31 May 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
China’s film censors have erased 13 minutes of footage from the new Men in Black film to remove the appearance of Chinese villains. Beijing’s censors have removed a scene showing an alien disguised as a Chinese restaurant worker, along with the appearance of a Chinese cashier girl who uses her long alien tongue to attack Will Smith’s character, Agent J. The final cut taken from the film involved Smith erasing the memories of a group of Chinese onlookers. One of the country’s newspapers speculated that the last scene had been removed as a statement on “internet censorship to maintain social stability”.
28 May 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Lady GaGa has been forced to cancel her Indonesian concert, as promoters claim the threats made against her were too serious for the show to go ahead. The Born This Way Ball, which was scheduled to take place on 3 June, has been at the centre of a campaign from Islamic hardliners, claiming the show could undermine the country’s moral fibre. Promoters had suggested negotiations were taking place to tone down the gig, ensuring it could go ahead safely, but the pop diva’s management stated there would be no compromise to quiet the religious conservatives. GaGa tweeted an apology to her fans.
23 May 12 | Uncategorized
Index on Censorship has learned that the Twitter account of protest group Space Hijackers has been suspended following a complaint by the organisers of the London Olympics.
The anti-capitalists, who have styled themselves as the Official Protesters of the London 2012 Olympic Games, received notification from Twitter in an email this morning, which stated:
Hello,
We have received reports from the trademark holder, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd, that your account, @spacehijackers, is using a trademark in a way that could be confusing or misleading with regard to a brand affiliation. Your account has been temporarily suspended due to violation of our trademark policy.
(click image for full email)
The Space Hijackers had been using an altered version of the 2012 logo on their site and their Twitter page 
The Olympic organisers are notoriously prickly about branding, but also about protest, and laws introduced after London won the right to host this years games could potentially place restrictions on protest for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics.
It could be argued that the logo in itself was a justifiable reason for the suspension: but you have to seriously ask: is anyone actually going to confuse the Space Hijackers account for an official Olympic account? This should surely be the basis of a claim for trademark infringement.
It is doubtful that Space Hijackers are actually going to bring down the International Olympic Committee and capitalism along with it (not through Twitter at least). One can only conclude that this is an act of petty, vindictive censorship, hardly in the spirit of plurality and inclusiveness the Olympics is supposed to promote.
17 May 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Lady Gaga has been refused a permit to play her sold-out concert in Indonesia following demonstrations from religious protesters. The permit for the Born This Way Ball, scheduled to take place on 3 June, was refused after Islamic hardliners, lawmakers and religious clerics spoke out against the pop star’s racy clothes and dance moves. Indonesian critics have said that the nature of the show could undermine the country’s moral fibre. Lady Gaga’s promoters in Indonesia will fight for the performance to go ahead, despite threats that protesters will use physical force to prevent her getting off the plane.
