Midjourney is accused of giving in to Chinese censorship by banning the generation of images of President Xi Jinping. Other world leaders do not enjoy this protection.
On Midjourney, you can generate images on the political figure of your choice. Any, except Xi Jinping. The current President of the People’s Republic of China – and incidentally General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party – does indeed benefit from exceptional protection, which the other leaders of the world do not have. His name cannot be used to produce visuals with this artificial intelligence.
No Xi Jinping on Midjourney
An error message is returned by Midjourney on Discord, when you send a command (a “prompt” in the jargon) containing the name of the Chinese president – including when you put nothing else. Same thing with periphrases, like “China’s president”: each time, Midjourney indicates that ” expression is prohibited. Bypassing this filter to violate our rules may result in your access being revoked. »
On the other hand, Midjourney does not balk when asked to imagine Joe Biden, Emmanuel, Macron, Vladimir Poutine or Ali Khamenei. Same thing when you enter the names of former Chinese presidents, such as Hu Jintao or Jiang Zemin. The platform produces neutral results – if you type only the name of the personality, the images returned look like perfectly classic portraits. Nothing obviously derogatory.
Turns out it was a deliberate move on Midjourney’s part. At the end of June 2022, the founder of generative AI, David Holz, wrote on the Discord channel dedicated to the features of the tool: “ Political satire in China is not viewed very well, and at some point it would endanger Chinese people’s use of the service. “. Conversely, he added, political satire in western countries is quite normal. »
To defend his point of view, David Holz weighed the stakes: is it better that the Chinese have access to Midjourney’s technology or that they can use it to create potentially caricatural or offensive images of Xi Jinping? At the risk, afterwards, of provoking the banishment of the tool or of triggering the intervention of the police against Chinese Internet users who have written derogatory prompts?
” Let’s take a step back and think about the question. The question is whether it is better to let [les internautes chinois] use technology or engage in political satire. I think the Chinese use of this technology is making things happen in the world (in a good way). I don’t think lay people here who make political satires do much. The cost-benefit analysis seems clear. »
These words did not cause significant waves at the time. The notoriety of generative AI was, it is true, not quite the same as it has today. As Google Trends, which measures the popularity of topics on the American search engine, shows, public interest in Midjourney really took off from the end of 2022 – and largely into 2023. David Holz’s comment had even come before the brief peak in viewership last summer.
Almost a year later, Midjourney has become the most famous image-generating AI — along with DALL-E perhaps. A spectacular success, but which has a downside: the company’s smallest actions and gestures are scrutinized and its errors and errors no longer go unnoticed. Neither does the effects this AI can have on the impact and spread of misinformation. And, unsurprisingly, the controversy over Xi Jinping eventually resurfaced.
On certain specialized spaces, such as Reddit, the censorship enjoyed by Xi Jinping with Midjourney had already been noted by Internet users.
SidSantoste, on the sub-Reddit FuckTheCCP, evoked this ban and told of having been censored on the sub-Reddit devoted to Midjourney. Another shared creations mixing Xi Jinping with Winnie the Pooh (the character is banned in China, because it is used to make fun of the Chinese president, who looks like him). In another visual, the AI even imagined Xi Jinping arrested by the police, in handcuffs.
Internet users angry at Midjourney
However, the case is gaining momentum and Midjourney’s choice to censor only Xi Jinping is badly perceived by some Internet users.
“ I’m really angry that I can’t make pictures of Xi Jinping. Freedom gave us these amazing tools to just kneel before a dictator “complains joseangel_sc on Discord. “ I will soon cancel my account, goodbye “, announces Tenhat, pointing to the censorship affair as the driving force behind his departure. ” It’s a shame that the creators of MidJourney bow to dictator Xi Jinping », Regrets ran1020. Many other messages of the same order proliferate on the Discord.
On April 3, a developer from Midjourney, signing with the first name Jack, also took the floor to defend his employer’s policy. ” We ban Jinping for the same reason we ban Muhammad — it’s heavily used as uncreative content. We really aren’t fans of drama here “, he wrote, considering it relevant to put on the same level an ancient religious figure with a contemporary political personality.
” We had to ban much dumber stuff because it was used for uncreative content. We are basically here to make an interesting creative tool available to as many people as possible. No one gave us an ultimatum “, he said, as if to chase the accusations of submitting to Chinese censorship. Another, this time a Discord moderator, invites Internet users to… create their own Midjourney if they are unhappy.
” Why waste all that time and effort harassing people who won’t change the ban policy just for you, when you can just create your own ai image service where you can have the freedom to create all the images of Xi Jinping that you can desire? “, launched Goofball. Other Internet users, members of the platform, also believe that Midjourney should not authorize the generation of images on Xi Jinping.
This argument around content that is not very creative or likely to generate quarrels, is however weakened by the observation that only the Chinese president is in this modified regime. No other contemporary leader enjoys such an exemption, while all are potentially subject to embezzlement. This is already the case, moreover, from Putin to Trump, and from Biden to Macron, via religious authorities, such as Pope Francis.
A manifestation of Chinese influence, including in terms of censorship?
For censorship specialist Sarah McLaughlin, this two-tier policy is a manifestation of China’s ability to influence beyond its borders, including in terms of content censorship. A phenomenon that has been observed for some time, with various examples – such as in 2019, when Blizzard found itself at the heart of a controversy after banning a player from Hearthstone expressing his support for the freedom of Hong Kong.
” Chinese laws — at least in theory — should only apply within China’s borders. Yet because Midjourney’s CEO wants his program to be available in China, he applies some of the country’s speech restrictions to everyone. So users from free countries, who use a program based in the United States, cannot make fun of Xi Jinping », written by Sarah McLaughlin.
” We should not ignore this story or others like it, she continues, signing a paper on this subject in Techdirt. The censorship laws of an authoritarian country set the standards of moderation for the global community in an emerging technological field. This concerns me and should concern you as well. “. Because this censorship only affects the Chinese. Internet users around the world are also affected.
This growing controversy, which also risks attracting the attention of the American legislator, could take a more political turn: today the United States is engaged in a veritable ideological war with China, with the opposition of two models . Washington might not like to see an American company apply such an exclusive rule to a single personality, let alone the head of the rival nation.
However, the policy implemented by Midjourney remains surprising, given the situation of Discord in China. Officially, the American company says it censors Xi Jinping so as not to put Chinese Internet users in difficulty. However, access to Discord (it is the only way to access Midjourney) in China is proving very difficult today. Indeed, Discord is currently banned in mainland China. To believe that Midjourney is struggling for not much.
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