Successful Censorship

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic Big Tech companies colluded with governments to censor truthful information that did not align with political agendas, thereby silencing dissent and criticism against lockdowns and mandatory mass vaccination campaigns.  The role the Biden administration played in this censorship regime was highlighted in a congressional report titled “The Censorship Industrial Complex,” released in May 2024. Three months after its publication, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in a letter to Congress that Facebook had censored fact-based information under pressure from the White House. Then, one month later in September, Google’s parent company Alphabet similarly disclosed how the Biden administration pressured YouTube, a Google subsidiary, to remove videos that did not even violate the company’s content policies. The company acknowledged the fact that creators have been silenced for speaking the truth and promised to restore YouTube channels that were suspended due to content no longer deemed misinformation. But you know there are still many YouTube channels that haven’t been revived, right?

It is said that the practice of censorship began the moment one group gained enough power to silence another. The first large-scale, ideologically motivated censorship campaigns recorded in detail are said to be the Qin Dynasty’s book burning in China in 213 BCE and the burning of Protagoras’ works in Greece in 440 BCE. However, the most influential censorship I believe is the War Guilt Information Program which GHQ (General Headquarters of the Allied Forces) implemented a brainwashing of the Japanese.

GHQ fabricated Japanese history through censorship and brainwashing, destroyed its traditions, and permanently disarmed the Japanese people both physically and mentally―ensuring they would never again defy the United States and the Allied Powers―all to cover up its own war crimes: the “brutal killing of innocent non-combatants”―a crime against humanity. The program operated through a comprehensive system of censorship and propaganda. The Press Code imposed strict controls on media, including newspapers, radio broadcasts, and private correspondence, effectively suppressing dissenting views and ensuring that only narratives aligned with the occupation’s goals were disseminated. Here are the list of “Press Code”.  

1. Criticism of SCAP (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or General Headquarters)
2. Criticism of the Military Tribunals (Tokyo Trials)
3. Criticism of SCAP drafting the Constitution
4. Mentioning Censorship
5. Criticism of the United States
6. Criticism of Russia (USSR)
7. Criticism of Britain
8. Criticism of Koreans
9. Criticism of China
10. Criticism of Other Allied Nations
11. Criticism of the Allied Powers as a Whole (Not Individual Nations)
12. Criticism of the Treatment of Japanese in Manchuria
13. Criticism of Allied Pre-War Policies
14. Reference to World War III
15. Commentary on the Issue of the Western World vs. Russia (Cold War)
16. Publicity of Defending Japan’s War Effort, Direct or Indirect
17. Publicity of claiming Japan and the Japanese Emperor are descendants of the gods and their nation
18. Militaristic publicity
19. Promoting Nationalistic
20. Promoting Greater East Asia (Co-Prosperity Sphere)
21. Other publicity
22. Justification of war crimes and defense of war criminals
23. Negotiations (between Occupation soldiers and Japanese women)
24. Black market conditions
25. Criticism of the Occupation forces
26. Exaggeration of (Japanese) starvation
27. Incitement to violence and seditious conduct
28. False reporting
29. Inappropriate references to SCAP (or local military government offices)
30. Publication of unapproved reports

Even today, the truth about the Tokyo Trials (International Military Tribunal for the Far East) is not taught to Japanese people or in overseas for foreigners. The current Japanese Constitution was drafted by the GHQ, stripping the Japanese people of any notion that they could defend their own country through mere pacifism. Criticism of the “Allied Forces” remains suppressed, yet Japan obediently follows everything―even though the United Nations itself was created by the Allied Powers that destroyed Japan. Japanese media outlets, fearing pressure from both China and South Korea, have become reluctant to criticize China or Koreans. Consequently, no matter what China and South Korea do, critical public opinion never becomes mainstream within Japan. This allows China and South Korea to continue doing and saying whatever they please, while the media increasingly aligns itself with them. And because statements praising the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere [ The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a slogan advocated by Japan during the Pacific War era, purportedly aiming to liberate Asian peoples from Western colonial rule and establish a region of coexistence and mutual prosperity centered on Japan] have been banned, even today, saying “Hakkō Ichiu”* is still labeled as militarism. I believe that not only Japanese people, but many people around the world need to break free from the world of censorship and learn the truth.

*“Hakko Ichiu” is proclaimed by Emperor Jimmu (BC 711-BC585) at the founding of Japan, embodies the spirit of uniting the world like one family. It seeks to encompass all corners of the universe, fostering a peaceful world where all peoples coexist equally and maintain harmony.