Winnie the Pooh and Hitler share an unusual connection: You can’t mention either of them in Marvel Rivals. And while dictator names are a common thing for online games to ban, the fact that they also forbid mentions of Disney’s lovable bear raises some serious questions.
How censorship in Marvel Rivals came to light
NetEase released Marvel Rivals for PC and consoles in early December 2024. Shortly thereafter, some players started noticing that the game is quite strict about chat etiquette.
Once these reports reached popular streamer Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt who helped draw attention to them by verifying them himself.
“Dalai Lama”, “Tiananmen Square,” and “Taiwan number one” are some of the phrases he confirmed were banned in the in-game chat, much like “free Hong Kong” and “Winnie the Pooh.” And while “free Taiwan” was a no-go, the YouTuber found that the game had no problem with him declaring “Taiwan sucks” or sharing 9/11 conspiracy theories, further suggesting the censorship is political.
The game seems to be proactive about its censorship. Instead of banning people for using forbidden phrases, Marvel Rival’s chat simply refuses to send such messages altogether. When that happens, the player sees a red notification stating that their text contains “inappropriate content.”
The banned phrases are case-insensitive, but the game doesn’t account for creative (mis)spellings, such as “fr33 T1bet” or “W_innie-the-P_ooh.” However, the list of banned phrases is extensive.
| Banned Phrase | Note |
|---|---|
| CCP | Name of China’s sole ruling party |
| communism | |
| communist | |
| Dalai Lama | Considered a separatist by the CCP |
| free HK | |
| free Hong Kong | |
| free Taiwan | |
| free Tibet | |
| Hitler | |
| ISIS | |
| Jinping / Xi Jinping | China’s president |
| LGBT | |
| Mao Zedong | Generally revered in China, but his depictions and mentions are subject to strict regulations |
| Pooh / Winnie Pooh / Winnie the Pooh | A common derogatory nickname for President Xi Jinping |
| Taiwan | When mentioned in the same message as “country” |
| Taiwan number one | |
| Tiananmen / Tiananmen Square | Place of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre |
| tank man | Reference to a famous image of a single man blocking the path of tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989 |
| Wuhan virus | The informal name for the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the 2020 global pandemic |
| 1989 / ‘89 / 89 | The year of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre |
Discord server less censored than the game itself
Asmongold’s video documenting his Marvel Rivals censorship test was viewed over 1.3 million times within 20 days of going live in late December 2024.
According to some later player reports, all the phrases that the game considers inappropriate are also banned on the official Marvel Rivals Discord server. However, we were unable to confirm this, and have actually found evidence of the opposite.
If you visit the game’s Discord server and search for terms that are confirmed to be banned in its chat, like “free Taiwan,” you’ll surprisingly find quite a few mentions of them.
In some cases, they are referenced by players freely discussing the in-game censorship. In others, they are simply spammed by users who seemingly didn’t get into any trouble for doing so even after weeks have passed.
Even though the Discord AutoMod offers robust custom content filters, NetEase seemingly hasn’t bothered with setting them up. Whatever the reason for this discrepancy may be, the result is that the Marvel Rivals Discord server is much less censored than the game itself.
Why Marvel Rivals bans certain phrases
Marvel Rivals is developed and published by NetEase, a company based in Hangzhou. Like any other entity operating out of China, NetEase is subject to the country’s laws, which are quite strict when it comes to censorship.
Although severe, China’s content rules can also be near-impossible to navigate. In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, former Paradox official Shams Jorjani described the process of game censorship in China as a “black box.”
The uncertainty surrounding every game review is so great that most companies choose to self-censor everything from known controversial phrases and content to edge cases, just to minimize the risk of failing compliance.
NetEase has a similar approach to censorship, in part because it very well knows what happens if it didn’t. Back in 2020, the company got fined and sanctioned for failing to enforce censorship rules on one of its news platforms.
So, it’s no wonder that the Marvel Rivals chat doesn’t let you talk about anything that goes against what the Chinese Communist Party says about things like the country’s territories or what happened on Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
Marvel Rivals censorship is far from unique
Most of the phrases banned from Marvel Rivals are also blocked by other games hailing out of China, as well as those operating in the country.
Overwatch, for instance, has reportedly long had a zero-tolerance policy for any mentions of Winnie the Pooh, with users claiming that simply typing the bear’s name in the in-game chat results in a permanent ban from Chinese servers.
The cartoon character is a particularly weird example of Chinese censorship, as it’s only considered controversial because of the internet memes comparing him to PRC President Xi Jinping.
Likewise, Genshin Impact has been censoring phrases like “Hong Kong” and “Taiwan” for years, which is even stricter than what Marvel Rivals does.
Since the goal here is to avoid controversy and not upset the Chinese government, it’s unlikely that NetEase or any other developer doing this kind of self-censorship will change their ways anytime soon.
