Swallowing the Black Pill

Posted on 11 August 2020 by Shiyi

The Classification Office classifies films, DVDs and video games. What people might not know is that we also classify material for law enforcement. This can include looking at text and image based posts from social media. It's an interesting, complex part of our work. We balance all our decisions with freedom of expression, which the NZ Bill of Rights Act gives us.

Recently we caught up with PhD candidate Angus Lindsay about his research into incels and extremism. Fascinating (and scary) stuff. Check out the brilliant infographic from local graphic artist Tara, below:

It has never been more important to get the balance right between protecting our rights and freedoms and protecting our most vulnerable. It's not always enjoyable, especially when we are dealing with child exploitation, terrorism, and racially-fuelled extremism. But we enjoy speaking with and learning from other experts in this field.

For further reading, you can check out Angus' thesis here.

Shiyi works at the NZ Office of Film and Literature Classification. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the Chief Censor or of the Classification Office. Keep up with our blog posts by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

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