Tencent introduces strict new streaming rules for its games in China

Look, I’m not saying that you have to learn how to speak Chinese, but it could help plenty when the rest of the world is finally annexed by our new Asian overlords. China is the real dominant superpower running global politics right now, thanks to several factors such as impressively deep pockets, staggering manpower and a vision that looked towards the future.

Also, authoritarianism and an unrelenting drive to police anything that could make the nation look bad, also helps. That heavy hand has come down hard on the gaming industry as of late, with the titanic Tencent feeling China’s backhand especially hard as Beijing cracked down on the local games industry.

Now, Tencent is looking to avoid being caught in those crosshairs again, with the implementation of a strict set of rules aimed at streaming across all of its products. According to Esports Observer, these new regulations were drafted in an effort to meet government internet requirement that were introduced around two weeks ago and are primarily aimed at killing any discussion that brings China’s good name into bad light.

So you might want to watch out for streams that feature:

• Promoting or instigating ‘bloody violence’ in the real world
• Releasing or promoting illegal information, such as terrorism, cults, pornography, gambling and more
• Violating other people’s privacy or sharing their personal information without permission
• Breaking constitutional law or discussing sensitive topics such as national politics, nationalities, religions and regions
• Infringing on the copyright of games publishers and developers, or other streamers and content creators
• Pretending to officially represent Tencent and spreading false information
• Sharing information about cheating, hacking, account boosting or private servers
• Behaviour that damages the user experience for other Tencent users or damages Tencent’s brand
• Creating content that causes any negative social influences

Don’t get too worried though, as these rules only apply to Chinese streamers…for now. They’re a response to China’s increasing clampdown on gaming, with the government using the platform as a scapegoat, citing that video games are responsible for everything from addiction, out of control gambling and even bad eyesight.

While some of the rules above make actual sense to anyone with a touch of common sense to call upon when needed, they’re still broad enough to be implemented in any way that China’s authority figures deem harmful to the overall wellbeing of the nation. Which is probably why any mention of the Streisand Effect has yet to make its way through the Great Firewall of China filter.

Last Updated: February 20, 2019