Since this past February, riots and protests have exploded all over Hong Kong. We’re not talking small, insignificant demonstrations - we’re talking numbers in the multi-millions.

Since this past February, riots and protests have exploded all over Hong Kong. We’re not talking small, insignificant demonstrations – we’re talking numbers in the multi-millions. In fact, these protests have broken world records. It seems reasonable, then, to assume most Americans would be aware of these protests… but generally speaking, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Normally, I’d point the finger at mass media for lack of coverage, but now it’s even worse: even private corporations and businesses are censoring the conversation.

For those who don’t know, here’s some background on Hong Kong:

Setting the Stage

When it comes to political history, Hong Kong is an exceptionally unique case. Officially, Hong Kong is part of China, but exists as “special administrative region,” meaning it maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of the mainland. Their relationship is often summarized as “one country, two systems,” and is most dramatically seen in Hong Kong’s capitalist economy versus the mainland being communist.

The reason for this goes back to the British empire. From 1841 to 1997, Hong Kong existed as the largest colony in the British empire, but was finally ceded back to China in July of 1997. Through diplomatic agreement, Hong Kong was granted the freedom to independently govern their territory until the year 2047, along with retaining its capitalist economy.

Fast forward to 2019. Though Communist China has always been a corrupt government, their rise to international prominence and economic prosperity has only deepened their lust for control. Later this year, on December 1st, China will begin it’s social credit system. Even worse, they are already well underway in creating an AI empowered mass-surveillance state. With this, China has naturally sought more control over Hong Kong. Surprisingly, however, these protests were not instigated because of the mainland land… it was instigated due to their own politicians.

This past February, members of Hong Kong’s government proposed an extradition bill known as the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019. In short, this bill would allow citizens, activists, and anyone suspected of crime to be extradited to the court system in mainland China. And at the heart of this bill is Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, who’s known for his explicitly pro-China political alignments.

Because of this Bill, Hong Kong protesters hit the streets in mass. Their main concern? Chinese authorities could systematically target, silence, and arrest any dissenting or outspoken opponent of the mainland government. And ultimately, this would lead to a premature loss of their rights, freedom, and independence.

What began as a general indifference by the mainland authorities has now turned to outright hostility. According to recent reports, China is “fully prepared” and “considering” direct military intervention in Hong Kong. Undoubtedly, this would not only spell genocide, but their complete loss of independence.

Now, considering Hong Kong’s alignment to Western ideals, you’d think American businesses (who are known to support social justice) would support the protesters. Unfortunately, that’s far from the case. In fact, yesterday, in a matter of only 24 hours, ESPN, Riot Games, and Blizzard Entertainment all seemingly moved to censor discussion around Hong Kong.

Stepping Out of Bounds

Following the Houston Rockets game on Sunday, Daryl Morey, the Rockets General Manager, posted an image on twitter reading “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” This tweet set off a firestorm in China leading the Chinese Basketball Association to suspend all cooperation with the Houston Rockets. Furthermore, the incident called the entire NBA’s relationship with China into question.

In an effort to save the relationship, the NBA and ESPN issued an official memo on Monday mandating all employees, across all leagues, to “steer clear” of political opinions involving Hong Kong. But more accurately, the memo seems to suggest they should “steer clear” of any support of the protesters. Therefore, with this mandate, any dissenting employees are essentially at risk of losing their jobs. By working for the NBA or ESPN, employees are in essence, barred from publicly supporting Hong Kong.

Even worse, the NBA has begun to censor their own fans. On Tuesday, 76ers fans were kicked out for having “Free Hong Kong” signs in the stands, and later, during the Wizards game, fans had their signs taken away. Regardless of what the memo “said” officially, the NBA and ESPN have something else entirely in mind.

Of course, their decision is almost entirely based on economics… The number of people watching NBA games on Tencent’s streaming services in China has nearly tripled in the last four years. And during the 2017-2018 season, more than 600 million people watched NBA games on Chinese television networks. China is big business for the NBA and ESPN. But this sent a very clear message to the world: they only care about morality when money isn’t involved.

Cold Shouldered

Blizzard Entertainment’s case is equally baffling. On October 5th during Blizzard’s official broadcast of the Asia-Pacific Grandmasters competition for “Hearthstone”, Hong Kong native, Blitzchung, appeared in post-match interview wearing a gas mask. As the broadcast ended, Blitzchung shouted “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age,” with the apparent support of both tournament broadcasters.

On Monday in response, Blizzard stripped Blitzchung of the prize money he earned and banned him from Hearthstone competitions for the next year. Additionally, they cut ties with both broadcasters and deleted both the match and interview footage found on their official channels. With nearly 5% of Blizzard being owned by Chinese company “Tencent,” this move was motivated for the same reason as the NBA and ESPN: money. And though Blizzard hasn’t said it explicitly, their actions make it abundantly clear… competitors aren’t permitted to publicly support Hong Kong.

No More Riots

Then, in yet another branch of E-Sports, Riot Games has seemingly moved to censor their broadcasts by even omitting the mere mention of the words “Hong Kong.” Though not as explicit as the previous instances, a Reddit post from Monday makes a convincing case. The primary evidence cited featured several casters correcting themselves while discussing the team, Hong Kong Attitude. When a caster began to say “Hong Kong,” they quickly changed their phrasing to “HKA” instead.

Additionally, spectators noticed a delay during the Hong Kong Attitude series vs. Isurus Gaming. After HKA won, an interview was expected to take place, but it didn’t air until much later in the stream. The delay had viewers puzzled and multiple users questioned when it would happen in the post-match thread on Reddit.

“They aren’t going to do it live, so they can just trash the interview if they don’t like what Hong Kong Attitude has to say,” one user said. Once the interview aired, many fans debated whether it was live or prerecorded to prevent HKA from speaking out about the Hong Kong protests.

While these instances could simply be a coincidence, there are reasons why Riot would want to censor broadcasts. Riot is also owned by Tencent and has a huge player base – and, therefore, revenue base – in the country. So once again… Riot likely sold out for money.

Follow the Common Thread

With all three instances, each company has been met by massive backlash from their respective Western communities, all for the same reason: they’re banning their employees/fans from publicly advocating for Hong Kong, silencing their freedom of speech, and choosing money over morality.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t fault these companies for wanting to preserve international relationships. I also understand these businesses wanting to stay out of politics. However, I do have a problem with them infringing on other peoples rights. I have an even bigger issue with them wanting to censor information around an encroaching genocide.

In the case of the NBA, wouldn’t it have been sufficient to only ban political conversation on their broadcast? To me, that would at least be understandable – but banning their employees from even tweeting about it? Kicking out fans and confiscating their signs? That crosses the line on several levels.

At least for Riot and Blizzard, I can sympathize with them. They have no control over players since they aren’t employed by them… but at the same time, shouldn’t that mean they aren’t responsible for what they say? I mean, banning players and words isn’t going to solve PR issues. In fact, it just creates them. By bowing to their Chinese overlords, they not only alienate Hong Kong, but the foundation principles of the West – thus Western fans.

So, I don’t know about you, but if even private U.S. companies are moving towards censorship, it really makes you wonder… what direction is the U.S. heading?