A recent report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has highlighted that Nintendo, along with Microsoft, Apple, Sony and other major companies, have been linked to Chinese forced labour camps. The factories at these camps are home to very poor working conditions, excessive working hours and places where religious belief is banned with tough consequences for the workers and their families if those working there do not comply with the strict rules put in place.
It’s been reported that between 2017-2019, roughly 80,000 Uighurs, members of a Turkic minority group, were transported away from Xinjiang to numerous factories across China. According to the report, they live in segregated dormitories, undergo organised Mandarin and ideological training outside working hours, among other practices.
It’s worth noting that Nintendo isn’t linked to these factories directly but rather the supply chains they use to manufacture its products are. Companies that use forced Uighur labour are breaching laws and the report urges those listed to take immediate action.
The report is extensive, and you can read it in its entirety here.
The more I hear about China the more I hate the Chinese government.
well, that Chinese government is the reason that your video games console don’t cost +1000 usd. if you hate this practice then stop buying products from these compaines that directly snd knowingly support this.
So Chinese government implementing slave labour at least allows us to buy cheaper consoles? There are so many things wrong with that argument it isn’t even funny.
@bskullclad im not saying its a good thing but that is the truth
Not trying to defend any of those companies but isn’t every internationally known company using cheap labour forces in China/Thailand or other countries with poor living/working conditions?
There are only a select few FairTrade companies.
Overall, these guys need to change – I’m even willing to pay more if those products are fairtrade.
Yes your correct but this is forced labor from concentration camps not cheap/low wage. This is much worse.
I just flew over the article since I’m on the bus.
I will read it carefully once I’m home. Thanks for the heads up.
But notably, this isn’t any of these companies consciously making the decision to do so. This is the company they are contracting with choosing to do so. It is more than plausible that they did not know this when they made the deal.
Ever buy something online from a random seller? Well, that person might have been a criminal. Does that make you retroactively a bad person?
How companies respond to the news will be the telling thing.
@cronotose it would be literally impossible for Nintendo to not know. This has been known publicly for decades lol. Tech companies are mainly sustained off of cheap slave labor and always have been. And they will continue to be because first-world consumers dont care.
Very true. Least people getting paid low wage are still getting paid. This is just slavery, plain & simple.
@Bryan Mo
“it would be literally impossible for Nintendo to not know. ”
A deeply ridiculous statement. It would be highly irregular for a company to closely scrutinize all of the other organizations their business partners themselves do business with. Large portions of manufacturing jobs even in America are done by workers that the company paying for them knows very little about. You hire a company to make widgets for you, they hire through a temp company for the actual laborers. The temp company itself could be getting these people from absolutely *anywhere* and you would have no idea. That’s without even dealing with two separate countries.
“This has been known publicly for decades”
You clearly don’t understand what is happening. Of course its been known that it happens, generally. That doesn’t mean that Nintendo knew it was happening here, specifically. China is also notorious for violating international copyright law and producing low quality fakes. Does that mean that literally everything you buy in China is guilty of this? Of course not. Thousands upon thousands of companies purchase labor from China every year. *Most* of them don’t know the particulars of the work place that will be making their goods. Does this Nintendo definitely didn’t know? Of course not. Its just deeply ignorant though to suggest its universal for companies to know the details of the labor they purchase. Talk to anyone in the temp agency field.
“Tech companies are mainly sustained off of cheap slave labor and always have been. ”
There’s a *tiny* difference between cheap labor and forced labor camp.
@shinygold2
Was this directed at me? If so, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised by how many companies are involved in it. There’s just a big difference between healthy suspicion in general and definitive knowledge that one given company was specifically involved in it.
@Cronotose you are 100% wrong nintendo used companies like Foxconn for year companies that did nothing but abused and ruined there working with wages that were extremely low, prison like living conditions, and options so few that it was either work for companies like this or starve on the street. This is how a MASSIVE majority of tech companies operate ( your video games, your cellphone you computer. All cheap slave labor )
Nintendo knew, the public knew. Stop acting like their some magical wonderland of good intentions just because they make video games you like. Get your head out of your ass.
I think you’d be surprised how many companies are involved with this sort of stuff. When Hershey, Nestle, and Mars were connected to child labor camps they did nothing to sever their ties.
