the Director of the Protection Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (equivalent to the Medical Affairs Bureau, Health Bureau, and Aging Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare) explained that a meeting of experts and citizen representatives will be held (the current plan is to hold the first meeting either on March 21 or 25). So far, related events have caused panic among anime and manga fans and related enthusiasts, and many creators, organizations, and platforms have been reported and are in the review process.
On February 5, a public policy consultation platform issued a report on the āAppropriateness of the normative restrictions on two-dimensional creations (simulated products and artworks)ā, and the case is now back under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Health and Welfare. On February 13th, the same platform also announced that the legal concept of āthe rationality of the acquisition of materials and the uncertain legal concept of the evaluation value used in the law related to creative works, as well as the Basic Law on the Culture of the Performing Arts,ā which has been in force for some time. The signing of this document has not yet entered the circulation staircase, but it is still under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture.
The Protection Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare is leading the deliberation process on the Ordinance on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. Although the Director of the Protection Bureau was not authorized to determine the criteria before the meeting, she has been spreading statements in support of comprehensive regulations to the media through her personal remarks.
If the image or video is sexually explicit, it may cause sexual desire and make people jump, or it may make people feel shame or embarrassment, or it may be related to the productās design and sex, it is considered ājuvenileā. The āAnti-verbalization Regulationā is applied.
Seems to have started in 2021 when the government amended the āBill for Partial Amendment of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Ordinanceā which gave far more power to iWin which is their agency that has the authority to take online content down and now anime/manga falls under what is acceptable to take down. Appears the Ministry of Health is the main culprit here and pushing really hard for new regulations. So in a few weeks the Ministry will be discussing how to regulate it
Pretty surprising cause even in japan a lot point at Taiwan as an otaku island as they have embraced anime all over
It is always lobbyists. Thereās a good chance it is Marija, it is likely she pushed some vague language and vague powers. While Marija is nominally under the U.N., she receives money from the U.K. Home Office and the Oak Foundation.
Through the Oak Foundation, sketchy officials from the U.S. and the U.K. funded proxies who lobbied the European Union for Chat Control. The sketchiest one has a name like Suojellan. It was founded on the spot in 2020 to counter the E-Privacy Directive. They published a dubious āsurveyā in a techie journal which had only just been founded.
Like Unconstitutional civil commitment programs, they mislead the public as to the efficacy of their rehab āprogramā by only looking at a tiny number of people who get to the end. They will say anything to advance their lobbying aims.
Genuinely nauseating to seeā¦ Banning fiction, especially 2D, will do nothing to make actual children safer. It will only put innocent people at risk of misuse of police powers. Itās no different than banning horror content in order to cut down on violent crime.
Is there opposition to this type of regulation within this governing body? I know people from Taiwan who are within this community, and Iām beginning to worry for them.
Remember when I made the joke (but not really) about Japan paying āreparationsā to Taiwan whenever the PRC demands reparations? If this stuff passes, then fuck that, too. They deserve nothing, and Japan has nothing to be ashamed of.
This global trend of criminalization of fictional outlets really worries me. There have been many cases where freedom and objectivity prevailed ā Japan especially so far has been a bastion. But I feel that, given the global trend, it is just a matter of time until, one by one, every country will fall and ban fictional outlets until in the end, just by virtue of it being illegal pretty much everywhere, the idea of legalizing fiction will sound as insane as the idea of legalizing CSA.
Like I said, we need a case, like with what happened with alcohol prohibition. Basically, let the crime lords profit and gain so much power and influence that the government would have no choice but to legalize, if only to regulate.
Governments terrorized by the Hentai cartels. Entire neighborhoods being laid to waste by bloody wars between criminal Loli- and Shota-Gangs. I like that idea.
Itās been worrying lots of people behind the scenes. Itās the politicization of shame and the eagerness to impose harm on people for willing to be skeptical, or at least, vocally inquisitive about these things and whether they would even have the desired effect of making children safer.
Whatās going to happen is that the numbers are actually going to go up and overall statistics are going to worsen after these laws were passed. Itās a known fact within the scientific community that these fictional outlets do play a role in preventing abuse. Then weāll have a whole subset of the population who has been harmed without just cause and another subset who was put more at risk simultaneously.
The inverse correlations between the legality of these materials and their purported engagement and the contact abuse statistics do not lie, and sure, correlation isnāt causation, but when these variables are isolated and measured, it becomes increasingly difficult to argue that these outlets actually constitute harm.
Itās also very depressing when I see child abuse prevention orgs using Wheelerism-style tactics (named after Wayne Wheeler, one of the masterminds behind the ādryā movement which lead to Prohibition) where they use moralism and irrationality when preaching their cause.
