LADY GAGA is a threat to China’s “national cultural security”, according to the censors at the country’s ministry of culture.
As part of the “regulation of management of internet culture”, music download sites have been told to remove around 100 songs, including 20 foreign songs, or face the consequences, with Lady Gaga leading the list of censored artists with six of her latest album songs. The songs on the list had never been submitted for official censorship, the ministry said.
Katy Perry's Last Friday Nightand ETfeaturing Kanye West, are also censored.
Four songs by Simple Plan are in the list, as is, somewhat obscurely, the Backstreet Boys' oldie I Want It That Way.
The campaign is an ongoing one. In January and again in March, the ministry ordered 200 songs to be taken off and some songs remain on the list.
There has been a much sharper focus on foreign music since Icelandic singer Bjork shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of her song Declare Independenceat a 2008 concert in Shanghai.
The post said all the music listed must be deleted from the internet by September 15th otherwise the providers will be punished.
Fearful of the spread of Middle East-style protests against authoritarian rule, and of any destabilising influences ahead of a change of leadership next year, Beijing has been laying down the law online.
The latest victim appears to be the microblogging site Weibo, which has 200 million users and is hugely popular in a country where Twitter and Facebook are banned.
Weibo’s operator, Sina, a private company, is cracking down on “the spread of false rumours” after the Communist Party told internet companies to tighten control over information online. Sina has set up a channel called “Weibo Refutes Rumours” to carry denials of information alleged to be false.