Users on social media platform X have noticed that McDonald’s Japan’s famous anime ads are no longer visible to people outside of Japan.

The McDonald’s X account for Japan is region-locking these ads so they are only visible if the user is on a Japanese IP address, or generally physically going online in the country.

This is actually not a new policy for the McDonald’s Japan account. The change was first documented by Niche Gamer back in March 2024, though it seems the internet has the collective memory of a goldfish.

Many users are understandably upset at the region locking, as the anime ads tend to be very good quality and unlike what Westerners are used to seeing in corporate advertisements.

Unfortunately, the ads have also been used as a culture war issue in the west, especially in recent years with a backlash against anime growing from certain people who wish to censor it for a variety of reasons.

Some westerners think anime is too sexual, despite the fact there is nothing lewd in the ads. While others accuse, like Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, believe it to be satanic. These shrill voices represent only a minority of Americans, but unfortunately, they are very vocal. 

Luckily, some users found a way around the region-blocking (with a VPN or otherwise), and are sharing the video in the replies to the McDonald’s posts. You can watch the most recent of them here.