China has Blocked Online Fanfiction Haven ‘Archive of Our Own’ (AO3)

Mar 04, 20 at 7:40am

Serena Rei

The official Twitter account of the popular fanfiction website Archive of Our Own recently stated that their website has been blocked in China. It was clarified in a statement sent to the website Vox that the Organization for Transformative Works clarified that “the connection issue does not originate with the AO3 or Archive of Our Own and appears to originate within China itself.”

The website has also assured that no content was removed in their website. Users have also commented that the possible reason for the website being blocked access in China is probably related to the Chinese government’s unending crackdown of immoral and adult content, this includes homosexual relationships. This strict implementation went full force in 2016 when the Chinese government made specific guidelines for television states in which “No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviors, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.”

Back in 2018, a BL author received a 10 years and six months sentence for “obscenely describing male and female homosexuals” and for “violence, abuse, vulgarity, and other behaviors related to sexual perversion.” In the heat of this issue, the popular website Sina Weibo has banned gay-themed content on its website in the same year. However, this ban was lifted after the protest from Chinese gay and LGBTQ community and advocates.

In 2014, 20 young women authors of online boys-love novels were arrested for the similar case.

About Ao3

Archive of Our Own (AO3) is a nonprofit open source repository for fanfiction (fic) and other fanworks contributed by users around the world. The site was created in 2008 by the Organization for Transformative Works and went into open beta in 2009. As of 2019, Archive of Our Own hosted 5.5 million works in over 35,000 fandoms.

Source: ANN

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