Never heard of Hershey but I knew about Nestlé and Mars.
Also I finally read the article – that’s really fucked up.
Good on you guys for helping to spread this. We all love Nintendo, and that’s why it’s important to be aware of things like this.
“Good on you guys for helping to spread this.” we al directly support this practice. spreading awareness doesn’t change these things, you have to act by not supporting the companies. but video games are more important than the lives of slaves so itll never happen
Awareness helps form decisions. Enough people speaking out about it can cause change.
Sad to hear this going on. I have products from most of the companies listed, it’s a terrible thing to have been made aware of these practices after the fact. They need to address this
For the Nth time in a row, a buncha companies are accused of using parts from slave labor. Are they FINALLY going to do something about it THIS time??
As long as consumers support it itll never stop
Unlikely since no one wants to go at the source: Chinese government.
No one on the post should be allowed to complain or criticize any of there companies when you’re all directly supporting them. you cant have it both was.
You can’t criticize anyone you do business with?
Think about the statement for a little while, and then consider it when wondering why nobody is obeying you and being quiet.
Oh, again Chinese government striking. Won’t hold up my breath about people finally doing something about this.
Between the concentration camps, unfair trade practice crackdown by the Trump administration, and Coronovirus, tons of companies are pulling their supply chains out of China and they’re hemorrhaging money as a result… is the CCP finally finished?
It’d be nice but sadly there are still some Chinese citizens that openly praise their government and would probably fight to defend it. Hopefully they are the vast minority in China, though. Not to mention the companies outside of China that do everything they can to appease the Chinese government. *cough*Disney*cough*
Since Sony Interactive Entertainment wants to play “social justice warrior” and be all “woke”, they should immediately cut all ties with these Chinese companies that employ slave labor. Same goes to Disney & others. But they won’t because they are all just a bunch of fake ass SJW/woke rejects trying to appease the other fake ass SJW/woke rejects that dwell on Twitter. If people aren’t gonna do anything to help real people & fight against actual injustices to actual people in society (“Waah! Quit se.xualizing female characters in anime & vidya games!” or “How dare Conan Exiles let players turn NPCs into slaves!?” because to hell with actual victims, right), they shouldn’t be going on Twitter crying “misogyny, racism, fascism, homophobia, blah, bullshit, blah” because they’re full of shit. Either defend & fight for actual real victims or shut the fuck up.)
Anyway, it’s news like this that makes me happy I don’t buy many physical objects these days. The only physical objects I’ve bought over the last 2 years has been Pokemon Sword (which I bought this past Saturday), my Samsung TV (which I bought back in the beginning of 2018), my replacement Switch (which I bought around the time they first started charging for online; I wanted that cloud storage before I got a new Switch), my PS4 Pro (which I bought at the beginning (or was it the middle?) of 2018), & my 4TB HDD for PS4.
Lol youre still supporting it and are therefore part of the problem. get off your high-horse you fucking hypocrite
That’s rich coming from someone who most likely isn’t making an effort to do the same. Weren’t you talking about buying a physical object the other day? Also, when did you buy your Switch..? How do you know the shit you’ve bought recently wasn’t also made by slave labor? For all we know, we both could have bought stuff that weren’t made by slave labor but low wage employees. See? This is what I was getting at with my original comment on here. These woke/SJW types want to pretend they are saving the world but, in reality, they are no better than the rest of us they claim are the problem. So how about you get off your high horse, hypocrite?
@Infinite Ridley
He just wants to puff himself up as morally superior. There isn’t much to be gained. He is himself literally doing exactly the thing he complains about, as he rages against slave labor while typing on his device that I’m sure was built from scratch in the West.
Well…. I think it’s high time we boycott the big oppressive gaming companies. Let’s cause the next big crash and let them wallow in the consequences of their actions.
Yeah China really needs a dose of reality, I wish they weren’t so oppressive to their own people. I just still feel strongly that the change needs to come from within their own country by their own citizens but that companies like Microsoft, Sony, Apple etc stop doing business to force their hand.
Isn’t this pretty much every single business in the world who gets their products produced in China? Everyone moves production to China for the much lower costs, but never admit as to why the costs are so much lower. We all know though….
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