The launch trailer for Gris was banned on Facebook for being “sexually suggestive”, according to Facebook. Devolver also attempted to appeal the process but Facebook still denied the ad from running on its platform.
Apparently the main header image was the reason for Facebook denying the ad featuring the launch trailer of Gris. Devolver Digital shared a tweet from their main account explaining the conundrum.
Facebook rejected a GRIS launch trailer ad for this ‘sexually suggestive’ scene so this year is going great so far. pic.twitter.com/frVaYOXIHe
— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) January 7, 2019
In the thread Devolver reveals that their appeal fell on deaf ears, and since the game is a media darling, most major websites are reporting on Facebook’s censorship (conveniently enough while ignoring lots of other censorship happening in the industry, like My Erotic Summer or Moe Reversi both getting banned).
Even still, this kind of censorship seems to be par the course in terms of the kind of escalation we’ve been seeing. It started with the anime style games and the weeb titles, but now it looks like some Western games might be getting hit with the censorship hammer from the tech overlords as well.
What’s worse is that the launch trailer is completely benign.
What’s even funnier is that the developers had censored some other images within the game to secure the ‘E’ for Everyone rating from the ESRB.
Over on the Steam forums there’s a thread about why certain imagery in the game had been censored, specifically the nipples on the statues in the background.
As you can see, the change seemed completely pointless, but Devolver made sure the developers went the extra mile to make the imagery as non-sexual as possible. Yet, even that wasn’t enough to get a pass from Facebook. What’s more is that the image they censored wasn’t even the imagery that Facebook had a problem with, showing that even if you go the extra mile to censor your work it doesn’t mean that those who are in control of the ever-expanding rules of censorship will give you a pass when it’s time to promote the content.
Gris is currently available for PC and Nintendo Switch.
(Thanks for the news tip AloisManas)