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March 4, 2020 04:10 pm

China Tech Groups Censored Information About Coronavirus

Chinese social media platforms, including Tencent's WeChat, censored keywords related to coronavirus as early as December [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], potentially limiting the Chinese public's ability to protect themselves from the virus. From a report: Beijing has strictly controlled access to information throughout the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide. Research by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, one of the first reports into information control during the outbreak, say the censorship started in the early stages of the crisis. Authorities blocked a wide range of speech -- including criticism of the central government -- in a bid to control the narrative and manage public sentiment. Public anger over the outbreak, the biggest crisis Xi Jinping has faced since becoming president, has largely been directed towards local rather than central government officials. But critics allege that Beijing's response severely hampered the effort to contain the outbreak. "The broad censorship of the coronavirus we found is significant because blocking general information during a health crisis can limit the public's ability to be informed and protect themselves," said Lotus Ruan, a researcher at Citizen Lab.

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