5 detained for sex video shot in Uniqlo fitting room that stirs China’s social media

World Today

CHINA-INTERNET-PORNOGRAPHY-CENSORSHIP-RETAIL-UNIQLO-OFFBEATIn this picture taken on July 15, 2015, people pose in front of a Uniqlo clothes store in Beijing, after a sex tape purportedly shot in a fitting room of the clothing chain went viral. Chinese Communist authorities have said the distribution of a sex tape purportedly shot in a fitting room in one of Beijing’s trendiest shopping malls is “against socialist core values”, after the footage went viral. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

When Chinese netizens on Tuesday night checked their Weibo and WeChat, the keyword “#Uniqlo” flooded the screen. They were shocked by a smartphone video recorded of a man and a woman having sex in a Beijing Uniqlo store fitting room, uploaded onto the internet.

Beijing Uniqlo 2
Within hours, the sex video and its screenshots spread rapidly across social media. It appears the man in the video shot it himself, but it is unknown yet who uploaded it. The video quickly went viral.

CNN Reports: “A bespectacled man, dressed in black from head to toe, is heard telling a naked woman to kiss him as he tapes their steamy session in the mirror. “Call me husband” and “say we’ll be together” were a few of other phrases he uttered to her ear as piped music played in the background.”

The incident took place at the Uniqlo store in Sanlitun, Beijing, where hundreds of thousands of people gather every day for shopping and entertainment.

Some internet users have questioned if the sex video incident was staged and created by Uniqlo for commercial propaganda. However, Uniqlo, the Japanese casual wear retailer, released a statement on Wednesday morning on Weibo, denying the incident was made by Uniqlo for its commercial use.

Sex video shot in Uniqlo fitting room stirs China’s social media

Sex video shot in Uniqlo fitting room stirs China’s social media

“Uniqlo is serious about the sex video incident and the company has reported complaints to the media platforms that are involved as soon as the company got the information,” the statement said.

Uniqlo also gives advice in the statement, asking consumers to use fitting rooms properly with moral sense.

Beijing police announced on its official Weibo account they have started to investigate the incident after reports from citizens.

On Wednesday afternoon, an official from China’s Cyberspace Administration summoned executives from Sina and Tencent over the incident, asking them take responsibility for its posting and to cooperate with the police for further investigation.

Story from CCTV News


UPDATE:Five people held by police for sex video shot in Uniqlo

Beijing police have detained five people in connection with a sex video taken in a Uniqlo’s fitting room, in Beijing’s upmarket Sanlitun area. The video went viral online. The police statement, without naming the five suspects, said one of them was surnamed Sun, a 19-year-old man from northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.

It said Sun was suspected of having posted the sex video at Weibo.com, a major microblogging platform, while the others were suspected of spreading obscene information. The video shot on a smartphone shows a young Chinese couple having sex in a fitting room. A voice off screen in the video indicates it was taken in a Uniqlo store in Sanlitun, an upmarket shopping district, in mid-April.

Police said the couple admitted having sent the video to some friends at Wechat, a mobile chatting app. But it was somehow hacked and posted on the web, drawing fierce criticism from web users. And they were still investigating the couple, who would face punishment if found to have deliberately spread the footage.

China’s criminal law stipulates that those disseminating obscene books, films, pictures and video clips could face up to two years’ imprisonment, while those who make obscene products for profit could be sentenced to life.

Story from Xinhua