How Foreign Governments Control Entertainment Content

Many foreign countries have laws that purport to endorse free speech principles, but the governments in power often find a myriad of ways to suppress entertainment content they don’t like. Here is a summary of the subtle (and not so subtle) techniques they use:

Licensing. One technique to influence content is through the grant or revocation of government licenses, such as national broadcast or internet licenses or even local city licenses to operate a theater. These licenses often hinge on a number of subjective factors that have nothing to do with the content, but it is rather easy for the government to expressly or implicitly threaten to grant or, more importantly, revoke a license if the government doesn’t like the content being shown.

Withholding Funding. One simple way a foreign government can exert control over content is to withhold any funding to any company that isn’t following the government’s script, since many companies receive government subsidies in one form or the other, and media companies in particular may receive significant revenue from government advertising.

Withholding Access. Companies that show content that is not approved by the foreign government might be denied access to information or interviews that are provided to their competitors, giving companies that behave a competitive advantage.

Economic Pressure. Many foreign media companies are owned by oligarchs that have their fingers in various pies, and the government can easily make life difficult or helpful for the oligarchs through (a) the control of government contracts and grants or (b) implementing tax and other laws that favor “good” companies and punish “bad” ones. These oligarchs usually cozy up to the government for profit, and the content they permit always reflects it.

Censorship. Foreign governments often rely on stretched interpretation of laws regulating content, censoring content the government deems defamatory, fraudulent, biased, or supporting terrorist activities.

Government Controlled Content. Foreign governments often own national public broadcast or news networks, which they can flood with pro-government propaganda.

Tax. There is always the time-honored technique of tax audits of misbehaving companies or individuals, including criminal prosecution if needed.

Smear Campaigns. Foreign governments often engage in smear campaigns against anyone that does not toe the line, subjecting them to public excoriation and private surveillance.

Chilling Effect. Foreign governments often rely on the chilling effect accomplished by coming down hard on a few companies using any of the tactics mentioned above and making sure the others get the message. It doesn’t take long before everyone else is looking over their shoulder wondering “who’s next?” or “what other nasty thing could this government think of doing?”

The net result is that governments in foreign countries that espouse free speech principles can, if they want, achieve almost the same control over content that is achieved in unapologetically totalitarian systems.