Recently, the general manager (Daryl Morey) of the NBA team the Houston Rockets tweeted his support for Hong Kong amidst protestors fighting for human rights. This greatly angered many Chinese fans and the Chinese government, and what happened next made me reconsider the power of the first amendment.
Both the NBA and Morey tried to do damage control to appease China, but their efforts failed to stop China from cutting ties with the Houston Rockets. The team's Chinese sponsors also cut their ties, including major Chinese streaming sites and the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). China has also implied they will not show NBA preseason games.
Around the same time, a popular esports player appeared on a Taiwanese Hearthstone stream wearing a gas mask and voiced his support for Hong Kong. The clip was later removed from the channel and Blizzard, the company that owns many esports and esport games, cut their ties with him. They also revoked his ability to play for a year and withheld the prize money he'd earned.
Some other examples of China's economic might cowing American businesses include (but are probably not limited to):
- Marriott hotels apologizing to China after listing Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and Macau as separate countries (Beijing had shut down their website)
- American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines removing references to Taiwan being it's own country
- The situations described above with Blizzard and the NBA
- BEST ONE - South Park's episode on censorship in China, called 'Banned in China,' lead to the series being banned in China
These examples (besides South Park) show that though free speech is protected in America, businesses are quick to drop any pretenses of caring when their economic interests are threatened. Though these are private companies and are not held to the same standard as the government, their efforts to preserve their relationship with China directly undermine free speech. As long as they continue to choose their wallets over freedom, China will have a say in our entertainment.
"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy... Xi doesn't look like Winnie the Pooh at all."
- 'Apology' from the creators of South Park
I really liked this post! I think your connection to how economic power can serve as another regulation on free speech and the first amendment shows how the right to free speech is something that is hard to protect. I'm wondering how long this has been happening, and if there are more examples of it where maybe america is the country with the economic power stifling free speech.
ReplyDeleteThis post was extremely interesting because you connected a topic that we discussed in class to current political issues within other systems like private companies and sports teams. Your examples demonstrate how the first amendment is often not protected, because of things like economic interest from powerful organizations such as the NBA. If this were to be mentioned in a legal setting, I wonder what the public would think if the issue were brought to their attention.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very interesting to me and brought up a good point. While the first amendment may stop persecution by law and the government, it cannot stop individual businesses for cutting ties to others. I think that this is similar to controversial figures on youtube being banned. While they have the right to their own free speech, this does not limit the platforms from kicking or censoring them from their sites.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post, as I found the topic very interesting. I liked how you integrated links to news articles with more information about the subject into your post. I think you bring up a very good point and agree that monetary motives can threaten free speech. Regarding China, the country is home to 1.4 billion people and is one of the largest markets in the world. Its government censors anything that it disagrees with, blocking websites and digital media with the Great Firewall of China. Businesses simply cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity, as demonstrated by the trade war. Another example of China’s influence is when Apple decided to remove an app used by Hong Kong protestors from the App Store.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/tech/apple-tim-cook-letter-hkmap-live/index.html