An artist named Nardack was commissioned by X.D. Global to provide art for the Chinese smartphone game Azur Lane. The art was to be used for the South Korean version of Azur Lane, but when users found out that Nardack was the illustrator of the art, they protested and implored X.D. Global to remove the art because they claimed that Nardack supported anti-social groups, such as Megalia and feminists. Well, X.D. Global gave Nardack an ultimatum to either renounce feminism and Megalia, or have the artwork removed from the game. Nardack refused to renounce feminism, so the artwork was removed.
In an English version of the story posted on Evernote on April 29th, 2018, Nardack explained…
“For clarification about the issue, Azur Lane Korea sent me a message through direct message and asked if I am actually a member of an anti-social organization.
“Even though I answered that I do not participate in such activities, Azur Lane Korea kept demanding me to tweet the following: ‘I have no relation to Megalia whatsoever, and I do not support Feminism.’
“I refused to accept their demand, and my illustration, which was initially used for Azur Lane Korea’s login page, was taken down instantly.”
Nardack explains that by refusing to condemn feminism and Megalia, people have been sending harassing messages across social media.
Anime News Network picked up the news, and despite linking to the English version of Nardock’s post, they omitted Megalia from the quote and instead wrote the following in the article published on May 2nd, 2018…
“In light of the controversy, X.D. Global contacted Nardack to ask if she is truly connected to an “antisocial organization,” and she denied that claim. Staff then asked Nardack to post “I have no relation to antisocial groups, and I do not support feminism” on social media. “
For those of you who don’t know, Megalia is an infamous misandrist group in South Korea, and has actively been ranked as one of the top 10 most offensive websites in South Korea. According to the Korean Times, the govermment has had to have multiple offensive and objectionable posts promoting acts of misandry removed from the Megalia web portal.
Anime News Network completely omits mentioning Megalia in the news article, despite Nardack making mention of the group in the English version of the Evernote blog post. Based on the way Anime News Network frames the article, it removes a lot of nuance and context as to why certain groups had an issue with Nardock providing art for Azur Lane.
Now in the Japanese version of the Evernote post, Nardack does not mention Megalia, but simply refers to “antisocial groups” and “supporting the efforts of feminism”. However, Anime News Network links to both the English and Japanese posts, but opts out of mentioning Megalia, even while quoting from Nardock’s English post.
What’s more is that Anime News Network includes a jab at #GamerGate, where they write…
“Some Japanese Twitter users have posted responses in support of Nardack and feminism. One user referenced the Gamergate controversy but noted that industry members had conversely condemned the attacks involved in that controversy. “
Actually, the #GamerGate mention in the Twitter post from the Japanese artist Sangsilnoh notes that the game companies actually attacked their own audience, where-as in the Nardock case the company targeted the worker.
面白いのは、海外でこれと似てる事件で「ゲーマーゲート事件」があるけど、その時企業たちはむしろゲーマー達を批判し、作業者達を保護し応援したのに、韓国はその逆になってるのでそこから意識レベルの差を感じる。
— かも仮面@6月お仕事募集中 (@sangsilnoh) April 29, 2018
In English, Sangsilnoh states…
“It’s a fascinating situation similar to an overseas event known as the “GamerGate” scandal. At the time of the event, however, the companies criticized gamers, protecting the [developers] and supporting them. In South Korea, during this incident, the opposite seems to be happening, and I think it shows a different level of awareness taking place there.”
Sangsilnoh doesn’t really say anything negative or positive about #GamerGate either way, other than that the media and game companies did condemn the consumer revolt, where-as in the case of South Korea the community and companies do not want to be associated with hate-groups such as Megalia.
As pointed out by Sakura Anime News, even though Anime News Network mentioned #GamerGate in the news piece, they actually forbade their users from discussing it in the forum. Moderator Psycho 101 wrote…
“No more Gamergate discussion or mentions. This thread already started off bad enough without treading back into those waters. Any posts that bring it up moving forward will be removed in their entirety. No exceptions.”
This keeps in line with the Anime News Network’s biased agenda against #GamerGate and being pro-censorship. In fact, back during the Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 scandal, Anime News Network began censoring and prohibiting users from using the term “Social Justice Warrior”.
Anime News Network is now omitting facts and careening information flow in order to shape how people consume certain types of news.
(Thanks for the news tip Gab)
