CCP has been censoring online speech for years
While the CCP has been censoring online speech for years, this report claims that CCP officials acknowledged that the outbreak was severe weeks before the CCP censored speech about the outbreak.
On December 31, 2019, the CCP first reported a case of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan, Hubei Province, but withheld information from the public, underestimated the risk, and failed to provide sufficient information in a timely manner.
It was not until January 20, 2020, that CCP leader Xi Jinping issued instructions on the outbreak, calling for its containment. Until then, neither the central government in Beijing nor the local governments in Hubei and Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, had responded much to the outbreak.
It’s unclear whether apps are censoring keywords related to the outbreak at the request of the government or whether the platforms are self-censoring, but the report suggests that it may be the result of “over-censorship” by apps to avoid official censure.
Blocked keywords
The report, “Censored Epidemics,” was published Tuesday (March 3) by the Citizen Lab, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto.
The team found that from Jan. 1 to 31, WeChat censored 132 keyword combinations. In addition, 384 new keywords were added in the two weeks between Feb. 1 and 15.
The keywords censored included Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, factual information about New Crown Pneumonia, references to the government’s Epidemic disease policy, responses about the outbreak in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Li Wenliang, the doctor who first issued the outbreak alert to the public, according to the report.
Phrases such as “epidemic + color revolution + Li Wenliang,” “voice + human-to-human transmission + Li Wenliang,” and “coronavirus + human-to-human transmission + Li Wenliang” are also subject to censorship.
Li Wenliang, a doctor working at a hospital in Wuhan, died on Feb. 7 after being infected while treating a patient with Newcastle pneumonia.
Other combinations of words and phrases under scrutiny include “Chinese Communist Party + greatest threat + this era,” “Communist Party + pneumonia + performance + rule” and “local officials + epidemic + central government + concealment.” etc.
Citizen Lab found another App, the Chinese live-streaming platform YY, also added 45 keywords to its list of censored comments on December 31, 2019, most of them related to unknown viruses, such as “Wuhan unknown pneumonia” and “Wuhan seafood market “.
The report states that YY has stopped censoring certain keywords, and it is possible that WeChat will stop censoring these keywords as the outbreak continues to develop.
It is also uncertain which keywords will continue to be censored in the future. The Civic Lab report adds that the CCP’s censorship is civil “self-regulation” and that companies must be held accountable for the content of speech on their platforms.
Citizenship denied by censorship
WeChat is the world’s fourth largest social media platform, with 806 million active users per month. In addition to communication and chatting, it also provides payment, taxi hailing and other services, and is often used by government agencies to make official statements.
Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International, told the BBC that the censorship of such a wide range of keywords, including even insensitive words, was shocking.
He said, “It shows how nervous the Chinese Communist government is about discussions that go beyond official discourse, which controls society and denies citizens access to information and freedom of expression.”
Communist censorship is ubiquitous. Sites such as Google and Wikipedia are blocked, and it is not uncommon for mainland China’s social media to remove content deemed a threat to social stability or the ruling Communist Party.
In a BBC Chinese article, freelance commentator Jiang Yi pointed out that in addition to official policies, procedures, administrative and legal measures to suppress freedom of press, speech and association, there is also a growing trend of “self-censorship” among the private sector.
Discussion of the epidemic is short-lived
David Jacobson, a professor at Singapore Management University, told BuzzFeedNews that information censorship will have a significant impact on the people of mainland China.
Jacobson said he was surprised by the degree to which the Chinese Communist Party authorities allowed open communication on the Internet during the outbreak.
He cited the example of Chen Qiushi, a lawyer and citizen journalist who had been reporting live on the ground in Wuhan via social media.
He broadcast live for several days before his account was blocked and related videos were deleted. Chen Qiushi’s close friend Xu Xiaodong later said via webcast that Chen had been forcibly quarantined by authorities for fear of infection, but did not know the actual location.
Jacobson said, “I was surprised to see Chen Qiushi arrive in Wuhan.” He wondered more if it was an indication of conflict within the Chinese Communist Party.”
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