China
23:06, 09-Jun-2018
Websites to remove vulgar content disguised as ASMR
["china"]
Share
Copied
China’s anti-pornography task force is tackling pornographic content online related to autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) – the growing phenomenon where video makers record themselves doing something as simple as whispering to trigger a stimulating tingly sensation.
Announced on June 8, the Chinese National Office against Pornographic and Illegal Publications has requested many websites to remove content said to be using ASMR as a getaway for publishing obscene and vulgar content.
In the office’s statement, it ordered websites that offer audio, video, live streaming as well as file hosting services, including 163.com, baidu.com, bilibili.com, missevan.com, and qingting.fm, to remove pornographic content under the cover of ASMR.
Considering that teenagers and young adult make up the majority of the audience for ASMR, companies that allow for obscene content on their platforms would assume administrative responsibility and could face legal consequences, the office added.
As ASMR operates under sounds, actions and voices, a growing number of audio, videos clips and images that contain strongly sexually suggestive language have sprouted up online, the office said.
Several websites have been ordered to remove inappropriate content under the cover of ASMR. /VCG Photo
Several websites have been ordered to remove inappropriate content under the cover of ASMR. /VCG Photo
Once known as “head orgasms,” ASMR is the relaxing, tingly sensation some people feel in response to specific auditory or visual triggers. These triggers are often mundane and ambient, from activities such as whispering, spraying a water bottle, tapping, crinkling paper, and folding towels and so on.
How these triggers for ASMR work varies largely from person to person, as some people reportedly don’t respond to it at all.
In a bedrock study about ASMR by two psychology researchers from Swansea University in 2015, after surveying 475 people who reported experiencing the tingles watching ASMR videos, it found that the majority of them sought out ASMR videos on YouTube to help them sleep and deal with stress.
The study found only five percent of the 475 people surveyed claimed to feel any sexual response to watching ASMR videos, suggesting that ASMR is often conflated with sexual stimulation, while the feeling is pleasant.
Nonetheless, in ASMR videos, due to lax regulation on various social platforms, a subset of communities could be found to use it as a cover for inappropriately suggestive purposes.