UN’s Cybersecurity Draft Excludes Anime & Manga From Censorship Of Content Involving Children

[Rin]

A draft of the United Nations Cybercrime Convention, a landmark effort to frame international legislation to combat cybercrime, was unanimously approved by UN members at the end of a two-week session in New York on Aug 9, 2024.

The treaty, now headed to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for a vote, is quite significant regarding its implications for freedom of expression, especially in the context of anime and manga.

Japanese MP Taro Yamada has been a vocal advocate for protecting freedom of expression within the framework of the treaty.

On Aug 8, 2024, he announced via social media that a critical clause, “provision to limit to real persons” in Article 14, Paragraph 3, remained in the treaty.

This clause provides member States with the flexibility to exclude non-real content, such as anime and manga, from being classified as cybercrimes under the treaty.

This means that lolis, shotas, and other hentai/doujinshi content in anime & manga with inappropriate depiction of children won’t be regulated under the law of this treaty.

However, Yamada warned that the battle is not over, as Japan’s ratification and domestic legal adjustments could still lead to the inclusion of non-real content in the regulations.

Full article here.

[BLueRibbon]

The article states that China in particular is pushing for stricter regulations, which is surprising. Does anyone have more information about this?

[Fragment]

China is likely just doing it to piss off Japan.