In October 2020, Sony Interactive Entertainment revised its Hong Kong terms of services and user agreement for its PlayStation Network, a digital media entertainment service in relation to the PlayStation video game consoles. Some of those provisions relating to users of the PlayStation Network residing in mainland China, as extracted below:
Now, what does this mean in plain non-lawyer speak? Well, it means that if you use a Playstation 3, Playstation 4, or Playstation 5 in mainland China or associated provinces (such as Hong Kong), you will need to agree to this new EULA where Sony is telling you to keep your mouth shut and go by the rules that have been in place by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This is pretty much standard business language needed to do business in China these days, and you’ll probably find something similar somewhere in the Xbox Live EULA too, not that anyone would bother to look.
The issue here is two-fold: First, it’s people who are upset that this was forced into the EULA by the CCP in order to stop people using Sony’s game platform as a way to voice protest about the problems in Hong Kong as it has been in the past. The other issue comes from uninformed Westerners who think that one EULA is worldwide, meaning that they think that this EULA will be used in American and other countries, giving the CCP protections from protests worldwide, which is not the case.
Sony’s American, European, Australian, etc EULAs do not have this section included, it’s only China mainland users that will be affected. Western users will remain free of “interference” from the CCP and can use their games and consoles to support Hong Kong protests and the like.
