for correcting the much lower profile repeat. https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/falling-place
 

Update: There's no time left in the day for grown up viewing

9th November 2024. Thanks to Neil

There was a report commissioned by OFCOM in Oct 2023 which discussed research into attitudes towards sex and violence on UK TV - primarily using the watershed as a benchmark for when stronger content can be scheduled by broadcasters.

The broadcasting code, and the wider expectation of the general public as always been:

Whilst there were some initial calls to postpone the watershed to later in the evening to better reflect changing parenting styles, on greater reflection, participants decided a gradual transition from 9pm onwards and the use of clear warnings, was a better option.

In the instance of SMILE on Channel 4, the broadcaster deemed the expository explicit suicide as being too strong during the 9-10pm transition period, and hence why they decided to cut this scene to avoid reprimand from OFCOM.

I agree that Channel 4 should have scheduled this film later, given the 18 rating.

Ofcom has fined GB News Limited for breaching the special impartiality requirements in the programme People's Forum: The Prime Minist er broadcast on 12 February 2024. Ofcom writes:

The programme featured the then Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, in a question-and-answer session with a studio audience about the Government's policies and performance. Our Breach Decision published on 20 May 2024 found this programme failed to maintain due impartiality on a matter of major political controversy and a major matter of current public policy, and due impartiality was not preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes, in breach of Rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the Broadcasting Code .

Given the seriousness and repeated nature of the breach of these rules, Ofcom has imposed a financial penalty of 2£100,000 on GB News Limited and also directed the Licensee to broadcast a statement of our findings in this case, on a date and in a form to be determined by Ofcom.

GB News is challenging the Breach Decision by judicial review, which we are defending. Ofcom will not enforce this sanction decision until those proceedings are concluded.

The UK government has launched the Office for Digital Identities and Attribute (OfDIA), a group within the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, tasked with encouraging the growth of the digital ID market under the leadership of chief executive Hannah Rutter.

In fact the Labour government is continuing with a Tory idea that was first announced by the previous government in 2022.

Rutter claimed that digital identity can make people's lives easier, and unlock billions of pounds of economic growth.

Rutter made sure to address one of the criticisms regarding the security of such schemes -- centralization -- by saying that the system her office is working on does not have a centralized digital database.

Currently, OfDIA is working to create a trusted and secure digital identity market and this work focuses on five areas, starting with developing and maintaining the digital identity and framework, and then being in charge of a register of accredited organizations that meet the framework's requirements.