Is Sony censoring Little Big Planet's user-generated content?

One of the most popular features of the Sony PS3 game Little Big Planet is the ability to create and publish your own levels for the game. But some gamers are getting angry over the company's heavy-handed policies surrounding user-submitted levels.

As of November 13, an estimated 84,000 user-created levels had been published and shared in the game. But there are limits on what can be submitted. Sony has provided users the following guidelines for publishing levels:

• "Ensure that the content you share with other users is suitable for all ages - everybody has access to your level if you publish it.
• Please respect other people’s intellectual property rights. For example, don’t use images, brands or logos that you’re not entitled to use.
• If you come across any content that you feel the need to report, then please do it responsibly. Hoax reports will be considered inappropriate behaviour."

As any site policing user-generated content has learned, it's not so easy to monitor all of the submissions. Sarcastic Gamer reports that Sony is not only deleting levels that contain obvious trademark or copyright infringements, but is also wiping out levels that are apparently abiding by the guidelines. Two popular levels cited in the article are The Azure Palace and World of Colour; both were deleted without explanation. A gameplay video of the full The Azure Palace level (embedded below) seems to indicate nothing that violates the guidelines.

The concern registered by some players is that the deletions aren't a result of any vetting process by Sony, but rather, the possibility of an automatic removal process that may be occurring if users flag content as violating the terms of service. While Sony notes that hoax reports are "inappropriate behaviour," if levels are actually being deleted because of that behavior, the moderation procedures are broken.

The Industry Standard's request for a reply from Sony did not receive a response.