Overview

Marvel Rivals Chinese Censorship Controversy, also known as Marvel Rivals Banned Words Controversy, refers to Chinese company NetEase Games, the developer of the hero shooter Marvel Rivals, censoring or banning words in the video game's text chat, such as "Free Taiwan," "Winnie the Pooh" (due to Xi Jinping Winnie the Pooh comparisons), "1989," "Tiananmen Square Massacre," "Free Hong Kong" and many other phrases related to the Communist Party of China (CCP). Discourse about the contentious censoring started in early December 2024 on X / Twitter and Reddit, among other sites, but gained significant traction in early January 2025 as netizens started to post jokes and memes about the censored words on the game or criticize Marvel and Disney for allowing it.

Background

A day after Marvel Rivals release, on December 7th, 2024, some players discovered that specific phrases, including "Free Taiwan" and "Winnie-the-Pooh," were banned in the game's text chat, prompting accusations of censorship favoring China's stringent content policies.

For example, that day, X^[1] user @PotNoodleOW posted one of the earliest screenshots showing the message, "Taiwan is a country," getting rejected with the message, "Text contains inappropriate content." The tweet amassed over 556,000 views and 23,000 likes in a month.

The list of censored terms includes politically sensitive or controversial phrases such as “Free Hong Kong,” “Free Tibet,” “Tiananmen Square” and "Winnie-the-Pooh."

According to an article by CBR^[2] posted on January 5th, 2025, the Disney character was reportedly banned from being mentioned in the chat due to his association with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. "This association has grown significantly over the last ten years, so much so, that Winnie the Pooh has become a sensitive topic in China," the article explained.

NetEase's Response

As of January 6th, 2025, NetEase Games, headquartered in China, has not formally addressed the censorship accusations or responded to any backlash regarding them.

Online Reactions

The banned words and phrases in the game have sparked significant backlash across social media, with some players and critics accusing the Marvel Rivals development company of prioritizing market access in China over free expression.

For instance, on January 4th, 2025, Redditor^[3] luxusbuerg posted a video meme to the /r/shitposting subreddit showing some of the phrases allowed and others banned in the game's text chat. The video (seen below) amassed roughly 29,000 upvotes and 355 comments in two days.

On January 3rd, 2025, the YouTube^[4] channel China Uncensored posted a video titled "Marvel Rivals BANS Winnie the Pooh and Free Taiwan," explaining some of the claims about NetEase's banning words related to the CCP. The video (seen below) received over 53,000 views and 4,400 likes in three days.

On December 31st, 2024, Twitch streamer Asmongold uploaded a video to his YouTube^[5] clips channel discussing and showing the various forms of Chinese censorship in the game, receiving over 1.2 million views, 65,000 likes and 6,800 comments in six days (shown below).

Search Interest

External References