Karaoke with Chinese characteristics: Crackdown coming for songs with 'illegal content'

Chinawill establish a blacklist of karaoke songs to ban those containing "illegal content" at karaoke venues across the country starting from October1, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said.

Such content includes that which endangers national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity, violates state religious policies by propagating cults or superstitions, or which encourages illegal activities such as gambling and drugs, the ministry said on its website on Tuesday.

Content providers to such karaoke venues will be responsible for auditing the songs, it said, adding thatChinahas nearly 50,000 entertainment outlets with a basic music library of over 100,000 songs, making it difficult for venue operators to identify illegal tracks.

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The ministry said it encouraged content providers to supply "healthy and uplifting" music to these venues.

Chinaheavily regulates and scrubs content like violence, pornography, or politically sensitive commentary from social media and websites and has in recent months punished live streaming to video platforms for hosting content it deems "low taste".