Lady GaGa, Beyonce Knowles blacklisted by China

The names Lady GaGa and Beyonce Knowles are certainly household ones – but when it comes to China – a country that has banned Facebook, authorities there are far stricter on what their population can or cannot listen/watch/read. In fact, Beyonce’s most recent hit, Girls Run The World, has been placed among a list of 100 songs that have been blacklisted by China’s Ministry of Culture. It seems that any music websites that carry this song will need to delete those in the 100 by September 15th or risk facing unspecified punishment.

Most of the songs on the list are Platinum albums, where among them include “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys and “Last Friday Night” by Katy Perry. Not only that, Lady GaGa has also been affected by the ban, alongside artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.

According to the Ministry of Culture’s website, “The 100 Internet songs which are listed in the attached notice didn’t abide by content censorship or record registration according to the Internet Culture Management Temporary Provisions.” You can’t really censor the Internet, and I do wonder just how long this charade is going to keep up. Something’s got to give, eventually.