At the core of it, it usually involves government figures, or former government figures, from the United Kingdom. Sometimes, with minor government figures from the U.S. The current ruling party in the U.K. is the very same party which organized a meeting with gay conversion therapy advocates in 2021. The Home Secretary wanted to bring back the death penalty for ārapists and murderersā despite it violating many treaties the U.K. had already signed. She gave up on it.
Iām very well aware that itās conservatives within the UK who are behaving this way. I looked into Ms. Suella Bravermanās background and the types of policies sheād been vocally advocating for.
Itās naueseating, but Iām hoping that there are more well-reasoned heads within the EU that will push back against lumping in materials which do not involve a child as CSAM.
Advocating for that and saying you care about the safety and well-being of children is like advocating for flat-earthism and claiming to be an astronomer.
There isnāt a whole lot of evidence that locking people up is an effective way of tackling illicit drug use or that it is helpful to treat all drugs the same. That doesnāt stop them trying. Pornography isnāt even a drug but the idea of it being like one is peddled all the same.
But thatās how they claim to ādo workā without actually doing work, especially given that anime has the extra factor of being āspooky JP cartoonsā that live action does not.
There is a chance to get rid of Ylva. There is an E.U. Election coming up in the coming months. She is likely going to wave away every bit of peer reviewed science and to cherry pick something which suits her agenda. Whatever bullshit she spouts is likely going to be quoted by someone else for their own agenda.
Seems the government is rather supportive of this, but several groups have popped up to oppose it.
Taiwan F-Sec Collective, an F-Sec community founded in 2023, has a slogan in this case, "Oppose Regulation of Two-Dimensional Sexual Expression from F-Sec Perspectives. "It issued a statement of opposition on February 4, stating, "We are opposed to the regulation of two-dimensional sexual expression
ļ¼»The ACGN Association for the Promotion of Creative Rights and Interests, Association for the Promotion of Creative Rights in Anime, Manga, Games, and Novels.
This association was formed because of the following incident, and its motto is āthe mock reality is not detailed, and democratic freedom is not restoredā. Discord is open to the public, and 4,000 people have joined. The two main issues are the ārevision of laws and regulations regarding the violation of scientific evidence and proportionalityā and the āreform of the iWIN network content protection mechanism (but not its dissolution)ā. The goal is to incorporate the organization.
The association was established in response to the incident and has the slogan āNo division of fiction/reality, no loss of democracy/freedomā. Discussions take place mainly in the public Discord community, which currently has about 4,000 participants. The two main requests are to ārevise regulations that violate the principle of proportionality with no scientific basisā and to reform (not dissolve) the iWIN Internet Content Protection Organization. Currently, incorporation is the goal.
Looking more into it, seems it all points to this person below being the reason for the amended law that started this
ļ¼»Neutralist] Councilor Fan Yun
Fan Yun is a professor of sociology at the University of Taiwan and a well-known feminist, who is the main driving force behind the 2023 law. She was one of the first politicians to hold a meeting on a related topic (the ādiscussion on the two-dimensional creation of young girlsā). During the recent meeting, her position has been neutral.
And a lot of politicians are opposed to this new agency targeting anime
Congressman Xu Taku
When asked by a PTT member of the public, she said: "I am a member of the PTT:
When a PTT netizen asked Xu Tak-cin a question, she stated: "Basically, I am against iWin:
Basically, Iām against iWin because it is a āč®äŗŗč¦ŗå¾ā action standard. This is a matter of two-dimensional creativity or freedom of speech.
Councilor Kuo-Chang Hwang (å°ē£ę°ē¾ę“¾)
Hwang is a former researcher at the Central Research Institute of Law. The two-dimensional regulation is not the purpose of the law at the time of its initial revision, and there is a reluctance to expand the definition of ātwo-dimensionalā.
Councilors Huang Jie (Democratic Progressive Party) and Cai Yi-yuan (Democratic Progressive Party) have expressed their opposition in private messages.
Do you know one of the things the United Kingdom has a lot of pride in? Their soft power. The power to influence others. Donāt let them present themselves as āneutralā. Reveal them for all their ugliness.
Itās a stupid idea. Criminals donāt need it (they can still do evil). It would mostly hurt good people. I am getting very concerned about the psychological effects of āthe government has it out for meā. I donāt think anything good could come of that.
There is no scientific basis for it.
If Sheila wasnāt picking fights over stupid things, someone might be more effective in telling them thatā¦
I saw one mention of an international group at the recent meeting lobbying to regulate, but I canāt find any names after digging around. Most of the lobbying is coming from inside taiwan from below
Liao Biying, the former director of the Womenās Department of the Democratic Progressive Party, was the director of the Association to End Child Prostitution (later renamed the Wings Spreading Association) from 2004 to 2006.
